By Holly Lennon

Editor’s note: The Scoop has received and asked for several different perspectives on the conflict between the State of Israel and Hamas. We do not prescribe an attitude and over the next few weeks different perspectives on the conflict will be published. Our aim is not to sensationalise a still ongoing conflict which has a still increasing death count, but to provide a space for students to have a conversation. As such the editorial approach has been light and the conflicting accounts make fact checking very difficult at this stage. For a more official and factual account check the news section for any updates. The opinions noted in these articles are not the official stance of The Scoop or Queen’s Radio

The Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign and Jews for Palestine-Ireland organised a march and rally, which took place on November 04. Participants would walk from Queen's University to the American Consulate to condemn US complicity in Israel's alleged war crimes carried out in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. Attendees were asked to bring along a teddy to acknowledge the more than 3,000 children who have been murdered by the actions of the Israeli state.

An open letter signed by James Quigley, Mohammed Samaana, and Sue Pentel states, "As of 02/11/2023 Israel is killing a Palestinian child every 10 minutes, with 3760 children having been murdered and an estimated 1150 reported missing under the rubble, as reported by Defence for Children – International. To put that into local context, that is the equivalent of students from Belfast Royal Academy (North Belfast), Lagan College (South Belfast), and Coláiste Feirste (West Belfast) all being killed in 4 weeks, with students in Ashfield High School (East Belfast) being buried under rubble".

On the day of the protest, a massive red banner could be seen on Queen's Whitla Hall, marking the university's achievement of ranking in the top 150 in the world for research quality. It stated, "Reimagine your Future". Meanwhile, in tragic irony – or something more sinister than that, people stationed themselves outside of the university gates to mark the deaths of more than 3,000 Palestinian children. The collegiate meeting point incidentally brought to mind the footage published by Al-Jazeera of the Al-Azhar University that Israeli regime’s fighters had bombed. It no longer bore any resemblance to an educational institution.

Around 6,000 attendees at the march in Belfast dedicated a moment of silence to pay tribute to the many children who lost their lives due to the actions of the Israeli state. The quietness felt like a privilege having read Palestinian journalist Amal Helles' diary for The Times, "Today, at five in the morning, instead of waking up to the sound of birds, I wake up to bombing in my neighbourhood. My seven-year-old daughter, Maryam, is frightened by the sound of the warplanes".

A man at the protest held a poster stating, "It's not Halloween. It's the children of Gaza". Four bloodied and dismembered dolls hung from the sign. Protesters grimaced at it and averted their gaze. I wanted to tell them not to look away, but I would have been preaching to the choir. Another sign spoke for me, stating, "Apathy is complicity". Meanwhile, a one-man-protest stood in an opposite street. He flaunted an Israeli flag and shouted slurs. The pro-Palestine rally swiftly drowned him out as they chanted,

"Keir Starmer. Shame on you", a new addition to the chants following his rejection of the calls for a broad ceasefire. The Times quoted Starmer as having stated, "While I understand calls for a ceasefire at this stage, I do not believe that it is the correct position now".
The crowd also condemned Rishi Sunak and Joe Biden, "Rishi Sunak, shame on you. Genocide Joe, shame on you."

The protest concluded as people added their teddies to the gates of the US Consulate. This acted to demonstrate the American government's complicity in Israel's war crimes against the indigenous Palestinian people. An effigy of a dead child was placed on the collection of teddies to represent the young victims of the genocide. I later encountered a photo circulating online depicting small bodies in improvised burial shrouds. The accompanying report revealed that these were toddlers killed in an Israeli attack. To paraphrase the words of Seamus Heaney, A four-foot blanket, a foot for every year ("Mid Term Break").

Edited by: David Williamson

Protest at the Consulate: A Four Foot Sea of Teddies