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THE EDITOR: While local post-election politics continues to disappointingly dominate our news cycle with typical theatrics, I write with profound disgust and sorrow to highlight the ongoing genocide in Gaza, where the world bears witness to the systematic starvation and bombardment of an entire population.
The Israeli blockade supported by the US, now entering its third month, has choked off food, medicine, and fuel, pushing over half a million people to the brink of famine and leaving the last remaining hospitals closed or under relentless attack.
The death toll has surpassed 53,000, most of them women and children, as Israel intensifies its military campaign under the pretext of destroying Hamas, with little regard for civilian life or international law.
Against this backdrop of unimaginable suffering, the spectacle of neighbouring Muslim countries rolling out the red carpet for US President Donald Trump is nothing short of grotesque.
Lavish banquets, investment summits, and photo opportunities have dominated the agenda as Gulf leaders compete to secure lucrative business deals and curry favour with Washington. The hospitality extended to Trump stands in stark contrast to the cold indifference shown to the besieged people of Gaza.
Despite the urgency of the crisis, none of Trump’s meetings in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, or the United Arab Emirates produced any concrete discussion – let alone action – toward lifting the Israeli blockade or halting attacks on Gaza’s devastated hospitals.
The president’s public remarks have sidestepped the core issues, focusing instead on vague promises of future aid and proposals to forcibly relocate Palestinians and convert Gaza into a so-called “freedom zone” – a plan widely condemned as ethnic cleansing.
While Gulf leaders have privately raised the need for a ceasefire and humanitarian access, their efforts have been overshadowed by their overt prioritising the pursuit of trade deals and strategic partnerships.
It is a shameful indictment of regional and global leadership amid the carnage and starvation in Gaza. The priorities of those with the power to intervene remain fixated on profit and prestige. The world’s silence and inaction are not just failures of diplomacy – they are acts of complicity.
History will not forget those who feasted while Gaza starved, nor will it absolve those who had the means to end the suffering but chose instead to look away.
I therefore appeal to Sean Sobers, Minister of Foreign and Caricom Affairs, to raise this urgent issue at the United Nations and call for immediate international action to end the blockade and protect the people of Gaza.
FAZIR KHAN
St Augustine
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