Feeding Palestinians Facing Man-Made Famine Is Not a Crime—Abducting Those Who Try Is Dear Email, Last night, Israeli forces abducted 12 unarmed civilians, including a member of the European Union’s Parliament, who were on the Madleen to deliver desperately needed food, baby formula, and medical aid to Gaza. The ship was sailing in international waters, fully compliant with maritime and humanitarian law, when it was violently seized in a blatant act of piracy and state aggression. This was not just an attack on international law or human rights activists; this was an escalation in Israel’s campaign of deliberate, systematic starvation. It has been well over 4 months of Gaza being strangled, with over two million people being held under a complete siege and denied food, clean water, medical supplies, and fuel since March. Children are dying not only from airstrikes but from malnutrition, dehydration, and preventable illnesses caused by the engineered collapse of Gaza’s healthcare and food systems.  The Madleen was a slight flicker of humanity in a landscape of relentless devastation caused by Israel in partnership with the U.S. Its mission was both urgent and profoundly simple: to deliver life-saving aid and send a message where governments have failed, where international institutions have fallen silent, and where Israel’s blockade has made even the right to survive a battleground. For daring to bring food to a population deliberately starved by a man-made famine; for daring to affirm the value of Palestinian life where the world has looked away—they were abducted. Criminalized not for causing any harm, but for having the courage to attempt to save lives. This is not an isolated incident but a clear tactic of war. The Israeli government is weaponizing hunger, and the United States is enabling it. By continuing to fund and arm this regime, and by using its veto power to shield it from accountability at the UN, the U.S. has been an active participant in one of the most egregious humanitarian crises of our time. We demand the immediate release of all those abducted and an end to the blockade that is starving Palestinians in Gaza. We urge global leaders, institutions, and people of conscience to speak out and take immediate action. Starvation is a calculated tool of genocide—and Israel is wielding it with impunity. As the occupying power, Israel is legally obligated under international law to facilitate and permit the entry of humanitarian aid to the civilian population it controls. Instead, it has done the opposite: blocking aid, bombing distribution centers, and now abducting those attempting to deliver life-saving supplies. Israel has caused unimaginable harm, broken virtually every human rights law, and committed some of the most egregious war crimes in modern history, all while facing no real consequences. The question must be asked: When will it be enough? How many people need to starve, how much more of Gaza needs to be reduced to rubble, how many medics and journalists need to be targeted and murdered, and how many aid workers must disappear before the world’s governments act? The world must end its tolerance for Israel’s crimes and enforce the very laws it claims to uphold. The blood of Palestinians is on the hands of every world leader, every government, and every individual who refuses to see the gravity of what is unfolding. Genocide does not happen in a vacuum. It is enabled by those who look away, by those who issue empty statements while continuing to fund, arm, and shield the perpetrators. To remain neutral is to choose the side of those who would rather see children starve than allow Palestinians the right to live. In solidarity,
Americans for Justice in Palestine Action |
