UPDATE: To sign the petition, visit http://chn.ge/1A4h3lv

UPDATE (4/8/2014): Still no response from The Australian. Not to this post or my email or anyone else’s. Disgraceful.

The death toll in Gaza has well and truly surpassed 1400, with thousands more injured, tens of thousands displaced and no escape in sight. A majority of these casualties are innocent civilians – women and children. As the United Nations, Twitter and anyone with any humanity left in their heart, continue to condemn the actions of the Israeli defence force, The Australian decided it was appropriate to post the cartoon above.

It is completely unbelievable, and when I saw the outrage on social media, I thought the image must have been doctored – it must have just been some propaganda by some misguided activists who were aiming to bring light to the unfair depiction of the people of Gaza in the media.

I was horrified to find out that no, it was in fact a real image. Mariam Veiszadeh wrote an incredible letter to the Australian, which you can read at the end of this post.

It is outrageous that anyone could depict the murder of these children as a ‘PR war’. How vile and inhumane. How disgusting that the pools of innocent blood can be reduced to nothing more than an apparent smoke-screen, intended to fool the West into supporting the people of Gaza. I cannot believe that no one working for the newspaper put a stop to this.

Imagine if a similar image was used to belittle the victims of flight MH17. Better yet, imagine if this is how the media chose to depict the murders at the hands of the Nazis.

Ironically, Bill Leak has depicted exactly what the IDF are doing – targeting children who happen to be doing nothing more than playing in the streets. All of the people of Gaza are targets, as Israel undertakes a mass punishment. With 53% of the population aged under 18, it is children who are the targets of Israeli operations. Innocent children who, just yesterday, were vilified by The Australian.

Never did I imagine that anyone could be so low, so pathetic. Congratulations to The Australian for sinking to a whole new level.

What can you do about this?

1. Retweet this post and ensure to include @Australian in your tweet.

2. Retween Mariam’s post demanding an apology from Bill Leak and The Australian.

3. Write to the Editor-in-chief of the Australian, Chris Mitchell. Explain to him how reprehensible this depiction of the murder of the children of Gaza is. Demand an apology.

4. Keep posting about the plight of the Palestinians and the people of Gaza. Israel needs to know that the world will not turn a blind eye to its crimes against humanity.

Submission for publication – Letters to the Editor I was appalled by the Bill Leak cartoon titled “How the West was won over” published in The Australian on 31 July 2014. The offending cartoon depicts a Palestinian father telling his child “There! Now you go out to play and win the PR war for daddy”. The cartoon implies that Palestinian parents are sacrificing their children for a Public Relations stunt. It seeks to trivialise the death of hundreds of innocent Palestinian children. It is deeply insensitive, highly offensive and dehumanises the Palestinian people. The UN has consistently refuted the Israeli claim that Hamas has been hiding and firing weapons from its civilian facilities or using civilians as human shields. Anyone who is familiar with the densely populated Gaza Strip knows that the notion of militants using civilians as shields is preposterous. Vilifying the Palestinian people, who are not able to defend themselves against these heartless accusations is completely reprehensible. Kind regards, Mariam Veiszadeh