Lunch
We're eating lunch while we watch man-made mass starvation of Palestinians in Gaza
I wake up, blink my eyes open, fill a glass with water. I grab my phone from the counter, check the time, and read the morning news: “Israel trying to defect blame for starvation in Gaza.”
I stew while I make my cup of tea. I keep checking the news, watching videos of starving children on my phone, squished between Instagram Stories about someone’s summer vacation and a new restaurant in Paris. I re-share a report about Gaza on my Stories, to give myself some sense that I am doing something.
I lather peanut butter on toast while I learn that more people have been killed in Gaza queuing for food than on October 7th.
I get to my laptop and do some work, because while food is being used as a genocidal weapon, I have emails to send, calls to join. I make myself a second cup of tea.
I read about how every international body is denouncing the mass starvation of people in Gaza. I don’t understand how it keeps going. European politicians are now also on their own social media feeds denouncing it. Aren’t they the ones with power? Why are they posting stories and not organising an arms embargo on Israel?
A friend who’s a journalist tells me that she can’t come to lunch on Saturday. She needs a day to decompress after having spent the last days, weeks, months watching videos of Palestinian children and adults starving and listening to voice notes from journalists in Gaza who don’t know what to eat. She needs a break before going back to work on Monday to watch more children starve to death and elderly people faint from hunger.
This is the absurdity of watching a mass human-made starvation event live. We’re all on our phones, looking at these videos, as we eat our lunches. Drink our clean water. Send our emails. Meanwhile, a bag of flour costs $500 in Gaza.
No, we’re not insane, this is the insane, absurd reality in which we live. Take this as your quick reminder that this is not normal. This should never be normal. While the ones who can do something (Ursula Van Der Leyer, Macron, Starmer for example) are not doing anything, we stare at our phones, feeling defeated, hopesless. But, while individually we don’t have the power to put an arms embargo on Israel, here are some things we can do with our anger, because honestly, “the worlds needs a lot more angry young women [and men]”:
Use your status. If you are a European, you are responsible for holding your politicians accountable. In the UK, write to your MP. In France, you can sign this petition and write to your elected official.
Use your body (if you’re able to) and protests to show that you literally stand with people in Gaza.
Use your money. The Sameer Project, Sa7ten and World Food Kitchen are just some of the organisations distributing what little food enters Gaza. You can also donate to individual families. Support Palestinian-led initiatives in your city, like Dirty Lemon in Paris or Zeena Bakery in NY (you can read her story here)
Use your voice. Have some uncomfortable conversations about Palestine. Continue to share in whichever way you can. Text your family, say something at work; write a post you hope will inspire others.
Read and listen to Palestinians. There are some incredible Palestinians (like Lama Obeid) within and outside of Gaza who continue to document about what is happening in Palestine, despite the toll on their safety and security.
Rest. This genocide has been ongoing for 21 months, and we need to continue to showing. To do this, we need to take breaks, pet our dogs, kiss our babies, and have lunch with friends so that we can keep advocating, protesting and donating.