Never Again

On 15 months of genocide.

Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu via Getty Images

Never again. That’s what you’re supposed to say about genocide, right? This can never happen again, we must never let it happen again, we can’t ever forget, not again, never again.

Some might think, given that genocide keeps happening, that the world’s commitment to “never again” is hollow and empty. But for today, in light of the hope that the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas might finally stop 15 months of genocide in Gaza, let’s take the idea of “never again” seriously.

Never again to genocide, in Gaza or anywhere.

Never again to the indiscriminate slaughter of tens, or likely hundreds, of thousands of people. Never again to the massacre of children and babies or the liquidation of entire families. Never again to the intentional starvation of a civilian population, the deliberate withholding of humanitarian and medical aid, and the targeting of aid workers, healthcare workers, and journalists. Never again to the bombing of schools, hospitals, religious sites, cultural treasures, and all of the other things that sustain life or make it worth living. Never again to the excuse that destroying these places was fine because “Hamas.”

Never again to the mass torture and sexual violence against Palestinian prisoners. Never again to the disgusting spectacle of Israeli soldiers bragging about their war crimes on TikTok. Never again to an Israeli society reveling in genocide. Never again to the Israeli political class that united completely behind the genocide, that called people in Gaza “human animals” and bayed for collective punishment.

Never again to the grotesque denials that Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza. Never again to the lie that “there was a ceasefire on October 6,” as if Israel’s unceasing oppression of Palestinians was not inherently violent. Never again to the notion that the carnage of October 7 gave Israel a blank check to murder as many Palestinians as possible, for as long as it wanted to, without paying any price.

Never again to the cynical and reckless way Israel and its supporters have slung accusations of antisemitism or “blood libel” at anyone, including Jews, who had the temerity to oppose genocide or criticize Zionism. Never again to the use of the Holocaust as a neverending shield against Israel’s crimes. Never again to the privileging of Jewish supremacy above all else.

Never again to the authoritarian attempts to suppress the movement for Palestine in every conceivable walk of life, and to prevent Palestinians from speaking out about the horrors their people are enduring.

Never again to a media establishment that has looked the other way while Israel deliberately massacred journalist after journalist in Gaza; manufactured consent for genocide over and over again; spread vile anti-Palestinian propaganda; treated Palestinian lives as worthless; happily regurgitated the obvious lies that politicians were telling about the genocide; and compared people who criticized Israel to terrorists. Never again to the pundits who told us this was too “complicated” for mere mortals to understand, or mocked people for caring about Gaza, or treated genocide as an interesting little intellectual conundrum.

Never again to every single person who has carried this genocide out, supported it, abetted it, excused it, or ignored it. Never again to the monsters of our age—Netanyahu and Gallant and Herzog and all the fascist war criminals in the Israeli government and the Israeli military. Never again to the evil, racist, blood-soaked system that they represent. Never again to the leaders around the world who have propped them up.

Never again to Joe Biden, who has supported this genocide from beginning to end, even though he could have stopped it in its tracks anytime he wanted; who has provided Israel an endless supply of the weapons needed to perpetrate the genocide; who has made it clear, time and time again, that he doesn’t see Palestinians as human beings; who has lied and lied and lied about every aspect of this horrifying conflict; who, along with Kamala Harris (never again to her too), treated Palestinians and their allies with utter contempt, and chose support for genocide over victory in 2024; who will never, ever, ever be able to wash the blood from his hands; who has fully earned a one-way ticket to hell.

Never again to Biden knowing even a second’s peace in whatever time his rotten soul has left on this planet.

Never again to Antony Blinken, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Matthew Miller, Samantha Power, Jake Sullivan, and every hideous government apparatchik who has gone along with these crimes against humanity. Never again to John Fetterman and Lindsey Graham and Ritchie Torres and all the hundreds of other politicians from both parties who have supported the genocide the whole way through.

Never again to the Palestine exception in our political and cultural life. Never again to giving public figures a pass for their bloodthirsty anti-Palestinian racism. Never again to treating Palestine as a minor side issue, rather than one that should be central to our conception of the world.

Never again to letting Palestine fall off the agenda.

Never again to thinking all hope is lost. Never again to leaving Palestinians to fight this fight on their own. Never again to giving up before Palestinian liberation has been won.

Never again to letting the dead die in vain. Never again to failing to lift up the living.