• Gaza: The Story of a Genocide launched
• It is our duty to stand up against this genocide, says Fatima Bhutto

KARACHI: The launch of the new book from Liberty Publishing, Gaza: The Story of a Genocide, co-edited by Fatima Bhutto and Sonia Faleiro, organised by the Social Development and Policy Programme in collaboration with the Academic Centres at Habib University on Friday, was more of a wake-up call — a reminder that you cannot turn your back on Gaza because you are also not safe with Israel on a rampage.

Speaking at the launch, Fatima Bhutto said that she was often asked by people why she was always talking about Gaza. “They ask why am I always talking about Gaza instead of this or that or the floods, though I do talk about the floods, too. But it is true that my mind and my heart is with Gaza,” she admitted honestly.

She said that thousands of Palestinians were murdered by Israel. “Half of them are children. In fact, more children have been killed in Gaza than in any other conflict, probably any conflicts in the modern age put together. Gaza is now also home to the largest cohort of child amputees in the world,” she pointed out.

“What Israel has done is something so grotesque that they have changed the nature of war. We talk about the children and that does not mean in any way that we don’t mourn the men, the women and the families. But there is a particular type of evil that can turn off incubators for premature babies. And there is a particular type of evil for which there is only religious language because ordinary vocabulary cannot contain it. There is a certain type of evil for a force that shoots children in the head as Israel has done, not since October 7, 2023, but throughout its entire history,” she said.

“And my mind and heart is with Gaza for this reason that if Israel succeeds, and we have seen them not just bomb Gaza but seen them bomb Lebanon, seen them disarm Syria, which used to be one of the only countries to stand against them, seen them bomb Tunisia, bomb Qatar, bomb Yemen, and assassinate the entire cabinet of Yemen just a month ago.

“If Israel succeeds in Gaza, then you here in one of the largest Muslim countries in the world and the only Muslim country with a nuclear asset, must be under no illusions that you will be safe. You will not be safe. I will not be safe. Your children will not be safe. None of our children will be safe. Our country will not be safe,” Ms Bhutto reminded.

“Israel often acts as though their Holocaust is an existential issue for them. But Israel’s succeeding in their plans is an existential issue for all of us. And so it is our duty not as Muslims, not as Pakistanis but it is our duty as human beings to stand up against this genocide,” she said.

Later, during a conversation with her, anthropologist, researcher and writer Peter Lagerqvist, said that like Anne Frank writing about the Holocaust there may be other “Anne Franks” writing from Gaza in the book. To this Ms Bhutto pointed out that the pain of the Palestinians is not seen as the Jewish child’s pain during the Holocaust by the Western world.

She gave the example of Palestine Action, who are only spray painting weapons factories that manufacture machines that murder, maim and destroy. “You have seen quad-copters and drones that drop explosive devices in Gaza and here Palestine Action was spray painting their factories or a military plane with red paint for which they have been put at the same level as Al Qaeda and ISIS,” she said.

She said that if in the United Kingdom anyone says “I support Palestine Action” they can go to jail for supporting terrorism. “Some people had put together this T-shirt, which said ‘I support Plasticine Action’, not Palestine on purpose. And they were arrested, too. That is the level to which fascism has taken root in the West,” she said.

“So Israeli bombs are not terrorism and Israeli quad-copters which drop explosives on top of residential buildings are not terrorism but ‘I support Palestine Action’ is terrorism, ‘Free Palestine’ is terrorism ‘From the River to the Sea’ is criminalised,” she concluded sarcastically.

Published in Dawn, September 20th, 2025