Phoenix Mercury guard Natasha Cloud will not be silent about a ceasefire in Gaza

Weeks into its 28th season, the WNBA has become one of the most talked about leagues in pro sports. The organization has ushered in scores of new fans, teams are selling out arenas and engagement across social media platforms is at an all-time high. In many ways, the WNBA, its teams and its players are all currently operating under a microscope of attention.

Phoenix Mercury point guard Natasha Cloud wants to use that spotlight to enact change. Cloud, who has a long track record as one of the sport’s most fervent activists, wants to turn that microscope into a microphone.

Since October 2023, Cloud has used her social media platforms to bring awareness to the humanitarian crisis taking place in Gaza as a result of the war between Israel and Hamas now in its eighth month. In doing so, she’s been one of few WNBA players, let alone pro athletes, who have consistently been outspoken about their support of Palestinians.

As reported by The Associated Press, as of May 30, the Gaza Health Ministry reports that more than 37,000 Palestinians have been killed as a result of the war. On May 29, an Israeli official said the war was likely to last until at least the end of 2024.

“There’s a genocide happening. People are scared to use that word – it is what it is. It’s a genocide. It’s ethnic cleansing. It’s intentional. … We’re not paying attention,” Cloud told Andscape on May 29. 

“The least that I can do with this God-given platform – in which I know he intended it to be much more than just going out here and winning games – is to be a servant for my community and others.”

Cloud first began using her platform to bring awareness to the crisis in Gaza on Oct. 11, 2023, two days after Israel ordered a “complete siege” of Gaza following a Hamas terrorist attack on Oct. 7.

Being honest.

I haven’t known what to say. And that makes me a hypocrite. Because I am constantly trying to encourage people to speak up for my communities.

This situation is not simple in any sense.

But what is simple is PEOPLE are not just “collateral damage”.

— Natasha Cloud (@T_Cloud4) October 11, 2023

In November 2023, she joined thousands of peaceful protesters who marched on the streets of Washington calling for a ceasefire and an end to the siege of Gaza.

Using her platform to make change is nothing new for Cloud, who has embodied what it means to be an athlete activist for most of her WNBA career. As a member of the Washington Mystics, with whom she won a championship with in 2019, Cloud was deeply involved in the Washington community, where she actively pushed for gun reform in the city.

In 2020, Cloud was a leader among her WNBA colleagues in advocating for an end to police violence. She opted out of the 2020 WNBA bubble season to focus on fighting for racial and social reform.

“I chose the path that was much greater than myself and much greater than basketball,” Cloud told Andscape in July 2020.

Cloud said that as a Black person living in the United States, she’s been disappointed by the silence she perceives in the Black community in advocating for the Palestinian people.

“We understand the struggle,” Cloud said. “There are so many similarities in the Palestinian struggle and the African American struggle here in the United States. If we can’t see that and if we can’t care about other people, how do we expect people to fight for us when we’re saying Black Lives Matter, right?”

Cloud has a personal connection to the conflict. She naturalized as a citizen of Jordan and competed with the Jordanian national team in the 2021 FIBA Women’s Asia Cup Division B. Cloud said all of her teammates on that team were of Palestinian descent.

“Why?” Cloud asked rhetorically. “Their families were pushed out post-British colonialism.

“I know people say, oh, we don’t know the history [of the region], but if you’d just read the history, you’d know. Making the excuse when we have access to the history at our fingertips, it’s no longer a thing.”

On Oct. 25, 2023, Cloud posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, in an attempt to shed light on the then-quickly escalating crisis in Gaza.

“Reminder that Genocide is happening,” Cloud wrote. 

“Just wanted to break up our privileged timelines to remind y’all WERE ALLOWING THIS TO HAPPEN. 

“What a privilege we all have to keep scrolling.”

A few minutes later, Cloud sent another message, this time to her WNBA colleagues, imploring them to join her in taking action.

“And I’m confused where my W sistas are at y’all been silent,” Cloud wrote. 

Amid this conflict, Cloud is one of a few WNBA players who have used their platform to bring awareness to the conflict and advocate for a ceasefire in the region.

“Have you seen anyone speak up besides me, KB [Las Vegas Aces guard Kierstan Bell] and Layshia [Clarendon of the Los Angeles Sparks]? How many players in the NBA have spoken up besides Kyrie [Irving]?” Cloud asked.

Cloud, Bell and Clarendon have joined the group Athletes for Ceasefire, which was co-founded by NFL receiver Kenny Stills. The group has collected signatures from a few hundred athletes for a petition advocating for a ceasefire in Gaza. Former player Jasmine Thomas, now director of player programs and development coach for the Dallas Wings, and Amanda Zahui B., who is not playing in the WNBA this season, also signed the petition. Cloud said that she’s met with members of the group and discussed how they can continue to act.

Notably, most of the signatures of those with ties to the country’s major sports leagues are from athletes who have retired. The signers include former NFL players such as Donté Stallworth and Michael Bennett and former NBA players such as Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf and Etan Thomas. The one exception is linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair of the Houston Texans.

Cloud said she is frustrated that more pro athletes haven’t used their platforms to bring attention to the crisis in the Middle East, but she isn’t surprised.

“I know why they’re not speaking up,” Cloud said. “Your money is affected by it. When you’re talking about players needing to feed their families – they’ll lose sponsorships, they’ll lose endorsements, they’ll lose their jobs.

“You have celebrities who are stepping up more than athletes right now and I think that’s disappointing. It needs the collective. We need collective voices to stand up and say what’s right. We know right and wrong. If your morals and values are not at the top of your list, your top priority, then, man, I don’t know what I can do for you. I know I’m going to continue to lead with my morals and values first…. I won’t be bought. My heart won’t be bought.”

Much of Cloud’s frustration with the perceived inaction of her WNBA colleagues stems from the fact that players have had repeated success in effecting change when they present a unified front. That hasn’t been the case in this instance.

“We’ve shown time and time again, not only in our league but in sports as a whole, that we have the ability to bring people together. S—, we saved our democracy in 2020,” Cloud said. “So, we have that power to change. We had that power to bring Brittney Griner home. Those are all things that we know we are capable of. So the fact that we’re still silent seven months later [after the escalation of the conflict], I am very disappointed.”

Cloud added that she was also disappointed in the league office when, in October 2023, the league issued a statement following the Hamas terrorist attack in Israel. The statement included support for the people of Israel without mentioning Palestine. Cloud said the statement was released early and without the players’ consent.

“We still haven’t released anything in support of Gaza and innocent lives,” Cloud said. 

Cloud has been criticized for the stance she’s taken on the conflict. She said she’s received death threats and has had “everything under the sun” said about her. That, however, has not diverted Cloud from her position.

“I’ll throw myself in the line of fire anytime. … My goal is to protect other innocent people and innocent lives,” she said.

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Cloud has made clear, on numerous occasions and from the beginning of her advocacy on the topic, that she wants to see an end to all violence on both sides of the conflict. She emphasized that her advocacy for the protection of innocent Palestinians does not mean she devalues the loss of civilian lives on the Israeli side.

“As human beings, we have the capacity to care about the 200 hostages that need to be returned back home to their families and to Israel, safely. And you have the capacity to care about the same men, women and children in Palestine being brutally murdered,” Cloud said in a video on Oct. 28, 2023. “If you care about human life, you care about both. … I’m fighting for human life on both sides, which is why I’m asking for a ceasefire – which I’m asking y’all to ask for a ceasefire, too, because what has violence ever solved?”

There are those who believe Cloud hasn’t done enough for the cause and that the actions she has taken with her platform are performative. Following the Mercury’s game against the Liberty on May 29, Cloud posted a video on Instagram stories. A caption overlaid on the video read:

Free Gaza til it’s backwards. Free Congo. Free Sudan.

“What’s crazy is some of y’all can sit here and say that my activism is just for show. I truly stand on business,” Cloud said in the video. “I throw myself in front of fires every single day and I lose deals because of it. I lose deals because of it, ways of feeding my family. Ways of supporting my family. I’ma stand 10 toes every time, though.”

Though in the midst of her ninth season, Cloud continues to post about the conflict on social media. She posts the latest news from the region on her Instagram Stories, sandwiched between fit checks and stat graphics. The criticism she’s received and the loss of potential monetary opportunities are well worth the impact Cloud believes she can make by bringing awareness through her platform. She’ll continue to call out, and call on, those she believes can make an impact.

“I’m always going to continue to lead with light and love and I know that love is always going to conquer evil. But people got to start f—ing caring,” Cloud said.

“I’m going to continue to call people out. I’ll continue to be the villain if y’all want me to be the villain. My heart is in the purest form and purest place when it comes to this.”