Today the Resistance Kitchen proudly flew the Palestinian flag in solidarity with the people of Gaza, with the following message on display both on our sandwich board and Reflection Table:
Message Of Solidarity
As an organisation dedicated to fighting hunger and injustice, the Resistance Kitchen can not remain silent whilst our government arms an apartheid regime that uses the weapon of hunger against a captive population of 2.2 million, half of which are children.
Malcolm X once said “If you’re not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.” His words ring true today more that ever before. This conflict didn’t start on Saturday, Palestinians have been suffereing atrocities every single day for the last 75 years, ever since their land was stolen by European settlers. Please remember that when watching the news spin.
These are the facts:
Call for Genocide
Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant on Monday declared Israel’s genocidal policy for Gaza, saying “There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed..We are fighting human animals, and we act accordingly.” Entire towns and families have been wiped out by bombing raids concentrated on built-up, residential areas.
Unprecedented Bombing
Gaza is roughly 4x the size of our borough of Croydon, yet has nearly 6x the population. Since Saturday Israel has dropped over 6,000 bombs on Gaza – over 4,000 tonnes of explosives. Marco Garlasco, former UN war crimes investigator has said “Israel is doing in less than a week what the US was dropping on Afghanistan in a year”.
As of Thursday, more than 1,500 Palestinians have been killed, including over 500 children and 276 women, while all food, energy, and water has been cut off, leaving residents of the Gaza strip facing starvation.
Schools, Mosques & Churches targeted
The UN reports that at least 90 schools, 11 mosques, and 7 churches have been bombed. 10 UN shelters, whose location coordinates had been provided to Israel to avoid, have been targeted and destroyed.
Weaponising Water
Former Israeli General Giora Eiland said that Israel “must create an unprecedented humanitarian disaster in Gaza”, saying that the “ultimate tool” is damage to the water system. Before the recent attack, 97% of drinking water in Gaza was already unfit for human consumption, now the UN reports that Israel has targeted Gaza’s few remaining water and sanitation facilities – 6 water wells, 3 water pumping stations, 1 water reservoir, and 1 desalination plant serving more than 1.1 million people have been bombed. Thirst and hunger are the weapons of choice.
Cutting water to the Gaza Strip will also lead to the spread of disease as thousands of displaced Palestinians gather in schools to seek shelter, with no access to toilets, showers, or drinking water.
Hospitals turning into morgues
The World Health Organization has documented 19 hospitals have been bombed, 20 ambulances targeted, resulting in 11 doctors being killed. The Red Cross reports that hospitals are turning into morgues. “As Gaza loses power, hospitals lose power, putting newborns in incubators and elderly patients on oxygen at risk. Kidney dialysis stops, and X-rays can’t be taken,” said Fabrizio Carboni, the ICRC’s director for the region.
Using outlawed White Phosphorus
Human Right Watch has reported that Israel is once again using outlawed White Phosphorus against crowded civilian areas causing “excruciating burns and lifelong suffering”. White Phosphorus sticks to the skin and burns at 800-2500°C causing deep burns down to the bone, and remnants in the tissue can reignite.
Ethnic Cleansing
More than 423,000 people have been forced to flee their homes, and Israel is demanding another 1.1 million leave their homes within 24 hours or be killed. The only crossing from Egypt to Gaza has been bombed several times, trapping the population as neighbourhoods are levelled and the population massacred.
Second Nakba worse than ’48
The people of Gaza are preparing for far worse to come as 360,000 Israeli troops amass on the borders of Gaza waiting to be deployed to implement what some in the Israeli regime have called “a Nakba that will overshadow the Nakba of ’48”, when thousands of Palestinians were massacred by Zionist militias and over 750,000 were ethnically cleansed from their lands to make way for the creation of Israel. Israeli army chief told local News that “Gaza is going to be razed to the ground”, that the besieged enclave would be reduced to a “city of tents” – no building would remain standing in the region.
For some in the Israeli regime even this isn’t enough, they are demanding nuclear strikes to wipe Gaza off the map, saying “destroying neighbourhood’s in the Gaza strip would not be enough”.
War Crimes & Genocide
This collective punishment of a civilian population amounts to war crimes under international law, as well as a crime against humanity and the crime of genocide.
Our government, along with the US is cheerleading Israel’s attacks on Gaza, giving it cover to commit genocide in front of our eyes.
The Resistance Kitchen condemns the government’s complicity in Israel’s war crimes, and demands it stop arming this genocidal apartheid regime.
We stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine.
Resistance Kitchen,
Thursday 12th October 2023
Flying The Flag
Infuriated by the diktat given to the police by the home secretary, Suella Braverman, urging them to criminalise even the flying of the Palestinian flag, we looked for the largest Palestinian flag we could find to fly on Norbury High Street. It’s important to defend our right to free speech, to show solidarity with the oppressed.
As we unfurled the 9 foot flag on a 16 foot pole, we were overwhelmed with support from all corners of our community. Our guests welcomed our stance, and passers-by stopped to thank us for showing support to the Palestinians suffering under Israel’s genocidal siege. Several offered to donate to the Resistance Kitchen, we thanked them but explained we cannot take monetary donations – only non-perishable food for our guests. Many cars hooted in support, windows rolled down shouting “free Palestine!”. Shop keepers came out and greeted us, shaking our hands for adorning their street with the Palestinian flag. One showed us their premises and offered us use of their facilities should we require, “we have a small kitchen, if you need hot water, electricity, etc.. please come..”.
We were touched, but not surprised, by the outpouring of support for Palestine, it’s the cause of our time. Ordinary people are no longer fooled by the propaganda machine, they understand in their hearts who is the oppressor and who is the oppressed, and they choose to stand with the oppressed.
