By Nurah Tape – The Palestine Chronicle 
“What’s happening in Gaza is unconscionable, an indescribable horror. And for Jews to be associated with this genocide is just not on.”
A representative of a British-based Jewish group critical of Israeli policy has said it is time for Jews to stand up and say “Israel does not speak in our name.”
“What’s happening in Gaza is unconscionable, an indescribable horror. And for Jews to be associated with this genocide is just not on,” Glyn Secker, an executive committee member of Jews for Justice for Palestinians (JJP) told The Palestine Chronicle.
“And so it’s really important for us now, more than ever, to stand up and say that Israel does not speak in our name,” Secker stressed. “It’s a total violation, not only of Jewish principles, but of all human principles of humanity.”
Secker explained that he was the captain of “the only Jewish boat” that attempted to challenge the siege of Gaza in 2010, shortly after the Turkish Mavi Marmara was attacked by Israeli forces in international waters.
“We were and still are, the only Jewish boat that has attempted this, so I’m very proud about that,” he said, speaking on the sidelines of the first Global Anti-Apartheid Conference on Palestine held in South Africa from May 10 – 12.
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Secker said Israel’s attack on Gaza is “a total outrage, and we have to dissociate ourselves from it.”
He stressed: “We have to make it extremely clear that there’s no exceptionalism. Israel doesn’t have the right to be exempt from international moral standards and international law.
And on that basis, we will criticize Israel and the perpetrators of these crimes with all the strength that we can muster.”
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The conference, Secker said, was “an opportunity for us Jewish groups to come together to endorse this new movement, this co-ordination that’s starting. I think it’s important for us as Jewish groups …. This presents us with some very practical objectives around which we can cohere.”
According to its website, JJP is made up of more than 3,000 Jews in Britain who believe the “humanitarian values of Judaism have been corrupted by the Israeli state’s abuses of human rights,” and that it is “crucial that Jews speak out for Palestinians’ human rights.”
"What's happening in Gaza is unconscionable, an indescribable horror. And for Jews to be associated with this genocide is just not on.
"“And so it's really important for us now, more than ever, to stand up and say that Israel does not speak in our name.
“It's a total violation,… pic.twitter.com/bfHbfTXpFo
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) May 20, 2024
Johannesburg Declaration
The conference which aimed “to hold Israel accountable for its crimes against the Palestinian people, and to work to dismantle Israeli apartheid,” was attended by delegates from across the civil society sector, government, religious bodies and solidarity movements.
Speakers included Naledi Pandor, South Africa’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation; Yvonne Dausab, Namibia’s Justice Minister; Mustafa Barghouti, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council; Dr Ahmet Davutoğlu, the former Turkish Prime Minister; and Declan Kearney, Chairperson of the Ireland’s Sinn Fein party.
The Johannesburg Declaration on Israel’s Settler-Colonialism, Apartheid and Genocide was issued at the conclusion of the conference.
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“We, inspired by, and many of us having been part of, the global Anti-Apartheid Movement that helped end apartheid in South Africa and Namibia, now rise, as the continuation of that movement, to confront the settler-colonialism and apartheid of Israel and its backers,” the Declaration stated.
The Conference Declaration vowed “to ensure Israel and those complicit in its genocide are held accountable (and) to support the struggle for the liberation of the Palestinian people.”
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Ongoing Genocidal Assault
Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7 and is currently on trial at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for its actions in the enclave.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 35,562 Palestinians have been killed and 79,652 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
– Nurah Tape is a South Africa-based journalist. She is an editor with The Palestine Chronicle.
