I write to you as a mother, a Jewish granddaughter, a death care worker, and someone who has recently returned from the West Bank, where I served as an international peacekeeper documenting crimes against humanity.
What I witnessed there was far worse than what most mainstream media are willing to show.
The brutality, the apartheid, the systemic displacement and humiliation, it is real, it is now, and it is happening with impunity.
According to the BBC (www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx27z0r8n5do), the Freedom Flotilla Coalition said its ship was struck by drones in international waters last week, with activists appearing to accuse Israel of being behind the attack. This was a peaceful humanitarian vessel delivering food and medicine to Gaza.
On board were over 30 international aid workers: doctors, nurses, teachers, elders. Civilians. Among them was Surya McEwan, a much-loved local man and international humanitarian who has dedicated his life to compassion and service. These people are doing what our government should be doing: responding with care and conscience.
If the ship was bombed by Israel this would be not only immoral, but also a war crime, part of a larger, orchestrated campaign of collective punishment.
Over 48,000 Palestinians have been killed. Over a million displaced. 1.1 million people are being deliberately starved under Netanyahu’s illegal blockade.
Israel’s extremist government has openly declared its intentions to ethnically cleanse and permanently occupy Gaza. Let’s be absolutely clear: this is not self-defence. Israel is the occupier. It is an apartheid state, committing war crimes, genocide, and ethnic cleansing.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is currently facing multiple charges of corruption, bribery, and fraud. Legal experts and human rights observers widely recognise that this war is being used to evade justice and cling to power, manipulating fear and nationalism at the cost of tens of thousands of lives.
And yet, Australia remains silent. We continue to host Israeli diplomats, maintain a two-way arms trade, and refuse to impose sanctions. This is not neutrality. This is complicity.
I speak as a woman from a long line of proud Jewish women, and I need to say, it is obscene that anyone who stands against apartheid, genocide, and Zionist extremism is labelled antisemitic. That accusation is false, dangerous, and deceptive. It is a smear tactic used to silence dissent, to suppress resistance to injustice, and to deflect from the brutal realities on the ground. Zionism is not Judaism. It is a political ideology that has hijacked the soul of a people and weaponised their suffering. My ancestors did not survive genocide so that another could be committed in their name.
So I ask you now… Where is the courage? Where is the integrity? Where is the human decency to say ‘no more?’
Australia must act now to sanction Israel. End the two-way arms trade. Expel Israeli diplomats. Support war crimes investigations in The Hague. Investigate Australians committing war crimes in Gaza and the West Bank with Israeli Occupation Forces.
This is a moment that will be remembered. Please do not look away while a genocide unfolds.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
