palestine

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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“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…

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Keffiyehs, banners, cheers, and suppression: Four days of Western University’s graduation convocations

From June 10th to June 13th, Western University convocations were held at Canada Life Place. They were invigorated by protests for Palestine.  Numerous graduating students across disciplines and faculties faced the celebratory stage with Palestine flags, banners calling for justice, and regalia draped with keffiyehs. Outside, more protesters held banners and chanted human rights declarations to the downtown rush. They stationed themselves in areas where students arrived to pick up regalia and families waited before convocations began.   University administration, London police, and Canada Life Place staff attempted to quell the protests.  *** On the morning of June 10th —  the…

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“We won’t forget, and we won’t stay silent”: London’s Bosnian community marks 30th anniversary of Srebrenica genocide

On Saturday, July 12, the Bosnian Canadian Islamic Centre (BCIC) held a memorial in the Rayner Gardens area of Springbank Park to mark 30 years since the devastating events of the Srebrenica genocide. As the hot midday sun bore down on the attendees, members of the BCIC, local MPs, City officials, and Muslim community leaders spoke on the importance of remembrance and recognition in preserving the memory of the victims and ensuring the atrocities of that day are never repeated again. In April of 1993, a year into the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the UN declared the town of…

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“Letters in a Shell” and “The Alarm”

A lyric in free verse, I wrote Letters in a Shell in June 2025 as an emotional response to the ongoing and escalating suppression of Palestine activism observed on Western University’s campus, in London, and on social media. Letters in a Shell The body is a shell It speaks, sometimes it moves, Across imaginary lines. It arrives and it departs.  The body is a shell Sometimes it’s recognized, Sometimes handled.  There are times this is unwanted. At such times this is unjust.  The body is a shell, but a hand can write a letter,  on paper or on glass. The…

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