An upcoming food festival in Jordan has sparked fierce condemnation and calls for a boycott amid rising deaths from starvation and dehydration in the Gaza Strip due to the ongoing Israeli blockade.
A series of posters for the second annual Jordan International Food Festival – due to take place next month – advertise an “unforgettable culinary experience” that highlights local ingredients and chefs.
But they have sparked anger among many on social media who are questioning the promotion of an “extravagant” food event against the backdrop of a hunger crisis and spreading famine in neighbouring Palestine, where at least 100 people have already died from malnutrition.
“Gaza is literally dying of hunger, and a few kilometres away, the Jordan International Food Festival is taking place?!” one user commented on Facebook.
“A festival of food, extravagance, and photography… over the bodies of children dying of hunger. This is not just a lack of feelings, but a complete moral failure,” he continued, adding that people should boycott or cancel the event.
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“Cancel the food festival in Jordan. No celebration while Gaza is starving,” reads an image shared in Instagram templates, a format which allows for photos to be reshared by different users.
“A festival just kilometers away from a genocide is not culture – it’s complicity.”
Middle East Eye has reached out to the festival organisers for comment.
Translation: Gaza is literally dying of hunger, and a few kilometres away, the Jordan International Food Festival is taking place?! A festival of food, extravagance, and photography… over the bodies of children dying of hunger. This is not just a lack of feelings, but a complete moral failure. Not normal, not neutral, and not innocent!!! Anyone who participated, organized, attended, sang, cooked, photographed, or supported a market lacks dignity. Where is your conscience? Where is your honour? Our people are dying of hunger, and you are opening a festival for people who can’t be satisfied? If you have an ounce of dignity left in you Boycott. Speak out. Cancel. Because on top of our silence killing Gaza, we are openly declaring our lack of morals!!!
While some people welcomed the event as beneficial for Jordan and for youth, who they said would be introduced to new cuisines, the many others commented under ads for the event with “shameful” or “people are dying of hunger”.
One user on X compared the event to barbeques and parties held by Israelis near the Gaza separation fence while Israel blocked entrance of aid and food into the Palestinian enclave.
She reshared a video showing a child in Gaza searching for food in rubbish writing: “What a story to tell your children, you held a food festival right next to starving Palestinians who were being slaughtered as they desperately sought a kilo of flour?
“It’s as if you were trying to emulate the Israeli settlers who blocked the aid trucks and then had a picnic.”
Palestinian journalist Abubaker Abed reacted sarcastically, writing: “Jordan has prepared something for Gaza to stop the starvation by launching an international food festival in its capital.
“It would have been better to avoid this festival this year and send food and aid to the people of Gaza who haven’t had food for months,” said another user on Instagram.
Calls to boycott the participating restaurants have also spread online.
Translation: Boycotting all restaurants participating in the festival… And God is sufficient for us, and He is the best disposer of affairs. Chivalry and conscience are dead…
Translation: “Boycott all who particiate in this shameful festival”
The number of people who have died from famine and malnutrition in Gaza has climbed to 101 – 80 of them children – the Palestinian health ministry said on Tuesday.
In the past 24 hours alone, hospitals reported 15 additional deaths, including four children.
The mounting toll comes amid severe shortages of food, clean water, and aid, with medical staff warning that the situation is worsening by the hour.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees has accused Israel of “starving civilians”, including a million children in Gaza, by blocking vital food and medicine deliveries into the besieged enclave.
“The hunger crisis in Gaza has reached new and astonishing levels of desperation,” said Ross Smith, World Food Programme’s emergency preparedness chief. “A third of the population is not eating for multiple days in a row.”
At militarised distribution sites run by the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), civilians trying to access the food are being shot and killed by the Israeli army.
Since the GHF was set up in late May, over 1,000 aid seekers have been killed and 6,500 wounded, according to Palestinian health authorities.
