“Do not forget Gaza”: Londoners hold emergency protest for journalists murdered by Israel
More than 220 Londoners gathered in front of city hall on Monday in an emergency protest for journalists in Gaza assassinated by Israeli forces.
This protest was organized by the Canadian Palestinian Social Association (CPSA) in response to the Israeli Defense Forces’ targeted assassination of an Al Jazeera crew in a media tent outside of al-Shifa hospital. Among the deceased were journalists Anas al-Sharif, Mohammed al-Khaldi and Mohammed Qreiqeh, as well as camera operators Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa.
“We are joining a coalition of millions upon millions of people who are saying with a very loud and clear voice — we are appalled,” said London imam Abd Alfatah Twakkal in a speech at the protest. “We are appalled by the genocide… we are appalled by the illegal occupation. We are appalled by the settler violence. We are appalled by the killing of innocent human lives.”
“Those journalists lost their lives simply for telling the truth of what is taking place on the ground,” said Twakkal. “We’re not doing enough. I’m sorry to say this.”
“We need to continue our efforts, we need to continue to do more — to use whatever means we have.”
Since October 7, 2023, more than 270 journalists have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza.
After his death, Anas al-Shifa’s Facebook page was updated with a message he had prepared as his final will and testament.
It opens: “If these words reach you, know that Israel has succeeded in killing me and silencing my voice.”
And ends: “Do not forget Gaza… And do not forget me in your sincere prayers for forgiveness and acceptance.”
“Anas’ words should resonate in all halls of power in Ottawa,” said Samah Al-Sabbagh, president of CPSA. “By continuing arm sales, political support, and [through] silence, Canada is complicit in a war that is targeting civilians, children, journalists, doctors and families.”
The CPSA statement demands that every Canadian Member of Parliament work towards an unconditional ceasefire in Gaza, suspend all military trade with Israel, and support independent investigations into the war crimes Israel has committed.
“Make my blood a light that illuminates the path of freedom for my people and my family.” reads al-Sharif’s statement.
“We carry that light, we carry that voice,” said Al-Sabbagh.
The crowd echoed with chants:
“Shame!”
“Stop whitewashing the genocide!”
“Report the names of the journalists murdered!”
Protestors marched from London’s city hall to the front of London Central Library, where CBC London’s headquarters is located.
A sign at the protest read, “CBC is complicit in genocide.”
Another read, “You only target journalists when your enemy is the truth.”
At a speech in front of the library, David Heap, a linguistics professor at Western University, praised European journalists for their coverage of the crisis in Gaza, while criticizing the coverage in Canadian media.
“They have better media coverage because they demand better of their media,” said Heap. “The media know that they have to do better.”
Heap referred to an open letter widely shared online where more than 300 journalists condemned Israel’s killing of Palestinian journalists. The letter’s signatories include twelve anonymous CBC journalists, with only two of the national broadcaster’s journalists signing their names: Kyle Muzyka and Emily Wilson.
“We don’t need diplomatic relations with a country committing genocide against Palestinian civilians,” said Heap. “What we need is an arms embargo in two directions.”
He called out the Canadian military’s purchase of Israeli weapons and drones as well as Canadian ammunition being sent to Israel. In March 2024, the Canadian military announced plans to purchase $43 million worth of Israeli Missiles, which have been used in some of the targeted strikes in Gaza.
A recent report written by World Beyond War, The Palestinian Youth Movement, and the Arms Embargo Now Campaign uncovered that Canada had sent nearly 400 shipments of military equipment, bullets, weapons parts and more to Israel between October 2023 and June 2025.
“Canada continues to supply apartheid Israel with arms, even though our government is lying [about not doing that],” said Heap. “And this work [of uncovering this] shamefully is not carried by the CBC — it’s carried by the independent media.”
In a Mondoweiss article last Thursday, former CBC London journalist Arfa Rana documents how powerful lobbying groups like HonestReporting Canada have pressured journalists and newsrooms to “sanitize” their coverage of Palestine.
Rana left the CBC London team because of the broadcast corporation’s own sanitized coverage of Gaza. She believes that newsrooms play an important role in how the public responds to major crises and what the government can get away with following. “Behind every policy, there is a headline that supports it,” said Rana in a statement to Antler River Media.
Rana accuses right-wing media outlets the National Post of whitewashing Israel’s crimes in Gaza and using the same inflammatory language of HonestReporting Canada. The PostMedia conglomerate came under fire Monday for a headline in which they reported the Israeli government’s false claim that assassinated Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Shiraf was a Hamas terrorist leader posing as a journalist. Despite altering their headline, the article still focuses on Israel’s false claim.
Rana was not surprised at all by the National Post’s headline, arguing that the conglomerate as well as the lobby group “do everything they can to dehumanize a Palestinian journalist.”
“This is how they justify these murders and get away with it,” said Rana. “Dehumanizing them — calling them terrorists, it’s the oldest game in the orientalist playbook.”
Part of Rana’s motivation for becoming a journalist was to change the way the Canadian public felt about Muslims and Pakistanis like herself, especially following major international issues.
Following October 7, 2023, Rana was concerned that the backlash against Palestinians would be similar to the hate-filled response the Western world had to Muslims following 9/11. “The same way Western journalists had justified the invasion of Iraq, I feared that we were playing a role in justifying the annexation of Palestine,” Rana explained.
During her time at the CBC, the broadcast’s language guide discouraged using words such as “apartheid” to describe the Israeli-imposed separation barrier between Israel and the West, despite several human rights groups naming it as such.
“Terms suggesting the settler-colonial history of Israel were never an option,” said Rana. “I remember once when I was writing an article about Gaza, I referred to it as the “War on Gaza” but an editor changed it to the “Israel-Hamas War.”
According to Rana, the majority of language decisions on Palestine were made from the top-down at the CBC. She recalled several of her colleagues being shut down by upper management for their social media posts referring to Israelis crimes in Gaza.
For Rana, the final straw before her determination to resign was seeing her newsrooms desire to move on from the pro-Palestinian protests taking place despite the death toll in Gaza reaching 20,000 innocent civilians. “I had been working for a public broadcaster that was working overtime to manufacture consent for the Gaza genocide,” said Rana. “I have no regrets resigning.”
Since her departure, Rana has had many young racialized CBC reporters reach out to her about their frustrations in trying to cover Gaza, and their desires to quit over the same. Rana believes newsrooms need to change in order to allow racialized journalists to properly have a say in coverage of marginalized groups.
“Journalism requires courage,” she said. “If journalists are too afraid to speak the truth, how can there be any morale in the work we do?”
Anas al-Sharif leaves behind his wife and two young children. His final statement is shared below.
This is my will, and my final message.
If these words reach you, know that Israel has succeeded in killing me and silencing my voice.
First, peace, mercy, and blessings of God be upon you.
God knows that I have given everything I possess, every effort and every ounce of strength, to be a support and a voice for my people, ever since I opened my eyes to life in the alleys and streets of the Jabalia refugee camp. My hope was that God would grant me enough years to return, with my family and loved ones, to our original hometown of occupied Asqalan (“al-Majdal”). But God’s will came first, and His decree is carried out.
I have lived through pain in all its details, and I have tasted loss and grief many times. Yet I never once hesitated to convey the truth exactly as it was, without falsification or distortion, so that God may bear witness against those who stayed silent, those who accepted our killing, those who suffocated our breath, and those whose hearts were unmoved by the torn bodies of our children and women, and who did nothing to stop the massacre our people have endured for more than a year and a half.
I entrust you with Palestine, the jewel of the crown of Muslims, and the heartbeat of every free soul in this world.
I entrust you with its people and with its wronged, innocent children, who were not given enough time in life to dream or live in safety and peace—whose pure bodies were crushed beneath thousands of tons of Israeli bombs and missiles, torn apart and scattered against the walls.
I entrust you not to be silenced by chains, nor held back by borders. Be bridges toward the liberation of land and people, until the sun of dignity and freedom rises over our usurped homeland.
I entrust you with my family, to treat them well.
I entrust you with the apple of my eye, my beloved daughter, Sham, whom the days did not allow me to watch grow as I had always dreamed.
And I entrust you with my dear son, Salah, whom I wished to stand beside and guide until he became strong enough to bear my burdens and carry on the mission.
I entrust you with my beloved mother, whose blessed prayers brought me to where I am, whose supplications were my fortress, and whose light was my path. I pray that God strengthens her heart and rewards her for me with the best of rewards.
And I entrust you also with my lifelong companion, my beloved wife, Umm Salah, Bayan, whom the war separated from me for long days and months, yet she remained faithful to the covenant, steadfast like the trunk of an olive tree that does not bend, patient and steadfast, carrying the trust in my absence with all her strength and faith.
I entrust you to gather around them and to be their support after God Almighty.
If I die, I die steadfast upon the principle, and I bear witness before God that I am content with His decree, faithful in meeting Him, and certain that what is with God is better and everlasting.
O God, accept me among the martyrs, forgive me my past and future sins, and make my blood a light that illuminates the path of freedom for my people and my family.
Forgive me if I have fallen short, and pray for me with mercy, for I have kept my covenant and have neither changed nor altered.
Do not forget Gaza…
And do not forget me in your sincere prayers for forgiveness and acceptance.
*David Heap is a Board Member of the Antler River Media Co-operative.
