“Two Nations. One Voice”: Palestine and Lebanon rally grips Victoria Park
“I was born in Haifa. I am older than Israel,” said Lilian Mattar-Patey, a Windsor-based Reverend at the United Church. She addressed crowds gathered beneath a grey sky at Victoria Park in London on April 19 for a Palestine and Lebanon rally; a social media post about the protest read Two Nations. One Voice. Together, we rise. “In 1948, the first day of the Nakba or ‘catastrophe’, my brother was carrying me. I was less than two years old then, and he said that the Israeli soldiers were shooting at us, and one bullet came beside my ear and he said if he didn’t jump, it would have gone in my head. And so the killing continues for so many years…They are doing the same in Lebanon what they did in Gaza. This is repeating itself and the world is sitting watching rather than trying to stop them…What can we do? What you can do is contact politicians and tell them to do something, to speak up for human rights. For Lebanese, Palestinians, and all of humanity, we need to be free to live in our own homelands.”
She listed some of the policies that form Israel’s apartheid state: arbitrary detentions of Palestinians, restricted movement of Palestinians, and demolitions of Palestinian homes.
A 2022 UN report by former UN Special Rapporteur Michael Lynk states that Palestinians can be “imprisoned indefinitely through administrative detention” by Israeli forces. They are incarcerated without charges, evidence, trials, or convictions. The conviction rate is over 99 percent. This includes Palestinian children. Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem reports that Israeli forces had 351 Palestinian children detained or imprisoned at the end of December 2025.
“In the middle of the night, they can come to your home, and take one of your children, and they will have no reason to tell you why they are taking your child,” said Mattar-Petey.
In 2017, fourteen year old Obaida Jawabra was detained by Israeli forces while on his way to a store. The Israelis bound his hands in plastic cords, covered his eyes and nose in a blindfold that made it “hard to breathe”, made him fall as he walked sightless, and beat him “in places that would leave no marks” so that he couldn’t testify to being brutalized. The next year, he shared his story in a 7-minute film, OBAIDA. He had dreams of becoming a chef; in the film, he fries vegetables in sizzling oil, presses sliced tomatoes in a pan, flips a mass of steaming lamb, vegetables, and yellowed rice – maqlouba – onto a dish to the faces of his smiling family. Jawabra asked: “Why are we so different from other children in the world? Why are we detained when we’re young and made to suffer, while others are happy playing sports, and with many opportunities that we don’t have? To this day, no one can answer me.”
Palestinians in East Jerusalem and Israeli-administered territory “Area C” of the West Bank are barred from building homes. Lynk’s report states: The United Nations has observed that, because permits for construction for Palestinian homes and property in East Jerusalem and Area C of the West Bank “are nearly impossible to obtain,” Palestinians often build without one. In turn, the Israeli military frequently orders the demolition of Palestinian homes and property built without a permit. The report outlines that land is seized for “military needs”, “public needs” for “exclusive Jewish Israeli use”, and for “state land” of which 99.76% has been for Israeli settlements.
“Israelis can destroy or bulldoze your home if they want to,” said Mattar-Patey. “They say it is for their own security – what security? They continue to say ‘we need security and that is why we need the Palestinians out’.”
The apartheid state contains “Palestinian-only” and “Israeli-only” roads, and assigns permits to Palestinians that only allow them entry into specific areas of their homeland. Palestinian-only roads are marred by overcrowded and humiliating military checkpoints. Even through marriage, Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza cannot gain status in Israel or East Jerusalem; spouses and families living across these areas are forbidden from sharing life.
“To go from Ramallah to Jerusalem, it used to be ten minutes. Now, because of the checkpoints that civilians have to go through, it takes them hours,” said Mattar-Patey. “I know people in Ramallah who haven’t been to Jerusalem for years – some have family members who want to get married in Jerusalem, they can’t go to their weddings because they are not allowed to go through the checkpoints. Tourists, of course, who come to the country can go wherever they want. But the Indigenous people are restricted.”
Lynk’s report reads: A central strategy of Israeli rule has been the strategic fragmentation of the Palestinian territory into separate areas of population control, with Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem physically divided from one another. The West Bank itself is further splintered into 165 disconnected enclaves. This strategic fragmentation – divide et impera – is geographically enforced by Israel through an elaborate series of walls, check-points, barricades, military closure zones, Palestinian-only roads and Israeli-only roads.
The same strategy of fragmentation is beginning in Lebanon. Israeli forces have declared a “military zone” spanning 10 kilometers into southern Lebanon north of the border that encompasses fifty-five Lebanese towns and villages. Israeli forces are barring Lebanese with homes there from returning. Many Lebanese fear that this seizing of land will become an occupation; Israel has occupied the Shebaa Farms since 1967, and occupied the south of Lebanon from 1982 to 2000. As of April 16, Israeli forces have destroyed major bridges over Lebanon’s Litani River that connected the south of Lebanon to the north: Qasmiyeh bridge, Coastal Highway Bridge, al-Qantara Bridge, Khardali Bridge, al-Dalafa Bridge, and Zaraiya-Tirseflay Bridge.
Writer Huda Fakhreddine describes her visit to her home in South Lebanon in 2025. One memory is of her daughter:
Her face was white, and she held her phone out in her palm as if her hand were burning. The screen read: “Welcome to Israel. You can now enjoy unlimited data.” Our hearts sank. The earth seemed to drop beneath our feet. We stood frozen until Hasan, the young man who cared for the garden in my parents’ absence, said, “Look there.” He pointed to his village across the hill. “Do you see that reception tower? They put it there recently. Now we get their cellphone signal. You must have an American plan. They are taking the land meter by meter while we sleep.” Hasan knew they would eventually come for the land in broad daylight, as they have many times before. The news says his village is now one of those leveled to the ground…My daughter’s face in that moment will haunt me forever. She thought she was there to witness the rebuilding of her grandfather’s house, not the horror of occupation in real time. The monsters came for her grandfather’s house again. They came through her phone.
Shifa, a Lebanese community member, insisted that ‘south Lebanon’ should not be accepted in discourse as cut off from the rest of the country.
“I want to make something very clear – it is not ‘the south of Lebanon’, it is Lebanon that is being bombed. They are trying to create more division between us by creating this idea that the south of Lebanon is not a part of Lebanon. It is,” said Shifa. “We can’t allow them to erase the south of Lebanon like they were trying to do to Gaza. We’ve seen the same blueprint being applied to Lebanon that they did in Gaza, and we’re watching it time and time again live in 2026…They are not only bombing in the south, but they are bombing in Beirut, in Baalbek, in the Beqaa valley, they are bombing near my home, I am on the completely other side of Lebanon.”
A March 31 UN press release reports that 1.1 million Lebanese have been displaced by Israeli bombardment.
“We watched [Israel] bomb their homes, take away their dreams, their memories, and they continue to do so,” said Shifa. “But there is one clear message: they’ve bombed us not once, not twice, but multiple times, and we continue to rebuild. Just like the Palestinians continue to rebuild, the Lebanese will continue to rebuild, because we will not be silenced.”
Shifa emphasized that Lebanon is home to diverse sects of Muslims and Christians, all of whom are being targeted by Israeli forces. In the Lebanese city of Debel, an Israeli soldier destroyed a statue of Jesus; across Lebanon, Israeli forces bombed the Sheikh Ragheb Harb mosque, destroyed the Bint Jbeil mosque, and detonated the minarets of a mosque in March. They also urged Christian and Druze communities to oust Muslims they were sheltering in their homes.
This mirrors Palestinian Christians being targeted by Israeli forces. In 2024, they bombed the Church of Saint Porphyrius dating back to the 5th century in Gaza, and barred Palestinian Christians from the West Bank entry to occupied Jerusalem for this year’s Palm Sunday service.
“People forget that there are Palestinian Christians,” said Mattar-Patey. “Christians in Palestine, now, they are spat on, especially if they are wearing a cross…Palestinian Christians and Muslims always worked together for peace, for peace for all humanity.”
In his address to the crowd, Imam Abdul Fattah Twakkul attested that Muslims have a sacred duty to justice.
“In the name of God, the Compassionate and the Merciful. The reason why we begin anything that we do with ‘in the name of God the Compassionate and the Merciful’ is to remind us that anytime that we see a lack of compassion, a lack of mercy, a lack of justice, we must stand up, we must speak out, we must take action, loudly and clearly, to say that we do not accept the fact that people are being killed, the fact that people are being oppressed, the fact that injustice exists. We stand up collectively, as a group, as a community, as a city, as a province, as a country. We should stand up and clearly say ‘we reject this, we do not accept this’. Your presence here today and your continued efforts and speaking out is necessary,” said Twakkul. “We need to continue to raise our voices, we need to be that voice of justice, of mercy, of compassion, because those who don’t show mercy and compassion will be shown no mercy and compassion. And this is something that, as Muslims, is part of our faith: we believe with absolute conviction that the time will come when the injustice will end, the oppression will end. But until that time, we continue to advocate for justice, we continue to advocate for the innocent people who are being bombed and who are being killed and who are being displaced and whose lands are being stolen and whose houses are being destroyed and whose olive groves are being burned to the ground.”
Sarah Rans, chair of Independent Jewish Voices, declared that there are Jewish Canadians who stand with Palestinians and justice for all.
“We are a national organization of Jewish Canadians who believe that justice for Palestinians is inseparable from the broader struggle for human rights everywhere. We reject the claim that support for Palestinian rights, Lebanese rights, and Iranians is antisemitic. We refuse to allow our Jewish identity to be weaponized for genocide,” said Rans. “We gather at a moment that has required us to choose sides. What we are witnessing in Palestine, Lebanon, and Iran is not a war on terror, it is a systematic application of overwhelming military force against civilian populations, and Canada – through its silence and its arms exports – is complicit. So many Palestinians have been murdered, so many Palestinians have been injured, so many children are dead. In Lebanon, we have witnessed millions displaced, again while the world watches.”
Samah Al-Sabbagh, president of Canadian Palestinian Social Association, acknowledged the burden carried by Indigenous people of Turtle Island as they continue to fight for land, dignity, and self-determination.
“Today, we stand on the traditional territories of the Anishinaabek, Haudenosaunee, Lūnaapéewak, and Chonnonton nations, lands connected with London Township and Sombra Treaties of 1796 and the Dish with One Spoon Covenant Wampum, a historical agreement to share and protect the land and its resources in peace. This land has become home to many of us as a result of generations forced to flee homelands shaped by occupation, dispossession, and the many faces of colonialism and Western domination over land, resources, economies, and even narratives,” said Al-Sabbagh. “I recognize that this land continues to be home to diverse Indigenous people – First Nations, Métis, and Intuit – who remain the rightful stewards of these territories and vital contributors to our shared societies. I honour this land and its people and I humbly acknowledge that no matter how much I contribute, it will never be enough to thank the Indigenous people for sharing their land and resources and allowing me to belong here on Turtle Island.”
David Heap, linguistics professor at Western University and activist, urged all to keep Palestine in public discourse. He demanded that we pressure the institutions that surround us or form our workplaces – such as universities and businesses that are complicit in the illegal occupation – to sever ties with Israel. He noted that our politicians may be swayed by other world leaders who oppose Israel’s violations of international law. Spain, Slovenia, and Ireland requested that the Association Agreement between the European Union and Israel – which allows Israel to access EU markets and enjoy trade, research, and diplomatic ties within the EU – be “reconsidered” due to Israel’s international law violations in Gaza and the West Bank. The EU is Israel’s largest trading partner.
“Terrible things are happening in Palestine. Terrible things are happening in Lebanon. Our government remains complicit. But we also live in times when there are models. I don’t always like what governments do, but I think when we see the prime minister of Spain call for international law to be applied against the leaders of the Israeli apartheid state, when he calls for ending trade agreements – the very lucrative, very economically important trade agreements between Europe and Israel – I think this is a model that we need to demand our politicians learn from,” said Heap. “They haven’t listened to us, maybe they will listen to Pedro Sánchez.”
Heap shared that the freedom flotillas are sailing again. A Canadian boat, called PERSEVERANCE will sail to Gaza to resist the illegal sea blockade. On April 20th, three Montréalers – teacher Cynthia Lemay, social justice activist Olivier Huard, and poet Ehab Lotayef – began their journey to join the crew. They were photographed at Montréal’s Doval Airport smiling together, wearing keffiyehs and holding a large Palestine flag.
Heap sailed to Gaza in 2011 aboard the Canadian boat Tahrir. The crew, comprised of journalists and activists, were illegally kidnapped by Israeli forces while in international waters and imprisoned in Israel.
“The people that visited me when I was in apartheid prison were from an organization called Adalah,” said Heap. “These are the people that, day in, day out, visit political prisoners…they demand access in the apartheid system. They don’t always get access, but they come back and they come back until they get access to those political prisoners.”
He urged all to support these “very courageous lawyers who are challenging the apartheid system from within.”
Adalah’s 2025 report includes legal advocacy for Palestinian children in Israeli prisons and efforts to withdraw Israel’s death penalty law that applies only to Palestinians. They have also detailed over 30 discriminatory laws passed by the Knesset since October 7, 2023.
One of these laws, “Entry to Israel (Amendment no. 40)”, includes barring entry to anyone who “supported the prosecution of Israeli citizens in foreign courts or international tribunals for actions taken in their official capacity in the Israeli military or security agencies”. The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant in November 2024 for “war crimes of starvation as a method of warfare and of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts from at least 8 October 2023 until at least 20 May 2024.”
After the speeches, protesters marched.
Some were draped in flags of Palestine and Lebanon. Some held signs: Stop the genocide. Israel kills kids. We stand with Palestine and Lebanon – the “A” in “Palestine” was painted as a watermelon, the “A” in “Lebanon” was painted as a cedar tree. They were joined in solidarity by Indigenous community members holding the Mohawk Warrior flag and the American Indian Movement (AIM) flag.
They chanted: The more they try to silence us the louder we will be! From the mountain to the valley, for Lebanon we will rally! Free free Palestine! Free free Lebanon! End the siege, let them breathe!
They marched through a gold sun, a rumble of thunder, soft rain, and wintery tufts of snow. The elements retreated to the sun when the marches ceased, as if they had only emerged to rage with the chants.