HOPE for an end to the genocide in Gaza is “absurd” when the US and British governments continue to treat Israel as above the law, Glastonbury festival heard today.
Ahmed Alnaouq, co-founder of Palestinian human rights project We Are Not Numbers, told the festival’s Left Field stage how he lost his family after Israel bombed their homes.
“They were slaughtered in the most heinous way … because they were Palestinian,” he said.
“But I am now relieved that they are dead because of what has happened since.
“Thousands have been injured or maimed while starvation is being used as a weapon of war.
“Protests have not stopped the genocide, so as long as the US and UK won’t shift their positions there won’t be a glimmer of hope.
“Hope is absurd when US and UK governments continue to treat Israel as above the law.”
However, he added that the mass protest movement must continue in order to put pressure on governments, and said that we can all boycott Israeli products.
“By buying Israeli products you are literally funding genocide,” he added.
Shaista Aziz, who became the first Labour councillor to resign over party leader Sir Keir Starmer’s failure to call a ceasefire in Gaza, expressed her “outrage” at the party’s stance on the genocide.
She said: “I was outraged at what was not being said at Labour Party conference, no mention of the Palestinian people.
“And I find it incomprehensible for Starmer to disregard humanitarian law as he did when asked about whether it was OK for Israel to cut off water and electricity in Gaza.
“It’s inconceivable that any future PM of this country thinks this was OK.
“And the political rhetoric from leaders across the world about the genocide in Gaza is utterly shameful.”