Edward Torsney

You stand in silence. The crimson poppy on your lapel is a small, stark testament to a national covenant: to remember the fallen, and to honour their sacrifice with a solemn vow—Never Again.

But this year, that silence must be broken. That vow must be spoken. For “Never Again” is not a passive memory; it is a active, urgent moral imperative. And it is being desecrated in the dust of Gaza, with the complicity of our allies and the machinery of our economic system.

The poppy symbolises the horror of all war—the young men swallowed by the mud of the Somme, the civilians shattered in the Blitz. It represents our collective grief and our hard-won understanding that certain lines of barbarism must never be crossed. To wear it is to commit to that principle. So, we must ask ourselves: what does it mean when we pin on this symbol of remembrance, yet turn away from a live, unfolding atrocity that our own government refuses to condemn?

This is not a distant, abstract conflict. The brutality of the Israeli regime has written its signature in British blood. Remember not just the over 680,000 Palestinians killed, but three of our own: John Chapman, James Henderson, and James Kirby. These three British veterans, men who had served their country, were working for the World Central Kitchen, delivering life-saving aid to a starving population. They were systematically targeted and killed by the Israeli Defence Forces.

Let that sink in. The very army our government continues to arm and defend executed three British aid workers. Their poppies, had they lived to wear them this November, would have been a testament to their service. Our poppies must now become a testament to their murders, and to the thousands of other civilians being slaughtered with the same impunity.

This is not merely a war. As detailed in the meticulously documented reports of Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur, all the evidence points to a genocide. And what did she uncover? That this destruction is bankrolled and enabled by a network of multinational corporations—from arms manufacturers to tech firms—who profit from the carnage. For her courage in exposing this, she was sanctioned by the US. The message is clear: the truth is too dangerous for the merchants of death.

This is where your poppy pledges more than you may have realised. To honour the Tommies who fought the fascists, we must oppose the modern-day siege and genocide of Gaza. To honour the promise of “Never Again,” we must name what is happening in Gaza for what it is: GENOCIDE and demand that it ends!

The patriotic duty of a Briton has never been blind allegiance to power. True patriotism is loyalty to our highest values: justice, mercy, and the rule of law. It is the spirit of the Blitz—a spirit of resilience in the face of bombardment, and a profound understanding of the cost paid by civilians. It is a spirit that must now extend in solidarity to the people of Gaza.

To wear the poppy while our allies perpetrate such violence, while our own citizens are killed with impunity, and while our economic system funds the bombs, is to risk making a mockery of its meaning. The poppy cannot be a hollow ritual; it must be a living commitment.

This Remembrance Day, let your poppy be a symbol of your opposition. Oppose the occupation and the slaughter in Gaza. Oppose the state of Israel’s actions as illegal and brutal. Oppose the capitalist engine that fuels this genocide for profit.

The fallen we honour did not give their lives for us to be silent accomplices to atrocity. They died for a better world. It is our duty, our patriotic and moral imperative, to build it. The silence is over. Let your poppy speak.