Two Years of Genocide in Gaza: Our Responsibility A COMMUNITY APPEAL

As we mark two years of genocide, we recall our  responsibility to the people of Gaza, who have  endured an all-out war on their lives for over 700  days. 

The official tally of martyrs has passed 68,000,  though all know this is a vast undercount. Entire  families have been erased, tens of thousands  remain under rubble, and over two million people  are pushed to the edge of survival. With every  month that this genocide drags on, the toll only  grows more unbearable. Gaza now has the highest  proportion of child amputees in the world. Even  before the most recent escalation, nearly one in  five children in Gaza City was malnourished. 

Recently, the Israel began its campaign to raze  Gaza City to the ground, forcibly expelling  hundreds of thousands of Palestinians into  uninhabitable areas in central and southern Gaza. 

'Israel' continues to bomb— and not only  Palestine. Over the past year it has attacked  Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Yemen, Qatar, and Tunisia, all  without consequence. Meanwhile, many Western  and Arab leaders seem content with empty  gestures, punishing the victims, or discussing  plans to build Dubai-style “mega-projects” atop  Israel's killing field. 
Yet Gaza continues to resist, embodying the  Palestinian value of sumud. Resistance is waged  valiantly on the battlefield, and unflinchingly, it is  lived in the steadfast refusal to surrender. 

As we enter the third year of mass slaughter in  Gaza, we must turn our disgust and anger over  this ongoing Nakba into ever greater action— not  only to stop the slaughter decisively, but to uproot  the deep injustices that sustain it. 

As we mark this grim two-year milestone,  UUCSA calls upon the Ummah to reaffirm its  commitment to the struggle for justice in Bayt al Maqdis, and requests Imams to make their congregations aware of the activities planned in  the coming weeks: 

• Observing Sunnah fasts on Monday and  Thursday (6th and 9th October) 
• Arranging programmes of ibādah and ā'māl at  masājid (such as Sunnah supplications for the  removal of difficulty, Qur‘ān Khatam, Adhkar,  Qiyāmul Layl, pieces of advice for reform, and  du‘ā) 
• Maqra-ah of Ahādıt̄h on the virtues of Bayt al Maqdis or الجھاد علــــى الحث فـــي الأربعون كتاب by Ibn  Asakir, at a suitable time and place under the  guidance of Ulama to align our solidarity  efforts with an Islamic paradigm. (Electronic  copies of the suggested texts are available, upon  request) 
• Amplifying and setting urgent targets for our  communities (homes and businesses) to be  totally Apartheid-Free zones. A shortlist of  consumer boycott targets include Clover and  Coca Cola (all products), Cape Union Mart  Group, DisChem and Teva pharmaceuticals. 
• Encouraging Muslim schools to register for  training and the rollout of a Palestine  curriculum developed by the Islamic  Curriculum Initiative and Heart of the Ummah,  in coordination with UUCSA. 
• Supporting broader societal solidarity  initiatives that go beyond symbolic gestures—  including flotillas to Gaza, a coal embargo,  prosecuting South Africans who serve in the  Israeli army, ensuring public representatives  face lasting consequences for Gaza Genocide  denialism, sanctioning Apartheid Israel, and  shutting down the Israeli Embassy. 

We owe it to ourselves to express solidarity with  the oppressed, recognising fully well that the  forces that are at play in the annihilation of  Palestinians, will not stop with this genocide but  continue to menace, dehumanise and subjugate  the people of the Global South, a people, a country  or a region at a time. 

Released by: 
Y. Patel (Moulana) 
UUCSA Secretary General 
09 Rabi ‘al Thani1447 / 02 October 2025