Dear Senator Wong,

Today, Australia joined 27 other nations in condemning Israel for the “indefensible” civilian death toll in Gaza. I welcome this statement. But I also need to tell you: we are well past the point where words are enough. It is time for action.

I’m writing because I no longer feel able to call your office. For nearly two years, I have tried – daily, then weekly, then monthly. I’ve spoken to staffers, urged change, and asked that your government do more for the Palestinian people. But those conversations became too painful, too disconnected from the urgency and devastation I was witnessing. And honestly, I no longer believe that you, your office, or the other members of the Australian Government fully understand the depth of grief and outrage that so many ordinary Australians are carrying with us every single day.

We are so very ordinary. We are writers, teachers, doctors, engineers, parents, artists, students and lawyers. We are decent people who believe in justice, international law, and the equal value of every human life. For the past two years, we have watched as Gaza has been systematically destroyed. More than 37,000 people, many of them children, have been killed. Tens, if not hundreds of thousands more are missing: buried under rubble or simply vaporised by the appalling bombs dropped on them. Hospitals have been targeted. Refugees displaced again and again. Journalists, doctors and aid workers killed. Civilians starved. Entire families lost.

And we’ve had to watch this unfold knowing that our own government has continued to trade with Israel, refused to sanction its leaders, abstained or objected in key international forums, and labelled those calling for justice as “extremists.” We are mocked, vilified, surveilled, and sometimes silenced. We are grieving not only what is happening in Palestine, but also the failure of our leaders to respond with the clarity and strength this moment demands.

Senator Wong, I need to ask you plainly: do you truly understand the scale and depth of that grief? Do you understand that millions of very ordinary Australians are carrying a heaviness with us every single day, unlike anything we have ever known.

Over the last few months, I’ve spoken with dozens of fellow parents, many of whom have long been engaged in social justice work, and we all describe a similar feeling: that the joy has been sucked from our lives. We cannot watch a sunset, savour a meal, or enjoy a quiet moment with our children without, at the same time, remembering that others around the world are being denied that same freedom. We carry a constant, aching awareness that while we are safe, others are starving, displaced, and targeted – not because of what they’ve done, but simply because of where they happened to be born. How are we supposed to continue with business as usual when we know that this is happening?

The destruction of Gaza is not just a humanitarian crisis. It is, according to an increasing number of genocide scholars, legal experts, UN officials, and human rights organisations, an unfolding genocide. To pick just one example from dozens, here is a recent article in the New York Times from Dr Omer Bartov, a Professor of Holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University, in which he writes: “My inescapable conclusion has become that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people. Having grown up in a Zionist home, lived the first half of my life in Israel, served in the I.D.F. as a soldier and officer and spent most of my career researching and writing on war crimes and the Holocaust, this was a painful conclusion to reach, and one that I resisted as long as I could. But I have been teaching classes on genocide for a quarter of a century. I can recognize one when I see one.”

In recent weeks, the horror has taken an even more cruel turn, as we witness what the UN and independent observers are calling a deliberate strategy of starvation by Israel against the Palestinian population in Gaza. As reported by UNRWA, “just outside Gaza, stockpiled in warehouses, UNRWA has enough food for the entire population for over three months” – yet aid remains blocked from entering.

Despite knowing all this, Australia is still not using all the levers available to it, to try and make this stop. What will it take to make that happen? How can we make you care?

When Russia invaded Ukraine, your government took swift and decisive action. You imposed sanctions, cut trade, expelled diplomats. You spoke clearly about the unacceptable nature of Russia’s actions – but more importantly your words were backed up with tangible consequences. Those were the right decisions. Why then, is Israel held to a different standard?

This is not about political expediency or balancing competing interests. It is about moral consistency. If Australia is serious about upholding international law and defending human rights, it must respond to Israel’s actions with the same clarity and strength it has shown elsewhere. That means suspending military trade, imposing sanctions, referring individuals to the International Criminal Court, and cutting diplomatic ties until this assault ends and a just outcome can be found.

Please listen to us. Not just to lobby groups or political donors, but to regular Australians. We are writing and marching and donating and raising our voices not because we are radicalised, but because we believe in humanity. Because we know that every grandfather, mother and child killed in Gaza was loved, and that every one of them had a rich and beautiful inner life, just like us. Because we understand what it means to stand up, even when it’s difficult. Because we refuse to turn away, even when it feels like the images and videos on our screens will forever appear in our nightmares.

Senator, I have been writing and advocating for Palestine for many years. I am doing what I can with the tools I have.

There are many more options available to you than there are to me. You have tools that are stronger and more effective than just words.

I urge you to use them.