By Iqbal Jassat
Medics and health care workers, along with courageous journalists, have not only been at the receiving end as victims of drone strikes, bombings and forced detentions, but along with the civilian population of Gaza, they have and are enduring a living nightmare.
The testimonies they provide have shocked the world. The images viewed across the globe display more than bloodied bodies, broken limbs and grieving families. They underscore the inhumanity of a hate-filled ideology that justifies starvation as a weapon of war and vengeance.
As onlookers witnessing the unimaginable pain and suffering of mothers and babies, as well as the old and infirm denied medical support due to hospitals having been bombed and destroyed, people around the world may feel helpless, but not disconnected.
They may regret their inability to physically storm the fortified barriers that the fascist occupying regime, with the collusion of despotic Arab regimes, particularly Egypt, Jordan and Syria, has encircled the entire besieged territory with.
But words do not need boundaries. Nor does solidarity.
We are able to not only challenge the watered-down narrative by Zionist hasbarists (propagandists), funders and enablers of the genocide in my own country, South Africa, who project the horrific slaughter as "necessary" and "justified", but also expose their connivance and blatant lies.
With firm clarity, we are able to dismiss Israel’s wanton atrocities they would want the world to believe are a "mere crisis" by asserting that the genocide and weaponization of hunger are a profound moral catastrophe.
Indeed, as analysts and commentators have repeatedly warned, unless we confront and defeat Zionism, we will not be able to arrest the collapse of global conscience.
"We are witnessing what could be described as the Hiroshima of our time, an event that signifies not only the destruction of lives but the erosion of our collective conscience," is a stark warning by Henry A. Giroux, who currently holds the McMaster University Chair for Scholarship in the Public Interest in the English and Cultural Studies Department.
In the absence of swords wielded by civil societies and human rights activists, as well as health care workers and journalists, do we not possess speech, words, a conscience and pens?
"We stand at a crossroads. The violence and brutality we are witnessing today demand more than passive observation; they demand collective moral action. The tragedy unfolding in Gaza is not an isolated incident; it is part of a broader pattern of state violence and genocide," insists Giroux.
"It is a global issue, one that transcends borders and affects us all. It is time to acknowledge the atrocities being committed and to act with the urgency that the situation demands."
We are reminded that children of Gaza are not just casualties of a distant conflict; they are the children of humanity, and it is our collective responsibility to ensure their suffering does not continue unchecked and without accountability.
Now that the Zionist regime has left no doubt that it glorifies mass starvation and ethnic cleansing of Gaza’s entire population, the time to dismantle the machinery of death and terrorism is now.
Let there be no dispute nor doubt about the dubious role of major Western powers led by the Trump administration in the US, who continue to arm Israel and abuse global institutions such as the United Nations to protect it from accountability.
We must continue to fearlessly confront corporate powers in South Africa and elsewhere - whether they are linked to political parties or not - as well as academic institutions, media platforms, sporting bodies and others who are engaged in ties with the settler colonial regime.
To be vilified for daring to speak out against Israel's gruesome genocidal actions must be worn as a badge of honour.
Iqbal Jassat is an executive member of the Media Review Network, Johannesburg, South Africa.
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