The scenes in Gaza are like scenes from the Warsaw Ghetto. The situation is worsening exponentially every single day. People are collapsing in what remains of the streets, their organs failing, dying on the spot from prolonged starvation.

Under international law, starvation must never be used as a weapon of war. But this isn’t war, this is genocide, and Israel is using starvation as a weapon of genocide.

I do not see how any of us can be going about our lives as if this isn’t happening. This is the 21st century and yet governments in this supposedly “free world” are perfectly OK with Israel’s deliberate starvation of every person in Gaza. This is a cancer — if it’s OK in Gaza, it’s OK anywhere.

Palestine needs to be at the forefront of every anti-Trump rally. I don’t care if it makes someone “uncomfortable.” We all need to get out of our comfort zones. There is nothing complicated here. Trucks are lined up at the border with food and water. Israel denies them entry. The so-called “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation” is funded by our tax dollars just like the bombs Israel has dropped on Gaza for almost 22 months. Israeli and U.S. mercenaries are shooting and gassing desperate men, women and children as they line up to receive meager aid packages.

I don’t write these words to make anyone feel guilty. There is no time to feel guilty. Get out in the streets, get creative and make our voices heard every day.

Jamila Levasseur
Waldo