We are only powerless if we remain silent

32,000+ Palestinian deaths are an excruciating agony beyond any measure of humanity, and that genocidal toll continues to mount daily. To think of all the children killed, maimed, starved and orphaned tears at the soul.

Six months on, still we mourn and anguish for the 1200+ men, women and children who were callously terrorized, murdered and abducted in Israel on October 7th. For whom there has been no justice.

And now, 'car by car'. Now we are wrecked by this despicable, calculating and deliberate, cold-blooded murder of seven aid workers. They dared bring food to the starving. They were hunted down by rockets. It defies belief. Yet it is our reality. Our reality.

Every single one of these lives matter. The 32,000 lives. The 1200 lives. The 7 lives.

Yet how many lives, in particular WHOSE LIFE, will finally be enough to end this? Surely there is a limit. Surely?

It was enough so very long ago, long before October 7 in fact. But it is an eternity far beyond enough now. The world must find its backbone. Leaders must find their conviction. International law must finally be made to soar.

Enough with immoral equivocating. Enough with meaningless dismay. Enough with empty words. Enough with resolutions that go nowhere. Enough with watching and not acting.

Where are the emergency G7 and G20 meetings? Where are the daily Biden calls to Netanyahu? Where are the real consequences to end the madness of genocide and occupation? End all arms shipments? Trade sanctions? Travel bans? International Criminal Court and other charges, trials and convictions? And so much more…

Where is a united world, making it clear that it ends now? Not only in Gaza, but also in Sudan, in Haiti, in Ukraine, in DRC, in Syria. Not only for Palestinians and Israelis, but for the Rohingya and the Uyghurs, the women of Afghanistan and refugees turned away at so many borders.

The world of universal human rights has long been promised and long been betrayed. No leader, in Canada or any other country, deserves to lead unless they are prepared to deliver on that promise, every minute of every day. No excuses. No trade-offs. No half measures.

This is not about other peoples and other conflicts. This is about us all. We are witness and we are complicit. We are watching real time genocide in Gaza. Acknowledge and claim that. We must. We cannot lie or pretend. We know.

And we are only powerless if we remain silent.