Actress Angelina Jolie said Israel’s bombing of the Gaza Strip in response to the horrific terrorist attack by Hamas, which left over 1,400 Israelis dead, is not justified.
In an Instagram post, Angelina Jolie decried the attack on Israel but then shifted gears, denouncing the IDF assault on Gaza in response to the Hamas attack.
“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,” she wrote.
“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,” Jolie continued.
“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 added.
However, the actress failed to mention the neighboring countries in the region, such as Egypt, who have refused to take the Palestinian refugees.
Jolie said she cares mostly about people “displaced by violence in any context,” noting that 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,” she said.
“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.
The Hollywood Reporter noted that Jolie has worked with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for over 20 years and frequently campaigns for the “support of forcibly displaced people around the world.”
The outlet reported:
“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.”
“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.
Last week, President Barack Obama faced backlash for urging Israel to practice restraint in response to Hamas terrorists.
Similar to Jolie, Obama’s remarks began by expressing solidarity with Israel but quickly shifted gears to warn Israel about its strategies for defending itself.
“Already, thousands of Palestinians have been killed in the bombing of Gaza, many of them children. Hundreds of thousands have been forced from their homes.”
“The Israeli government’s decision to cut off food, water, and electricity to a captive civilian population threatens not only to worsen a growing humanitarian crisis.”
READ: George Soros Ploughed over $15M into Pro-Hamas, Anti-Israel Organizations
