WE NEED A CEASE-FIRE TO PRESERVE OUR HUMANITY
QU Alumni for Palestine
September 5, 2024
It’s been almost a year — almost a year of genocide in the Gaza Strip. And yet, the United States is still arming Israel with weapons.
According to the BBC, the U.S. is by far the biggest supplier of arms to Israel and has helped the country build one of the most technologically sophisticated militaries in the world.
But this didn’t all start on October 7, 2023. The U.S. has been arming Israel for years. The BBC also notes that the U.S. provides Israel with $3.8 billion in annual military aid under a 10-year agreement designed to help its ally maintain what it describes as a "qualitative military edge" over neighboring countries.
It’s clear that financial interests are a driving factor, and the loss of civilian lives is secondary to U.S. interests.
It doesn’t matter that Palestinians have been living in an apartheid state for years.
According to Amnesty International, Israel has been enforcing a system of oppression and domination against Palestinians across all areas under its control—including within Israel, the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), and among Palestinian refugees—with the aim of benefiting Jewish Israelis. Such a system is apartheid and is prohibited by international law. A recent report from Human Rights Watch underscores this assessment, highlighting severe violations of international humanitarian law and human rights abuses perpetrated by Israeli forces.
The United States’ continued military support not only exacerbates the suffering but also implicitly perpetuates these injustices. We are complicit in a humanitarian catastrophe that should shock our collective conscience. This complicity is further compounded by the Western media, including the Quinnipiac Chronicle, which interviewed our organization but chose not to publish our words.
As QU alumni, we call for an immediate cease-fire and demand that the Quinnipiac community be held accountable. Our shared humanity depends on our willingness to act with compassion and justice, values that the Albert Schweitzer Institute claims to uphold. It is time to align our policies with our principles and to demand an end to the violence that undermines the very values we hold dear.