Gaza has gone dark ... and I am very afraid!

[HeidiInTheBigCity]

Tonight, as Gaza has gone dark, tonight, as Gazan civilians have lost that lifeline that used to be "publishing their cries for help to the Internet, as they were literally dying", tonight, as even that option has ceased to exist!

I STAND WITH CIVILIANS!

Not with Hamas!
NOT with the ultra-far-right Israeli government - out for revenge!

Tonight, I STAND WITH CIVILIANS, as innocent men, women and children are dying, collectively punished, for the crime of having been born in the wrong place, at the wrong time!

Tonight, I STAND WITH CIVILIANS, as the families of Israeli hostages watch helplessly, as their missing loved ones are bombed into oblivion, and their own PM has not even bothered to meet with them! Because, once again, revenge has won! Violence has won! Barbarism has won! Death has won!

Tonight, I stand with my friend, a Palestinian-born [what he does for a living] currently getting drunk at a bar in [not where you'd expect] - because he cannot stand watching anymore! We cried together on the phone - it felt nice to know there was someone else out there - but it also felt supremely disempowered and helpless! Tonight, I stand with men, women, boys, girls ... just people, people who want to live!

Tonight, as I recall how utterly terrified I used to be when I, myself, became an accidental witness to the assault on [Palestinian city], some 20 years ago now! I also recall the good times: I recall standing on the rooftop of the [name] family's home, watching flares in the sky, deliberately pretending they were just very bright stars, kissing, and dancing with my fiancé. Snuggling up to him under the wide open sky, as we ignored the sound of shooting in the background, as we just wanted to ... live a little! ... under circumstances that didn't leave much room for living. For life! Knowing we would learn about names of people we knew and the fact that they had been killed while we had been trying to ... just live a little ... as the following day would break!

Tonight, I stand with civilians, realising that this particular, comparatively "fluffy" version of war - a version, make no mistake, that has left me deeply traumatised for life, bittersweet memories aside! - this is just NOT AN OPTION for Gazans tonight!

Tonight, I CRY FOR CIVILIANS! Especially, but not only, for civilians in Gaza!

We have GOT TO DO better!

Note: yes, I have censored a number of data points - because that is how afraid I am! I  am not willing to potentially expose people I consider friends, family even, unnecessarily as I, frankly helplessly, post to the so-called Internet, pleading for their lives or, at the very least: sympathy!

[SeeReality]

This is what evil looks like. Not what it says it looks like.
Don't listen to the words. Look at it.

[Lorelaigilmore88]

Tonight, I stand with the innocent civilians caught up in both sides of the conflict.

[SeeReality]

@Lorelaigilmore88

Tonight, I stand with the innocent civilians caught up in both sides of the conflict.

The murdered, traumatised children are not "caught up".
The murdered, traumatised children are not on two different sides. They are united in humanity. They suffer same pain, same fear.
Life is above "sides".

Let's not divide something that is one.

[Lorelaigilmore88]

@SeeReality

The murdered, traumatised children are not "caught up".
The murdered, traumatised children are not on two different sides. They are united in humanity. They suffer same pain, same fear.
Life is above "sides".

Let's not divide something that is one.

You know exactly what I mean 🙄

[Parkingt111]

This is Gaza right now

[HeidiInTheBigCity]

Please don't make it adversarial.

I was going to say "political" ... but that's impossible! Everything is political in a moment like this! My OP is deeply political, and I get this. It's impossible to be non-political, apolitical, whatever! ... It just doesn't work like that!

But, as Gaza has gone dark (except for these terrifying moments when massive explosions light up the sky as bright as the sun), and as we are watching representatives at the UN General Assembly exchange rhetoric blows over "precise wording" in what must seem like a total farce to anyone directly affected ...

Can we just have this ONE SPACE where we just try to make it about standing in solidarity with people who did not do this, but have been made to suffer?

Kibbutzim, the traditional stronghold (and much of what was left of) a once strong pro-peace Israeli left, that has all but crumbled to a sorry excuse of its former proud self under successive, ever more far-right Israeli governments! Yes, that's right! The Israeli civilian victims are, disproportionately, the people least likely to agree!

Gazans who ... well, their politics don't even actually matter, actually! Which is about all that needs to be said for "how utterly irrelevant those people are considered to be". Humans, just like you and me!

Can we please just have this one space to stand for civilians? To stand for peace (even though we know it's not easy)? To stand for our joint humanity, and shared human decency?

As people are dying: can we at least, please, just have this?

Thank you!

[MrsTerryPratchett]

I agree. There aren't words. No child, no human, should be enduring this.

[Parkingt111]

Latest from BBC

[SeeReality]

@Lorelaigilmore88

You know exactly what I mean 🙄

Yes, I think so. Did not intend for the tone to come across as adversarial.
The exact opposite in fact.
I genuinely don't understand why we need to mention every time the division in terms of sides, when talking about the victims of this. Sometimes it's important of course. But not every time maybe? Am still trying to make sense of the language used.

I hope you know what I mean too.

[Brumbies]

@Lorelaigilmore88

Tonight, I stand with the innocent civilians caught up in both sides of the conflict.

This!

Tonight I stand with my Israeli friends who have lost loved ones in the terrorist massacre undertaken by the Palestinian terrorist group namely Hamas.

[Parkingt111]

Latest update

[Parkingt111]

Sorry here

[MrsTerryPratchett]

And the children being currently bombarded, as well @Brumbies I assume.

I think OP intends this thread (sorry for talking for you) to be about the non-combatants, including those currently unable to even tell people outside Gaza about what's happening.

Can we have a little space on MN to mourn everyone, to care about everyone, to want the 'side' of peace not violence to win?

[AutumnFroglets]

Now we know what actual Hell looks like.

I stand with the Palestinian civilians. RIP 💔

[Parkingt111]

Jeremy corbyn statement
Why can't our current government have even a little compassion like him

[Parker231]

@Brumbies

This!

Tonight I stand with my Israeli friends who have lost loved ones in the terrorist massacre undertaken by the Palestinian terrorist group namely Hamas.

An Israeli life is not worth more than a Palestinian and visa versa. Netanyahu and Hamas are jointly responsible for this tragedy.

[lokimoki]

Tonight I stand with all the civilians squashed in this enclave and carpet bombed. The war crimes that has already been committed and that have been censored by our western media are probably happy now celebrating that they will not have to fire fight other journalists revealing what's really happening from Gaza now since there's a blackout. God help humanity.

[Lorelaigilmore88]

@SeeReality

Yes, I think so. Did not intend for the tone to come across as adversarial.
The exact opposite in fact.
I genuinely don't understand why we need to mention every time the division in terms of sides, when talking about the victims of this. Sometimes it's important of course. But not every time maybe? Am still trying to make sense of the language used.

I hope you know what I mean too.

Yes I do 💐
I'm sat here watching the news, my children upstairs sleeping safely. It feels horrible to imagine.

[Toothyfruity]

I am absolutely terrified tonight for the people in Gaza. I feel sick. It's unimaginable what is happening to them as we speak and what has been done to them in the last 2 and half weeks.

God help them.

[LolaSmiles]

I think OP intends this thread (sorry for talking for you) to be about the non-combatants, including those currently unable to even tell people outside Gaza about what's happening.

Can we have a little space on MN to mourn everyone, to care about everyone, to want the 'side' of peace not violence to win?

This! Over and over and over again.

Most people are rightly horrified at the monstrous level of civilian deaths, civilians whose only crime is to have been born in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Collective punishment is underway here and lines to the outside world have been cut. This should be deeply concerning anyone with a shred of humanity.

[Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr]

I too stand with innocent civilians tonight. What is happening to them is horrifying, and I wish I knew how to help them.

Not even being able to tell the world what is happening to them now, is horrendous.

[Hibambinos]

Praying for all those caught in the conflict. Praying and hoping for peace.

[MrsTerryPratchett]

I work for a non-profit. I keep thinking of them as well as the children. ActionAid and the Red Crescent have said they've lost contact with their aid workers in Gaza. I'm sure many others as well. They must feel desperate.

What a stupid, ugly thing this is.

[xyz111]

I am so vastly uneducated when it comes to this conflict (where it all began many years ago and why). So I don't have a "side" I'm on. But the whole thing is just horrific and I don't understand why western countries are allowing it to happen. I keep thinking about the civilians and how horrendously scary it must be.

[DaftyInTheMiddle]

It is just abhorrent. I cannot bear hearing about more death, more destruction…. For what? No human needs to ensure this.