Thank you to everyone who has signed my petition calling on the BBC to reinstate the documentary Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone.

The response has been overwhelming, with more than 20,000 of you signing in just a few days.

Together, we’re sending a powerful message to the BBC that children’s voices will not be silenced.

This week, more media figures signed the open letter to the BBC, accusing the public broadcaster of racism and censorship. The now over 1,000 signatories include Gary Lineker, Miriam Margolyes, Khalid Abdalla, Anita Rani, Charles Dance and Juliet Stevenson, and 16 BBC staff. As they rightly say:

“Beneath this political football are children who are in the most dire circumstances of their young lives. This is what must remain at the heart of this discussion.”

Indeed, the children of Gaza have been failed beyond measure. They have been subjected to unimaginable horrors as a result of relentless bombing, blockades and destruction, and have experienced things no child ever should. This film provides an all too rare insight into those devastated lives. We must not let the BBC deny these children their right to tell their stories.

Absolutely nothing in the documentary has been found to be factually inaccurate. The narrator’s family connections make no difference whatsoever to the validity of the children’s stories. And silencing children’s voices because of the actions of adults feels very much like collective punishment – a fate Palestinians are all too familiar with.

Please continue to share my petition. Share it with your family and friends and talk about it in your communities.

Let’s make our voices impossible to ignore.

In solidarity,

Sylvia