Thousands gathered in downtown Montreal in freezing winds on Saturday, January 10th for a major demonstration in solidarity with the Palestinian people in Gaza, currently under bombardment from a major Israeli military offensive.
Protesters gathered in Montreal as the Israeli offensive into Gaza has killed over 800 Palestinians and wounded nearly 4000. Israeli military forces are threatening to intensify the military campaign within the upcoming days, “the Israeli Defense Forces will escalate the operation in the Gaza Strip,” read leaflets in Arabic dropped from Israeli military planes over Gaza this past weekend. Protests have swept the world in recent weeks in solidarity with Gaza, from the streets in Europe, to the Middle East, to Latin America to the streets in Montreal protesters have gathered in unprecedented numbers.
Photo: Les Palestiniens ont marché après une maison endommagée par une attaque aérienne israélienne.
Il est temps. Cela a trop duré. La meilleure stratégie pour faire cesser cette occupation de plus en plus sanglante est qu’Israël devienne la cible de ce type de mouvement mondial qui a fait mis fin à l’apartheid en Afrique du Sud. En juillet 2005, une énorme coalition de groupes palestiniens a dressé les plans pour faire exactement cela. Ils ont appelé les « gens de conscience, partout dans le monde, à imposer des boycotts étendus et à mettre en place des initiatives de désinvestissement contre Israël, similaires à ceux appliqués contre l’Afrique du Sud à l’époque de l’apartheid ». La campagne [BDS] – Boycott, Désinvestissement et Sanctions – était née.
Chaque jour où Israël pilonne Gaza fait venir plus de convertis vers la cause du BDS – même parmi les Juifs israéliens. En plein milieu de cette attaque, environ 500 Israéliens, parmi eux des douzaines d’artistes et d’universitaires célèbres, ont envoyé une lettre aux ambassadeurs étrangers en Israël. Celle-ci demande « l’adoption de mesures restrictives et de sanctions immédiates » et tire un parallèle clair avec la lutte anti-apartheid. « Le boycott de l’Afrique du Sud a été efficace, mais on prend des gants avec Israël… Ce soutien international doit cesser. »
Photo: Members from the Samouni family being laid to rest in the Gaza Strip.
Bitterly cold, famished, and thirsty they may have been. But the dozens of men, women, children and elderly of the extended Samouni family, sheltering in the unfinished warehouse-like building owned by one of their relatives, at least felt relatively secure.
Some explain that Israeli troops had explicitly told them to remain in the building – in several cases after actually escorting them there. They were relieved to wake to find the neighbourhood quiet for the first time since the ground offensive had began 36 hours earlier. So much so, according to one of them, that some time after 6am, four of the men decided to set out and bring an uncle and his family to their refuge.
This war, perhaps more than its predecessors, is exposing the true deep veins of Israeli society. Racism and hatred are rearing their heads, as is the impulse for revenge and the thirst for blood. The “inclination of the commander” in the Israel Defense Forces is now “to kill as many as possible,” as the military correspondents on television describe it. And even if the reference is to Hamas fighters, this inclination is still chilling.
Photo: Israeli bombing strikes Palestinian housing in Gaza.
On behalf of the 56,000 members of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, I am writing to demand that the Canadian government condemn the military assault on the people of Gaza that the state of Israel commenced on December 26th, 2008.
Protests against the current Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip have swept the world, including major demonstrations across Europe. Major demonstrations have also occurred across Italy, including in Milan. Demonstrations are planned to continue throughout the upcoming days across the world, as Israel is currently refusing to respect a U.N. security council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire.
Photos documenting the Montreal protest outside the Israeli Consulate in Montreal protesting the current siege on the Gaza Strip. Effectively shutting down daily operations at the Israeli Consulate this morning activists severed an eviction notice and successfully shut-down the daily operations at the Consulate.
Protesters are outraged at Israel’s latest assault on the Palestinian people and by the Canadian government’s refusal to condemn these massacres that have left 700 dead and over 3000 wounded since December 27, 2008.
Montréal, le 8 janvier 2008. Tôt ce matin, des Montréalais et Montréalaises ont bloqué le Consulat israélien à Montréal en tant que geste de protestation à l’endroit de l’offensive militaire israélienne contre la population de Gaza.
Les manifestants agissent en solidarité avec les 1.5 millions de Gazaouis et exigent que l’État israélien mette fin à son offensive militaire et lève le siège sur la bande de Gaza, qui dure depuis maintenant 18 mois, afin de permettre l’acheminement d’aide humanitaire au territoire.
Un groupe de femmes juives canadiennes occupent actuellement le Consulat israélien situé au 180, rue Bloor ouest à Toronto. Cette action vise à dénoncer les attaques incessantes d’Israël sur le peuple de Gaza.
