No. 18

March 13, 2024

Photo Review -- March 1 to 10

Vibrant March in Ottawa and Show of Mass Support for Palestine on Parliament Hill

• Worldwide Actions Reveal Steadfastness
of Palestinian Resistance

Ottawa Day of Action - March 10

Vibrant March in Ottawa and Show of Mass Support for Palestine on Parliament Hill

At least 10,000 people converged on Parliament Hill in Ottawa for the National March for Gaza on March 9. Buses and car caravans were organized from Ontario and Quebec. Neither the rain nor the disruptive activities of the police could dampen the spirits of participants who gathered to renew their commitment to the Palestinian people and the Resistance, to demand an end to the ongoing genocide which is now in its sixth month, an end to the occupation and that the war criminals be brought to justice. An immediate demand, considered a bare minimum, is to let humanitarian aid enter Gaza, where the people, including new-born babies, are dying of starvation.

The complicity of the Canadian government in Israel's crimes against the Palestinians was thoroughly denounced in Ottawa. The Canadian government and the monopoly media continue to refuse to recognize the significance and consequences of the ruling of the International Court of Justice on the case brought by South Africa that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. The immediate provisional measures ordered by the court impose a legal obligation on Israel to comply. Canada, as a signatory to the Genocide Convention, is also bound to ensure that the measures are implemented. In spite of the clear responsibility of the Canadian government, government and media continue to spread disinformation on the most basic matters.

This week, demonstrations against land sales of illegally occupied Palestinian land by real estate agents in synagogues and community centres in Canadian and Quebec cities were purposely misconstrued by government officials as being aimed at "intimidating" the Jewish community and therefore "anti-Semitic." The promotion of these sales, reminiscent of sales by colonial powers of Indigenous land in North America, is a further act of complicity in the illegal occupation of Palestine and the violation of the rights of the Palestinian people.

Furthermore, various MPs and Ministers are continuing to ignore letters expressing people's concerns about the situation in Gaza, refusing to even acknowledge receipt. Such is the case for Canadian Lawyers for International Human Rights, Al-Haq Law in the Service of Man and members of the Palestinian community who, having waited in vain for a response to requests to speak to Foreign Minister Melanie Joly, have taken their case to the Federal Court of Canada, accusing the Canadian government of violating its own laws as well as international law by sending arms to Israel.

The message on March 9 was clear: We will keep on speaking out for Palestine until Palestine is free, from the river to the sea!

March 1 to 10

Worldwide Actions Reveal Steadfastness
of Palestinian Resistance

CANADA

National Capital Region

Action at Women in Defence and Security Annual Awards Breakfast sponsored by Lockheed Martin, Boeing, BAE Systems, L3Harris and other weapons companies, March 1

On March 2, more than 1,000 people gathered at the Human Rights Monument in Ottawa and marched for Palestine. A member of the Palestinian Youth Movement spoke before the march, reminding everyone why people have been marching for the past five months. She said: "This has been five months of a genocide of our people in Gaza, of continued massacres of our mothers, fathers, and children. A blockade of food and water in Gaza is causing forced starvation. Just two days ago, we witnessed a massacre of over 100 starving people as they searched for food. It has been five months of attacks on hospitals, health care, of brutal and horrifying attacks on our prisoners. But it has also been five months of glorious and unstoppable resistance. Long live the Resistance!"

She added: "We gather to take up our responsibility in the Palestinian National Liberation Struggle. As Palestinians and Arabs in the diaspora, it is our responsibility to our families in Gaza to show them that the world has not forgotten. It is our responsibility to show them that we have not gotten used to this and we never will. We gather to amplify the pain and anger and resilience experienced by our people on the ground in Gaza and to remind them that they are not alone in this struggle."

She spoke of the final act of Aaron Bushnell, the 25-year-old member of the U.S. Air Force who set himself on fire in front of the Zionist embassy in Washington in protest of the ongoing genocide in Palestine, his final words being "Free Palestine!" She said: "We must recognize that the death of Aaron Bushnell is tragic, but we must also recognize the sacrifice he made and amplify his message and the reality that drove him to this sacrifice."

Marchers went down Rideau Street, stopping in front of Indigo Books and Music Inc. Calls were given to boycott Indigo, whose CEO, Heather Reisman, has a foundation which encourages foreigners to join the Israeli army, apparently in violation of Canada's Foreign Enlistment Act. Since any purchase at Indigo generates income in support of Zionism, shopping at Indigo indirectly supports Israel's military activities in the occupied Palestinian territories. Stops were also made at CTV for its continuous disinformation on the genocide in Gaza, at the U.S. Embassy, and, on the way back to the Human Rights Monument, at the Prime Minister's Office.

March 2

On March 3, over 300 people participated in a panel discussion on the impacts of the war on Gaza at the St-Elias Hall in Ottawa. The four panelists were Dr. Atif Kubursi, Professor Emeritus, McMaster University; Dr. Yipeng Ge, medical resident; Farah Qadan, story teller and community activist; and Joel Harden, NDP MPP for Ottawa-Centre. The event, which included an exhibition of Palestinian artifacts and folklore costumes, was organized by the Syrian Canadian Club.

Dr. Kubursi, an economics professor, is one of the 300 university academics in Canada who signed an open letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in June 2019, condemning Israeli violence against Palestinian protests at the border, in which, at that time, Israeli snipers had killed 119 people and wounded thousands more during the Great March of Return.

Dr. Ge was given a standing ovation for defending the Palestine people against the Israeli occupation, a stand for which he was suspended in November 2023 from his residency by the University of Ottawa, while others labelled him as anti-Semitic. When he was reinstated, he refused to return to the residency on the basis that the authorities had not rendered any accounts for their accusations and a climate still prevailed that stifled open discussion on matters such crimes against humanity as the genocide of the Palestinian people. He said there is no academic space in Canada to speak of such fundamental human rights issues and that health institutions and associations will, with others, have to render accounts for this slandering of professionals in the field.

Ge had been to Rafah earlier in the fall and said that nothing could have prepared him for the unconscionable circumstances health workers in Gaza are facing. He paid tribute to these dedicated personnel and said that he was grieved that some had fallen to the genocidal violence of Israel since then. He said that the solution to what is going on in Gaza is political and not strictly humanitarian. It includes a ceasefire now, an arms embargo on Israel, the refunding of UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), an end to the occupation and the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people and the right of return for Palestinians in exile.

Farah Qadan pointed out, among other things, that Palestinian acts of defiance and resistance -- including armed resistance -- are deeply rooted in international law which recognizes the right of oppressed peoples to self-defence against foreign oppression and occupation. She said that the Palestinian struggle does not exist in isolation, that it is an integral part of liberation struggles, past and present, around the world, a quintessential struggle for human rights and dignity.

She stated: "Israeli occupation is not merely a localized issue, confined to the borders of historic Palestine. It is part and parcel of a global system of domination and oppression that we challenge at its core, refusing to accept the normalization of oppression and injustice." She added: "Our stand is firmly anti-Zionist. We reject the notion that the Israeli state has the right to exist as a supremacist entity built on the dispossession of the Palestinian people. We refuse to legitimize a regime that violates international law, tramples on human rights and perpetuates a system of apartheid and ethnic cleansing."

She said that we must also confront the complicity of our own government in enabling Israeli occupation and apartheid: "For too long, western powers, specifically Canada, have provided unconditional support for Israel, supplying weapons, diplomatic cover and economic aid, having become accomplices in the oppression of the Palestinian people. [...] The failure of the international community to hold Israel accountable for its violations of international law, including war crimes and crimes against humanity, highlights the hypocrisy of rhetorical commitments to human rights and the realities of power politics."

Newfoundland and Labrador

St. John's

Protest at supplier to Israeli military, Kraken Robotics, March 7

Nova Scotia

Halifax

On March 2 about 300 people gathered in Victoria Park to denounce the horror which the Israeli Zionists are now unleashing in Gaza during the holy month of Ramadan.

As usual people began chanting Free, Free Palestine! From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will Be Free! Trudeau, Trudeau You Can't Hide, We Charge You with Genocide!

A Mi'kmaw woman made a land acknowledgment and a thoughtful speech on the common character and interests of struggle of the Palestinian people and the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas. A speaker from Alternative Jewish Voices spoke about the lies spewed by Zionists who accuse anyone who criticizes Israel of anti-Semitism.

During the march to Peace and Friendship Park the Atlantic Canada Palestinian Society played a recording of the sounds of war to remind people of what is happening in Gaza.

March 2

March 9

Antigonish

March 2

Lunenburg

Protest outside Stelia, military contractor doing business with Israel, March 2.

Quebec

Montreal

On March 2, dozens of people gathered near the Longueuil metro station and circled for two hours in front of nearby buildings. Speeches expressed the breadth of support to end the genocide being committed by the government of Israel with the complicity of countries such as Canada. The resistance was saluted and the memory of those killed by Israel or those who gave their lives to defend Palestine honoured, including the U.S. Air Force soldier who shouted, "Free Palestine" before setting himself on fire in front of the Israeli Embassy in Washington, DC. It was the first action in Longueuil organized by Palestinian youth.

An action which has been called by 20 organizations in Montreal for March 23 -- Ensemble pour Gaza et la Palestine! Together for Justice and Peace! -- was announced.

Longueuil metro station, March 2

Montrealers assembled downtown on March 3 with Palestinian flags, banners and placards to reaffirm that they are one with the Palestinian people.

A spokesperson from the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) told the assembled crowd that "Yesterday there was a global day of action for Rafah. Millions of people across the world took to the streets, from Havana to New York, Sao Paulo to Kuala Lumpur, marching to end the 75-year-long occupation of Palestine. They marched for a ceasefire, for a free Palestine from the river to the sea. Today, we will continue to march in our millions around the world because the majority of the world is with Palestine."

She was followed by another PYM spokesperson who spoke to the sacrifice made by a U.S. serviceman, "Today, we want to say something in defence of humanity. Aaron Bushnell, an active U.S. Air Force serviceman who set himself on fire in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington, DC, saw in his uniform a symbol of imperialist repression and injustice. He saw in his uniform an Air Force that would send its strategists, advisors and intelligence services to support Zionist barbarism on the battlefield. This became untenable for Aaron. [...]

She spoke of the martyrs in Gaza: "How many of our compatriots were burned to the bone by white phosphorous bombs that the U.S. carries on paying for? How many of our compatriots were burned in their homes? To all those martyrs who were killed in Gaza, in Rafah, who were never acknowledged, we make you the promise that your sacrifice was not in vain. Your courage and your resistance will continue to inspire us in our struggle for a better future, where justice prevails and freedom will be the right of all oppressed people, [...] for a Free Palestine. We will honour all the martyrs, all the children, sons and daughters." Her speech ended with the slogan Long Live the Struggle of the Palestinian People!

A woman from Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) also addressed the crowd. "As Independent Jewish Voices, we gave the call to cancel a real estate event to be held in a Spanish and Portuguese synagogue in the Montreal borough of Côte-des-Neiges that would involve selling property of illegal settlements on Palestinian land. Despite our efforts to cancel it, this event is still going ahead.

"We are calling upon Jews and our allies to join us March 5 in protesting illegal sales of Palestinian lands in our community. In our Jewish teaching, the Torah tells us 'you shall not covet your neighbour's house.' We will gather in our grief and outrage against this shameful event.

"We are calling on everyone to come en masse and please remember, this is a rally against illegal sales, not against the synagogue. We will be respectful to the synagogue and neighbourhood."

The crowd, now close to two thousand people, then marched downtown to Concordia University, where a student with Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights told the crowd that "Our people in Gaza, with their families, are facing the genocide at the hands of the murderous Zionist entity supported by the United States as well as the Canadian government. We need a ceasefire. The people want a ceasefire. [...]

"As students at Concordia, we must support the people of Palestine in our way as well. As long as our university allows Israel Defense Forces [IDF] soldiers to carry on propaganda on campuses and as long as the Canadian economy aids the colonization of Palestine and benefits from its colonization, we will not surrender until there's justice for Palestine.

"Just recently our university gave permission to Zionist organizations to bring three IDF soldiers onto our campus for a Zionist event. This event would have happened if it wasn't for the Arab and Palestinian students [who] kicked these IDF genocidal criminals off our campus."

March 3

More than 200 people gathered on the evening of March 5 in front of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue to denounce the sale, on the synagogue's premises, of Palestinian land in the occupied territories. They were kept a distance of at least 50 metres away from the synagogue by members of the Montreal police anti-riot squad who were enforcing an injunction granted by a Quebec Superior Court judge targeting three pro-Palestinian organizations, IJV and an individual from approaching synagogues and schools located in Montreal's Côte-des-Neiges/NDG borough.

A PYM spokesperson asked the crowd: "Where is the government's condemnation of this real estate event and every other one happening across the country? These real estate companies are directly complicit in displacing thousands of Palestinians from their homes in the West Bank. By allowing these events to take place, the government is complicit in displacing Palestinians from their homes.

"And events like these are why we must continue pressuring elected officials to publicly call for a ceasefire, an end to the siege on Gaza, an arms embargo on Israel, and an end to the violence and displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank.

"Residents of Côte-des-Neiges and NDG strongly condemn the sale of illegal settlements in the West Bank in their neighborhood. Palestinian villages are not for sale. [...]Free Free Palestine! Justice now!"

A representative of IJV added : "I want to stand here and say I am so grateful that we continue to show up day after day to tell them that this is unacceptable. We asked the synagogue to cancel this event selling illegal stolen land in internationally recognized illegal Israeli settlements. All you had to do was cancel the event, and we are here to say there will be no stolen lands being sold in our synagogues!

"You can be proud and Jewish and stand for Palestinian lives! We stand here as Jews out of love for Judaism and love for our Jewish community and for the Palestinian siblings. We are building Jewish communities beyond Zionism and beyond settler colonialism. We will reclaim Judaism from colonialism, and we will fight for justice. Free, Free Palestine!"

Protest against illegal sales of Palestinian land, March 5

Ontario

Toronto

International Women's Day March, March 2

March 3

Torontonians protested the illegal sale of occupied Palestinian land at the Beth Avraham Yoseph Synagogue in Thornhill for more than six hours on March 7. The land sale touted as the "Great Israeli Real Estate Event," told buyers that they could "own a piece of the Holy Land." The Toronto sale was part of a larger group of such events taking place in five North American cities, including Montreal. A similar action took place in Toronto on March 3 at a prior Zionist "real estate" event. Toronto was one of five cities in North America where these land sales were taking place.

The protest was organized by Toronto4Palestine, Palestinian Youth Movement, Jews Say No to Genocide and others. Speakers from the very beginning stressed that this protest was not anti-Semitic or disrespectful towards the Jewish faith or the synagogue itself. The use of this place of worship, however, to transact the illegal sale of occupied Palestinian land was not going to pass. It was also made abundantly clear, including by one of the rabbis who participated in the action, that the issue facing everyone is Zionism, a political movement in cahoots with imperialism and colonialism that has subverted the teachings of Judaism.

The Palestinian protesters and their allies kept up a steady stream of slogans which drowned out the vile and provocative actions of the Zionists and their supporters who had been mobilized by the synagogue. Among the slogans that rang out from the protesters were Zionism Is Terrorism! Israel Is a Terrorist State! End the Occupation Now! Long Live the Resistance! From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will be Free!

Speakers at the Palestinian protest made clear that the Palestinian people had all of humanity on their side. They said that their resistance will continue until Zionism is vanquished and the rights of the Palestinian people upheld.