In today’s Irish Times I read that Trump says Israel has agreed to a 60 day ceasefire in Gaza. A pause is certainly better than an ongoing slaughter. But it is nowhere even close to good enough.
In January of this year a ceasefire was announced in Gaza. Israel ended the ceasefire in March and has used food and aid distribution as a weapon against Palestinians since then. Since March over 400 Palestinians have been killed while attempting to get food in Gaza. I believe the current death toll for Palestinians killed near aid distribution centres is at 456. Thousands more have been seriously injured.
IDF officers and soldiers told Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper, they were ordered to fire at unarmed crowds near food distribution sites in Gaza, even when no threat was present.
What has gone on and how our world has failed in any way to meaningfully protect Palestinians lives is beyond shocking. We have witnessed atrocity after atrocity carried out against Palestinians both in Gaza and the West Bank. And no, these atrocities did not begin in the wake of the inexcusable Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
There needs to be a just and equitable solution to this conflict. Our world must defend the human rights of all. What do human rights even mean if they can be disregarded for some group of people? Because it’s more convenient that way?
Suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement
The EU is Israel’s largest trading partner. The trade agreement underpinning this relationship contains a human rights clause. This clause makes respect for human rights and democratic principles a fundamental condition of the agreement.
There is an ongoing genocide in Gaza and a long term campaign of ethnic cleansing in the West Bank. The EU has more power in this situation that it admits. It is high time to pause trade between the EU and Israel until a permanent solution to this conflict can be agreed.
Let’s meaningfully push for a two-state solution. It may sound trite but I mean every word of it when I say Free Palestine, Free Israel.
I’m very aware though that my words are insufficient here. They lack any power.
But there are powerful testimonies by Palestinians of what they have experienced and are still going through. Why are they ignored? Why? How? How can our world just ignore this as if Palestinian lives somehow don’t matter as much as our own?
Insist on a UN-run Aid Distribution in Gaza
The current aid distribution system has been used as a weapon by Israel. There must be a UN-led aid distribution system set up in its place. Imagine risking death when you’re just seeking food. I can’t imagine that. Can you? How is this allowed happen?
Listen to Palestine
Below is text of a powerful speech given by Ambassador Majed Bamya,Deputy Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the UN.
You can watch the speech on YouTube. I copied the transcript from this video and used Microsoft Copilot to format the speech. I also turned some sentences into subheadings for the purpose of readability. If there are any errors, I sincerely apologise.
Thank you, Madame President.
Palestinian children know death — in all its facets, and in all its horror. They know the death they experience. The death they endure. The death they witness. And the one they have barely survived — so far.
All 1 million Palestinian children in Gaza have endured agony. Not a single one of them has been spared. Even the most conservative estimates say: 50,000 Palestinian children have been killed or maimed.
This number, 50,000, does not even include those still buried under the rubble.
Let us put this into perspective:
- That would be the equivalent of 700,000 British, French, or German children killed or maimed.
- That would be the equivalent of 3.5 million American children killed or maimed.
- That would be the equivalent of 150,000 Israeli children killed or maimed.
Reflect on these numbers. Ask yourselves: What would be happening in these walls, or outside them, if it were Israeli children?
But for some, the comparison cannot stand. Because they are not Israeli. They are just Palestinian.
We will never accept — we will never tolerate — the idea that Palestinian lives are less sacred. That our people are expendable. That Palestinian parents mourn their children less. That our children feel pain less. That their killing is somehow acceptable. Or somehow less grave. That those who kill them hold a legitimate claim to supremacy that makes them immune to condemnation — and immune to being held accountable.
No one should accept these double standards.
Especially when it comes to children.
The same voices who invoke genocide every single time an Israeli is killed, express outrage when we use the same word to describe the killing and maiming of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians — many of them children — and the destruction of every essential of life for over 2 million Palestinians in Gaza.
All children are entitled to:
- life
- freedom
- dignity
- security
They are entitled to their childhood.
If someone needs to ask: What is the nationality of this child? What is their faith, their race? To know whether they should feel outrage or sorrow. Then they cannot claim to value human life. They cannot say they honor international law. They cannot claim to defend humanity.
We must all denounce this
We must all stand against — children being killed, maimed, held captive. Regardless of who they are or to what group they belong.
We pursue a different future — without occupation, without violence — A future where Palestinian children are safe. Where Israeli children are safe. Where all children around the world are safe.
That is the way to remain consistent. That is how we honor the law. And our shared humanity.
Madame President, Palestinian children are: killed, maimed, orphaned, starved, displaced, and traumatized.
Who dares claim there is any justification for taking away their lives, their limbs, their loved ones?
What level of dehumanization must exist for these crimes to continue — 628 days of children killed on live television, starved on live television, burned and maimed on live television.
Every day you see them — Burning. Dying. Suffocating under rubble. And not a single person has been held accountable — to this day.
When we spoke of our children’s agony, the Israeli representative quoted Golda Meir:
“Peace will come when the Arabs love their children more than they hate us.”
Is there anything more dehumanizing than denying the love that Palestinian parents hold for their children? They hate the occupation. Because of what it does to their children.
You have seen the images:
- Parents towering over their children, trying to protect them
- Crushed when they fail
- Holding their bodies — dead or alive
- Digging with bare hands through the earth to pull them from rubble
- Trying to soothe their burns with no medicine
If love alone ended this it would already be over. What kind of hatred does it take to do this to them?
You’ve seen parents risking their lives just to fetch food. Now, it’s routine: 30 Palestinians killed trying to get aid. 40 more the next day. Treated like cattle. Shot. Aid workers. Journalists. UN staff. Doctors. Children. Women. Men. And now — those simply trying to get aid.
UNICEF warns:
“After famine, they might die of thirst.”
This is occupation-engineered famine. This is occupation-engineered thirst.
And then Israeli leaders tell you:
“We are protecting you. We are defending civilization against barbarism.”
This is civilization? You don’t recognize it behind all these barbaric acts?
Let me quote:
“They are targeting a hospital… with immobile patients. Right next to it is the children’s ward. A baby’s ward. Infants.”
And who said that? Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. Speaking of an Israeli hospital hit by an Iranian missile.
But has he forgotten? Forgotten how every hospital in Gaza was targeted? How babies died in incubators? How doctors were arrested — some tortured, raped, and killed in detention?
When it’s Palestinians, it’s not outrageous. Not as unacceptable.
They cry “human shields!” And use that to justify killing everyone.
The UN verified: 27 Palestinian boys were used as human shields by Israeli occupation forces in Gaza and the West Bank.
But that outrage never surfaces. Unless they are the ones accusing.
They say: “Holding remains is barbaric.” But Israel has withheld Palestinian bodies — some for 30 years. When they do it, it’s not barbaric. Their acts are civilization. Our very existence is “barbarism.”
Our children are being dehumanized by those starving them, maiming them, abducting, torturing, traumatizing them. Those who left them with no food, no water, no shelter, no school, no hospital, no hope, no life. And no limbs.
Yet they scold the world for criticizing their actions.
We have sat in this chamber, many times
You saw the threats, the insults, the incitement from the Israeli representative. And yet — When Algeria calmly criticized a UN office for failing its mandate, the Special Representative walked out.
At a time when:
- 17,000 Palestinian children have been killed
- 40,000 have lost one or both parents
- 4,000 have been amputated
- 1 million are being starved
But we are not even allowed to criticize.
What would happen if someone walked out on an Israeli representative?
They claim: Israelis are different. Palestinians are different. The same rules do not apply.
But we say no: Our lives are not less sacred. We are entitled to our outrage.
Madame President, The world called for:
- An immediate ceasefire
- Release of hostages and prisoners
- Humanitarian aid
- Withdrawal of Israeli forces
Nothing is happening. Where is the urgency, where is the accountability, where is the will to stop genocide?
They use aid distribution to forcibly displace people. They say clearly: They want Palestinian life in Gaza to end.
Today: 2 million people are trapped in 16% of Gaza. Squeezed. Starved. Forcibly displaced under the guise of “military necessity.”
Palestinian children suffer for one reason alone: They were born Palestinian.
And that, in the eyes of Israel, is their only crime. They want the land — not the people. And they’re acting to make us disappear.
We have a collective duty. To act. To end this genocide — in line with international law.
Our common world is ending in Gaza. Let it be saved, starting in Gaza. Save Gaza, so we may all be saved by Gaza.
We see global solidarity. Mobilization. Principled positions from all corners of the world.
And yet Gaza stands alone.
And it will continue to stand alone as long as we allow this genocide to continue.
Save the children of Gaza. End this genocide.
Thank you, Madame President.
