Israel commits genocide against Palestinians and neither Canada nor the world does anything to stop it

The response of Canadian political leaders of all stripes to the untold suffering and misery being inflicted on Palestinians in Gaza by Israel over the past two months has shown that there is a deep-seated racism against the Palestinian people in Canada's political class, and a level of inhumanity towards them that is repulsive. 

By Fareed Khan

 

As the world enters the third month of Israel’s war against Palestinians in Gaza the death toll has surpassed 24,000 according to the Geneva-based human rights group Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, with more than 9,400 of those deaths being children.

 

 

Despite the grisly and rising toll in lives Israel’s war on Gaza is taking on Palestinians, despite almost 800 lawyers, scholars, and experts signing a letter stating that Israel's military is committing genocide in Gaza, and despite an Israeli Holocaust expert labelling Israel’s deadly assault a “textbook case of genocide”, the Canadian and other Western governments still continue to support Israel and the claim that it has a right to “self-defence” in response to the October 7th attack by Hamas.  A recently released Mainstreet poll shows that 71% of Canadians oppose the Canadian government’s stance and want a ceasefire.

 

After voting against a previous ceasefire resolution in the UN General Assembly in October Canada finally joined more than 150 other nations by voting in favour of a ceasefire on December 12th.  This vote comes on the heels of a failed resolution in the UN Security Council on December 8th which also called for a humanitarian ceasefire but was vetoed by the United States.

 

The response of Canadian political leaders of all stripes to the untold suffering and misery being inflicted on Palestinians in Gaza by Israel over the past two months has shown that there is a deep-seated racism against the Palestinian people in Canada's political class, and a level of inhumanity towards them that is repulsive.  Evidence of this is demonstrated by the narratives used by Canadian politicians that have diminished or negated more than seven decades of Israeli oppression, occupation and brutality against Palestinians, the refusal of the Canadian government to call for a ceasefire until yesterday, despite the continually rising Palestinian death toll, and the continued “self-defence” justification in support of Israel.  According to the UN an occupying power has no right to claim this against a people they occupy, and this is supported under international law so one has to wonder why this fallacy continues to be repeated ad nauseum.

 

 

Since the initial Hamas attack against Israel on October 7th sympathy for Israel has turned to revulsion as people around the world witness a nation committing genocide against an oppressed people in real time.  As the Palestinian death toll has mounted hundreds of thousands of Canadians and millions more worldwide have shown their solidarity with the Palestinian people by coming out to demonstrations opposing the war and demanding a ceasefire week after week.  In a demonstration in Ottawa in late November a crowd estimated at more than 20,000, with thousands bussing or driving in from cities and towns in Quebec and Ontario, filled Parliament Hill, where speakers of all faiths and racial backgrounds condemned the Trudeau government for being complicit in the Israeli genocide of Palestinians.  At a pro-Palestinian demonstration in London, UK in early November it is estimated that more than 300,000 were in attendance.  Crowds numbering in the tens or hundreds of thousands in support of Palestinians have also been seen at demonstrations in the US, across Europe and in many Arab and Muslim countries, showing that Israel’s unceasing assault on Palestinians has galvanized the world.

 

Canadians have been showing up in the tens of thousands for weekly demonstrations every weekend since early October and yet Canadian politicians have essentially ignored the demands being made in support of Palestinian rights.  Trudeau, Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre and every other Canadian politician who continues to defend Israel's military assault as so-called exercise in “self-defence” seem to be oblivious to the calls for justice, and are demonstrating a callous inhumanity to the suffering of the Palestinian people by their weak response to Israeli violence.  They and others who have opposed an immediate ceasefire for two months have the blood of thousands of innocent Palestinians on their hands, and are complicit in Israeli crimes.  As this war against Palestinian civilians continues and as the death toll rises ever higher Canadians will not forget the cowardice, prejudice and racism demonstrated by Canada's political class at the next election.

 

In addition to the prejudiced and racist response of the Canadian government and political class, biased coverage of the war by Canadian news media is also a contributing factor to the explosion in anti-Palestinian racism and Islamophobia that is taking place across Canada.  The same is the case in the US where mainstream media has come down heavily on the side of Israel, as well as in the UK, Fance and other European countries where pro-Palestinian voices are disparaged or given far less coverage than those of Israeli officials or people connected to Zionist organizations.

 

A recently released investigative report by Canada’s Breach Media, which obtained internal CTV memos and emails, showed that executives at Canada’s most watched news channel have instructed their newsrooms not to use the word “Palestine” in their coverage of the war and not to mention specific numbers when it comes to Palestinian deaths.

 

One also has to question the fairness of giving considerably more air time to Israeli officials and pro-Israel voices since the beginning of October when compared to the number of Palestinian voices, regardless of whether it was on CTV, CBC, Global or other Canadian news media.  The biased coverage favouring Israel shows the deeply embedded racism against Palestinians that exists in mainstream news outlets in Canada.

 

As a small example one need only look at the language used in Canadian news coverage of the release of Israeli hostages (who have been held for two months) compared to the language used when talking about the thousands of Palestinians who have been illegally imprisoned, and have essentially been hostages in Israel jails for years.  They have been left to rot in Israeli prisons without charges being laid, without trials being held, and with allegations of torture by prison guards.  Yet the media does not tell their stories or speak about them in the same compassionate tones they have used when telling stories of Israeli hostages.  Instead of “prisoners” or “hostages” Palestinians are “detainees”, and there is no mention that some Palestinians were imprisoned when they were children, in some cases for throwing stones.

 

Where were the compassionate interviews with the families of these Palestinians?  Where was the balanced media stories about them?  Canadians need to ask why news media in this country is not telling their stories and have to speak out about the blatant anti-Palestinian bias that has been shown by Canadian news media over the past two months and for years before that.

 

The blatant and deeply embedded anti-Palestinian racism evident in the actions and words of Canada’s political class and its news media ecosystem, as well as by corporate leaders and others, has been laid bare for everyone to see.  Canadians who want justice for a persecuted and oppressed people will never forget this betrayal of Palestinian human rights by these elites, and those who continue to oppose a ceasefire.  The pro-Israeli apologists have woken a sleeping dragon and there will be a price to pay for standing by and doing nothing while Israel commits genocide with impunity against Palestinians before our eyes.

 

Fareed Khan is a human rights activist and founder of Canadians United Against Hate.

 

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