clear

Creating new perspectives since 2009

2,000 artists in UK: Our gov'ts are aiding and abetting war crimes in Gaza

October 17, 2023 at 5:40 pm

Palestinians injured in Israeli raids arrive on October 17, 2023 in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, Gaza [Ahmad Hasaballah/Getty Images]

Over 2,000 cultural figures in the UK have signed an open letter calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and for “our governments [to] end their military and political support for Israel’s actions.”

Renowned actors Tilda Swinton, Steve Coogan, Miriam Margolyes and comedian Frankie Boyle were among those who said: “Our governments are not only tolerating war crimes but aiding and abetting them. There will come a time when they are held to account for their complicity.”

Palestinians, they continued, “have become people to whom almost anything can be done.”

“Gaza is already a society of refugees and the children of refugees. Now, in their hundreds of thousands, bombarded from air, sea and land, Palestinians whose grandparents were forced out of their homes at the barrel of a gun are again being told to flee – or face collective punishment on an unimaginable scale,” the letter continues.

“We support the global movement against the destruction of Gaza and the mass displacement of the Palestinian people. We demand that our governments end their military and political support for Israel’s actions.”

READ: Israel has carried out 41 confirmed attacks on health services in Gaza since 7 October – WHO