After a deadly Israeli air strike in Rafah on Monday, resulted in 45 Palestinian refugees being burnt alive and at least one child beheaded, celebrities worldwide are using social media to express their anger and demand an urgent ceasefire.
Pakistani actor Faysal Quraishi shared his sorrow and support for the victims on Instagram, “All eyes on Rafah. All hearts for Rafah. All thoughts with Rafah. All prayers include Rafah.”
Imran Abbas made a strong appeal on Instagram: “Ceasefire now… What are we waiting for? Even the UK is speaking up, so why are we Muslims staying silent? You don’t need to belong to any religion to feel the pain of burning children and humans alive. There’s no excuse for this terrible brutality.”
Hollywood actor Jenna Ortega, known for starring her role in the Netflix series ‘Wednesday,’ focused on the ongoing suffering of children in the genocide. In a post highlighting the harsh reality, she said, “People are arguing about a ceasefire while many children are still being killed. Where is the humanity?”
Model and actor Saheefa Jabbar Khattak, who often speaks out on social media about important issues, shared her thoughts on Instagram. She criticized people who compare Israel’s treatment of Palestinians to Pakistan’s treatment of its minorities. Saheefa mentioned Kim Kardashian’s recent comment of “All lives matter” in response to a call for Palestinian liberation.
Saheefa disagreed with the idea and said, “To those who say I should focus on problems in my own country first, I say: please learn about ethnic cleansing and genocide. The terrible things happening to minorities in our country are also wrong and should be condemned.”
“But please, don’t say that one should condemn one wrong but not the other. To the people in power in the government of Pakistan, I ask you, as a taxpayer, and as a citizen of your country, to stop the genocide in our country. No one deserves this cruelty. We must remember that our flag is incomplete without the color white, which represents our minorities who are also contributing to Pakistan’s growth and economy.”
Saheefa’s message continued to urge for better education and activism: “Stop justifying genocide, unlawful killings, rapes, assaults, and violence. When the Black Lives Matter movement started, some people responded with ‘all lives matter,’ not because they believed it, but to distract from the main focus of the movement.”
Her passionate plea also included a call for targeted boycotting and a deeper understanding of the situation. She said, “Boycotting every company on the list isn’t practical. Many influencers, like myself, have stopped supporting various brands. Remember, the list is long, with hundreds of products from big companies. There’s a reason for focusing on specific boycotts.”
According to Saheefa, a broad, untargeted boycott is “easier said than done” and might be harmful or impossible for “a third-world country with limited resources.” “Don’t boycott all 200 products. Learn why we’re targeting Coke, Starbucks, and McDonald’s. They were the first to publicly fund and support genocides. They fed IDF soldiers while children in the Gaza Strip were brutally killed, raped, and left hungry in the streets. Please, I urge each of you to educate yourselves,” she pleaded.
The collective voices of these celebrities reflect a growing global demand for Palestinian liberation and an end to Israel’s apartheid regime that continues to claim Palestinian lives. Their heartfelt messages have resonated widely, shedding light on the human cost of the genocide and urging immediate action to prevent further loss of Palestinian lives.
