The Israeli Occupation Force is continuing its relentless assault against the Palestinians in Gaza. Over 27 days since October 7, the Israeli bombardment has massacred 9,061 Palestinians in Gaza, with 2000 more people trapped under the rubble. This is more than ten thousand dead or missing. 75% of this number are women, children and the elderly, and in 73% of the casualties, entire families were massacred. This bombardment, along with the total blockade of power and fuel, has shut down 50% of the hospitals and two-thirds of primary care clinics in Gaza. Even the hospitals that are still operational are close to collapse, as the number of injured far exceeds their capacity. The lives of their patients and newborn babies, now hang in the balance.
The situation did not begin with Operation Al-Aqsa Flood conducted by Hamas on October 7. It began in 1948, when Palestinians were massacred and displaced in order to found the state of Israel. This ethnic cleansing created eight million refugees to make room for the construction of a Jewish ethnostate in the land where Palestinians had been living for countless generations. Despite the tireless resistance from the Palestinian people, the Israeli colonial regime has become strongly entrenched over 75 years, thanks to the support of Western imperialist powers. And now, as the occupation bombs Gaza at an unprecedented scale, the West blatantly defends Israeli war crimes.
Western commercial media tries to disguise this violence as Israel’s “defensive war” against Palestinian terrorist aggression. This portrayal inevitably led to the unlimited support and consent for Israeli genocide of Palestinians. As the indiscriminate bombing destroys schools and hospitals all across Gaza, US President Joe Biden visited Israel to promise his “staunch support” for “Israel to defend itself”. This “right to defend itself” has meant destroying half of all residential buildings in Gaza, making 1.4 million people homeless. “Defending” itself means dropping six tons of explosives into the refugee camp of Jabaliya. The UN human rights office has warned that the attack on Jabaliya “could amount to a war crime”.
On 27th of October, UN General Assembly adopted the resolution titled “protection of civilians and upholding legal and humanitarian obligations” (A/ES-10/L.25), calling for “immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce leading to a cessation of hostilities.” The South Korean government abstained from this resolution. On October 30th, the Israeli foreign minister called his Korean counterpart to express his “gratitude for the South Korean government’s support for Israel in the UN General Assembly”. In essence, Israel thanked the Korean government for silently consenting to their acts of genocide.
Today, the call for true peace in Palestine is echoing throughout the entire world. From Cairo to Tehran, from Istanbul to Baghdad, the people of the Middle East are filling their streets every day, marching in solidarity with Palestine. In London, half a million people joined the Palestinian solidarity rally on October 22nd. In Glasgow, Paris, Barcelona, and many other European cities, people are engaged in direct action to demand a stop to the massacres. The US Jewish community occupied the Capitol Building under the slogans of “Never Again” and “Ceasefire now”, to prevent another Holocaust. In Mumbai, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Cape Town, Melbourne, Ontario, Osaka, Taipei, and all across the world, the people are taking action in solidarity. Even in Israel itself, there are people risking arrest and punishment to openly call for a ceasefire. The people of the world are united into a single voice, condemning the genocidal, colonial regime of Israel.
We are here to join with that voice fighting around the world to stop the genocide in Gaza and to end Israeli settler-colonial regime. From the depth of our souls, we pray for true, lasting peace in Palestine. The first and most urgent action must be to demand an immediate ceasefire and to stop the genocide. We commit our support to the Palestinian resistance fighting for dignity, justice and peace. With all the pain and passion in our hearts, we condemn Israel’s blatant defiance of the worldwide call for peace, and demand the following:
-Israel must immediately stop its attack on Gaza and lift the blockade!
-Israel must immediately withdraw from Gaza and all occupied territories.
-The Korean government must immediately place a comprehensive arms embargo on Israel and officially demand a ceasefire on Gaza.
4. Nov. 2023
South Korean civil society endorsed by 181 civil society groups and 1,554 individual citizens.
Endorsed by 181 civil society groups
A WRITING GROUP IN SEVEN RAINBOW
Activists group for Human Rights ‘BARAM’
Affinity Group for the Abolition of Precarious Work in Seoul National University
allforlittleone
Anti-Imperialist Study Group ‘Fightback’
Asian Companions Against Brutality
Asian Dignity Initiative
BDS KOREA
BIBLEDAEGU
bibledaegu
Black Sparrows – Korean Anarchist Group
Bolshevik Group
booksamo
Bread and Roses
Catholic Youth for Peace
CHANG-Korea Human Rights Research Center
CHSC(Center for Health and Social Change)
Chungcheongnam-do Human Rights Education Activist Group ‘BUTTL’
CiCiHan Institute
Citizens’ Action for Peace and Unification
Civic Group INDEPENDENCE
Civilian Military Watch
Climate Crisis Emergency Action network
Climate Justice Alliance KOREA
climatechristiansolidarity
CoCo-Archives
Columban Mission Society JPIC
Community of Youth Humanities : Bastards
Companion-Lawters for Public Interest
Conference Of Major Superiors Of Korean Men’s Reigious Institutes And Societies Of Apostolic Life
Coop Snail School
Daejeon Movement for Transformative Change
dianaband
Dong Yeon Press
Dongook University Marxist Philosophy Society
Durebang
East Asia Ecotopia
EDU WORK
Educational worker’s Field Struggle
Elreassong
EnergyJustice Actions
error queer seminar
Eumseoung Labor Human Right Center
Ewha Student & Minority Human Rights Committee
Extinction Rebellion Korea
gaetmom
Gangjeong Friends
Gangjeong Peace Network
Golpai
Gongsamo
Green Korea United
Green Party Korea
Green Party Korea, Youth Greens
HanExpress Logistics Warehouse Fire Disaster and Kim Hyung-joo’s family(Eon-yak church)
Hate Culture Response Network
Hospital of sisters
Human Rights Education Center ‘Deul’
Human Rights Movement Space Hwal
hyanglin church
Incheon Human Rights Film Festival
Inmuyeon
Institute of Democracy and Labor (IDL)
Institution for the Rights To Found Family
Inter-religious Climate and Ecology Network
International Strategy Center
Jaewoong Park
Jesuit Research Center for Advocacy and Solidarity
Jinboparty Women’s
Jinju City branch, Labor Party(South Korea)
JoeunJU YMCA
Joung eun hee
JUSPEACE peacebuilders Network
Kab Hwan Jung
KFEM-YEOSU
kham kham band
Korea Alliance for Progressive Movement
Korea International Peace Forum
Korea Metal Worker’s Union Seoul region Southern Branch
Korea Nationwide People Action
Korea Sexual Violence Relief Center
Korea University Korean Modern & Contemporary History Club
Korea Video Journalist Association
Korea Women’s Associations United (KWAU)
Korea workers political association
Korean Confederation of Trade Unions(KCTU)
Korean Deaf LGBT+
Korean Federation of Medical Groups for Health Rights(Association of Korea Doctors for health rights, Association of Physicians for Humanism, Korean Dentist’s Association for Healthy Society, Korean Nurses association for health rights, Korean Pharmacists for Democratic Society, Solidarity for worker’s health)
Korean Insurance Planner’s Union
Korean pharmacist for democratic society Ulsan chapter
Korean Progressive Network, ‘Jinbonet’
Korean Solidarity against Precarious Work
Korean Transgender Rights Organization JOGAKBO
KOVIET-VIETNAM PEACE FOUNDAITON
Labor and Civil Society Energy Network
Labor Party of Korea LGBT+ Committee
Labor Politics People
laborparty
Leechursoo
Life & Safety Network
Living with Jesus
Living&Education community Gongryong
Luciole Publishers
March To Socialism
Media Christian Solidarity
Memory and Peacebuilding Archive Project
Migrants Trade Union
MINBYUN – Lawyers for a Democratic Society International Solidarity Committee
minjokgopa
MINSNAILUNION
NANCEN Refugee Rights Center
NanumMunhwa
National Council of YMCAs of Korea
No Rulers No Borders
NONVIOLENT PEACEFORCE INTERNATIONAL (NPI)
OFM KOREA JPIC
PEACE GROUND
Peace Mothers KOREA
PEACEMOMO
peacewind
People Not Profit
People’s Coalition for Media Reform
People’s Health Institute
People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD)
PIDA
Platform C.
Political Mamas
Rainbow Theology Institute
Research Group for Contemporary Political Philosophy
Sarangbang Group for Human Rights
Secondthesis
Seogyo Institute of Humanities and Social Studies
Seoul Climate Save
Seoul Human Rights Film Festival
Seoul Regional Council of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions
SeoulClimateCrisisEmergencyAction
Sexworker Liberation Action Movement Scarlet ChaCha
SHARE, center for Sexual rigHts And Reproductive JusticE
Social Strike Fund for Solidarity
Social Welfare Local Of KPTU
Social Welfare Research Institute, Wave
Socialist Students Alliance
Sogang University Human Rights Action Group Nogojiri
Solidarity Against Disability Discrimination
Solidarity for Another World
Solidarity for Child Rights Movement ’Jieum‘
Solidarity For Peace & Human Rights
SONG KYUNG SOON
SOWONYOUNG
StudioR
SungKongHoe University humanrights committee
Sungsu31 church
SWITCH
TEFLNews.org
The April revolution association
the climate performers
The Frontiers
The Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan
The May 18 Memorial Foundation
The Plant of Hope for Labor
Theater company Gorae
todaktodakbookstore
Urinuri Peace Corp.
voice of artists
Women with Disabilities Empathy
WOMENLINK
WomenMakingPeace
Worker’s solidarity from below in Jeonbuk
Workers Revolutionary Party (P)
working jesuit
World Without War
YANG HYE RIN
Yeoreum Church
Yongsan Nanum House(Pilgrimage Church), Anglican Church of Korea
+ 2 orgs without English names: 노동인권공작소, 연세대 비정규 노동문제 해결을 위한 공동대책위원회
* translated by: International Strategy Center
BDS Korea 