palestine

“You Will Not Kill Our Imagination”: Palestinian writer Saeed Teebi’s book launch at Western University 

“The greatest battleground in any war is always that of story,” reads Palestinian writer Saeed Teebi from his memoir You Will Not Kill Our Imagination at his book launch at Western University’s Conron Hall on November 10th. “In my view, Israel’s greatest accomplishment is that, even decades after its colonial inception, its story has remained in the foreground, while the stories of the Palestinian natives to the land continue to exist in relative obscurity. Of course, the obscurity of the Palestinian story is a manufactured one, a whole cloth tailored to fit snug over the minds of Western audiences. It…

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Londoners gather at London Courthouse in support of local activist

Yesterday morning, a crowd of Londoners gathered to support longtime activist David Heap at his court hearing. Heap faces charges related to protesting the ‘Best Defence’ weapons manufacturing conference held in London in October 2025. Heap, an associate professor at Western University, was charged with one count of obstructing a peace officer after the London Police Service (LPS) Street Crime Unit executed search warrants at his home on November 25. In their press release, the LPS announced that a variety of items had been seized, including computers, cell phones, radios and protest placards during their pre-dawn searches at activists’ homes…

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“We are waiting to rebuild Gaza as scholars”: Canadian government stalls visas for students in Gaza admitted to Ontario universities

Audio excerpts of interviews with Nour, Khaled, and Raneen – students in Gaza accepted to Canadian universities: “I am Nour from Gaza. I have got a PhD acceptance in the civil engineering department at Toronto University since May 2024. I want to complete my PhD in order to get back to Gaza and rebuild it after the destruction happened in the war,” says Nour over a WhatsApp audio call from Gaza City on Wednesday, December 3. “Here, the destruction is very huge, the buildings are destructed, infrastructure is destructed, streets destructed, so we dream about this — a good education…

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“We do not make peace with colonizers”: Palestine rally, vigil on UN International Day of Peace 

On September 21st, the UN International Day of Peace, Londoners gathered at Victoria Park for a Palestine rally and vigil. The crowd was filled with human rights posters, Palestinian flags, and keffiyehs that reeled honks of solidarity from passing cars.  End genocide, end apartheid, free Palestine, read the posters. In Gaza, a bag of flour costs a life. Against killing kids?: Palestine is your cause. Invest in justice, stop arming Israel. You can’t say I didn’t know, you can only say I didn’t care.  Speeches from community members redefined “peace” with imagery of resistance and a rage that grieves.  ***…

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Our course is the conscience of humanity

This piece was originally published on the Council of Canadians website, on October 8, 2025, the day when Israeli Occupation Forces illegally seized the Freedom Flotilla vessel Conscience. Many of us have had our attention focused recently on the Flotillas sailing against the blockade of Gaza: it is natural to be drawn to this peaceful civilian challenge to the military might of the Israeli occupation at sea. Israel’s deliberate starvation of Palestinians in Gaza as part of the genocide backed by the U.S. and allies – including Canada – makes this year’s many sailings against the blockade all the more…

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The Voice of Hind Rajab delicately captures pure despair

On January 29, 2024, Red Crescent (also known as Red Cross) volunteers in Gaza received a call from a family trapped in a car under Israeli military fire. Moments later, only five-year-old Hind Rajab remained on the line, begging to be rescued. As paramedics had been killed in the area days earlier, the Red Crescent was forced to navigate a maze of military and governmental approvals before a rescue attempt could even be considered. Hind stayed on the call, scared and alone, as dispatchers tried to help. The Voice of Hind Rajab is an expertly dramatized retelling of the tragic…

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Put Your Soul On Your Hand and Walk still (Courtesy of TIFF Media Library)

Put Your Soul On Your Hand and Walk struggles to balance humility amidst the raw display of human connection

Put Your Soul On Your Hand and Walk was one of the only films at the Toronto International Film Festival that I was actively disappointed by. It is hard to find space for criticism of such a documentary given the tragedy of its main subject, Fatma Hassouna, a 25-year old Palestinian photographer who was killed by an Israeli airstrike on her family home. The ache I felt in watching someone so full of life and so clearly optimistic for her future in the wake of terrible indiscriminate violence perpetuated by a rogue state is more than palpable.  Director Sepideh Farsi’s…

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Artists Against Artwashing calls out Scotiabank investments in Israeli military tech at TIFF

On September 6, a paper mache head of Scotiabank’s portfolio manager David Fingold was paraded in front of the Scotiabank theatre during TIFF rush hour. The grand mache-Fingold had marionette hands carrying a large cheque with red paint dripping from the top, signed for $300,000,000 USD  addressed to Israel. The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) demonstration, organized by the No Arms in the Arts coalition, drew crowds of festival-goers to stop and take photographs, as well as a hefty police presence. “We are protesting Scotiabank’s stake in Elbit Systems,” said demonstrator Mitra Fakrashrafi, in an interview with Antler River Media.…

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“Live for what they died for”: Srebrenica and Gaza genocide documentaries move London community

“I went to Bosnia not expecting to necessarily see Gaza, but everywhere I looked in Bosnia, there was Gaza. I think maybe some of the people that feel closest to Gaza in the world today are in Bosnia,” says Palestinian community member Nabil Sultan of his visit to Bosnia, sharing his reflections on the documentary Survivors of Srebrenica screened at London Public Library on the evening of August 29th. “You see it on the streets, in the graffiti, in the keffiyehs people wear. Even in Srebrenica they have the keffiyehs — the families of the victims who were going to…

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‘CRA is funding genocide’: Londoners rally against Canadian charities funding Israeli genocide in Gaza 

Around 40 Londoners joined a demonstration on Wednesday, September 3 in front of the Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA) downtown office to demand accountability for the charitable status granted to organizations who fund Israeli genocide in Palestine. Organized by the Canadian Palestinian Social Association (CPSA), the London rally was part of a national week of action called by the Canadian Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) Coalition, Just Peace Activists, and other groups. The rallies coincide with the United Nations International Day of Charity on September 5. “We are here because CRA is complicit in the genocide that is happening in Gaza,” said…

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