No. 11

May 21, 2025

Peoples Everywhere Reaffirm
We Are All Palestinians!

• Britain, Canada and France Express Dismay Over
U.S./Zionist Genocide

• Horrendous U.S./Zionist Crimes Continue in Gaza

• Opposition to Delivery of Aid by U.S. Mercenaries

• More Criminal Israeli Plans Revealed

• Yemeni Resistance Defends Palestine
Without Let Up

• Tehran Dialogue Forum Promotes Peaceful Settlement of Differences Through Dialogue

• 34th Arab League Summit Held in Baghdad

Photo Review

• International Day of Action Commemorates 77 Years of Nakba

Peoples Everywhere Reaffirm
We Are All Palestinians!

Britain, Canada and France Express Dismay
Over U.S./Zionist Genocide

Holding no one to account for the U.S./Zionist genocide in Gaza, least of all themselves, on May 19, Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney, Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer and France's President Emmanuel Macron, all in Rome for the inaugural mass of the new Pope Leo XIV, issued a joint statement expressing their dismay over the starvation of the people of Gaza.

Since October 2023, these three countries have been leading apologists and supporters of the U.S./Israeli Zionist Genocide so what has changed to make them express their dismay at the suffering the entire world has been witnessing helplessly since that time?

"We strongly oppose the expansion of Israel's military operations in Gaza," the joint statement read. "The level of human suffering in Gaza is intolerable," they say. An obvious question is that if they found it tolerable before, what has happened that they are finding it intolerable today? Is it because Israel is "expanding its military operations" and providing inadequate aid?

They write, "Yesterday's announcement that Israel will allow a basic quantity of food into Gaza is wholly inadequate. We call on the Israeli Government to stop its military operations in Gaza and immediately allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza. This must include engaging with the UN to ensure a return to delivery of aid in line with humanitarian principles."

Could it be that the Resistance forces through their steadfast defiance have brought Israel to its knees and brought to the world's attention what the apartheid Israeli regime is all about and the leaders of Britain, Canada and France think that now opposition to genocide is a "good tactic"?

They will soon find out that support for the Palestinian people is neither a tactic nor a strategic choice. It is a profound matter of principle which demands that the governments of the countries which issued the joint statement should stop financial aid, implement an arms embargo now, stop the investments from their countries into Israel and any business dealings with that pariah state, including the sale of Palestinian lands to settlers and the slanders issued against the Resistance forces and all their nonsense about Israel's alleged right to self-defence which does not exist in international law.

Ever sticking to their untenable position of blaming the Resistance forces for what is taking place in Palestine, ever attempting to shift the onus on them, the joint statement reads: "We call on Hamas to release immediately the remaining hostages they have so cruelly held since 7 October 2023."

The entire world has seen that there is nothing cruel about the treatment the captives have experienced while in the hands of the Resistance forces while the plight of the Palestinian prisoners at the hands of the Zionists makes the Abu Ghraib torture camp of the United States in Iraq look mild.

As if the U.S./Israeli Zionists are doing something new, the joint statement perpetuates the fraud that these three countries uphold international humanitarian law. It reads:

"The Israeli Government's denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable and risks breaching International Humanitarian Law. We condemn the abhorrent language used recently by members of the Israeli Government, threatening that, in their despair at the destruction of Gaza, civilians will start to relocate."

"Permanent forced displacement is a breach of international humanitarian law," the joint statement reads. These shameless leaders seem to have just discovered this? All one can say is better late than never but their motivation in discovering this now is too suspect to be taken as a sincere gesture of support for the Palestinian people.

The joint statement remains as silent as the grave about the horrendous attacks the Palestinian people have suffered since the founding of the state of Israel but hastens to say, "Israel suffered a heinous attack on October 7," adding that "We have always supported Israel's right to defend Israelis against terrorism. But this escalation is wholly disproportionate. We will not stand by while the Netanyahu Government pursues these egregious actions. If Israel does not cease the renewed military offensive and lift its restrictions on humanitarian aid, we will take further concrete actions in response."

The concrete actions Canadians and Quebeckers are demanding is to stop the arms trade and financial support for Israel now.

An emergency action was held outside the Prime Minister's Office on Tuesday May 20, with another one taking place today, May 21, to underscore the urgency of the situation.

Another action is taking place in Oakville today to demand that newly appointed Foreign Minister Anita Anand implement a two-way arms embargo with Israel.

Meanwhile, humanitarian agencies report that an estimated 14,000 babies will die in Gaza in the next 24 hours if aid is not immediately permitted into Gaza. Despite the fact that more trucks with aid are being permitted to enter Gaza, it is not enough.

If the leaders of these three countries are sincere, which is highly improbable, let their actions be effective in ending the Israeli occupation of all occupied Palestinian lands. Let them demand the enforcement of the Palestinians' right of return and the restoration of every building, school, mosque, cultural institution and punishment for incalculable damages in the losses of human lives.

If the aim of this statement is to give legitimacy to the U.S. attempts to deprive the Palestinian people of their leadership by the Resistance movements, if the aim is to declare that just Netanyahu, not the apartheid state of Israel, is the problem, then they will fail. They are not "good faith participants in peace negotiations" and "arrangements for Gaza's future." The dismay expressed by those who are apologists for Israel's relentless crimes against the Palestinian people merely shows that the U.S./Zionist forces and their backers in the Genocide 7 have not managed to achieve their goal of eliminating the Palestinian "problem."

Once again this coming weekend, actions are being held from coast to coast to underscore the demands of the Canadian and Quebec peoples and to denounce the equivocation of Canada and others from taking necessary measures to force Israel to permit aid into Gaza and stop the genocide now! Join in!

Horrendous U.S./Zionist Crimes Continue in Gaza

Demonstration of half a million people in London, England May 17, 2025. It marks 77 years of Nakba and opposes ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people.

Within 48 hours in northern Gaza alone, the Israeli occupation army forcibly displaced more than 300,000 Palestinians from their homes and tents, killed over 200 others, and destroyed about 1,000 housing units, according to the Government Media Office (GMO) on May 18.

"The Israeli army also completely or partially destroyed more than 1,000 housing units, including previously damaged homes, and forcibly displaced more than 300,000 civilians towards Gaza City, which lacks the infrastructure needed to shelter them," GMO informed.

Since the Israeli occupation army resumed its genocidal war on Gaza on March 18, 2025, over 3,263 people have been killed and about 9,000 others have been injured, according to medical and media sources from Gaza on May 18.

Five Palestinian journalists were killed on May 18 alone in separate Israeli airstrikes across the Gaza Strip, raising the number of journalists killed since October 7, 2023 to more than 222, according to local sources.

The U.S. special envoy on Israeli captives Adam Boehler defended the Israeli genocide in Gaza calling it "a demonstration of strength" which he said is needed to release the captives held by Palestinian Resistance fighters. Speaking to Fox News on May 18, Boehler said, "All Palestinians need this barrage to stop," but it's "through that toughness and through that strength that we're going to see the hostages released."

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri responded, making it clear the Resistance will not release the remaining Israeli captives as long as the occupying regime can continue its genocidal war afterward.

"We will not hand over the occupation's captives as long as it insists on endlessly continuing its aggression against Gaza," Abu Zuhri said.

At least 53,339 Palestinians have been killed and 121,034 wounded since Israel launched its genocidal war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, according to Gaza's Ministry of Health.

Opposition to Delivery of Aid by U.S. Mercenaries

Meanwhile, the High Commission for Clans Affairs in the southern governorates of Gaza issued a strong statement on May 18 rejecting any foreign intervention that seeks to undermine Palestinian national sovereignty or bypass internationally recognized institutions operating in the Strip, foremost among them the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz said the aid distribution may start on May 24, without providing any further details.

Prominent human rights lawyer and former director of the New York Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Craig Mokhiber said the deployment of armed U.S. mercenaries to assist the Israeli regime in the occupation of the Gaza Strip is itself unlawful under international law. Mokhiber said that U.S. mercenaries landed in Tel Aviv to "pretend to hand out aid before cocking their guns."

"Even without further crimes (which are inevitable) their mere presence under these terms implicates them in the crimes of aggression and collective punishment, and in the denial of the jus cogens right to self-determination," Mokhiber said.

"Perfidiously framing their presence as part of a bogus humanitarian scheme does not relieve them of individual accountability, and may also render them guilty of the war crime of perfidy. In sum, they have become part of the mechanism of repression for personal monetary gain, and they are accountable as such," Mokhiber said.

More Criminal Israeli Plans Revealed

A leaked proposal reveals an Israeli plan to trap civilians, divide Gaza into three isolated zones, The Cradle reported on May 18. "A leaked Israeli military proposal reveals plans to divide the Gaza Strip into three separate civilian zones, each cut off by military-occupied corridors, if ongoing ceasefire talks with Hamas do not go as planned," The Cradle wrote.

The proposal, shown to foreign diplomats and obtained by The Sunday Times, "outlines an extensive redesign of Gaza's internal geography, consolidating Israeli control and heavily restricting Palestinian movement. Under the plan, Palestinians would be confined to northern, central, and southern strips of land, with exclusive military zones between them. Movement between the zones would be prohibited without Israeli-issued permission, and goods would be subject to barcode scanning and other tracking systems.

An expanded northern military zone would stretch beyond Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun, with new roads and staging areas built for the Israeli army. These areas are to be cleared within three weeks. An even wider buffer zone would also encircle the entire Gaza Strip.

According to the leaked map, twelve locations within the civilian strips have been designated for humanitarian aid distribution. These sites align with the Israeli proposal to privatize aid delivery using mercenaries -- "a system resembling the privatized checkpoints around the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem," The Cradle writes.

Yemeni Resistance Defends Palestine
Without Let Up

Over the past week, actions in support of the Palestinian people have continued without letup.

In what has been called "an extraordinary feat of national will," Yemen has restored Sanaa International Airport which resumed operations just 11 days after the Zionists bombed key infrastructure.

The Yemeni Civil Aviation Authority in Sanaa confirmed that 575 passengers arrived at and departed from Sanaa International Airport, marking a significant recovery after recent airstrikes carried out by the Israeli Zionists.

The Resistance organization Ansarallah also continued to strike deep inside Palestinian territory occupied by Israel, making it clear that complicity in genocide will have consequences. On May 18, the Yemeni Armed Forces, affiliated with the Ansarallah movement, launched a high-level military operation targeting the Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv. Brigadier General Yahya Saree, spokesperson for the Yemeni Armed Forces, announced the details of the attack in a statement broadcast on official channels.

According to Saree, the operation involved the deployment of two ballistic missiles: a hypersonic missile named Palestine 2 and another missile of the Zulfiqar class. The spokesperson confirmed that the missiles successfully reached their target, temporarily halting all air traffic at the airport and forcing millions of Israelis into bomb shelters. Saree noted that the missile strike followed an earlier aerial operation on Saturday morning, during which the unmanned aerial unit of the Yemeni Armed Forces targeted the same airport using a Yafa-type drone.

The spokesperson emphasized that both operations were carried out in solidarity with the Palestinian people and their Resistance forces and as a direct response to the ongoing Israeli aggression and genocide in the Gaza Strip.

(Palestine Information Centre, Palestine Chronicle, Al Mayadeen, Press TV, Andalou News Agency, The Cradle)

Tehran Dialogue Forum Promotes Peaceful Settlement of Differences Through Dialogue

The fourth Tehran Dialogue Forum (TDF), hosted at the Institute for Political and International Studies of the Iranian Foreign Ministry, got underway on May 18. It brought together 200 delegations and high-level officials from 53 countries to discuss regional cooperation, diplomacy, and global peace.

The Head of Strategic Council on Foreign Relations Kamal Kharrazi in his remarks emphasized that "The reality is that the unipolar system is collapsing, and regional powers are assuming a greater role," and that the world is shifting towards multilateralism, enabling nations to play a more effective role within the international system.

Kharrazi addressed the U.S. threats aimed at dictating what Iran can and cannot do in terms of nuclear research and development and warned the U.S. against using the language of threats against the Islamic Republic.

"Iran is a powerful country and will give a response to threats," he said. "International developments require (regional) countries to come together and resolve their issues through dialogue despite differences," Kharrazi said.

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian said that all humans are expected to respect each other's rights. Disputes arise when people's rights are ignored, he said. Pezeshkian said that the Israeli regime and its supporters commit acts of violence by killing defenseless Palestinians and engaging in aggression against oppressed people. If powerful states refrained from invading other nations, wars would not occur, he said.

The President also called for sharing achievements among different nations and for respecting the rights of people, animals, and plants. The president also said that his administration seeks constructive interactions with the world, the expansion of ties with neighbouring countries, and balance in foreign policy. This message has not been well received by the Western powers, he said.

(IRNA)

34th Arab League Summit Held in Baghdad

The 34th Arab League Summit began on May 17 in Baghdad, with Israel's war on Gaza dominating the talks, besides other regional issues, news agencies report.

Speaking at the opening session, Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid condemned "the ongoing Israeli aggression against Gaza." "We reaffirm our firm stance rejecting all attempts to displace Palestinians from the Gaza Strip under any pretext or circumstances," the president said.

Rashid also emphasized the importance of collective security across the Arab world, saying: "Our shared Arab security cannot be fragmented." He called on Arab countries to work together to safeguard it.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani proposed the establishment of an Arab fund to support recovery and reconstruction efforts in the aftermath of crises, conflicts, and wars. "Iraq is contributing $20 million for the reconstruction of Gaza, and another $20 million for the reconstruction of brotherly Lebanon," he said.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi emphasized that even if Israel succeeds in securing normalization agreements, stability in the region will remain out of reach without a comprehensive peace and the establishment of a Palestinian state.

The summit's closing statement reaffirmed the centrality of the Palestinian cause as the cause of the Arab nation and a cornerstone of regional stability. The Arab leaders expressed absolute support for the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, including their right to freedom, self-determination, and the establishment of an independent State of Palestine.

Participants called for an immediate halt to the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip and demanded intensified efforts to pressure for the opening of crossings and the delivery of humanitarian aid to all Palestinian territories, Al Mayadeen reported. The statement also emphasized the need to implement relevant UN Security Council resolutions issued since the onset of the aggression.

Arab leaders "rejected any form of forced displacement of Palestinians from their land under any pretext and welcomed international recognition of the State of Palestine," Al Mayadeen reported. "The statement particularly commended Spain, Norway, and Ireland for their recent recognition and urged other nations to follow suit. Support was also expressed for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's call to convene an international peace conference aimed at resolving the Palestinian issue on the basis of international legitimacy."

Hamas commended the summit's final declaration for including "a clear condemnation of the aggression, a firm rejection of forced displacement, and a strong reaffirmation of the centrality of the Palestinian cause and the right of return, freedom, and statehood with Al-Quds as the capital." In a statement issued on Saturday, coinciding with the 34th session of the Arab League summit held in Baghdad, Hamas had condemned the "brutal and systematic campaign of extermination" carried out by the Israeli occupation forces in Gaza and urged the Arab League for action. Hamas called on the Arab summit to assume its "historic responsibility" by adopting practical measures to stop the aggression, lift the blockade, and implement the resolutions of the 2023 Riyadh summit that called for the immediate entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza. It also demanded urgent Arab and international sanctions on the Zionist state of Israel and that its leaders be held to account as war criminals.

(Al Mayadeen)

Photo Review

International Days of Action
Commemorate 77 Years of Nakba

Actions took place around the world on May 17 commemorating 77 years of the ongoing Nakba -- the Catastrophe -- that started with the mass dispossession and displacement of the Palestinian people in 1948 by the Zionists with the backing of the Anglo-American imperialists. The mass actions affirmed once again that the people of the world stand with Palestine. More than 500,000 marched in London, England, while tens of thousands took to the streets in Amsterdam and The Hague, Netherlands, with large actions in Dublin, Ireland, Stockholm, Sweden, Milan, Italy, Hamburg and Berlin, Germany, Geneva, Switzerland, Athens, Greece and other European cities, in Latin America and in countries around the world. In Canada there were marches and rallies in Saint John, Sherbrooke, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Sudbury, Sarnia, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Vancouver, Squamish, Victoria and Nanaimo. At least fifteen cities in the U.S. held actions. Reports and photos from some of these actions are below.

Montreal

On Saturday, May 17, close to 800 people gathered in front of the Israeli consulate in Montreal. The atmosphere was somber as people exchanged news from Gaza. People carried placards denouncing the ongoing bombing of Palestinians in Gaza by the Zionist military forces with the full complicity of the U.S. and other members of the Genocide 7 including Canada.

The demands for an end to the funding of the U.S./Israeli aggression against the people of Gaza and the West Bank and a full embargo on arms going to Israel were front and centre in the signs and banners held by organizations including those representing the Jewish community, post-secondary academics, doctors and health care and educational workers.

As rain started to fall, a representative of the Palestinian Youth Movement spoke:

"We are here despite the rain, because our people in Gaza, far away, are facing bombs raining down on them every single day. Our people in Gaza have fought against the genocide of Israel for almost 18 months and for 77 years.

"And we are here today to commemorate the rise of the Palestinian people to return home 77 years after the Nakba. Brothers and sisters, we are witnessing the televised massacre of our people every single day in Gaza.

"This genocide is only possible by the funding and arms supplied by the criminal U.S. government. We know that the U.S. is a partner in this genocide. They supply the fighter jets to rain the bombs down on Gaza. And while Trump is in the Middle East, making multi-billion dollar deals in the Gulf states, massacres are being committed in Gaza.

"Let us be very clear. The imperialist forces and the fascist Zionist occupation want to ethically cleanse our people. They want to erase the Palestinian people because this is what Zionism represents. This is the true face of Zionism. Just like they ethnically cleansed us in 1948, the only way for Zionism to survive is to erase the Palestinian people. [...] The last 18 months have shown, and made it clear to the entire world, that Zionism is a fascist and racist ideology. But we know that wherever there's an occupation, wherever there's massacres, there will be resistance.

"The Palestinian people have struggled for more than 77 years, and they will continue to struggle for many more years, until Zionism is defeated. Palestinians have given rise to revolutionaries, not just in Palestine, but everywhere in the world. They have given birth to revolutionaries in the prisons, in the Zionist dungeons, have birthed revolutionaries under siege, have birthed revolutionaries in the cramped refugee camps, and have birthed revolutionaries right here in the diaspora."

She concluded with these words: "The Palestinian people have resisted since 1948, and even before that, for a hundred years, they have resisted, because it is the only choice they have. So too, we say, "resistance is justified when people are occupied!"

An Indigenous representative from the Kanesatake Mohawk community also spoke. She said:

"Your ancestors are crying whenever we get together and there's rain." She spoke of the genocide of the Indigenous Peoples of Turtle Island and the teachings to be good and respectful to one another, that every life is precious and said "From the pine trees of the Haudenosaunee, the great white pine, which is a symbol of peace for our people, to the sacred olive groves of Palestine, we stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine." Speaking of the attacks of the state in 1990 on Kanesatake she said that "I am proud today to say that Turtle Island is a refuge for all those who are escaping the violence of the ideology of those who think they are superior to everybody else in this world, who think they are the chosen people and think they can kill anybody with impunity."

She linked the resistance of the Indigenous Peoples and of the Palestinian people against the colonizers who consider themselves superior, the chosen people, then call those who resist criminals while they are the ones who are murdering the people, starving babies. She said "Just as we mourn the little children in the unmarked graves, right across Canada and the United States, we mourn the loss of those children who are stuck under the rubble in Gaza." In spite of efforts of U.S. and Canadian authorities to wipe out the Indigenous Peoples she said "We are here. We are standing. And we survive, and Palestine will survive. And Palestinians have the right to return, just as Indigenous people of Turtle Island have a right to return to their traditional homeland.... These criminals should be stopped and their names remembered as part of history. You, as a youth, will write your history and never forget the crimes, the murders committed against the people."

The last to speak was a young woman doctor who had spent the last few months in a Gaza hospital as a volunteer caring for the wounded. She described the dedication of medical staff who refused to abandon patients despite dangerous conditions, and detailed severe food shortages affecting the population. She also raised concerns about a proposed Humanitarian Foundation for Gaza set up by the U.S. and Israel that would implement biometric surveillance and restrict the distribution of aid. She denounced the involvement of U.S. mercenaries working with the Israeli military to distribute aid. She added that "It will force the people of Gaza to go to Rafah every two weeks to pick up a small parcel with a limited amount of calories, just enough to keep them alive for a few weeks. It is done for the purpose of denying them dignity. We know how difficult it is to travel from the north to the south of Gaza to be able to get anything." She ended by giving a call that every MP in Parliament should demand accountability from all levels of government in power in Canada and defend the international rule of law.

From the consulate people marched through downtown, greeted by people on the streets and at the windows of buildings expressing support, showing Palestinian flags, to Phillips Square where the call was given for everyone to be ready to demonstrate again.

Ottawa

People of conscience in the Ottawa and Outaouais region demonstrated on May 17. The event started at the Human Rights Monument where an organizer pointed out that the Nakba is the most unrecognized genocide in history. "What went unpunished in 1948 never stopped," he said, adding: "Genocidal regimes do not self-correct. They must be confronted and disarmed. Silence sustains slaughter. Impunity fuels expansion. We need to stop the genocide and hold the perpetrators accountable. Never again means never again for all people."

A spokesperson for the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) spoke of the Nakba as it continues today with Israel's ongoing genocide, mass murders, mass starvation, destruction and pillaging of the Palestinian homeland and ongoing colonial expansion, including attacks on Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen. She reminded everyone that this day also marked 77 days of Israel's blockade of basic needs, with no food or humanitarian aid entering Gaza. She also announced that police have dropped charges against five people, including an organizer for the Palestinian Youth Movement, who had been arrested last November. The five, as bail conditions, had been banned from communicating with each other and from attending, organizing or participating in protests related to "the conflict in the Middle East."

A spokesperson for Labour4Palestine called on everyone to oppose all attempts to suppress Palestinian voices. He explained that on May 15 he had participated in a City of Ottawa Emergency and Protective Services meeting to oppose the City of Ottawa's projected "Bubble By-law." The aim of the "Vulnerable Social Infrastructure By-law" is said to be to restrict protests outside "vulnerable places" such as schools, places of worship and hospitals, as well as to address "increasing hate crimes and people feeling unsafe in their communities." But the overall arrests, harassment, and false accusations against those speaking out against the genocide and demanding an arms embargo who are accused of "antisemitism," including students who have participated in University encampments, leave little doubt as to who is being targeted.

People marched through the streets of downtown Ottawa, committed to remaining steadfast in the fight for Palestinian liberation and to put an end, once and for all, to the Nakba.

Toronto

More than five thousand people participated in a militant rally and march demanding that the Carney government impose an immediate arms embargo against Israel and cut off all ties with the Zionist state.

The action began at Dundas Square in the heart of downtown with speakers from the Palestinian Youth Movement welcoming everyone and the chanting of slogans in English and Arabic that filled the air with the spirit of resistance. Everyone then moved onto Yonge street for a slow march north to the Israeli Consulate on Bloor Street. Slogans such as Arms Embargo Now!, This is Genocide! We are the Resistance! Long Live the Resistance! and From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will Be Free! and many others rang out throughout the march and in front of the consulate.

All along the way people expressed their support and many joined the march. One of the main speakers at the Israeli consulate pointed out that the steadfastness of Canadians and other people from the Middle East and around the world who have stood by the Palestinian people and their Resistance is what prompts us to shout We are All Palestinians! and it is this unity that is the guarantee that the Palestinian people will be victorious and will return to their homes and lands.

The march then proceeded along Bloor, then south on Bay Street to City Hall where organizers called on everyone to continue to speak out, to inform their neighbours and friends, to defy the Canadian state and its ongoing efforts to criminalize those who stand with the Palestinian resistance, and to be steadfast till Palestine is free.