“As a mother and a constituent I beg Jo Stevens to raise her voice to end this genocidal violence“
Cover image by Ka Long Tung
Local residents, parents, students and peace campaigners based in the Cardiff Central parliamentary constituency will stage a peace vigil outside the office of their MP, Jo Stevens on Thursday at 6 pm, hoping to persuade her to join international calls for a ceasefire in the Middle East and end to the bombing of Gaza.
A recent YouGov poll found 76% of people in Britain were in favour of an immediate ceasefire in Israel/Palestine, but 19 out of 20 Welsh Labour MPs, including Jo Stevens, have remained loyal to Keir Starmer who is supporting Israel’s war on Gaza and opposing calls for an immediate ceasefire.
Labour has faced a huge backlash over its support for Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, which was described by the head of United Nations in New York as a “genocide unfolding before our eyes.”‘
Following the Israeli bombing of a refugee camp on Tuesday, where entire families were killed and children buried under rubble, Labour’s shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy told the Today programme that the air strike “can be legally justifiable.”
Israel not only admitted to the air strike, but confirmed that they knew children and civilians would be killed.
Adam Johannes, an Adamsdown resident and secretary of Cardiff Stop the War Coalition said,
“Silence is the real crime against humanity. Jo Stevens has failed to call for a ceasefire, effectively supporting war crimes and collective punishment of a civilian population.
Over the last three weeks Israel has dropped more bombs on Gaza than the United States dropped on Afghanistan in an entire year at the peak of the war.”
Bethan Sayed, a former Member of the Welsh Parliament said, “According to Save the Children, the number of Palestinian children killed in Gaza in the last three weeks – over 3,400 dead, over 1,000 reported missing – exceeds the annual number of children killed across all the world’s conflict zones since 2019. 40% of Palestinians who died in Gaza this month are children.”
“While over a third of the Welsh Parliament, including Senedd Members from Labour, Plaid, LibDems and Tories are now calling for an immediate lifting of the siege of Gaza, it’s unconscionable that our First Minister and all four Cardiff MPs, including my own MP Jo Stevens, are not calling for an end to these massacres.”
“As a mother and a constituent I beg Jo Stevens to raise her voice to end this genocidal violence, and instead work for a just peace based on ending the occupation, lifting the siege, ending apartheid and letting the refugees return home. Ceasefire Now!”
Sarah Jones, a mother and researcher living in Cathays said she would attend the vigil with her twenty month old daughter and urged others to do the same..
“As a mother I can no longer stand to hear of children being killed by Israel’s relentless bombing, of families being torn apart, and to hear of the complete failure of the opposition party to take a stand on this issue.”
“It is very clear that Israel is committing war crimes against people living in Gaza, including targeting civilians, imposing a total siege, and using internationally banned white phosphorous.”
She said that as a former Labour voter she was disgusted by the party’s stance on the issue.
“Calling for a ceasefire is the obvious choice and I am appalled that Jo Stevens has so far failed to do this.
I urge her, and all people of conscience, to consider how history will judge us at this moment, to call for a ceasefire and help end the complete hell on earth that millions of innocents are currently facing in Gaza.”
Alizah, a student living in Cathays said,
“The people of the constituency voted Jo Stevens in and she is not representing or listening to us. The state of Israel is committing war crimes and the people in power in the UK are refusing to save the innocent cvilians.”
The vigil will take place on Thursday 2 November, 6 pm, Constituency office of Jo Stevens MP, 116 Albany Road, Roath, Cardiff, CF24 3RU.
It has been called by an ad hoc group of local residents who met at recent protests in support of the Palestinian people who are calling themselves ‘Cardiff Central Residents for a Ceasefire Now’.
