Protests Against Israeli Massacre in Gaza.

By Connie Martin

Images flashing on the TV screen of shattered apartment buildings, once buzzing with the daily activities of children playing around them, now unrecognizable piles of rubble, and the only buzzing going on here these days are the sounds of F-16s overhead firing down their deadly cargo on the helpless victims below.  Children, whose charred lifeless bodies are buried between the layers of destruction, died as they lived; in fear, in poverty, under occupation, never tasting freedom beyond the checkpoints or barbed wire, or the luxury of basic necessities that we take for granted everyday.  In the 21st century, families forced to live in the squalor of refugee camps in their own land, in one of the most "industrialized" countries in the world, are being annihilated in daily sieges which have claimed the lives of over 900 people and injured thousands, at last count, and those numbers are rapidly increasing.  People are literally being blown to bits; fathers, mothers, children, elderly, and disabled; whether they are sleeping in their beds, studying in a classroom at school, or praying in the mosque, no one is spared, and everyone is a target.
 
Does it sound like a promo for the latest Hollywood action film?  Maybe the theme of another graphically violent video game that people with nothing better to do are standing in line to purchase?  Unfortunately, it's neither.  This is the reality of the ongoing Israeli massacre of civilians in Gaza.  As many in the Mosque Foundation community remain obsessively glued to the satellite news, sickened to watch, but unable to look away, the shock and the disbelief remain as fresh weeks into this siege as it was on the first day.  "Where is the humanity?"  This is a question repeated over and over as the world watches but does nothing to intervene. 

As the frustration grows, so does the anger.  Muslims cannot sit idly while the massacre of innocent civilians continues, yet the feeling of helplessness abounds.  Many local and national Muslim and humanitarian relief organizations have organized protests and demonstrations to draw attention to the severity and barbarity of this latest Israeli siege and the ongoing plight of the Palestinian people.  Over one thousand men, women & children from the Mosque Foundation braved the bitter cold to attend several protests downtown over the past few weeks, which turned out over 6,000 protesters from numerous organizations against this most recent Israeli aggression.  Many Mosque Foundation community members also traveled to Washington, D.C. on Saturday, January 10th, 2009, joining over 25,000 people from all over the United States to rally in front of the White House against the Gaza massacre. 

It’s the very least we can do.  The Muslim Ummah is like a body.  If one part of the body is injured, the entire body feels that pain.  We feel the pain of our brothers and sisters suffering in Gaza, and we will not rest until that injury is healed.  Please donate generously to the relief efforts, and above all, remember the victims in your prayers.  May Allah alleviate the suffering.