I find it incomprehensible that as the Palestinian people in Gaza are sliding into a human-made famine the United States has withdrawn funding from UNWRA, the main aid organization there. It was done the day after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled in favor of South Africa that Israel was plausibly committing genocide and had ordered sufficient humanitarian aid be immediately provided.
On the day of the ICJ judgment, Israel accused 12 of the almost 15,000 employees of the UN agency of participating in the Oct. 7 massacre. This timing seems incredibly manipulative. Even so, if an impartial investigation discovers these 12 were involved on Oct. 7, they should be prosecuted for crimes against humanity, but the criminal activities of a few cannot justify denying aid to 2 million suffering Palestinians.
When 1.9 million people have been displaced in Gaza, many of them beginning to starve to death, it is collective punishment to deny them the delivery of food aid. Most Gazans are living in tents in winter cold and rain in a constantly shrinking area where they are not even guaranteed safety from airstrikes. On top of this, medical care has been systematically dismantled, supplies are scarce to nonexistent, surgery is mostly performed without anesthetic when available at all and disease is spreading. This action appears to be an assertion of power by the United States against a U.N. attempt to hold Israel accountable. It seems the opposite of a nation that claims to care about the rules-based International order.
Because I have known Palestinians, it is impossible for me to see them as dehumanized ‘human shields” or, God forbid, a whole population of terrorists, as propaganda would have us believe. It is horrible that Hamas invaded Israel, murdering innocent Israelis and taking so many hostages. I am saddened about the hostages and can’t imagine the feelings of the families, but negotiation will bring them back, not more killing. Hamas doesn’t seem to respond to that kind of pressure.
Please, if you care about innocent Palestinian lives, contact the president and your representatives. Let them know denying funds for U.N. aid in an unfolding catastrophe like this is unacceptable. The Palestinian people need our help, and we are better than this.
— Kate McClellan
Anchorage
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