Since October 2023, the people of Gaza have endured indiscriminate attacks from Israel for more than eight months. In the first month of the conflict, Israel had dropped bombs with the equivalence of two nuclear bombs; every hour in Gaza, 15 people were killed, 35 injured, and a dozen buildings destroyed. Israel's assault on Gaza has killed at least 36,224 people, nearly half of them children and nearly 10,000 women. In May of this year, after months of urging Gaza refugees to move south, the IDF invaded the southern Gazan city of Rafah, despite opposition from the international community and the International Court of Justice. The onslaught in densely populated areas had killed hundreds within a few days.
In addition to direct attacks, Israel's long-term blockade of Gaza has caused severe shortages of food, drinking water, energy, and medical resources. This may lead to severe humanitarian crises, including famine. Israel’s attacks had murdered more than 200 aid workers, including United Nations personnel. These attacks include targeted operations on convoys and buildings of Médecins Sans Frontières and the World Central Kitchen; the Israeli Knesset had recently passed a bill on first reading to designate the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) as a "terrorist organization". Attacks and intimidation against aid units and aid workers; the use of white phosphorus payloads; and the indiscriminate murder of children, journalists, medical staff and persons with disabilities, are exceedingly rare in contemporary wars as it goes against the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the Geneva Conventions and all relevant international human rights laws.
The tragedy we are witnessing now does not stem from Hamas’s attack on Israel last year, but from the military blockade and settler colonialism that the Palestinian people have endured for the past 76 years; but from the total control on transportation, water sources, food, and medical care; but from the apartheid regime imposed on the Palestinian people by Israel; but from the decades of arbitrary imprisonment, violent repression, and repeated violations of ceasefire agreements.
The battle is tangible: the “Taiwan-Israel Congressional Association” launched by DPP legislator Chung Chia-pin was suspected to have transformed Taiwan's small and medium-sized enterprises into a cog of the killing machine. The 2,000-pound bomb that fell on the people of Gaza, the guidance system that set refugee tents ablaze in Rafah, and the drone that vaporized the aid groups' convoy, all likely contained parts produced in Taiwan. Recent occurrences where Israeli representative personnel physically attacked peaceful protesters in Taiwan, further indicated that the indifference to Palestine and Gaza have similarly eroded Taiwan's protection of basic freedoms such as peaceful assembly and expression.
For this, we demand:
1. Legislators should uphold Taiwan's human rights values by ceasing to facilitate connections between arms manufacturers and Taiwanese companies. Legislators should actively engage in human rights and humanitarian advocacy with the Israeli government and parliament within the Taiwan-Israel Congressional Association. Legislators may withdraw from or oppose the “Taiwan-Israel Congressional Association” to express their stance.
2. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs should cease its provision of resources to Israel, and provide humanitarian assistance to Palestine, including essential aid such as food, medical supplies, and education.
3. The Ministry of Economic Affairs should publicly disclose trade records related to the manufacturing of military equipment for Israel. Provision of funds, raw materials, components, key technologies, and personnel for the manufacturing of Israeli military equipment shall be prohibited. Additionally, it should cease cooperation with Israeli arms dealers in the development of weapons.
4. The Taiwanese government shall adhere to the principles of transitional justice and uphold the core values of human rights, ensuring that Taiwan does not become embroiled in this ongoing genocide.