The surviving victims of the genocide in Srebrenica follow the events in the Gaza Strip and the ferocious Israeli attacks with particular sadness and sorrow and say that the genocide in Gaza is happening before the eyes of the whole world, just as it was in Srebrenica in July 1995.
Aisa Omerovic and Fadila Efendic from Srebrenica commented on the events in the Gaza Strip, but they also recalled their difficult fate in Srebrenica during the war in the 1990s.
During the aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH)and the genocide in Srebrenica, Omerovic lost two sons, a brother and 42 relatives, and she said that the victims of the genocide were killed brutally and that the killers crossed all limits of brutality.
“The world watched what was happening here, they took pictures and filmed it, but no one did anything, just as they are watching the killing of people in Gaza now. Everyone is watching, they keep silent, and it hurts us because we survived it and we are still in the genocide. Mothers are in pain, I cry and pray as soon as I hear the news from Gaza,” Omerovic said.
Repeating the past in Gaza
They point out that the attacks on Gaza are a shame for the whole world, Omerovic said that those who want to eradicate the Palestinian people will not succeed because, as she said, the people cannot be destroyed.
They didn’t save us, they won’t save others
Fadila Efendic also told her story about parting with her husband and son, finding their remains in the graves and looking after her minor daughter during the dramatic events and genocide in July 1995 in Srebrenica, and added that Srebrenica mothers with special compassion and sadness follow the events in the Gaza Strip.
She also remembered Potocari and the cries of people who were let down because the United Nations (UN) peacekeeping forces did not help them in the protected zone.
“I say from personal experience, those people who are waiting for someone to save them will be in a difficult situation. That someone won’t save them. That someone didn’t save us, and it will never save anyone. Tuesday, July 11th, I can never forget, I leave my house at 2 pm, NATO planes are flying over Srebrenica, they are circling, but they will not act to save the people. They just watched and filmed,” stressed Efendic.
Pointing out that we see similar scenes in Gaza today, she said that no one learned any lessons from Srebrenica.
The pain of a mother is the same anywhere on the planet
“Today, Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people just as the Serbs committed genocide against us in Srebrenica. Those are the facts. I’m not interested in politics, I say it like it is. A mother’s cry is the same, a mother’s pain is the same anywhere on the planet. A mother is a mother and I sympathize with mothers who cry over their children,” said Efendic.
