When Silence Becomes Complicity: Dr. Jordana Silverstein on Gaza

In an era where career safety often outweighs moral courage, Dr. Jordana Silverstein stands as a necessary exception.

As a historian, scholar, and board member of APAN (Australia Palestine Advocacy Network), Dr. Silverstein has spoken with rare clarity about what many institutions still avoid naming: the unfolding catastrophe in Gaza is not an accident, not collateral damage, but a systematic assault on a civilian population—one that leading international legal scholars and UN experts have warned may amount to genocide.

Her intervention matters not because it is loud, but because it is principled.

At a time when universities, cultural institutions and political leaders are carefully managing language—choosing euphemism over truth—Dr. Silverstein reminds us that history does not forgive semantic cowardice. As a historian of violence, memory, and power, she understands something essential: what we refuse to name today becomes what we are condemned for tomorrow.

This is not about ideology.

It is not about identity.

It is about human lives being erased in real time, while the world debates optics.

Dr. Silverstein’s voice is particularly important because it disrupts a dangerous myth: that calling out Israeli state violence is somehow incompatible with Jewish ethics or historical memory. On the contrary, her work insists that “never again” is a moral principle, not a tribal slogan. It loses all meaning if it applies only to some lives and not others.

Through APAN, she has helped anchor advocacy in facts, law, and conscience—challenging Australia’s political class, media complacency, and the broader Western habit of selective outrage. That kind of work is rarely rewarded. It is often punished. But it is precisely what moral leadership looks like.

History will not ask who was neutral.

It will ask who was honest.

And in a time of catastrophic silence, speaking clearly is an act of resistance.

Respect to Dr. Jordana Silverstein—for choosing truth over comfort, and humanity over career safety.

Best quotes of Dr Jordana Silverstein

“People who are calling for an end to a genocide are not the cause of violence.”

— on defending peaceful protest and resisting false conflation of solidarity with violence. �

LinkedIn

“The Jewish community does not need more repressive crackdowns — what we need are community-based responses that bring people together.”

— on tackling racism and protecting democratic rights. �

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“Condemning people for merely supporting Palestinians fuels anti-Palestinian racism, not safety.”

— on how accusations of antisemitism are misused to silence dissent. �

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“Now is the time to build solidarity across communities, not weaponise tragedy to suppress voices for justice.”

— summarising her broader advocacy for unity and human rights. �

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“I know how to describe and identify genocide — there’s no question that Gaza meets the UN definition.”

— on the reality facing Palestinians in Gaza. �

#Gaza #Palestine #HumanRights #GenocideStudies #APAN #MoralCourage #InternationalLaw #NeverAgainForAnyone

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