James Murua, a blogger and podcaster, has asked the Kenyan government and the African Union to step in after the Israeli military took his wife, author Zukiswa Wanner, when she was on a humanitarian flotilla headed for Gaza.
The Israeli military stopped more than 40 boats on the Global Sumud Flotilla that was bringing relief to Gaza on Thursday, October 2, around 4:00 am. They took more than 450 international activists hostage.
Murua stated in a statement that his wife, who is of South African origin, had gone with a group from South Africa to Gaza to provide food and medication to those who had been affected by fighting.
The Israelis, on the other hand, stopped the flotilla and took the activists on board to Israel.
He said, “In any other situation, I wouldn’t be worried about my partner’s safety, but the Israelis have been especially cruel to anyone who gets in the way of their mission to wipe out Palestinians.”
“I ask the Kenyan government, where she has lived for the past fourteen years, and the African Union to do everything they can to get her and others who have been kidnapped by the Israeli regime.”
Murua said that his wife had been a supporter of the Palestinian cause since she was a youngster. She was born in 1976 in Lusaka, Zambia, when she was in exile with the African National Congress, and she grew up in Harare, Zimbabwe.
He illustrated the depth of her conviction by describing how, in 2024, she returned the Goethe Medal, a cultural award from the German government, in protest against their involvement in the ongoing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and their suppression of artists who voiced opposition to Israel.
The journalist asked other activists to speak up to cease the fighting between Israel and Palestine.
“Genocide is still going on, and now is the time for all of us to support Palestine.”Our kid Jama needs his mommy to come home.
The fight between Israel and Palestine goes back to when they fought over who would govern Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza. The boundaries of these areas are still in dispute.
In October 2023, the Islamist organisation Hamas attacked southern Israel on a major scale, killing more than 1,200 people and capturing hostages. This led to a full-fledged conflict.
Israel then launched a number of airstrikes and a ground invasion of Gaza, saying it was for self-defence.
The war has killed tens of thousands of civilians, destroyed infrastructure, and forced millions of people to leave their homes, which has caused catastrophic shortages of food, water, medication, and shelter.