Gaza: the “worst-case scenario of famine.”
The Israeli government’s genocide through starvation of the people of Gaza is at its most dire stage yet.
Despite the mainstream media consistently excusing and diminishing Israel’s crimes against Palestinians, the world is watching Gaza, heartbroken and outraged by the constant stream of images of starving children and families.
As organizers, in this moment, it’s our job to recognize the cracks emerging in support for genocide, bring in those who have been newly activated by the horror of this moment, and push even further towards a permanent end to U.S. support for Israeli genocide.
“The tipping point has already occurred”
The Israeli government has turned Gaza into the “hungriest place on earth,” deliberately starving Palestinians as a tool of genocide. For nearly two years, the Israeli military has been manufacturing a famine, carpet-bombing everything from homes to hospitals to refugee tents and systematically destroying life-sustaining infrastructure and making aid distribution all but impossible in Gaza.
Since the Israeli military unilaterally shattered the temporary ceasefire in March, it has blocked all aid from reaching the people of Gaza, setting up the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation instead, at whose aid sites Israeli soldiers and U.S. contractors have murdered more than 1,054 Palestinians to date.
According to the WHO, a “worst-case scenario of famine” has now reached much of Gaza. A doctor returning from Gaza described the severity of the crisis, explaining that for thousands of people, mainly children, “the tipping point has already occurred” in their starvation. Massive surges in food and formula aid, he said, could decrease deaths in the coming months, but many people “have already passed the point of no return… death is unfortunately imminent for probably thousands of children.”
Our job is to bring people in.
As the Israeli genocide reaches new depths of horror, the images and testimony that Palestinians have been sharing for nearly two years have once again become impossible for the world to ignore. Even mainstream news outlets like the New York Times — which has consistently obfuscated, downplayed, and attempted to justify Israel’s genocide in Gaza — is now printing photos of starving Palestinian children on its front page.
The world’s eyes are on Gaza, and this means that more and more people around us, in our workplaces, our communities, our families, are horrified by what they’re seeing — but unsure what can be done to stop it, or where to begin.
It’s going to take more and more of us speaking out, taking action, learning more about the root causes of this genocide, and joining organizations until we build enough pressure to win.
Our role now is to invite more U.S. Jews into the Palestine solidarity movement, to help them understand that the U.S. and Israeli governments are directly responsible for these atrocities, and to mobilize them to take action with us as we keep pushing with everything we have in the fight for an end to the genocide.
The cracks are growing — so that’s where we’re pushing.
In recent days, many politicians who have actively enabled and funded the Israeli government’s genocide have started putting out statements about the starvation. Even Cory Booker and Amy Klobuchar, who smiled for a picture with international fugitive and genocide architect Benjamin Netanyahu only a few weeks ago, have in recent days put out statements on the starvation crisis in Gaza.
These statements ignore that the Israeli government has intentionally created a policy of starvation, and many of these politicians continue supporting more weapons to Israel. So why do their statements matter at all? Only because they reveal cracks. They reveal that growing international and domestic pressure are literally forcing politicians to speak out and that the status quo of silent complicity is breaking. And this means that we must keep pushing with everything we have.
Where we go from here.
When these cracks appear, it’s our responsibility to take advantage of them.
More politicians breaking their silence is an immediate opportunity to hold their feet to the fire, making clear that words mean nothing without action and demanding they work to end U.S. support for Israel’s genocide.
Our demands are clear. The UN must be given immediate and unfettered access to Gaza to surge in humanitarian aid, and there must be an immediate ceasefire and a permanent end to the genocide, which would include the Israeli militarye fully withdrawing from Gaza. The single most powerful way our movements can bring about these conditions is to force the U.S. government to stop arming Israel. As we bring people into our movement and continue to escalate our pressure, we will accept nothing else.
Act now: Stop Starving Gaza.
Increasingly, those in power are unable to deny the Israeli military’s genocide of the people of Gaza. Now, we need to push them to turn their words into actions.
Use this tool from our partners at the Adalah Justice Project to call Congress and demand the immediate entry of aid into Gaza and an end to U.S. weapons for genocide.
Join the Stop Starving Gaza Power Hour today.
In this dire moment, our task is to mobilize for an end to the genocide.
Join the Stop Starving Gaza Power Hour, hosted by our partners at USCPR Action, today at 3pm ET/12pm PT to take action together to demand the immediate unblocking of life-saving aid into Gaza.
Donate to support Palestinians on the ground.
Already, JVP members have raised over $270,000 for the Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA), whose emergency response is providing “a lifeline of hope” by distributing water, food, and medicine in Gaza.
Help us support their work on the ground in Gaza.
The People’s Conference for Palestine.
As we work to break open the cracks in U.S. support for Israeli genocide, it’s all the more critical that we continue to deepen our collective strategy and keep building the mass movement for Palestinian liberation. That’s why JVP is honored to endorse and participate in the upcoming People’s Conference for Palestine, convened by Palestinian movement leaders from August 29–31 in Detroit, Michigan.
We invite JVP members from across the country to join this gathering of organizations, movement leaders, community members, students, artists, cultural workers, and organizers committed to the struggle for a free Palestine.
What we’re doing.
JVP chapters across the country continue to push forward a range of strategies to end this genocide, from Israel Bonds divestment campaigns to pressuring elected officials.
Watch this video to see more about the over 30 actions that JVP members organized over the past two months, from hunger strikes to sit-ins at weapons manufacturers, demanding that the U.S. stop arming Israel and calling for an end to the blockade in Gaza.
What we’re reading: Past ‘the point of no return.’
A doctor returning to Gaza gave a harrowing interview in the Huffington Post describing the conditions of mass starvation he witnessed, his dire predictions that many children in Gaza have already been starved to the point of death, and his call upon returning for the U.S. to immediately stop supporting the Israeli military’s genocide.
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With nearly 100,000 subscribers, the Wire is one of the largest American publications dedicated to justice. Every week, we cover important news from Palestine, the United States, and the Palestine solidarity movement — and provide ways to take action.