Enough is Enough: Speaking Out on Gaza is a Human Responsibility

Seventeen thousand children have been bombed to death. Let that number settle for a moment.

Seventeen. Thousand. Children.

And now, the remaining children - and their parents, aunties, uncles, elders, doctors, nurses and teachers - are being starved out. Deliberately. Under siege. With humanitarian aid blocked. The United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres put it plainly: “The situation for Palestinians in Gaza is beyond description, beyond atrocious and beyond inhumane. A policy of siege and starvation makes a mockery of international law. The blockade against humanitarian aid must end immediately. This is a moment for moral clarity and action.”

He’s right. This is a moment for moral clarity. And for action.

As Australia’s former National Focal Point for the Responsibility to Protect - a role focused on preventing genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity - I feel that responsibility deeply. That doctrine is more than just a slogan. It means that when governments target civilians, when children are bombed, when entire populations are cut off from food, medicine, water and electricity, we must speak out and act. Silence is complicity.

Let me be clear: condemning genocide isn’t antisemitic. It’s not anti-Israel. It’s not pro-Hamas. And it certainly isn’t an endorsement of Islamic extremism. It’s simply human. It’s about standing up against collective punishment, starvation, and mass killing. It’s about upholding our humanity and the very international laws that were written after the Holocaust to say, “Never again.”

And yet, too many of us are silent about the genocide in Gaza. Fear of being misunderstood, attacked, or labelled keeps good people quiet. But now is not the time for silence. Now is the time for humanity.

This week, I attended the Nakba rally in Sydney. I didn’t agree with everyone there on everything. There were plenty of people with views I don’t share. But we all marched together demanding an end to the violence, to the bombing, to the blockade, to the systemic human rights abuses being carried out in Gaza.

We stood up and spoke out to say: This must stop.

Gaza’s children - those still alive - are not the enemy. They are hungry, traumatised, and forgotten by far too many of us. The Israeli Government, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, is waging a war not just against Hamas, but against an entire population. That’s collective punishment. It’s a war crime.

It’s no longer enough to stay “neutral.” Neutrality in the face of atrocity is a choice. And it’s the wrong one. It’s a choice to side with power over the powerless. With bombs over children. With indifference over justice.

As Australians, we must call on our government to do more too. Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong must stand up at the United Nations. To demand an end to the siege. To restore humanitarian access. To call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire. To stop exporting weapons and surveillance technology to Israel while this slaughter continues.

Because enough is enough.

The UN Secretary General shared this photo of systemic carnage in Gaza.