'When you see all of the biggest demonstrations in the history of this country going out in support of Palestine and in a call for a ceasefire, then you know you are on the right side of history and the British people are also on the right side of history.'
On November 15, around 100 people, including MPs, academics, journalists, and social media personalities, gathered in the House of Commons for a Voices for Peace event.
The event was organised by Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association (AMYA), the youth auxiliary body of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. It was part was the Voices for Peace campaign, an initiative to raise voices on behalf of the oppressed and encourage world peace.
Voices of Peace was initiated by the head of the worldwide Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, His Holiness Mirza Masroor Ahmad, in light of the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict. For more than two decades, Mirza Masroor Ahmad has been advocating global peace.
The need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza was the key message at the event. Quoting His Holiness Mirza Masroor Ahmad, AMYA’s President, Abdul Quddus Arif, told the audience:
“For as long as [world leaders] do not courageously strive for a ceasefire, they are invariably responsible for taking the world towards destruction.”
Husam Zomlot, Ambassador to the United Kingdom for Palestine, was another speaker at the House of Commons’ event. He told the audience how around 76 percent of British people say they want an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
“When you see all of the biggest demonstrations in the history of this country going out in support of Palestine and in a call for a ceasefire, then you know you are on the right side of history and the British people are also on the right side of history. So ceasefire is crucial because what we are demanding is ceasefire to stop the atrocities, the carnage, the mass murder, the mass destruction,” he said.
In a video message, Karim Khan, prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, told the audience that Israel “must not target civilians, hospitals, schools, mosques, synagogues, churches, Red Cross facilities, Red Crescent facilities.”
“And I have said very clearly that immediately humanitarian supplies must be allowed into Gaza,” said Khan.
As part of the Voices for Peace campaign, members of AMYA have written to their MPs, held social media campaigns, and raised more than £45,000 to support the innocent families and individuals who have tragically lost so much during the Palestine/Israel crisis.
The youth auxiliary body of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community says it encourages everyone to continue to raise their voices for justice and a ceasefire through democratic means for the “innocent men, women, children, and babies of Palestine that have no part in the current Israeli-Hamas conflict.”
Gabrielle Pickard-Whitehead is a contributing editor to Left Foot Forward
Image credit: AMYA
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