Varun Dhawan, Sonam Kapoor, Alia Bhat, Ranbir Kapoor, Madhur Dixit, Richa Chaddha, Amy Jackson, Kareena Kapoor, and Swara Bhashkar are among those who came out in support of the Palestinians
Team Clarion
NEW DELHI – Scores of Bollywood actors, singers, and other celebrities have posted messages on social media raising their voices against the genocide of civilians by Israeli forces in Gaza.
There was an eruption of solidarity messages by these celebrities after Israeli forces bombed refugee camps in Gaza’s Rafah. The marauding May 26 action burnt alive dozens of innocent civilians and decapacitated scores of children. The Jewish country carried out the brutal attack ignoring the International Court of Justice’s directive to halt its military incursion in Rafah.
Varun Dhawan, Sonam Kapoor, Alia Bhat, Ranbir Kapoor, Madhur Dixit, Richa Chaddha, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Amy Jackson, Kareena Kapoor, Swara Bhashkar, Samatha and Priyanka Chopra are among those who came out in support of the Palestinians amid Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.
Many of these celebs posted the message All Eyes on Rafah while some of them put out videos of the massacre and the statements issued by officials of the United Nations.
“All children deserve love. All children deserve safety. All children deserve peace. All children deserve life. And all mothers deserve to be able to give their children those things (red heart doodle).” Alia wrote in the caption, “#AllEyesOnRafah.”
In a strong condemnation, actor Swara Bhashkar said: “We live in a world that expects us to have a balanced response to babies being beheaded and burnt alive in tents!!!! There are no words, only curses in my heart for the smug white men (and women and people) who did this, enabled this, abetted this, funded this, supported this, made a narrative to normalise this, celebrated this.”
“May every moment of your life be haunted by the cries of babies, may you never have a moment of peace or fulfillment, May disease plague you, may your deaths be painful and lonely!” she said.
Richa Chaddha decried the world’s silence over the genocide in Gaza. “The State of Israel is committing settler colonial genocide on the starving, dehydrated, entrapped population of Gaza. This is the cold-blooded murder of babies, women, pregnant women, innocent civilians, journalists, medical aid workers and doctors. This is genocide, there is no other word for it, and it must be condemned in unequivocal terms. If the world just watches, the world is complicit. Ceasefire now! Decolonize now!” she said while also posting a video of the Israeli attack.
In a series of Instagram stories, Samantha Ruth Prabhu drew attention to the ongoing killings in Rafah. A post reshared by Samantha Ruth Prabhu called for a ceasefire in Gaza. It reads: “This (latest attack on Rafah) comes after the ICJ (International Court of Justice) ruled on Friday for Israel to immediately halt its military offensive in Rafah. There are no words for this horror. There is nowhere safe to go. It must stop. Ceasefire now.”
Actor Radhika Apte reshared a series of videos and posts about the killings. “We are running out of words. The videos out of Rafah are beyond horrific. Traumatising. More traumatising than we have collectively witnessed thus far,” she said.
Amy Jackson, the British model and actor who works in south Indian and Hindi films, wrote a post on her Instagram: “Living our privileged lives while innocent people endure genocide is a stark contrast. As a mother, the pain and suffering of the 600,000 terrified, mostly orphaned children in Rafah is unimaginable. Our society has lost its moral compass. Film festivals and media outlets silencing outcry against genocide highlight the injustice in our world today. We demand a CEASEFIRE. Do not stay silent. Do not let our governments distract from the torture the Palestinian people face. There is NO JUSTIFICATION for the murder of innocent men, women, and children.”
