Tuesday, October 22, 2024

Speechless and Powerless

Something’s been troubling me.

Dave and I wear these bracelets. 




He wears the white one and I wear the black one. But when I arrived at Denver airport I took mine off, because I didn’t want to talk to the girls about what the Israelis are doing - how they are a vicious rogue state, committing genocide, bombing and starving civilians, and how they are doing it with impunity.

I didn’t want to talk to them about it because it’s so awful to contemplate and I know that if I had known what was happening at their age I’d have been traumatised. Knowing about it at the age of 75 is bad enough. Every morning I wake up and see the headlines and feel sick. I think about it during the day and feel sick. 

When I was visiting the Aging Hippie recently - a woman who shares my political views on everything and who hates war as much as I do - I talked to her about this. She said “You talk to them about other things that matter to you - about refugees for instance - why not about this?” And I told her why: because I didn’t want to expose them to the horrors of current world affairs any more than they are already. Should I have worn the bracelet and risked a conversation?

And the fact that Israel can behave the way it does, and has been doing with impunity for over a year is horrific. It’s not as if this began after the hideous and inexcusable Hamas attack in October 2023. Israel has been oppressing the Palestinian people in the occupied territories and besieging Gaza for years and years and years, with intermittent bombing campaigns on Gaza too. 

Israel has been breaking international law for years, and yet the west still sends them arms. What does Israel have to do before the west will finally say “enough is enough” and mean it?

It is a terrible thing to see what is happening and to be powerless to do anything to stop it.

The UK government doesn't care though I am sure the majority of the British people do. What is one supposed to do when one’s government acts against the wishes of its people? They don't respond to letters. They don't respond to demonstrations.

All I can do is give money to Medical Aid for Palestinians:

https://www.map.org.uk/

Or to the Disasters Emergency Committee appeal:

https://www.dec.org.uk/appeal/middle-east-humanitarian-appeal




2 comments:

marmee said...

I have not spoken to my grandson about Gaza either. In my case, because it is not just (!) war but genocide I am not wanting to say the words. After he was born I saw a video of an IDF soldier dragging a palestinian woman away while her little son was trying to hang onto her skirts and in a flash I could see that little boy as my grandson and Palestine became a personal issue and not a political one.

Sue Hepworth said...

Yes, Marmee, it is the fact that it is genocide. But I believe your grandson is younger than my American granddaughters, who are 12 and 14.