Images

Statements

“This is an opportunity for the world to wake up and resolve this issue.”       

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        Palestinian ambassador to the UK, Oct. 8, 2023 – see link below

Photo credit: Al Jazeera English CC BY-SA 2.0 (license link below)

The Canadian Boat to Gaza stresses the importance of looking at the root causes of the current attacks on Israel and the Israeli military response. We object to the Canadian government’s unqualified support for Israel.  The tragic loss of life in the past few days require an immediate ceasefire, not an escalation of violence. The recent violence has a context which is far too often ignored by both government and media.

While we do not support violence in any form, we must point to the precipitating factors that led to the current crisis. Canada along with the international community has failed to acknowledge the 17 year old blockade of Gaza in any substantive way. A blockade that severely limits access to employment, food, fresh water, electricity, and health services as well as other basic necessities is collective punishment: a war crime under international humanitarian law. 

Israel has occupied Palestine for 75 years. Basic human rights are denied, Palestinian homes are demolished, Israeli settlements continue to expand and settler violence is on the rise. Palestinian children are imprisoned without just cause. The Canadian government and our allies are silent about these ongoing crimes, and therefore complicit in the root causes of the violence.

We call on the Canadian government to do all that is within its power, both in word and action, to address these inhumane acts and call for an immediate cease-fire. 

We call upon those living in this part of Turtle Island to make the same demand of our government (see below). 

See also:

Government of Canada to refrain from issuing one-sided statements that unconditionally support Israel, by the Coalition of Canadian Palestinian Organizations.

You can send this statement via e-mail (or modify to your own message) using these links provided by the Canadian Palestinian Social Association of London:
Or find your MP and contact info: https://www.ourcommons.ca/Members/en or here: https://www.noscommunes.ca/Members/fr

Palestinian ambassador to the UK refuses to condemn attacks: “Israel must be told by the international community that it must respect international law.” (Sky News, UK).

Palestinians Speak the Language of Violence Israel Taught Them. by Chris Hedges.

IJV Calls for a Ceasefire and Systemic Change in Palestine-Israel. Statement by Independent Jewish Voices Canada.

FFC stands by the Palestinian people, calls for an immediate end to Israeli attacks and blockade.  Statement by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition.

Photo: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en

Statements

Invitation to support the Canadian Boat to Gaza, from Rabbi Lucia Pizarro

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Dear friends,

As a Jew, I am all too aware that history has been painted with the blood of individuals whose only crime was being born Jewish. The stigma of living life as a minority has forever shaped Jewish history and the histories of many other peoples. Therefore, I am always taken aback when I see any group of people who face discrimination not for their actions, but simply for being alive.

I know that Jewish leadership has made sure that any assertion of commonality between Jew and Palestinian is denied. But throughout history, from Poland to Iraq, from Argentina to South Africa, from Brooklyn to Mississippi, Jews have taken up their quest for justice, and their desire for a more just world, by joining with others in collective struggles. Jews have participated prominently in the workers’ struggle of the Depression era, in the civil rights movement, in the struggle against South African Apartheid, in the struggle against fascism in Europe, and in many other movements for social and political change.

Obviously the State of Israel’s historic and ongoing oppression of the Palestinian people contradicts and betrays these long histories of Jewish participation in collective liberation struggles.

Thus, I invite you to join me in my support for the Canadian Boat to Gaza, and its insistence on ending the illegal and immoral blockade imposed by the Israeli State on over 2 million Palestinian civilians living in the Gaza Strip.

  • Let's challenge the legality of the inhumane blockade of Gaza’s 2 million inhabitants, most of whom are refugees and children.
  • Let's expose the Canadian government’s complicity in this act of collective punishment of defenceless civilians.
  • Let's demonstrate to the people living under the blockade that the world has not forgotten them.
  • Let's stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people.
  • Let's support the Canadian Boat to Gaza right now!

You can find different ways to donate at https://canadaboatgaza.org/d onate

In solidarity,
Rabbi Lucia Pizarro, Founding Spiritual Director

 

Those who can benefit from a charitable tax receipt in the US  may wish to donate through the US Boat to Gaza page: https://2018boatstogaza- nonviolenceinternational.natio nbuilder.com/contribute

In other parts of the world, please consider donating through one our other partner campaigns in the Freedom Flotilla:  https://sgf.freedom flotilla.org/donate

Please share our messages and forward them; Merci de partager et de faire suivre nos messages.

Donations / dons: canadaboatgaza.org/donate/ / sgf.freedomflotilla.org/donate

Canadian Boat to Gaza: www.canadaboatgaza.org email: canadaboatgaza@gmail.com
Bateau canadien pour GAZA: www.canadaboatgaza.org courriel: canadaboatgaza@gmail.com