While children in Gaza starve under siege, Amman prepares to celebrate food. The planned "Amman Food Festival", set to run from 6 to 11 August, has sparked outrage across Palestinian and Arab social media, with activists calling for a boycott, describing the event as a moral failure in the face of a mounting humanitarian catastrophe.

For many, the idea of indulging in a festival of abundance while thousands in Gaza face starvation is not only insensitive, it is unbearable. Calls to cancel or repurpose the event into a platform for solidarity have grown louder, urging organisers to recognise the ethical weight of their choices in a region consumed by war, hunger, and grief.

Online campaigns using the hashtag “BoycottFoodFestival” have gained traction, pushing back against what they see as an alarming normalisation of suffering. Protesters argue that entertainment cannot be separated from politics when hundreds of Palestinian children have already died from hunger, and many more remain at risk.

This wave of discontent reflects a broader awakening: a refusal to look away. As Gaza fights for survival, the question echoing through the region is no longer whether to speak out, but how loudly.