Kozhikode: Shashi Tharoor MP has urged Israel to put an end to the war on Gaza by hearkening on a 'message of peace, coexistence and brotherhood' from Kerala, the only land in the world that never discriminated against the Jews.

The Congress MP, a former under-secretary-general of the United Nations, was addressing a massive gathering organised by the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) for its Human Rights Rally on the Kozhikode Beach on Thursday.

Tharoor said the ongoing bombardment of Gaza by Israel in response to the October 7 terrorist attack by Hamas was no longer proportionate. Over 6,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli bombings while the Hamas attacks claimed over 1,400 lives. Tharoor reiterated Mahatma Gandhi's maxim that 'an eye for an eye will make the whole world blind'.

"Israel calls their operation, 'Swords of Iron', but now those swords are dipped in the blood of children," said Tharoor before reminding the gathering, the vast majority supporting the Muslim League that the ongoing crisis in the Middle East was "not a Muslim issue, but a human rights issue".

Kerala's message to Jews of Israel
"The people of Kerala, a land of acceptance and co-existence for centuries, have welcomed the Jews fleeing persecution since the time of the Babylonian and Roman attacks on their temples. Kerala is proud of being the only place in the world where the Jews never knew any anti-semitic discrimination," said Tharoor.

The former diplomat reminded Israel that "8,000 Jews are living there, who are the descendants of the Malayali Jews of the last 2,000 years". "We are sure they will get the message from these hundreds of thousands gathered here on the Kozhikode Beach, saying they want peace, they want harmony, they want brotherhood, they want coexistence."

That message, Tharoor said, was also an appeal to the world to unite to "end the human rights violations inflicted on the Palestinian people". He has urged Israel to "put an end to the campaign of bombing, put an end to the deaths of innocent women and children and put an end to this war". "Now, it is more than time to announce a ceasefire," Tharoor said.