Angelina Jolie arrives at Rafah to show solidarity with Palestinians

American actor Angelina Jolie has today, Friday 2 January, visited the Rafah crossing into Gaza to show solidarity with the Palestinian people of Gaza. Rafah should be the main crossing point for aid entering Gaza, but Israel has kept it almost constantly closed in its starvation blockade.

Angelina Jolie takes action

Angelina Jolie arrived at the Egyptian side of the crossing. She was there to see humanitarian efforts and to call for the urgent entry of more aid.

 

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Angelina Jolie is among a growing number of Hollywood stars to call Israel’s genocide what it is. In April, she wrote on Instagram that “Gaza has become a ‘mass grave’ for Palestinians and those helping them. As Israeli forces resume and expand their military offensive by air, ground, and sea on the Gaza Strip, forcibly displacing people and deliberately blocking essential aid, Palestinian lives are once again being systematically destroyed”.

In September, she condemned Israel’s war crimes and intentional starvation of Gaza and the western governments’ inaction:

It is shattering to see that so many innocent lives, and principles so many of us stand by and believe in, are being disregarded in this way … this reshapes the world. Shocking new precedents are being set that will mean that civilians are even more vulnerable in conflict in the future than they are today. Whether from starvation, or attacks on hospitals or schools.

Those who have the power to uphold international humanitarian law, but do nothing, share responsibility. The things we tolerate come to define us.

Despite her fame, western ‘mainstream’ media continue their collaboration-by-silence in Israel’s genocide and are so far (as of 3:30pm on 2 January) ignoring the visit:

Growing outrage over Israel

Angelina Jolie’s visit comes as Israel has become the first country in history to ban humanitarian medical charity Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). The charity is among 37 humanitarian groups the occupation is banning from Gaza. Israel continues to use weather and disease alongside bombs and bullets to commit genocide against the Palestinian people. MSF is one of the world’s most respected humanitarian medical organisations and operates in war zones and crises globally.

Meanwhile, in the UK four former senior army officers have written to Keir Starmer demanding a full ban on the supply of weapons and arms components to Israel and on all dealings with Israeli-owned arms firms. Three further top soldiers have joined Major General Charlie Herbert, who came out earlier this week to publicly support a full military embargo.

Angelina Jolie should be commended for her actions against the Zionist entity. However, the silence of the mainstream press tells us she won’t be.

Featured image via the Canary