Thread by @IlhanMN

Gaza’s 2+ million population are mostly children, who live under blockade in what Israel’s own former intelligence chief has called an open air prison.

The overwhelming majority live in poverty.

Many suffer lifelong psychological and physical trauma. 🧵

https://twitter.com/me_observer_/status/1711371211857334439?s=46&t=VBI7_q6AaAz6AxwZ7bcHLw

Just as we honor the humanity of the hundreds of innocent Israeli civilians and 9 Americans who were killed this weekend, we must honor the humanity of the innocent Palestinian civilians who have been killed and whose lives are upended.

Palestinian residents of the West Bank have scarcely better lives than Gazans—with the routine destruction of their ancestral homes, destruction of their crops, and violent attacks by Israeli settlers.

According to Amnesty International, Human Rights watch, the UN, and Israeli human rights group B’Tselem these policies meet the definition of apartheid. We know occupation and systematic apartheid are a violation of international law and it must end.

Palestinians have few recourses for justice and accountability. Attacks by the IDF and settlers against Palestinians are regularly met with impunity. Efforts to seek justice in international courts are stonewalled by the Israeli government, with U.S. support.

As the world is condemning Hamas’s attacks, we must also oppose an Israeli military response that has already taken the lives of hundreds of Palestinians, including nearly two dozen children.

The Israeli Defense Minister has called Palestinians ‘human animals’ and promised to cut off all electricity, all food, and all fuel to civilians in Gaza.

This is collective punishment, a war crime, and the U.S. should oppose any violations of international law if we truly support a rules-based international order.

We must learn from the mistakes of our own war on terror—that military action alone rarely addresses the root causes. That peace and justice will not come from the barrel of a gun.

And that targeting an entire civilian population will only sow more discord and perpetuate the cycle of violence.

The solution to this horror, as ever, is a negotiated peace—with Israelis and Palestinians enjoying equal rights and security guarantees.

Instead of continuing unconditional weapons sales and military aid to Israel, I urge the United States at long last to use its diplomatic might to push for peace.