GAZA IN 2025

I read, I write, I rally for Gaza because I know that for the killing of Palestinians to stop, my voice, and that of many others, needs to be heard, and continue to be heard.

This is a war that should have stopped months ago. It is a war that should not have started, along with any war that has ever been. In particular, no war should have started during my lifetime: the horrors of past wars are well documented and inform the literature, the poetry, the art and the human rights messaging of peoples across the globe.

When there is a campaign to stop a war, I am likely to join in. I marched against the invasion by the US of Iraq in 2003 and the invasion of Ukraine by Russia in 2022. I sometimes feel I am marching or writing on behalf of the thousands of New Zealanders who share the same views, but for one reason or another would not join a rally or march or write to politicians, and perhaps never enter into a conversation about conflict between groups of people or about human rights abuses.

I receive emails about Gaza not only from Amnesty International but also from the Palestine Solidarity Action Network, Médecins Sans Frontières, UNICEF and more, all deploring this war, and highlighting attacks by the Israeli Defense Force on hospitals and health workers, journalists, and civilians trying to access aid. I hear about the opposition to this war from ordinary Israelis, both within and outside Israel, and, increasingly, from the Israeli military, and I hear that there are more soldiers refusing to fight.

I find it hard to understand Western politicians, including ours in Aotearoa New Zealand, who have continued to voice support for Israel.

Today, we know there are better ways to solve problems than to hurt and kill each other. This is why, today and tomorrow, I take action for Gaza.

Amnesty International Aotearoa New Zealand has teams in action every week for Gaza. If you feel as strongly about the genocide in Gaza as Audrey does, email info@amnesty.org.nz and we'll link you to the team taking action in your community. It takes a community to maintain the pressure we need to effect change and just one person adding their voice to ours can make all the difference.