{"id":3035,"date":"2026-04-30T07:01:44","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T07:01:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/1nationmedia.com\/?p=3035"},"modified":"2026-04-30T10:11:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T10:11:19","slug":"we-want-action-not-sympathy-dr-haidar-eids-message-from-gaza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/1nationmedia.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/30\/we-want-action-not-sympathy-dr-haidar-eids-message-from-gaza\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;We Want Action, Not Sympathy&#8217;: A Message from Gaza"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Speaking in South Africa as a voice from Gaza, Dr Haidar Eid delivered a forceful and deeply emotional call to action, insisting that Palestinians were not asking the world for sympathy, but demanding concrete political intervention to end the occupation, siege and the genocide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr Eid spoke at a farewell function in Lenasia, Johannesburg, for South Africans participating in the 2026 Sumud flotilla and land convoy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Eid, who arrived in South Africa in December 2023, carried with him testimonies from Gaza: stories of mass killing, displacement, and the systematic destruction of Palestinian life. He noted more than 73,000 people have been killed in the ongoing genocide, stressing that each number represented a family, a future and a life erased.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He spoke of colleagues and students from Al-Quds University and other Gaza universities who had been killed, as well as entire families wiped out. Among one of his most painful stories was that of Dr. Adnan Al-Bursh, a surgeon at Al-Shifa Hospital, who was arrested, tortured and killed in detention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Eid also shared his own personal losses, of homes destroyed and dozens of relatives killed. He emphasised that Gaza was living through collective annihilation, not isolated tragedy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe do not want sympathy. We want action,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-9-16 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"youtube-embed\" data-video_id=\"\"><iframe title=\"Dr Haidar Eid - A Voice From Gaza\" width=\"563\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/qDTaUOubZ1I?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Eid rejected the framing of Gaza as a standalone crisis, arguing instead that it was part of a wider system of occupation, Apartheid and settler colonialism across historic Palestine. He insisted there was \u201cno Gaza question, there is a Palestine question\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He criticised international responses that relied on statements and diplomacy without consequences, warning that without real pressure, including sanctions, the violence would continue and escalate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He also highlighted the Rafah crossing as a critical lifeline that remained closed, preventing medical evacuation and trapping civilians under siege.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Speaking on South Africa, Eid drew a direct comparison with the country\u2019s anti-apartheid struggle and the global pressure that had helped end it. He referenced the legacy of Nelson Mandela and the international sanctions campaign that had isolated apartheid South Africa until it collapsed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He urged the world to apply the same strategy to Israel through the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, a Palestinian-led call for the eonomic isolation Israel and which was endorsed across all civil society sectors in Palestine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Eid said the BDS movement was not symbolic solidarity but the practical tool to end impunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He said his message was not a request for empathy but solidarity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Palestinians, he said, were asking for pressure, consequences and action strong enough to change their reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-9-16 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"youtube-embed\" data-video_id=\"\"><iframe title=\"&#039;We Want Action, Not Sympathy&#039;: Dr Haidar Eid&#039;s Message from Gaza\" width=\"563\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/OftoFRUbRM4?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Speaking in South Africa as a voice from Gaza, Dr Haidar Eid delivered a forceful and deeply emotional call to action, insisting that Palestinians were not asking the world for sympathy, but demanding concrete political intervention to end the occupation, siege and the genocide. Dr Eid spoke at a farewell function in Lenasia, Johannesburg, for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":3044,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,168],"tags":[14,165,15,94,16],"class_list":{"0":"post-3035","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-conflict-zones","8":"category-world","9":"tag-gaza","10":"tag-genocide","11":"tag-israel","12":"tag-netanyahu","13":"tag-palestine"},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/1nationmedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/1nationmedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/1nationmedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1nationmedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1nationmedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3035"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/1nationmedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3035\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3068,"href":"https:\/\/1nationmedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3035\/revisions\/3068"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1nationmedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/1nationmedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1nationmedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1nationmedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}