Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za
3-minute read
25 July 2025 | 10:20 CAT

📷 Image: Remains of a bombed building in Gaza.

A chilling warning has been issued by veteran war correspondent Faizal Dawjee, who draws unsettling parallels between the 1995 Srebrenica massacre and the ongoing atrocities in Gaza. In his op-ed Two Graves, One Silence, Dawjee reflects on his firsthand experience during the Bosnian war, using it as a lens to examine what he calls a “live-streamed genocide” unfolding in Palestine.

“I witnessed the horror of Srebrenica, the inhumanity, the trauma,” says Dawjee. “What is happening in Gaza today is no different, except this time, it’s televised in real-time.”

Dawjee commemorated the nearly 8,300 Muslim men and boys murdered in Srebrenica, only to contrast it with the silence that now surrounds the killing of Palestinians. “The genocide in Gaza isn’t just about bombs or starvation. It’s systemic a deliberate eradication through multiple coordinated actions,” he explained.

He coined the term passive genocide, accusing world leaders particularly in Europe of complicity through silence. “When you refuse to condemn, when you parrot lines like ‘Israel has the right to defend itself’ while watching thousands die that is passive genocide.”

The journalist didn’t mince words on Western geopolitical interests. He described Israel as a “satellite military base” for global powers with vested stakes. “This isn’t a conflict it’s a genocide rooted in the Zionist project to eliminate Palestinians,” he asserted, linking it to patterns seen in Bosnia, Rwanda, and beyond.

His message to global citizens was clear: do not rely on governments. “Civic solidarity is our power,” Dawjee stressed. “We must move beyond remembrance beyond symbolic acts. Real justice means dragging perpetrators to The Hague, calling for boycotts, and closing down industries that profit from this genocide.”

Dawjee praised South Africa’s efforts at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and urged ordinary citizens to build grassroots alliances across the Global South. “Justice isn’t abstract. It’s the pursuit of accountability. And it starts with our voices, our actions.”

Listen to the full interview on The Daily Round-Up with Moulana Junaid Kharsany and Faizal Dawjee.