Activists Monday laid out 4,500 pairs of shoes in front of the Council of the European Union in Brussels to represent every person killed in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict over the last decade.
Members of the activist group Avaaz covered Jean Rey Square with shoes, donated by citizens across Europe over the last week.
It was part of what the group said was a “growing call for EU governments to protect Palestinian lives by reining in Israel’s government violence”.
“Citizens across Europe have one clear message for our governments: Palestinian lives matter to us and they need to matter to you,” said Avaaz Campaign Director Christoph Schott.
“As Israel’s largest trading partner and political ally, it is our moral responsibility to send a clear signal to Netanyahu’s government that the violence must stop,” he added.
While I am not clear about from where these “activists” pulled out the number of those killed, what is clear from the context is:
- It does not represent “every person killed in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict over the last decade” – only the palestinians killed by Israel, excluding Israelis murdered by palestinians and palestinians murdered by palestinians. They should change the slogan to Certain Palestinian Lives Matter & Israeli Lives Certainly Don’t
- This number includes actual terrorists killed. Even using the terrorist organizations like Hamas as the information source, close to 2,000 of those killed were combatants. Apparently to these Europeans, their lives matter more than those they were trying to murder.
The name of this group of “activists” – Avaaz – means “Goose” in Hebrew. But these are not just “silly geese” – they are morally bankrupt, Israel haters.
Meanwhile, the palestinian Shehab News Agency has covered this protest, with some interesting translation results:
Given palestinian statements as to how long they have been around, this somehow seems like something they would claim! (albeit with higher casualty numbers, for maximum effect)
Update: And I cannot seem to find any similar Avaaz protest against the deaths in Syria. Go figure
