Penny attended the annual British Quaker meeting in May 2025 that became the first British faith group to declare that genocide is being committed by the Israeli government (stressing it is the government not the Israeli or Jewish people). You can read the full minute and discernment here.
Opinions differ widely as to the causes of the current situation in Gaza, and the acceptability of the term “genocide”. What surely all can agree on, however, is that there is a massive humanitarian crisis there with famine in Gaza being declared by the IPC (Integrated Food Security Phase Classification) on 20 August 2025. This is what vitally needs to be addressed.
The following options have been taken from the Quaker webpage on what you can do to help or suggested to me by local friends:
1. Lobby your MP
- Call for an immediate, permanent ceasefire and return of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners.
- Immediately ban all arms sales, direct and indirect, that may be used by the Israeli military in Gaza, including components for F-35 fighter jets.
- Call for unrestricted humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza.
- Send a clear signal that the UK governmnet upholds international law.
- Suspend the UK-Israel Trade and Partnership Agreement (TPA) to halt the privileged trade terms established by the TPA, with trade between the countries (currently worth £5.8bn) continuing, but conducted via World Trade Organization rules.
- Pass urgent legislation to ban all UK trade with and investments in Israeli settlements and ban UK-based companies and financial institutions from engaging in business with settlements or their support structure, in light of the International Court of Justice’s 2024 advisory opinion determination that the occupation of Palestine is illegal.
- Immediately recognise the state of Palestine.
The Red Line for Gaza campaign coordinated by War Child UK and Oxfam GB helps you send weekly emails to your MP covering these issues.
2. Humanitarian charities to support
- UN World Food Programme watch short facebook reel
- World Central Kitchen scaling up to provide 1m meals a day in Gaza
- Medical Aid for Palestine
- Comet-ME provides renewable energy, clean water, connectivity and surveillance cameras (to provide evidence in the courts of settler violence), for off-grid Palestinian communities.
3. Find out who your money is helping
- Boycat ethical shopping app helps you check the companies behind the products before you buy
- Who Profits
- Investigate – are there human rights violations hidden in your investments?
- Boycott of Barclays and Tesco (owned by Barclays) banks – existing account holders to close their accounts on 25 September 2025.
- Investing for Peace
4. Peace vigils and protests
Quakers believe that “attending public events such as protests and vigils shows those on the receiving end of violence that they are not being forgotten”. They provide this advice for anyone wanting to attend a peaceful public event for the first time.
There is a Peace Vigil in Newbury marketplace every Thursday evening at 7.30pm. You can join its facebook group here.
peacepilgrimage.org.uk is a national group that organises pilgrimages for peace, and as an act of witness against the arms trade.
5. Related links:
Multi-faith supporters of Gaza:
- Rabbis For Human Rights in Israel and the Occupied Territories.
- Sabeel-Kairos Christian-based UK charity committed to supporting peace and justice in the Holy Land.
- US Green Beret Veteran Tony Aguilar details war crimes in Gaza
- Palestinian Solidarity Campaign
- Peter Beinart: Being Jewish after the destruction of Gaza, A Reckoning interviw with US TV host Jon Stewart.
- Palestinian poet Mosan Abu Toha talks to Jon Stewart.
- Jewish Voice for Peace
- B’Tselem – Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories
- B’Tselem Chair: Orly Noy left-wing Mizrahi activist, writer and editor, translates Farsi poetry and prose into Hebrew.
- Physicians for Human Rights – Israel
- BBC Article about B’Tselem & PHRI
Who is profiting from the crisis?
- From economy of occupation to economy of genocide (the full text report) by Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese for the UN Human Rights Commission.
- Three-minute news summary of the report
- 60 minute interview with Francesca Albanese about the report
Global perspective
Tragically people are suffering around the world:
One Response
I would strongly contest the assertion that there is doubt about the acceptable use of the term “genocide” in the context of Gaza. From my perspective, it has been clear since almost the beginning that the clearance of Gaza and its people was the intended plan, based on the rhetoric from Israel. There is no ambiguity on this point.
The reason most Westminster politicians avoid using the term “genocide” is due to the obligations under international law that would require them to act against Israel. The response to October 7th has been neither proportional nor legal, and the killing of civilians is unacceptable at all times. It’s worth noting that Hamas leaders have also been indicted for their killings.
I believe the financial contributions to UK and US politicians significantly influence the continued support for what I consider to be a genocide. Gaza has become a testing ground for the arms industry. It raises the question of how long it will be before similar drones are deployed along the US-Mexico border or in the Mediterranean. We can learn a lot about how the powerful would treat all of us by observing how they treat those with the least power.
When people reflect on how the Nazis gained power and what they would have done in that period, I believe the answer is that we would be doing exactly what we are doing now.
I am happy for you to quote me directly: “It is a genocide, and the British political class is complicit.”