Everybody knows what’s happening in Gaza. The massacre of civilians – innocent men, women and children – by the Israelis and the world’s silence on the matter.

I have actually heard some ignoramuses argue that it was Hamas that started all this by firing rockets.

Why are the Gazan’s Fighting?

Firing rockets? Gaza has been under a vicious siege for years. The people of Gaza have no access to clean water, no control over their own electricity, nothing can come in to Gaza or go out without Israel’s permission, and of course no resident of Gaza can leave or enter Gaza without Israel’s permission. What else are the people supposed to do other than fire rockets? By the way, these are homemade rockets and 95% of time they don’t even reach Israeli cities.

This is like telling a woman being raped that it is her fault for fighting back! Sounds sick but that’s how it is.

Can we Help?

In a situation like this, there are a few things we can do:

  1. Get up and go fight with the people of Gaza
  2. Get up and pressurize our leaders to take action
  3. If we are powerless to do the above two, then at least boycott Israeli products

This post is about option#3.

There are hundreds of lists being circulated that tell you which products to boycott and how they are related to Israel. Find out which products to boycott at BDS Movement.

The best thing about being in Pakistan is that we have local alternates to most of the products that these companies sell. If you were living in the Middle East or Europe, it would be very difficult.

Yes, I know there are things you cannot boycott like Intel chips or Boeing, but at least instead of buying HP next time you can buy a Samsung laptop!

Boycott American Too

Now here’s the difficult part. Like it or not, America and Israel are not two distinct entities when it comes to the Israeli/Palestinian issue. They are one. This is evident by the many statements by American politicians in blind support of Israeli aggression, by the continuous supply of American arms to Israel, and by the veto of any action against Israel in the UN Security Council.

This means in order to really hurt the aggressors, it is not enough to boycott companies that support Israel, but we must also boycott American products! This is the least we can do.

This basically means boycotting every major international brand that we know. However, like I said we have alternatives for everything here in our country which are just as good. So how about:

  • Gun Smoke instead of McDonalds
  • 14th Street Pizza instead of Pizza Hut
  • Olpers/Engro instead of Nestle

Does this sound difficult? Believe me, we have it easy compared to people in other parts of the world who have to struggle to find a non-American brand.

But they Provide Jobs!

I have come across this argument as well. I just want to say to people who say this that please keep the greater good in mind. No amount of jobs justify the killing of even ONE child!

Think about the Children

So the next time you get the urge to buy something Israeli or American, please think about the innocent children being killed and just for a second imagine your own child or young brother or sister being slaughtered in the same brutal manner. Would you still eat that burger or drink that soda (which is bad for your anyway) knowing full well that the one you’re buying from killed your little family member? This is the right time to… Be Pakistani, Buy Pakistani!