Actress Angelina Jolie has come out swinging against Israel’s bombing of the Gaza Strip in retaliation for the horrific terrorist attack by Hamas, which killed over 1,400 Israelis, most of whom were civilians.
In an Instagram post on Saturday, Jolie rightfully decried the attack on Israel before denouncing the IDF assault on Gaza.
“Like millions around the world I have spent the last weeks sick and angry at the terrorist attack in Israel, the death of so many innocent civilians, and wondering how best to help. I too am praying for the immediate, safe return of every hostage, and for the families who carry the unimaginable pain of a murder of a loved one. Above all, the children murdered, and the many children now orphaned,” she said.
“What happened in Israel is an act of terror. But that cannot justify the innocent lives lost in bombing a civilian population in Gaza that has nowhere to go, no access to food or water, no possibility of evacuation, and not even the basic human right to cross a border to seek refuge,” she continued.
The actress declined to mention the neighboring countries in the region, including Egypt, have refused to take the Palestinian refugees from Gaza.
Jolie asserted she cares mostly about people “displaced by violence in any context” while noting the Gaza Strip “has a population of over 2 million people (half of them children), who have lived under a severe blockade for nearly two decades, on top of decades of displacement and statelessness.”
“The few aid trucks that are entering are a fraction of what is needed (and was delivered daily before the present conflict), and the bombings are causing desperate new humanitarian needs daily. The denial of aid, fuel and water is collectively punishing a people. Humanity demands an immediate ceasefire. Palestinian and Israeli lives – and the lives of all people globally – matter equally,” she continued.
As outlined by the The Hollywood Reporter (THR), Jolie has worked with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for over 20 years and regularly campaigns for the “support of forcibly displaced people around the world.”
“She first joined in 2001 as a UN goodwill ambassador and then in 2012, she was made a special envoy. Last year, she stepped down from her role with the UNHCR, saying at the time that she wanted to tackle a wider set of humanitarian and human rights issues,” noted THR.
“A week ago, the border crossing between Egypt and Gaza opened to allow just a handful of trucks carrying aid into the territory – an amount that aid workers have said was insufficient to address the unprecedented humanitarian crisis,” it added.
Most recently, comedienne Amy Schumer (herself Jewish) knocked fellow liberals calling for a cease-fire in Gaza.
“Why do you call for a cease-fire instead for Hamas to surrender?” she publicly asked.