Amerie, founder of Amerie’s Book Club, shows that she’s been really doing the reading. In a no-holds-barred post on Instagram, which eventually made the rounds on X, the “1 Thing” singer condemned Israeli and Hamas war crimes and highlighted Israel’s ongoing occupation.
The latest conflict has claimed over 1,600 lives and comes after Hamas led a surprise attack against the country.
An outpouring of news and images have shown Israeli civilians being kidnapped and attacks against the Jewish state by Hamas.
Amerie’s statement noted that “civilians should never be killed or taken hostage. That is a war crime,” before addressing “the apartheid state of Israel.”
The country “has committed war crimes against the Palestinians as a whole for decades because the state does not differentiate between Palestinian civilians and fighters…killed their children for decades. Babies,” she continued. “50% of Gaza is children. Occupation will never bring peace,” she stated.
Looking at just the past 15 years of Israel’s occupation until September of this year, over 6,400 Palestinians are reported to have been killed by Israeli forces. Since 2008, before the latest conflict (data for which was not yet provided by the UN), 300 Israelis had been killed.
Vox shows this disparity plainly in a 2014 article, which does not capture the deadliest attacks over the past decade.
As news outlet AJ+ has made clear, “Israel and Gaza are not two countries at war. Gaza is a territory under siege, where every aspect of life is controlled by Israel. Palestinians didn’t break through a ‘border’ to enter Israel. They destroyed a fence separating them from the homes they were forced out of.”
In the aftermath of Hamas’ attack, tweets from Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu show civilian apartment buildings being leveled to the ground with the caption “we started. Israel will win.”
Netanyahu’s defense minister also announced a “complete siege” of Gaza, calling their opposition “human animals” and stating “there will be no electricity, no food, no water, no fuel. Everything will be closed.” for Palestinian civilians.
As writer Sanhana Karanth wrote on Huffington Post, “It is not uncommon for oppressive regimes to use language that dehumanizes the oppressed population in order to justify inflicting violence on them,” said. “In the case of Israel’s apartheid, Gallant’s comments contribute to an atmosphere where it’s easier for anti-Palestinian individuals and politicians ― including Israel’s current far-right government ― to regard people in Gaza as less than human, and therefore undeserving of water, food, electricity or a way to escape violence.”