Monday 28 July 2014

Peace Vigil for Gaza

After last weekend's huge demonstration in Cardiff and smaller events in Machynlleth and Bangor, an unexpectedly large number of people turned out in Carmarthen this evening to call for peace in Gaza. Among the speakers were Catrin Dafydd, Mererid Hopwood and Menna Elfyn, and there were powerful contributions from others, including Mrs Devra Appelbaum, one of the very few Jewish people living in the town.

Devra reminded us that not all Jews and not all Israelis support what the Israeli government is doing.

That so many turned out on a Monday evening, young and old, shows the depth of revulsion and horror which many, many people in Wales feel about what is happening there.

There have been so many shocking images of the death and destruction being wrought in Gaza that words seem inadequate, but the following short report by Jon Snow on Saturday's Channel 4 News is one of the most moving and eloquent testimonies imaginable.







8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Its a terrible situation in Gaza but I would make two observations.

If Hamas stopped attacking Israel they would not be attacked - no sovereign state could accept a situation where they are subject to rocket attack without striking back.

Clearly the huge underlying issues need to be sorted but I'm afraid attacking Israel is not an answer because they will always respond with vicious force.

Secondly Jon Snow is a news reader - paid to impart information. I do not want him to display emotion. I want him to be an impartial presenter of news and information and be an impartial chair of discussions on issues.

There is something wrong when the news reader becomes the news I think.

Cneifiwr said...

By any measure what the Israeli government is doing is a crime against humanity, and it is being done for petty internal political reasons - Nethanyahu needs to show his supporters that he is tough.

The West could and should bring massive pressure to bear to make Israel back down.

Y Cneifiwr will be going off line for a few days, and this blog will not be updated until the weekend.

Anonymous said...

Sadly annonymous @8.19 is right.It is the terrorist organisation who is basing its rockets among the civilian population who are putting their people at risk.Hundreds of rockets have been fired and it is only because Israel has the capacity to intercept that there have been few casualties. Inspite of this there is always a chance of this failing and no state would tolerate
that.There is no peace with a state that continues to put its population at risk and will continue to do so.This post in no way denies the level of suffering endured in Gaza which is shocking but terrorist organisations will never stop acting as we have seen all over the world.

Anonymous said...

Talkin about chair,that sofa on top of that hill overlooking
Gaza so people could sit in comfort to watch the slaughter
over the border did not do Israeil's image any good around the world,not that it's bad enough already.The
problems in the Middle East won't be solved for years
if ever,too much hatred for each other,the history goes
back a long time,and look who the peace envoy is.

Amos Holmes said...

dear Anonymous
Indeed there is something wrong when a respected and very professional newsreader becomes emotional, there is something wrong when a UN spokesman that has probably seen many terrible things, breaks down crying in an interview regarding the slaughter of innocents at the hands of the brutal and systematic genocide in Gaza. There is something very very wrong when a state born out of genocide and the most horrific war crimes and inhumanity becomes their creator

Anonymous said...

what about things back home 1914-1918 War tonight WE WILL REMEMBER THEM switch off your lights tonight 22:00 --- 23:00 Please

Anonymous said...

I think it was Meir Golda who said this truth " until the palestine government start loving their children and stop hating Israel then there will be no peace "

Anonymous said...

At the risk of being branded anti-semitic (a cheap shot), those who call Hamas 'terrorists' should remember that former Israeli PM Menachem Begin's notorious Irgun organisation was branded terrorists by the UN, being responsible for killing numerous British servicemen, countless Arabs and, in one attack, 91 civilians in the 1946 bombing of the King David Hotel. Many thousands of Palestinians were killed or turned out of their homes - still are, indeed, in the West Bank - as Jews recreated a country destroyed by the Romans almost 2,000 years ago. Gaza is a massive refugee camp (many third generation) hemmed in by Israel on one side, blockaded by Israeli warships on the other, with a military government in Egypt to the south. Nearly two million people live on a piece of land much smaller in size than Ceredigion. Israel has one of the most powerful armed forces in the world, bolstered by billions of dollars of American aid every year. Oh yes - and it has nuclear weapons... But there can be no winners in this. Israel's actions can only lead to greater instability and hatred in the Middle East - which will create more conflict in the future, as reasonable Israelis recognise with horror. Sadly, the Zionist hard-liners ignore this. They still live in Old Testament times and would activate the 'Samson Option' (Samson being history's first 'suicide bomber') by using nuclear weapons, if necessary.