Activists protest PETA’s ‘silence’ over Israel’s killing of animals

“Animals have no voice in war—yet they suffer in them all. PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk has spoken about nonviolence at conferences, including in Bethlehem and PETA has sent aid to Gaza, Israeli animal rescue groups, and into Ukraine since the war there began. We have criticized the Israeli military for using dogs in weapon tests and condemned Palestinian authorities for blowing up donkeys—because it is not the animals’ war. Yet when war rages, frightened animals starve in the streets; they cry out beneath piles of rubble, and suffer across borders they never chose. Although PETA’s petitions to the United Nations to bring food and veterinary supplies into Gaza were rejected, we have been able to send funds directly to help animals in the region. PETA’s commitment is, and always will be, to defend animals everywhere, regardless of human politics or geography. It was wrong to make a group devoted to nonviolence a target.”