In 2020, Sheikha Moza spearheaded a UN initiative to protect global education, resulting in September 9 being designated as the International Day to Protect Education from Attack.
Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, the chairperson and founder of Education Above All Foundation (EAA), has voiced her outrage over the lack of global action towards the ongoing atrocities committed in the Gaza Strip by Israel.
The Qatari royal’s remarks were part of her speech on Monday during an event marking the fifth annual International Day to Protect Education from Attack, held at the Qatar National Convention Centre.
The event saw the attendance of top officials, including Yemen’s Prime Minister Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak, and the First Lady of Brazil Rosangela Lula da Silva, among others.
It started with a moving performance by some of the children evacuated from the Gaza Strip to Doha, part of a campaign led by Qatar’s Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani to evacuate 1,500 Palestinians for medical treatment and sponsor 3,000 orphans.
Sheikha Moza’s speech centred on the suffering of Palestinians under Israel’s devastating war on the Gaza Strip, which has persisted for more than 11 months.
In her speech, Sheikha Moza stressed that the human cost of the war in the Strip “is unacceptable to any person with a conscience, morals, or humanitarian principles”.
“I am truly furious, angry at the scale and number of crimes committed in Gaza. I am angry at the blatant silence that has exposed our lack of humanity. Our humanity has absconded, losing its nobility completely in the face of the [Israeli] occupation’s barbarity,” Sheikha Moza said.
She also called out the “international community that claims to be civilised” over its silence and double standards towards global crises, wars and conflicts – particularly Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip.
“I am angry at leaders who blather about human rights and the mandate of international law and say nothing about the genocide taking place in Gaza,” she said. “What we are witnessing in Gaza has stripped away the world’s imagined veil of civility unmasking its sheer brutality.”
Education under attack
In championing the right to education, Sheikha Moza spearheaded a 2020 initiative at the United Nations to mobilise international support and ensure accountability for attacks on education.
The Qatari efforts culminated in the recognition of September 9 as the International Day to Protect Education from Attack.
Under the theme “Education in Peril: The Human Cost of War”, this year’s event took place as the Gaza Strip continues to witness Israel’s brutal war, widely described as a genocide.
Since October 7, Israel has killed around 41,000 people, as per figures by Palestine’s health ministry.
Schools and academics have been among Israel’s primary targets throughout the war in what has been widely described as a “scholasticide”.
According to Palestine’s ministry of education, Israel has severely damaged at least 124 schools in the Gaza Strip and completely destroyed 62 others. At least 65 schools belonging to the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) have also been attacked or vandalised.
The war has also deprived at least 630,000 students in the Gaza Strip from education, according to the ministry.
Outlining the scale of damage on education in the Gaza Strip, Sheikha Moza noted that more than 10,000 students and at least 400 teachers have been killed since October 7.
“A year has passed, and no students are returning to the classrooms of Gaza. Some have died as martyrs. Some are on sickbeds, their arms or feet amputated[…]We have failed you, children of Gaza. No international law, no UN charter, no multilateral agreements have protected you,” she said.
According to the 2024 Education Under Attack report, there were about 6,000 attacks on education globally between 2022 and 2023, with eight attacks recorded on a daily basis.
The EAA founder has also highlighted other attacks against education globally, including in Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Ukraine, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Colombia.
“Rebuilding infrastructure will cost billions, including for schools and universities in Gaza, Yemen, Syria, Ukraine, Myanmar and others,” Sheikha Moza said. “We must agree that the states that caused the damage bear full legal responsibility for rebuilding the education systems they have destroyed.”
