Pat Mancini

The Palestinian Journalist Amal Shamali, was killed in an Israeli army airstrike last night on the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.

The story of the Abu Nasser family reflects the lived reality of countless Palestinian families. Entire bloodlines erased, homes reduced to rubble, and corpses remain under the rubble for months or are pulverized by US-made bombs. When the massacre and war crime took place on October 29, 2024, much of the Western media, particularly in the country supplying the bombs, remained largely silent. There were no urgent headlines, no sustained outrage, no prime-time panels demanding answers. Shame on that silence and complicity. Over 200 people were killed. No one was held accountable. No independent investigation brought justice to the victims. Instead, more war crimes unfolded in broad daylight, as the world watched, or chose not to. Now, after 474 days, the family has managed to recover the remains of more than 67 loved ones from beneath the rubble. Imagine that: 474 days of digging, waiting, identifying fragments of those once held, loved, and known. And still, their suffering is met with indifference by the media and officials. And still, there is no accountability. Shame on the media’s silence and complicity.

Yesterday, Zionist settler thugs attacked the village of Birzeit, near Ramallah. They uprooted trees and deliberately let their flocks loose on Palestinian families’ lands—lands that are not only a source of livelihood, but a source of dignity and rootedness. When one woman from the village dared to shout at them and confront them, the settlers attacked her. She was attcked and had to be hospitalized and was placed in intensive care. Thank God, today her condition is stable. When her son and other relatives saw what was happening, they did what any human being would do: they rushed to defend her and pushed the attackers away. Now here is the real question: What did the Israeli army do? They did not arrest the settlers. They did not protect the family. They did not stop the attack. Instead, they beat the Palestinians and arrested the son who defended his mother. As of now, we have no news about him. Let us call this what it is: Zionist terrorism. The problem is not only the settlers. The problem is the system that empowers them. The problem is the immunity they enjoy. The problem is the protection they receive from the army. The problem is the ideology that sees Palestinians as disposable, as obstacles, as people without rights. This is not an isolated incident. This is happening everywhere in the West Bank. Day after day. Village after village. Family after family. Farmers, shepherds, children, elderly people—all are victims of this organized lawlessness. The family I mentioned happens to be Christian. But let no one think this is about Christians or Muslims. This is about Palestinians. All of us. We are all now exposed. All unprotected. All living under a system where the attacker is shielded and the victim is punished. This is injustice in its naked, brutal form. A system that protects violent settlers and arrests a son for defending his mother is not a system of law. It is a system of oppression and apartheid. Lord, have mercy.

What is happening in Gaza has shaken the conscience of the world. Man-made famine can never be a weapon of war. This must stop. EU aid to Gaza far outweighs that of any other partner. But of course, Europe needs to do more. Here are measures for a way forward ↓