The Cries Of London

The cries of London —- unknown DA

Images of my hometown in London: a phenomenally diverse city, marred in sentiment by the turmoil, profound pain & grief that has occurred since the Oct 7th attacks in Israel, the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust. Scenes of families burned alive by Hamas, CIVILIANS shot dead in the streets & in their homes, have been extremely triggering for all of my Jewish friends who I’ve known since childhood.

Equally, the mood amongst my Palestinian friends is one of terror & fear for the INNOCENT people in Gaza: grieving the largest number of civilians to die in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since 1982. We all fear more bloodshed to come & our stance is for the protection of ALL civilians: innocent Palestinians & Jews. I saw the onslaught of the innocent happen in war through my childhood visiting Sri Lanka: nasty for anyone living in the crossfire. Terrorists & an extreme government BOTH responsible for killing civilians. Tragic.

Of note, a dynamic that I observe amongst the Jewish communities afar & my Jewish friends near, is that NOT one has called for hate or the death of any civilian due to their ethnicity. Yet there are calls of hate & worse against the Jewish community: a group of people who are just 0.2% of the global population! This rise in antisemitism demonstrates humankind is skewing more towards hate & evil, than love.

I have only experienced love from my Jewish friends, from my early teenage years to present day. Consistently invited into their homes, introduced to their families, feeling only love, togetherness, friendship & warmth. Might this be a blueprint of how other communities should be amongst themselves & outwardly too? As such, I stand for the safety of all civilians, condemning any act that kills the innocent. Heartbroken on the 7th Oct to see my Jewish friends affected by the massacre in Israel. Broken-hearted now to see innocent Palestinians being killed. Scared for my friends b/c of the rise in hate, antisemitism & Islamophobia across the world, as it only evidences that the “kind” in humankind is very clearly NOT UNDERSTOOD by the “kind of humans” spreading such hate….