“We have failed you, children of Gaza. No international law, no UN legitimacy, and no international agreements have protected you,” said Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson of the Education Above All Foundation, conveying the reality of children in the Gaza Strip in light of the Israeli aggression that has been ongoing for about a year.
In a speech during the Education Above All Foundation’s celebration of the International Day to Protect Education from Attack, Sheikha Moza spoke about the atrocities that the children of Gaza are being subjected to by the Israeli occupation forces, including the massacre in which more than 100 displaced Palestinians were killed while they were taking shelter in the Al-Tabi’in School in the Al-Daraj neighborhood.
She pointed out that if this massacre had been committed by any country in Asia or Africa, “the international community would have rushed, without hesitation, to besiege and punish it.”
Sheikha Moza said that since October 7 of last year, the Gaza Strip has witnessed the martyrdom of more than 10,000 students, at least 400 teachers, and the destruction of 93% of schools, most of which were used as emergency housing and shelter for displaced people who became homeless due to the war.
She pointed out that 19 independent UN experts and rapporteurs warned last April of a “deliberate educational genocide” in the Gaza Strip. She stressed that those targeting education “know what they are doing and intend it with premeditation.”
“Have we surrendered to the point where we watch entire cities destroyed, people targeted with bullets, denied medical treatment, tortured and starved, without responding appropriately? Have we reached the point where we leave children alone, afraid and captive to the specter of death in hospitals that have no medicine or treatment left? Have we reached the point where we allow schools full of desperate refugees to be deliberately targeted by airstrikes and gunfire?” Sheikha Moza added.
She considered that the humanitarian cost of the war on Gaza is “unacceptable to anyone with a conscience, morals, or humanitarian principles,” adding, “I am one of those who are angry about the crimes committed against the Palestinians and against international law. I am angry about the size and number of crimes committed in Gaza… I am angry at an international community that claims to be civilized, only for Gaza to overthrow its claim and announce its death throes.”
She continued, “I am angry at the leaders of countries who rose up in anger over one war and remained silent for a long time about another. I am angry at the leaders of countries who talk a lot about human rights and the rule of international law and remain silent about the genocide taking place in Gaza. I am angry at the leaders whom we have often heard say that Palestine is their central issue and we do not see any of this centrality in their positions. I am angry, and there are many angry people, and the wrath of God is not far away, and whoever incurs the wrath of God has fallen.”
Sheikha Moza pointed out that what is happening in Gaza “has exposed the brutality of a world that claims to be civilized,” and said that the blame does not lie only with those who commit crimes and kill children and women, “but also with everyone who supported this brutal aggression with money and equipment, and with those who chose to remain silent or watch what is happening in Gaza, and with those who encouraged the aggression in a blatant or covert manner.”
She concluded by saying, “We have failed as an international community to protect education and we have failed to protect students,” and that “after the masks of some have fallen and the values and cultural references have disappeared, all we have left is the reference of Gaza: women and children who remind us that God is true, religion is true, and the homeland is true, and that a person without dignity does not deserve life.”
