Editor’s note: Salah Eleyan was living outside of Gaza when his nephew Karam was killed in a bomb strike. To honor the memory of the child he loved, he spoke at one of the largest protest gatherings ever seen in Copenhagen, held Jan. 7, 2024. The text of his speech is below.

Hi, Salam Alykum,

My name is Salah, a Palestinian, born and raised in Gaza. I arrived in Denmark four months ago as a student to follow my dream of advancing my study and research, but unfortunately, I am standing here today to talk about the genocide against my family and my people that is taking place right now in Gaza. Genocide is the only word for what is happening. No one can describe it or imagine it.

I hate to speak about numbers but we have to remind the world that the number of civilian victims killed by the Israeli regime is over 30,000 – more than 12,000 children and 6,000 women. The number of wounded exceeds 58,000. Over 6,000 are still under the rubble.

Again, I hate speaking about numbers because we are not numbers. Our victims are not numbers to be quoted every time there is war and suffering. Our children are not numbers to be reported as collateral damage. Our children are vibrant lives of hope, love and future.  When a baby is born in Gaza, celebrations begin throughout the neighborhood. Neighbors come to offer congratulations and be reassured of the mother health. Everyone wants to see this new little angel who has joined the family. They are pictures of the hope we desire for the future. Our children are faces, memories, laughter, the spirit of homes, and the noise of family dinners.

One of these little angels is my nephew, Karam, 2 years and 4 months old, a child born with beautiful sleepy brown eyes, smiling at everyone, loved back by all.  I was counting the days until I finished my master’s degree so I could return to Gaza to shower him with the gifts I had promised him, and to repay a large debt of hugs and kisses he used to send to me every day over phone calls. The Israeli regime killed Karam, they killed my soul, and the closest to my heart. It is an aching wound inside me that will never heal.

They haven’t just killed children. They are killing every living person who could bring hope to Gaza. They have killed our best professors, our best doctors, our best engineers, our best journalists, our best teachers … and above all our best moms and dads. It’s genocide against every meaning of life and hope for the Palestinian future. Every hour we hear about new massacres. Our families are just waiting their turn to be annihilated, one by one.

In the media they call us human shields to justify killing us.  No one is allowed to investigate their crimes, and they don’t allow international media to enter Gaza to cover the atrocities there. This is the first country in history that kills thousands as it tells the world it is the only victim.  It’s the first country in modern history whose leaders stand before the media using racist and genocidal terms and claim this is to protect Western civilization. What kind of civilization needs to annihilate an entire people to protect it? What kind of civilization is protected by killing a child every 10 minutes? What kind of civilization protects by mass killing, collective punishment and cutting food, water, electricity? Let me tell them as a survivor of previous wars, and as an uncle of a slaughtered child, these are war crimes and I will not forget or forgive.

People ask what we can do. We can do a lot. Your boycott of companies and brands that support the occupation and the apartheid is a must. Posting on social media every day, spreading awareness and educating ourselves is a must. Speaking out every time we get the opportunity to do so is a must. Participating in these demonstrations and keeping the momentum is a must.

We came here to demand an immediate ceasefire — to end the siege, starvation, and systematic ethnic cleansing. We’ve had enough. We’ve had enough of hypocrisy, we’ve had enough of complicity, and we’ve had enough of silence.

To those who want a different standard of human rights for the Palestinian, we say that our right to life is not conditional, our right to freedom is not conditional, our right to self-determination is not conditional. We were born free, not slaves.

Whoever wants peace must fight for justice. Four generations of Palestinians have been oppressed and murdered by the same regime. The war criminals who committed massacres in Gaza 15 years ago are still in power.

Europe, where are your sanctions? Europe, where is your condemnation of genocide? When we say that silence is complicity, we mean it. We are now at a historical turning point. You can be for or against genocide, there is no other option. As a Palestinian people, we salute the state of South Africa. Those who defeated genocide and apartheid know our pain and suffering very well.  And those who are backing the genocide and war crimes should worry now because history does not forget and people do not tire of demanding their freedom.

My message is this: We know that the pain is deep, and the images of our children crushed under rubble are devastating. We know that you are tired, but our loved ones in Gaza are also tired. We don’t have the luxury of collapsing. We will keep fighting for our freedom, for our justice, and for our self-determination, and the entire world will see.