Feb. 7—February 7 marked four months that Israel’s shocking blood-letting has been underway in Gaza, actions which the International Court of Justice (ICJ) characterized in its Jan. 26 order as a case of “plausible genocide.” The ICJ ordered not only Israel, but all nations that have provided military and other support for the Israeli atrocities, to immediately cease and desist, lest they too be found complicit in the genocide.
But the carnage hasn’t stopped. In fact, at this writing Israeli tanks are poised on the outskirts of Rafah preparing for a bloody ground assault on Gaza’s southernmost city, which now houses over a million people, half of Gaza’s entire population. Israel’s flooding of the Hamas tunnels with seawater has not stopped. The spread of the war beyond Gaza to the Red Sea and to Iraq, Syria and Yemen has not stopped. And the arming of Israel by the United States—which, along with the United Kingdom, has historically used Israel as a kind of hand grenade for its broader geopolitical goals in the region—has certainly not stopped either.
The only thing that has stopped is the Western funding of the crucially important UNRWA, the only lifeline for the meager humanitarian aid still being allowed to enter Gaza. That is a crime against humanity.
Helga Zepp-LaRouche used her weekly Dialogue webcast to respond to this dire crisis, and the causes behind it, by rallying the political forces necessary to bring about fundamental change. The very first question posed to her was: “What can be done to replace the dying system? What can people do to make a difference?”
“I think the first thing is naturally that everything must be done to save the Palestinians,” Zepp-LaRouche began, “who are in an hour-by-hour fight for their lives.”
“On the same day that The Hague International Court of Justice made a ruling that there was ‘plausible genocide’ going on, and ordering the Israeli government to do everything to prevent the genocide, and to report on their progress in this endeavor four weeks later; on that very same day it was ‘discovered’ that there had been so-called collaboration with Hamas by 12 people out of 13,000 UNRWA workers in Gaza.” Zepp-LaRouche explained that UNRWA is the international aid organization solely responsible for maintaining a total of 6 million Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the West Bank, and also Jordan, Lebanon and other countries. The decision to freeze funding of UNRWA by some 18 governments therefore “came down like a death sentence” on all those people, she said.
“Given the fact that this is a genocide happening before our very eyes, I think any person who is not a complete barbarian and a complete moron—and actually a Nuremberg criminal—must help stop this killing. There must be an absolute escalation of international pressure to resume the funding for UNRWA. Even if these 12 individuals did collaborate with Hamas, that is not proportional to the effect it has to cut off the entire funding from UNRWA, because that is a death sentence for the entire Palestinian population,” Zepp-LaRouche insisted.
She urged all listeners to mobilize with the Schiller Institute to demonstrate before the embassies or consulates of these 18 countries, demanding that they resume funding. “Naturally, we must also have an immediate ceasefire, and a two-state solution. And that is actually the overwhelming position of the Arab League, of all the neighbors in the region…. So, join this mobilization.” She suggested that listeners download and circulate the statement “‘Knew or Should Have Known’: Governments Complicit in Genocide Will Not Be Able To Plead Ignorance at the Coming Nuremberg Tribunal”.
Zepp-LaRouche concluded: “On the larger picture, we need a new paradigm of cooperation, because only if we stop this geopolitical confrontation between the so-called West and the so-called Global South, can we end the danger of an escalation to war. So, I can only invite you whole-heartedly to join our efforts, because once you are part of this larger mobilization you can be extremely important. Because it is in a moment of history like this, when the courage and determination of even a few individuals—even though there must be thousands and many thousands—can make the absolute difference.”
