Academics for Justice in Palestine, UC Santa Barbara, is Walid Adel Afifi, Tamara Afifi, Ralph Armbruster, Felice Blake, Julie Carlson, Charmaine Chua, Bishnupriya Ghosh, Lisa Hajjar, Lisa Park, David Pellow, Laila Shereen Sakr, Sherene Seikaly, Jennifer Tyburczy, Elisabeth Weber
We write in grief as the full force of the world’s fifth-strongest army rains bombs down on the people of Palestine, that part of Palestine known to the world today as the Gaza Strip. We grieve as we witness unequivocal military, political, and diplomatic support of Western governments for an Israeli aggression unprecedented since 1948. We write in grief today, October 17, as the latest Israel air assault has targeted the Al-Ahli Arabi Baptist Hospital in Gaza City. Thousands of civilians were seeking treatment and shelter from relentless bombardment; the assault has killed at least 500 people, including patients and medical staff. Today, too, Israel struck a United Nations school housing refugees.
We write in grief for the Palestinian and Israeli people who have lost loved ones to the ravages of military conflict. We were filled with dread witnessing Hamas’s gruesome operation on October 7. That operation and its aftermath has killed 1,300 Israelis and injured another 3,621, with a further estimated 199 or more Israeli hostages — both soldiers and civilians — and some foreign nationals taken by Hamas. There is no justification for the targeting of civilians in any context. We write in grief for all civilian life.