CPA Statements – Page 3 – Canada Palestine Association

The Delusionary Appeal of Electoral Politics

Once again, a federal election is looming. And again, the same cycle will be repeated of many activists busying themselves with the allure of impacting politicians. We will be told that we must engage in this important work, even donate money for it, as it will be critical to advancing the cause of Palestine. But is it? And does all this “busy work” actually result in any substantial change?

Not that there isn’t an educational value in such campaigns but only if they advance clear and principled demands, not peddle merely what seems “popular” or “achievable”. Politicians must be shamed and exposed for their complicity in Israel’s genocide of Palestinians, and there is a long history of such complicity amongst Canadian politicians from all the major parties.

Some may give lip service to certain nice-sounding phrases, especially during election time, but are they to be trusted to follow through if elected? The record would indicate otherwise.

The appeal of course is that for a short time, especially in the current horrific landscape, you feel that you are “doing something”. But is this “something” distracting from other more long-term organizing that might not be as flashy or immediate, but more productive? Not just that, but do we send the wrong message that meeting these limited demands will lead to the liberation of Palestine?

Firstly, only the resistance of the Palestinian people will guarantee the liberation of Palestine. We have an important role to play in diaspora, but we are not the leading nor the deciding factor. To pretend otherwise is disingenuous and misleading.

Secondly, we must not allow ourselves to avoid the hard questions during election cycles. For example, the NDP proudly says they would call for a ban on Israeli settlement products. But would they? When given a chance to do something as the government in BC, did they make any moves to ban Israeli Wines? No! Even though the same BCNDP government showed it was ready to act on its own to ban both Russian and US red state liquor products, ahead of federal directives. We can’t allow politicians to spout certain positions without challenging them on what they’ve actually done, or not done.

Let’s be realistic about our politicians and not waste time on calling for hollow, performative gestures that mean nothing even if they were attainable. Enough of emphasizing the defunct and bankrupt “two-state” solution, and calling for recognition of “the (non-existent) Palestinian state” under the no-authority “Palestinian Authority”.

Let us imagine a future of liberation, free from Zionist and colonial restrictions. Anything less is a betrayal of the Palestinian people and their huge sacrifice!

Engaging in electoral politics must not mean advocating for watered-down compromised demands. Make our demands count…for Palestine, for return, for liberation.
From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!

Support our legal defense fund!

Protecting our Rights, Defending our Voices

Over the last year, the Canada Palestine Association has been supporting activists targeted by institutional and police repression across BC. We have seen multiple cases of intimidation and harassment, especially by the Vancouver Police. CPA has already donated over $10,000 from funds previously collected to help people gain legal representation and fight back.

Stand up for our rights, defend our voices and donate today.
Please donate by e-transfer to cpavancouver@gmail.com
(Note: donations are not tax-deductible.)

We know that all systems of oppression are inherently linked. The fight for Palestinian liberation is closely tied to imperialism and the role our government plays in the ongoing oppression, ethnic cleansing and displacement of the Palestinian people. As the Palestinian movement advocates within our Charter of Rights and Freedoms, we are seeing our civil liberties tested by our own government. All levels of government are attempting to silence the movement with frivolous charges to deter our voices. We are seeking to combat these charges with a legal fund designed to defend our voices of expression and civil liberties, now and into the future.

Hanna Kawas, CPA Chair:
“Due to the generosity of members and long-time supporters, CPA hasn’t needed to make a public appeal for operating funds. However, this is a special circumstance; we are facing the combined ferocity of the Zionist/Israel lobby and the US-led empire as they attempt to erase Palestinian identity and voices. We need your support now to ensure that we continue the fight until return and liberation!”

CBC is complicit in genocide!

CBC’s outgoing ombudsman, Jack Nagler, recently released a review entitled “A Divisive Phrase”. This review came about due to complaints over CBC’s repeated use of the term “Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.”

His conclusion was similar to what we have seen before from his office. Yes, useage of the phrase in the incident cited was probably unnecessary but it “in no way violates CBC’s journalistic standards.” (More on those “standards” later)

This was the same approach Nagler used with our complaint back in 2021, when we challenged the on-air apology about the use of “Palestine” during an interview. This was when CBC’s infamous language guide received international exposure for its pro-Israel bias, a guide that states: So do not refer to Palestine or show a map with Palestine as a country. Use the term “pro-Palestinian” instead of “pro-Palestine” when referring in generic ways to Palestinian supporters.

This new review covers a complaint that is now almost one year old, going back to Jan. 11, 2024. As such, it gives us a unique opportunity to see how CBC’s framing of the health situation in Gaza helped lay the groundwork for Israel’s horrific destruction of Gaza’s entire medical infrastructure and the arrest and torture of doctors and other medical staff.

The repetition of such terminology has consequences and as the original complainants noted: “the addition of the “Hamas-led” qualifier is inherently pejorative in intent. It is also preposterous for reasons we have stated, showing direct bias against the integrity of the Gazan health authority. The “Hamas-run health ministry” is synonymous with ‘terrorist health ministry’.”

This imaging, this dehumanization of all Palestinians in Gaza as terrorists (even kids) is the foundation for what we have seen recently and are still witnessing at hospitals across Gaza…Kamal Adwan hospital, Indonesian hospital, AlAhli hospital and the list goes on. The cornerstone was laid for Western public opinion to accept these atrocities, although the response in recent days to the arrests and disappearance of Kamal Adwan’s staff and director has defied this racist narrative.

The CBC ombudsman concludes his rambling review with the following:

The point for consideration, then, is volume and frequency. I note that the phrase “Hamas-run” is used much less often in CBC’s reporting these days. I would encourage programmers to use it as sparingly as possible, and only when relevant to the story at hand.

But no, this is too little, too late. The damage has been done and the outcome is there for all to see. Gaza’s health care system will take generations to recover and that was really the Israeli objective from the beginning. An objective that CBC obligingly aided and is now still defending.

Which brings us back to CBC and its touted “journalistic standards”.

Don’t tell us your seasoned journalists and editors don’t understand the power of language and the role of media in perpetuating a specific narrative. Don’t expect us to believe that you don’t comprehend how the words you use will help facilitate a certain outcome…outcome of genocide, an outcome of the obliteration of Palestinian society in Gaza.

Your senior executives can repeat endlessly that they “reject the idea that CBC News is somehow…’cheerleading a Genocide’.” We know that CBC is complicit in genocide, and history has now proven that this is true beyond any doubt. These are your only journalistic standards, whether by intent or cowardice.

Say NO to continuing police repression against Palestinians and their supporters

CPA Vancouver is outraged after reading a new statement from local activists in the Palestine movement, detailing more oppressive raids and arrests by RCMP and the Vancouver Police Dept VPD in recent days. Although once again no charges were laid, this pattern of intimidation and harassment of the Palestinian community and its supporters must be stopped and challenged.
We will not stand by nor remain silent and allow these blatant violations of our democratic rights to continue!

There is no justification for dragging people out of their homes in their pyjamas and without shoes, in the early morning hours; this is a cheap attempt to reinforce the desperate campaign aiming at dehumanizing all Palestinians and delegitimizing the Palestinian struggle against occupation and settler colonialism.

CPA is appalled with the anti-Palestinian racism that permeates every level of government, from the municipal to provincial to the federal. And we will not forget nor forgive all those who are complicit in Israeli genocide against the Palestinian and Arab people.

As the activists noted: If we remain silent in the face of the state terror directed at our comrades, they will only continue to push the boundaries of our legal system until we cannot even say “Free Palestine” or carry a Palestinian flag in public without being arrested under the guise of “hate speech”.

Here are the details of what happened, taken from their statement:

Earlier this week, before sunrise a community member was abruptly woken up by RCMP pounding on their door, shouting that they had a search warrant and threatening to break down their door. As soon as they opened their door (still in their pyjamas and without shoes), officers grabbed their arms, handcuffed them and arrested them. They were subsequently taken to a VPD detachment where they were interrogated for over 6 hours. This continued despite the community member requesting the assistance of a lawyer on multiple occasions and insisting on exercising their right to remain silent. Their home was also raided with many items taken, including several keffiyehs, their devices and other personal items. Their laptop was also stolen despite the fact that laptops were not included in the search warrant. While they were eventually released with no conditions or charges, they remain under investigation. This was all done under the ridiculous and irrational claim that the comrade was “willfully spreading hatred”.

This arrest and raid comes after the November 14th militarized VPD raid of Charlotte Kates’s home, where the VPD Emergency Response Team broke down her door, destroyed her front window and shot a flashbang grenade, causing unnecessary panic in the neighbourhood. The VPD aimed their weapons at her, forced her to the ground, handcuffed her (also in pyjamas and without shoes) and detained her outside in the rain. They searched her home for several hours on the grounds of a similar warrant, also on the basis of potential “conspiracy to incite hate.” Again, the VPD took all electronic devices as well as papers, including multiple items that were not the items described in the search warrant.

In recent weeks, several other comrades have also had police knock at their homes and approach them at night while walking to their cars. Others involved in the Palestine solidarity movement in Canada have reported being detained by CBSA when returning to the country from the United States and questioned about comrades. In all cases questioning focused on and attempted to ascertain the identities of individuals alleged to have spoken publicly or chanted at public rallies.

The statement went on to call for broad support, urging all groups and organizations to condemn this assault!

This is part of an ongoing repressive assault that seeks to destroy the Palestine solidarity and liberation movement, especially as it exposes and confronts Canadian imperialism and complicity in the US/Zionist war on Palestine, the Arab nation and the region as a whole. Similar cases and incidents have taken place in Toronto, Ottawa and Québec, despite the lack of successful prosecutions in cases to date. We are witnessing a dedicated and corrdinated political intervention by police forces across our cities with the clear objective of further repression of the Palestine movement and to criminalize our presence in the streets. Of course, this also follows the October 15 designation of Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, a prominent Palestine solidarity and liberation organization in Canada, as a so-called “terrorist entity,” only highlighting the urgent need to abolish the “terrorist entity list,” which serves only as a mechanism of repression against targeted communities and movements.

The state is targeting our community, attempting to intimidate us into submission and distract us from our work to a liberated Palestine. Repression has always been part of the struggle, yet we must remain steadfast.

If you are part of an organization, union, student group, etc release a statement condemning the VPD, RCMP and our state.
Organize demonstrations and actions that center around Palestine while also condemning the repression that our community is facing.
Call out the forms of repression that you see, it is happening all around us. Do not be blind to it.
Donate to the fundraisers for the legal aid that our comrades will require moving forward (more information to be released shortly).

Outraged by Excessive VPD Raid against pro-Palestine Advocate

To Mayor Ken Sim and VPD Chief Adam Palmer:

We are appalled and outraged by the excessive police action yesterday in Vancouver against local activist Charlotte Kates. We demand answers from the VPD and Ken Sim regarding this ridiculous ramping up of intimidation of pro-Palestine advocates. Why did you need the Emergency Response Team, decked out in full tactical gear with an armoured vehicle, to execute one search warrant in a quiet residential house currently inhabited by one woman? Are you trying to convince others that those who support Palestine are dangerous and thus require this over-the-top repression? According to news sources, even her neighbours were horrified (and frightened) at the level of force employed.

All you have proven is that Vancouver police are quickly descending into the most despicable kind of tactics, and showing their own ineptitude and lack of respect for the most basic rights of people.

The local Palestinian community will remember this latest action (and others before) that have exposed the anti-Palestinian racism inherent in your administration.

Hanna Kawas, Chair
Canada Palestine Association – Vancouver
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Coverage on AlMayadeen English: Pro-Palestine org enraged by Canadian police raid against activist | Al Mayadeen English

INTERNATIONAL LAWYERS CONDEMN POLICE RAID ON HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST CHARLOTTE KATES’ HOME