We should not ‘avert our gaze when we see our brothers and sisters suffering’

“I believe in Father Christmas” by Greg Lake is a song that’s played on the radio and in shops each Christmas all over the UK and in many other countries. Peter Sinfield who wrote the lyrics explained that the song was about a “picture-postcard Christmas with morbid edges”, all about childhood belief, loss of innocence and betrayal by those in authority. The last four lines of the song are particularly chilling.

They said there’d be snow at Christmas
They said there’ll be peace on earth
Hallelujah, Noel be it heaven or hell
The Christmas we get we deserve

Yes, each Christmas, we adults, too, will be told by politicians and church leaders that Christmas is about kindness and peace. They will make promises. Lofty platitudes will flow alongside wine, good food and merriment. And we know we will all be disillusioned when promises do not materialise, just like Sinfield’s children.

The shocking reality is that this Christmas, right at the doorstep of Europe, there will be millions of people in Gaza, West Bank, Lebanon, Syria and Israel who are living, and dying, in abject misery and despair.

In my previous articles on the Middle-East, I talked about the number of Palestinian deaths resulting from Israeli attacks increasing from 20,000 to 40,000. The figure has now increased to nearly 46,000. According to the British medical journal The Lancet, the true number of deaths could be over 186,000, taking into account those who died as a result of starvation and lack of health care. This figure excludes the number of entombed bodies beneath the rubble, estimated at a further 10,000. This is nothing short of a humanitarian catastrophe.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is wreaking havoc with many of its neighbours. The Lebanese ministry of health reports that 3,002 people have been killed and 13,492 injured since the beginning of Israel’s invasion and bombardment of Lebanon. Following the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham coup against the Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, Israel has bombed Syria about 400 times and, despite UN protests, launched a military incursion into the buffer zone that has separated the two countries since 1974. Killings, here, of Syrians are about 100 people to date.

With regard to Israel itself, 1,139 people were killed on October 7, 2023 by Hamas militia and out of 240 hostages taken by Hamas, 96 are still captive. There are some 200 additional deaths of Israeli soldiers involved in the above theatres of war.

The recent report from Amnesty International has proven beyond any doubt that what we are witnessing in Gaza is indeed genocide. This report is backed up by clear evidence which confirms that the Israeli government’s destruction of human lives and material resources is premeditated and executed with wilful ill intent.

There are some incontrovertible truths here. We now know that Israel will do anything with impunity including committing genocide and still receive support of the United States. Israel has repeatedly ignored American presidential instructions to agree to a ceasefire and increase the supply of food to Gaza. Despite this, the US administration has failed to halt the supply of its own weapons of mass destruction to the ultra-right government of Israel. The UK and Germany have regrettably followed a similar path.

So, who will heed the Palestinians of Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, the Lebanese and, now, potentially Syrians?

Tragically, currently there are no nation states which are willing to take significant action that would cause “behaviour change” to Israeli aggression. In relation to the US, unfortunately it is clear that the new Trump administration will be even more pro-Israel than the current Biden government. 

So, sadly, all of this adds up to a “counsel of despair” situation.

However, we also need to see that amongst all the evil and cruelty, there is also good. Many people are seeing events as they really are, and their own moral conscience is driving them to protest. International anti-Israel sentiment has never been so high.

For what it’s worth, I would particularly like to pay tribute to all the Jewish people around the world for speaking out against the Israeli government. It must be so much more difficult for them to do this, often risking their careers and relationships with their friends and family.

The following is not an exhaustive list by any means, but for me, the work of the following Jewish organisations and individuals stand out.

Haaretz, the world renowned progressive Israeli newspaper; Jews for Justice for Palestinians; the Yachad; Jewish Network for Palestine; Na’amod ; and the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights , all of which support Palestinians in the attainment of their human rights. Our Jewish Values created by preeminent rabbis and other communal leaders provides a religious and intellectual basis for addressing the current conflict in a fair and equitable manner.

Alexei Sayle, English actor, author, stand-up comedian; Miriam Margolyes Bafta-winning actress; Jonathan Glazer, director of the movie “Zone of Interest”, the much loved English author and poet, Michael Rosen have all spoken out against the atrocities being committed by Israel in the strongest terms. Bernie Sanders, US senator and a two-time candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, Alon Pinkas, former Israeli ambassador and chief of staff, and Gideon Levy, Israeli journalist and author are also at the forefront of raising objections to the Israeli government’s genocidal policy.

Jewish people understand what suffering means, perhaps more than anyone else. I would like to leave the final word to Dr Stav Sinai who, with Ronnie Barkan, occupied the Bristol headquarters of Elbit Systems UK On May 15, 2022 (Nakba Day) which manufactures weapons used by Israel in Gaza and the West Bank.

In a video interview  Sinai said “Coming from a background of Holocaust survivors, it is very clear to me that once there are crimes against humanity that are being conducted, one should not stand aside. This is the kind of moral imperative to which I am committed, and this is a kind of universal call not to avert our gaze when we see our brothers and sisters suffering.”

Fahri Zihni is former chair of Council of Turkish Cypriot Associations (UK), a former policy advisor at the UK’s Cabinet Office and a former president of the Society of IT Management, UK