By Baruch Solomon
In the early 2000s, British Jewish organisations, activists and synagogues mobilised in response to the genocide in Darfur. Groups such as René Cassin and JCORE (HIAS+JCORE) stood alongside campaigners to protest the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of civilians. Many believed we were witnessing a singular horror. We were wrong. The same militias responsible then were never dismantled; they were rebranded. Today, the Janjaweed live on as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), and once again, they are committing atrocities in Darfur.
But this time round, to our great shame, Anglo-Jewish organisations have been largely silent. A notable exception was the Holocaust Memorial Day event organised earlier this year by René Cassin in collaboration with Waging Peace and the Darfur Diaspora Association, followed by shared advocacy and solidarity efforts. But this is not just a Jewish failure – it is a universal one. For two years, Sudan has been enduring one of the worst humanitarian catastrophes of the decade, barely registering in global headlines.
Sudan
Sudan has not experienced genuine peace at any point this century. In April 2023, the country collapsed into full-scale civil war when the RSF – created in 2013 out of the Janjaweed militias – clashed with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF). Until then, both had been ruling the country together after a 2021 coup. When that alliance collapsed, so did the state.
The consequences have been catastrophic. Fighting rapidly speared from Khartoum across the country. Since then, around 12 million people have been forced from their homes, creating the world’s largest displacement crisis. Over 20 million people face acute food insecurity, with entire regions sliding into famine. Both sides in the conflict have been accused of looting aid, blocking humanitarian convoys, hospitals have been destroyed and public services have collapsed. starvation and malnutrition death may already number in the hundreds of thousands.
The RSF has been implicated in systematic ethnic violence, particularly in Darfur. Entire communities have been targeted, cities besieged, and civilians killed. Independent investigations and satellite imagery confirm patterns of destruction and mass graves. These are not random acts of chaos—they reflect deliberate strategies of terror. Again, as they were twenty years ago.[6]
This is not a mysterious tragedy with no clear perpetrators. Nor is it a purely internal Sudanese matter. One of the worst-kept secrets of this war is the long-standing role of the United Arab Emirates, which has supported the RSF in return for access to Sudanese gold and mineral wealth.[7]. Weapons, funding and political protection continue to flow while civilians suffer.
International Response
And what of the international response? The United Nations has issued statements and appeals for restraint, urging respect for the broken promises of the 2023 Jeddah Declaration, but failed to take decisive action. Measures that could save lives—such as enforcing arms embargoes, freezing assets of those financing the violence, and pressuring Gulf states—remain largely absent.
What Can We Do?
So what can we, as British Jews, realistically do? We cannot end the war ourselves. But we can act. We can revive the solidarity shown in the early 2000s, donate to trusted humanitarian agencies, and hold our own government to account. At a minimum, we should press MPs and the Foreign Office for sanctions on individuals backing the RSF and for the suspension of UK arms sales to the United Arab Emirates. We could be reaching out to Sudanese diaspora communities, offering support and standing with them in protest in their hour of need.
Sudan may feel far away. We do not rely on its resources. The perpetrators are not global superpowers. The victims do not dominate our news cycle. But none of that has ever been a Jewish excuse. Our moral tradition was forged in the shadow of state-sponsored violence, mass displacement and attempted annihilation. We know – better than most – what it means when the world looks away.
“Rescue those being taken to death; hold back those stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, ‘We did not know this’, does not the One who weighs the heart perceive it?” (Proverbs 24:11–12)
The question is not whether Sudan matters strategically. The question is whether Jewish values still matter to us when the victims are not Jews.
About Baruch
Baruch Solomon is a freelance writer and long-time human rights activist. He has written several articles about Sudan and helped organise regular protests against the cultural genocide of Uyghurs in Xinjiang.
Links
For those wishing to reach out, take action or make donations, please contact:
Ø website: https://www.darfurdiasporaassociation.co.uk;
Primary Contact: Abdallah Abu Garda (Chair) – abugarda@hotmail.com
Ø Sudan | Humanitarian aid and support | British Red Cross
About Rene Cassin
René Cassin works to promote and protect universal rights, drawing on Jewish teachings, values and historical experience. We work within the Jewish community, building support for human rights values amongst British Jews, and in the wider community, bringing the authority of a Jewish perspective on issues that resonate with Jewish experience.
