Solidarity Statement

City, University of London Staff

Palestinians in Gaza, the majority refugees displaced in 1948, are experiencing a new Nakba. Now under complete Israeli military siege, without access to water, electricity, fuel or food, they are being bombed from air, land, and sea. The result is massive destruction of epic proportions with, so far, more than 14,500 people killed (including more than 6,000 children who are being killed at the rate of one child every 15 minutes), 35,000 injured, complete neighbourhoods flattened, schools, universities, medical facilities damaged or destroyed, and over 1 million Palestinians rendered homeless. Hundreds of thousands of Israeli troops are now amassed ready to invade, mobilised by the conviction that they are coming to deal with, in the words of Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Galant, “human animals”. The violence has spread to the West Bank where armed settlers have attacked Palestinian villages forcing them to abandon their homes.

 

The large scale killing and destruction, combined with multiple statements by Israeli leaders and military officials, has led UN experts and many scholars of genocide and international law to conclude that the war Israel is waging is a genocidal one. 

 

Meanwhile, our Government has repeatedly reaffirmed its commitment to Israel’s war against the Palestinians, and twice failed to support UN Security Council resolutions that call for an immediate ceasefire. On the contrary, the UK Government has expressed unqualified support for Israel’s war, justified the starvation and ethnic cleansing of an occupied people, and went as far as to send warships to the Eastern Mediterranean and offered to share technologies and expertise with the Israeli army. 

 

At home, the UK Government presided over an unprecedented wave of repression which included an attempt to criminalise the display of the Palestinian flag and symbols of Palestinian national identity. Palestinians, along with those who stand with them in common humanity, are defamed and intimidated by politicians and the media, and threatened with criminalisation.

 

Committed to standing for freedom, justice, dignity and peace for all people, and a deep desire to stop more bloodshed, we abhor the killing of any and all civilians including Israelis killed on 7/10. As the attack on Gaza intensifies, commitment to these values means that we cannot watch a genocidal war being waged, with the support of our Government, without sounding the alarm. We refuse to be silent and stand by doing nothing amid a genocidal war. As Emergency Relief Chief Martin Griffiths told UN News, “History is watching”, and for the sake of humanity, we refuse to be on the wrong side of history. 

 

Therefore, we, the undersigned, members of staff at City, University of London:

 

1.     Express our unwavering solidarity with the Palestinian people.

2.     Demand an immediate ceasefire, and an end to the collective punishment being enacted upon the Palestinian civilian    population by the Israeli military.

3.     Demand the immediate resumption of the supply of water, electricity, fuel, medical supplies and food.

4.     Demand the immediate release of all civilians held by Hamas and all Palestinian political prisoners. 

 

Signatories:

 



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