In a world that claims to uphold human rights as universal, the silence surrounding the genocide in Palestine speaks louder than any declaration of freedom, democracy, or justice. When innocent lives are lost in real-time , when hospitals, homes, and schools are reduced to rubble and the international community watches in calculated silence, we must ask: Are human rights truly universal, or are they conditional – granted only when convenient?
For over seven decades, Palestinians have lived under occupation, displacement, and apartheid. They have endured bombings, blockades, illegal settlements, and systematic dehumanization. Gaza, often called the world’s largest open-air prison, has become a graveyard for children and a battleground for survival. Yet, when Palestinians raise their voices, they are met with labels, terrorists, radicals, threats. When they resist, they are criminalized. When they mourn, the world turns away.
Where is the outrage that was so quick and fierce for other nations in crisis? Where are the sanctions, the emergency UN sessions, the diplomatic condemnations? Why is the world able to rally in solidarity for some lives, but not for Palestinian lives? This is not a question of religion or politics , it is a question of humanity.
To be clear: condemning genocide, apartheid, and ethnic cleansing should never be controversial. It should not depend on race, religion, or geography. If human rights are to mean anything, they must apply to all humans – equally, unconditionally, and urgently.
Palestinians are not asking for pity , they are demanding justice. They are fighting not only for their own dignity, but for the integrity of a world order that claims to believe in human rights. If we stay silent now, we’re not neutral – we’re complicit.
It is time to break the silence. To stand with Palestine is not to stand against anyone , it is to stand against genocide, against hypocrisy, and for humanity. Because if we allow human rights to become conditional, then they are not rights at all – they are privileges for the powerful.