Live Aid founder Bob Geldof has sharply criticized the Israeli government’s involvement in the Gaza conflict, describing it as “a despicable disgrace” and accusing it of intentionally starving children, reports RTE.
“Their government is clearly out of control, and their army probably as well… It is a despicable disgrace. And for the Israeli people to allow this in their name is a despicable disgrace,” he told Prime Time, reports RTE.
“It is so utterly bizarre that we’re talking about Israel, given the horror of their own past. It is bewildering to me,” he said, reports RTE.
“I was the founding patron of the Aegis Trust for Genocide Studies, which is a branch of the British National Holocaust Museum. I spent many times with the survivors of the Holocaust” he told presenter Miriam O’Callaghan, “were they alive now? They would possibly die of shame. The shame of this, Miriam, the shame for Israel… This is unconscionable,” reports RTE.
His statements come at a time when United Nations agencies are issuing grave warnings about extreme hunger and famine taking hold in Gaza.
Earlier, UNRWA senior emergency officer Louise Wateridge described the reality on the ground as “completely unbearable,” noting that people are stepping over dead bodies at aid distribution points as they desperately try to find food, reports RTE.
She said that over 6,000 aid trucks — about half loaded with vital food and medical supplies — remain stuck outside Gaza due to Israeli restrictions.
UNICEF also reported that continuous bombing and the mass displacement of people have made significant areas of Gaza unreachable for aid efforts, and that the region’s core health and nutrition systems are nearing total breakdown, reports RTE.
Mr Geldof appeared on Prime Time following a report that showed recent footage and images of hungry and undernourished children in Gaza.
In the segment, Oxfam aid worker Bushra Khalidi described Israel’s actions as “collective punishment,” while Caroline Willeman from Doctors Without Borders, reporting from northern Gaza, said the current crisis is unlike anything she has witnessed before, reports RTE.
She explained that Palestinian staff treating ill and dying children are now struggling to feed themselves and their own families.
“We are witnessing a genocide,” Ms Willeman said, “we are witnessing a genocide because we are witnessing people from whom food is being upheld, from whom water is being upheld,” reports RTE.
“It literally is beyond our comprehension. Look at your face, look at the aid workers there,” Mr Geldof said, “What are we living in? I cannot look at those pictures. Obviously, they remind me of 1984, but in completely different circumstances,” reports RTE.
Between 1983 and 1985, Ethiopia experienced a devastating famine caused by drought and conflict. The shocking media coverage inspired Mr Geldof and Midge Ure to create Band Aid in 1984 to raise money for famine relief.
The following year, in 1985, the massive Live Aid concert took place in both the UK and US simultaneously, drawing some of the biggest music stars in the world to perform for the cause, reports RTE.
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