30 Reasons
For the past months, I have spent most of my free time talking, reading, and asking questions about the situation in the Middle East, the Palestinian and Israeli conflict, Israel’s colonialization, the Israeli occupation, Israel’s attempt to secure its so-called promised land, Israel’s genocide. Conversations with different people exposed me to contrasting definitions and points of views.
For me, a privileged white German, war became part of my reality for the very first time on October 7th. We are so damn privileged, we Europeans. With an Israeli boyfriend at that time, having spent considerable amounts of time in Israel and having lost a friend in the brutal attacks of the 7th of October, I couldn’t any longer deny that all of this became personally affecting. Still, as a European and specifically as a German, I struggled in finding my voice in this. This is not my story, I thought. It was not my place to speak.
So instead, I’ve spent every second in the past months trying to understand, getting to the bottom of something that might seem bottomless, trying to understand why it is so hard to acknowledge everyone’s right to exist in peace and freedom. We are all human, after all.
I thought for a very long time that only by understanding every aspect of this “conflict,” hearing the different perspectives and by asking everyone affected by this could I get a full picture and try to comprehend. But the more I dug, the more I asked, the more mismatched the narratives became. And while I tried to relate to every aspect that I heard and acknowledge every point of view, I started a dangerous balancing act that made me realize the stupidity of my undertaking: I heard so many points of views on this, so many opinions and voices, that I lost track of what I believe in. What I stand for.
It is easy, specifically for Germans, to be silenced. We carry the burden of our heritage with us, growing up knowing that our ancestors are guilty. I am aware of the special responsibility that we have to make sure this will happen NEVER AGAIN. But it is clear that this ought to be a NEVER AGAIN for anyone.
When I was ten, my mom gave me a book, and wrote on the front page “What do you believe? Here’s what I believe.” It was an Amnesty International adopted version for kids of the Universal Declaration of the Human Rights. Despite being old enough to grasp the complexities of the adult version by now, it was only recently, when I flipped through the illustrated pages, that I realized I do have a voice and I can form a stance:
Article 19: We all have the right to form an opinion, to speak about it publicly and to exchange it with other people. It doesn’t matter that I do not know what it feels like to grow up in the Middle East, it does not matter that I was not constantly exposed to the effects and impact that growing up in the region would have on the rest of my life. I have a voice in this even though I am looking at it for the first time in my life, from my privileged, naïve European upbringing. I can form a stance and stand up for what I believe in.
I have a voice in this even though I am looking at it for the first time in my life, from my privileged, naïve European upbringing. I can form a stance and stand up for what I believe in.
Article 1 & 2: We are all born free and equal, we all have our own opinions and ideas. We should be treated equally. These rights are for everyone. In 2019 Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu published a post broadcasting “Israel is not a state of all its citizens […] Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people and only them” (Amnesty International, 2022).
Article 3: We all have the right to a life in Freedom and Security. Now even scholars like Amos Goldberg, a researcher for Holocaust and Genocide studies, writes in his essay about “Israel’s deliberate starvation of the Gazan Population [...], the denial of their rights […] and the so-called “safe haven zones” that have become deliberate death tramps and extermination zones,” and that no one can “any longer avoid the conclusion that Israel’s actions in Gaza are genocide” (Goldberg, 2024).
Article 5 & 12: Nobody is allowed to hurt or torture us. Nobody is allowed to hurt our reputation, intrude our houses, open our letters, or molest our families. The Civil Administration, in charge of the civilian aspects of the IDF’s military regime in the West Bank, has the ultimate power in the region. There are thousands of testimonies of ex-IDF soldiers about the use of violence, psychological abuse, intimidation, settler aggression, the beating up of children, using illegitimate monitoring and surveillance practices, and the deliberate assassination of civilians… (Breaking the Silence, 2014).
Article 6 & 7: We all have the same right to use the law. The law is for everyone and it has to be fair. There are over 50 laws in Israel that discriminate against Palestinians, amongst others concerning the access to land, civil rights, education, and the use of state funds (NGO Adalah, 2015).
Article 8 & 9: If our rights are violated, we have the right to fair and capable judges. Nobody is allowed to imprison us, without valid reason, keep us captive, or expel us from the country. According to the Human Rights Council, thousands of Palestinians, including children, are detained in Israeli prisons without charge or trial (United Nations, 2023).
Article 13: We all have the right to move freely within our country, and to travel abroad. The closure system imposed by Israeli authorities within the OPT since the mid-1990s allows Israel to control all entry and exit points in the West Bank and all movement of people into and out of the Gaza Strip (Amnesty International, 2023).
Article 15: We all have the right to be citizens of a state. Since 1948 the forceful displacement of Palestinians has been advancing through brutal occupation and systematic violation of Human Rights, leaving generations of Palestinians with no prospect of returning to their homes (Amnesty International, 2024).
Article 20: We all have the right to meet with our friends and to advocate for our rights peacefully. Since the 7th of October, multiple Israeli universities and colleges have initiated dozens of disciplinary actions against Palestinian students including expelling, suspending, and expulsion for merely expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people in Gaza (Adahla’s Annual Report, 2023). Since the 17th of October, Palestinian citizens have been banned from participating in demonstrations (Police Commissioner Shabtai, 2023).
Article 25: We have the right to a good life. Mothers and children are entitled to special care and assistance. Israel has been using starvation as a weapon of war, having the severest impacts on children, and pregnant or breastfeeding mothers (Human Rights Watch, 2024).
Article 26: Everyone has the right to education. By today, over 80% of the schools in Gaza have been damaged or completely destroyed (UN, 2024).
Article 29: We are obligated to protect the rights and freedom of other populations. But what can I do as an individual? How can I make a change in something that seems to be so firmly entrenched in an unjust, structural system? I feel like the wheel of a huge truck is standing on my head.
The Genocide Convention confronts with a sobering notion: “Stopping genocide against the will of national leaders normally requires their overthrow from within, or armed intervention” (Genocide Watch, 2023). However, the UN Charter mentions that “targeted sanctions, complete or partial interruption of economic relations as well as the severance of diplomatic relations” may reduce genocide and restore peace and security (UN Charter, Chapter 7 & 8).
Following the example of the South African Anti-Apartheid movement from the 1950s, the BDS movement (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) is a Palestinian-led inclusive, anti-racist human rights movement that is opposed on principle to all forms of discrimination (BDS Movement, 2014). BDS calls for applying nonviolent pressure on Israel until it satisfies three conditions to comply with international law: (1) ending the occupation and colonialization of Arab land, (2) recognizing the fundamental rights of Arab-Palestinians citizens of Israel to full equality and (3) Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties, as assured in the UN Resolution in 1948.
BDS is a set of tools, not a dogma, that aims at ending complicity and is by principle non-violent. BDS is not antisemitic, it does not target individuals but the state of Israel due to its violations of international law, and as a state everyone has the right to criticize its unjust actions. A growing number of Jewish-Israelis support and advocate for BDS. That the BDS movement hurts Palestinians is not only a patronizing argument, but it also overlooks the fact that all main Palestinian trade unions, civil and representational bodies support the movement (BDS, 2024). Israel’s academic institutions are deeply complicit and are a major pillar in every aspect of Israel’s occupation and apartheid, including its justification, development, and expansion (Wind, 2024). Therefore, academic boycott also plays an important role.
The boycott movement was a central aspect of the international opposition to the Apartheid system in South Africa. In the 1960s the Dutch government adopted strict measures to urge all companies to discontinue their business with South Africa. Moreover, the disinvestment strategies, oil embargo, and academic boycott were pivotal and eventually helped to dismantle the apartheid in South Africa (Rose and Rose, 2002). Just like once in South Africa, the use of boycotts, disinvestment, and sanctions have the potential to effectively put pressure on Israel and oppose the apartheid and occupation.
I may not have a definite answer on the most effective and immediate way to maximize my personal impact for actual change. Yet, as Joe Sacco pointed out more than two decades ago, “As I write this […] nothing has changed in the state of occupation and all its consequences that the oppression of one people by another entails.” Things will continue this way “as long as the main problem – the Israeli occupation – is not perceived and treated as a matter of international law and human rights” (Joe Sacco, 2001).
We can no longer deny that this is an international concern involving us all.
We can no longer deny that this is an international concern involving us all. And while I understand that I will never fully comprehend every aspect of it because I will never know what it means to be Palestinian or Israeli, I have come to see not only that this not necessary, but also that forming a stance is very straightforward and not difficult at all.
It is not complicated because Article 30: Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms.
It is not complicated because my responsibility is evident: the logical implication of rights are duties. Article 29: We have a duty to other people and we should protect their rights and freedoms. We have to stand up against Israel, following the brave Palestinians that speak out against the genocide, the occupation, settler colonialism, and apartheid. Be it by supporting BDS, by attending protests, writing to representatives demanding immediate actions, or by listening to and amplifying Palestinian voices.
It is not complicated because here’s what I believe in: All humans are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and consciences and should act towards one another in a spirit of solidarity.
Due to space constraints some Articles have been omitted. Note that there are also violations of the not-mentioned Human Rights.