By Palestine Chronicle Staff  

The activists demanded an arms embargo on Israel as well as a halt of all new oil and gas licenses.

Protesters of the Youth Demand group replaced on Wednesday a Pablo Picasso painting at the National Gallery in London with that of a Palestinian mother to demand a two-way arms embargo on Israel and the halt of all new oil and gas licenses granted since 2021, according to a statement by the group.

The two young activists of the group covered the 1901 Picasso’s ‘Motherhood’ (La Maternité) painting with that of a Palestinian mother from Gaza clutching her child before spilling red paint on the floor of the National Gallery in reference to the bloodshed in the one-year-old genocide in Gaza.

The two activists were identified as Jai Halai and Monday-Malachi Rosenfeld, the statement said.

Halai is a 23-year-old National Health Service (NHS) employee while Rosenfeld is a 21-year-old student studying politics at Greenwich University.

The two entered room 43 of the prestigious National Gallery around noon in an act of protest to highlight the “blatant war crimes & Western complicity,” a post by the group on X read.

The two young activists plastered the Palestinian mother’s photograph over the protective glass cover of Picasso’s painting.

The Palestinian Mother’s Photo

According to the group’s statement, the plastered photo is one that was taken by Anadolu news agency’s photojournalist Ali Jadallah, depicting a distressed Palestinian mother from Gaza holding her bloodied child following an Israeli airstrike on Al-Shifa Hospital at the start of the genocide in the enclave in 2023.

 “A mom holds [her] injured child after an Israeli attack, as Israeli airstrikes continue on twelfth day, at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City”, Jadallah’s caption read according to Youth Demand’s statement.

Activists replaced the Picasso 'Motherhood' painting at the National Gallery in London with the image of a Palestinian Mother and Child.

via @youth_demand pic.twitter.com/JxjCBqweIn

— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) October 10, 2024

Activists Speak Out

 “I’m taking action with Youth Demand because at this point it’s been over a year of seeing my colleagues in the healthcare field decimated by bombs and bullets,” Jai Halai said in a post on the group’s account on X.

“We need a two-way arms embargo on Israel now; 87% of the British public support this, but our government continues to arm Israel. Direct action is our duty as young people. We must defend those without a voice today and protect our future,” he added.

The young activist emphasized that civil resistance is the duty of all young people “to defend those without a voice today and to defend our futures. It’s time to take to the streets; bring on the revolution!”

Rosenfeld on her part said that she has a moral obligation as a Jewish student to speak out.

“As a Jew, I feel it’s my duty to call out the genocide being committed in Gaza. This is not being done in the Jewish name,” she said in a post on X.

She added: “When Keir Starmer says Britain stands with Israel, he’s wrong. We know very well this is not self-defense—this is genocide. The people of Britain say enough is enough.”

A spokesperson for Youth Demand was quoted in the statement as saying: “Our government is arming Israel to carry out a genocide against Palestinians and is complicit in the killings in Lebanon.”

Press Release Here: https://t.co/l8AwKt0nYF

— Youth Demand (@youth_demand) October 9, 2024

“A two-way arms embargo is the least Britain can do to stop the displacement and destruction. Young people will continue to resist until justice is served,” the group’s spokesperson continued.

Youth Demand defines itself as a youth resistance campaign fighting for an end to genocide.

The group states that it demands a two-way arms embargo on Israel and an end to new oil and gas drilling. Youth Demand is part of Umbrella and a member of the A22 Network of civil resistance projects, according to the statement.  

The group activists have staged several protests during the one-year-old genocide.

Gaza Genocide Continues

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.

Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.

According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health,  42,010 Palestinians have been killed, and 97,720 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7, 2023.

Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.

Children Shot in the Head – US Doctors Reveal Horrifying Accounts to NYT

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’.

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.

Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety. 

(The Palestine Chronicle)