The staggering level of slaughter continues in Gaza. At least 37,877 people are now known to have been murdered by Israel, including more than 15,000 children, with at least 86,969 people injured.
21,000 additional children are missing, say charity Save the Children. 10 children a day are having their legs amputated, according to UNRWA.
Even these are almost certainly underestimates of the true losses, given the near collapse of death and injury reporting procedures. A figure of around 200,000 overall deaths may be a more realistic estimate, and could be much worse when we factor in the epidemiological impact of now rampant disease: “The Chair of Global Public Health at the University of Edinburgh, Devi Sridhar, estimates half a million Palestinians in Gaza will die in 2024.”
Palestinians are being mercilessly bombed, starved and left to perish now without even a token mention of the historic catastrophe on ‘mainstream’ news. We're seeing the normalisation of genocide by our media and politicians.
As we approach our 'democracy day', with no serious choices available, a searing piece from Jonathan Cook takes apart the whole charade, urging us not to be party to the same political and media negation of the genocide:
“Our political class may have sold their souls in a Faustian pact, where the deaths of children are the price of winning power. The rest of us must not consent to this ghoulish trade-off.”
The 'fix is in' at the ballot box, setting us up for a new genocide party, and another genocide-enabler-in-chief. It's a truly depressing spectacle.
In response, solidarity bodies must not be deflected from the ongoing task. With little faith in the political system, we must also now deploy every form of resistance we can against all the other enablers of the genocide, such as Barclays Bank, major funders of the arms companies supplying arms to Israel.
Barclays have now been dropped by three key music festivals. And the bank will be the focus of major opposition these coming weeks at Wimbledon over attempts to cover its crimes through sports-washing.
A notable letter by campaign group Tipping Point is also now circulating in response to a corporate statement and duplicitous letter in the Guardian by Barclays CEO CS Venkatakrishnan, in which he tries to excuse his bank’s investments in the arms companies and fossil fuel firms. Typically, the Guardian has refused Tipping Point a right of reply. That response can now be read as a damning open letter, endorsed by over 90 organisations. Please read and share.
Meanwhile, a new report by the UN-backed Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory has further concluded that Israel has committed crimes against humanity, forced starvation, extermination, murder, and inhuman and cruel treatment of Palestinians. The indictment couldn’t be any clearer or more horrifying.
That’s what’s being funded and enabled by the likes of Barclays. That’s what’s being ignored by our craven media. That’s what’s being blanked by our posturing politicians.
As Cook says, it’s a non-issue on the campaign trail: “The silence over Gaza's thousands of murdered children is deafening”.
The horrific human suffering in Gaza, and near breakdown of the system of international law intended to prevent it, is told in a searing new film documentary from Al Jazeera, appropriately entitled The Night Won’t End.
And with ever passing night of terror, the regime continues to defy the binding orders laid down by the International Court of Justice to stop the genocide.
In a further display of open contempt for international law and global condemnation of Israel, the UK has tried to block the International Criminal Court arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Defence Minister Gallant.
Unless the admirable Andrew Feinstein can prevent him from getting elected on Thursday, this will be the first key test of international law for incoming Starmer. It doesn't augur well.
So, this coming week, while acknowledging the likely, lamentable sight of Starmer at the door of Number 10, let us re-amplify our voices for the suffering and lost children of Gaza, and for all those facing extermination by this terror regime.
Let all these complicit politicians and parties know that they too will be held to account, not just at the ballot box, but in and beyond political office over their shameful abandonment of a suffering people.
The message is clear, both on and after election day. Don’t side with genocide.
Cast your ballot for Gaza however you can. Vote for Palestine wherever you can. And continue working in every possible way you can to shame all those venal parties and bring all their genocidal leaders to eventual justice.
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