"Genocide," "war crimes," "apartheid": these were just a few of the allegations levelled at Israeli authorities at Friday's protest in solidarity with the people of Palestine. Led by the Palestinian Youth Movement, thousands of people met outside Guy-Concordia metro and walked through downtown streets to call for a ceasefire at the Israeli consulate.
The protest came just under a week after Hamas’ Oct. 7 invasion of Israel and killing of over 1,000 civilians and soldiers. This includes a mass killing of attendees of a music festival and inhabitants of kibbutzim near the Gazan border, as well as the taking of over a hundred hostages.
In retaliation, Israel dropped over 6,000 bombs on Gaza, cut off water, fuel, and power, and gave just 24 hours for over a million residents to flee the north. The civilian death toll is in the thousands, hundreds of whom are children. 70 of the dead are from an Israeli bombing of what was supposed to be a safe route for civilians fleeing south, according to Amnesty International.
It's not only Israel's military response that has garnered critique, but comments from officials like Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who claimed that Israel is "fighting against human animals." The Prime Minister of Israel's official Twitter account described the conflict with Hamas as "a struggle between the children of light and the children of darkness, between humanity and the law of the jungle."
Israeli President Isaac Herzog claimed that his government's fighting was in accordance with international law, but followed that with a refusal to acknowledge the innocence of Palestinian civilians.
“It is an entire nation out there that is responsible. It is not true this rhetoric about 'civilians were not aware, were not involved,' it’s absolutely not true. They could have risen up against that evil regime that took over Gaza in a coup d’etat.”
It’s a stance that groups like Human Rights Watch have described as "collective punishment," a war crime under international law. Holocaust and genocide studies Professor Raz Segal goes further, calling it “a textbook case of genocide."
Speakers at a press conference before the protest also had harsh words for Israel’s actions, which have yet to be condemned by the Canadian government. Niall Clapham Ricardo of Independent Jewish Voices called the forced displacement of northern Gazans a "war crime."
"Yesterday, Justin Trudeau refused to answer a question from journalists... 'is Israel in violation of international law?' Well I've got the answer for Justin Trudeau. Israel is in violation of international law, and has been in violation of international law for decades. And we have done nothing."
Norma Rantisi, a Concordia University professor and member of Academics for Palestine, said what’s happening in Palestine is apartheid, something Canada is refusing to acknowledge.
"We as an international community have failed. We failed to take action when apartheid was announced; we failed to mobilize; we failed to impose sanctions."
"We need a ceasefire immediately."
With protest files from Sequoia Kim.
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