Israeli Academics Write To End War On Gaza
More than 1,200 Israeli academics have written to the heads of Israeli academic institutions to ‘speak out’ and act to stop the war on Gaza. The academics identified themselves as the Black Flag Action Group, and the letter is the latest in a growing number of open letters protesting the war from within Israel.
In the letter written to the heads of academic institutions, the action group claims that Israel violated the ceasefire in March, which killed almost 3,000 people in Gaza. The majority of them were civilians. In addition to the growing numbers of people killed by Israeli fire, the author notes, are the warnings of acute starvation being forced upon Gaza as a ‘result of intentional and openly declared Israeli government policy’.
Read also: UN Withdraws Report Claiming 14,000 Child Deaths In Gaza In 48 Hrs
Other letters have objected to the political reasons for Israel’s latest offensive, or claimed that it puts Israel’s remaining captives held in Gaza at risk. The academics’ letter is unique in that it places Palestinian suffering at the heart of its objections to the war.
According to the open letter, the signatories want the Association of University Heads in Israel, the Board of Academic Public Colleges, and the protest group Academics for Israeli Democracy to “act immediately to mobilize the full weight of Israeli academia to stop the Israeli war in Gaza”.
The academics state, “As academics, we recognize our own role in these crimes”. “It is human societies, not governments alone, that commit crimes against humanity. Some do so by means of direct violence. Others do so by sanctioning the crimes and justifying them, before and after the fact, and by keeping quiet and silencing voices in the halls of learning. It is this bond of silence that allows clearly evident crimes to continue unabated without penetrating the barriers of recognition.”
Read also: Hamas Gaza Chief Mohammed Sinwar Eliminated, Says Netanyahu
“This is a horrifying litany of war crimes and even crimes against humanity, all of our own doing,” it added.
“We cannot claim that we did not know,” the letter continues. “We have been silent for too long. For the sake of the lives of innocents and the safety of all the people of this land … if we do not call to halt the war immediately, history will not forgive us.”
Israel stopped the entry of aid into Gaza in early March, while a ceasefire was still ongoing. It has since unilaterally broken the ceasefire, and doubled down in its war on Gaza, with the official death toll now more than 54,000 Palestinians.
