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The seven people killed on a World Central Kitchen (WCK) mission in Gaza on Monday were the best of humanity. They risked everything for the most fundamental human activity: to share our food with others.
- Biden, are you listening? There's no famine in Gaza/ Alon Goldstein
Zomi Frankcom, Damian Sobol, Jacob Flickinger, Saifeddin Issam Ayad Abutaha, John Chapman, James Kirby, James Henderson – their work was based on a simple belief: that food is a universal human right.
We do not ask what religion you belong to. We just ask how many meals you need.
From day one, we have fed Israelis as well as Palestinians. All across Israel, we have served more than 1.75 million hot meals. We have fed families displaced by Hezbollah rockets in the north. We have fed grieving families from the south. We delivered meals to the hospitals where hostages were reunited with their families. We have called consistently, repeatedly and passionately for the release of all the hostages.
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Temporary port for aid in Gaza, Jose Andres
(Photo: PR, Israel Defense Forces/Handout via REUTERS)
We have communicated extensively with Israeli military and civilian officials. At the same time, we have worked closely with community leaders in Gaza, as well as Arab nations in the region. There is no way to bring a ship to Gaza full of food without doing so.
That’s how we have served more than 43 million meals in Gaza, preparing hot food in 68 community kitchens where Palestinians are feeding Palestinians.
We know Israelis. Israelis, in their heart of hearts, know that food is not a weapon of war.
Israel is better than the way this war is being waged. It is better than blocking food and medicine to civilians. It is better than killing aid workers who coordinate their movements with the IDF.
The Israeli government needs to open land routes to food and medicine today. It needs to stop killing civilians and aid workers today. It needs to start the long journey to peace today.
In the worst conditions, after the worst terrorist attack in its history, it’s time for the best of Israel to show up. You cannot save the hostages by bombing every building in Gaza. You cannot win this war by starving an entire population.
We have fed families displaced by Hezbollah rockets in the north. We have fed grieving families from the south. We delivered meals to the hospitals where hostages were reunited with their families
We welcome the IDF and the government’s promise of an investigation into how and why our WCK family was killed. That investigation needs to start at the top, not just the bottom.
Prime Minister Netanyahu has said, “This happens in wartime.” But the air strikes on our convoy were not just some unfortunate mistake in the fog of war. It was a direct attack on clearly marked vehicles whose movements were known by the IDF.
It was also the direct result of his government’s policy to squeeze humanitarian aid to desperate levels. Our team was en route from a delivery of almost 400 tons of aid by sea – our second shipment, funded by the UAE, supported by Cyprus, and with clearance from the IDF.
The reason the team put their lives at risk was precisely because this food aid is so rare and desperately needed. They would not have made the journey if there were enough food, traveling by truck across land, to feed the people of Gaza.
The peoples of the Mediterranean and Middle East, regardless of ethnicity and religion, share a culture that values food as a powerful statement of humanity and hospitality – of our shared hope for a better tomorrow.
There’s a reason why, at this special time of year, Christians make Easter eggs, Muslims eat an egg at Iftar dinners, and an egg sits on the seder plate.
Chef Jose AndresPhoto: PRI have been a stranger at seder dinners. I have heard the ancient Passover stories about being a stranger in the land of Egypt, about remembering – with a feast before you – that the children of Israel were once slaves.
It is not a sign of weakness to feed strangers; it is a sign of strength. The people of Israel need to remember, at this darkest hour, what strength truly looks like.
Chef José Andrés is the founder of World Central Kitchen.