Category: Headline

Those Complicit in Genocide will be held Accountable! 

#IVotePalestine 2025 

As the federal election goes into final week frenzy, here is the wrap-up report for our campaign demanding to know if politicians stand for justice or for genocide. The paucity of progressive and principled clarity in this election cycle was appalling. We sent our questionnaire to all the major parties for their official response and were not surprised that most refused to answer. We were asking multiple tough questions about Zionism, genocide, the sham “terrorist list” and accountability – issues most politicians in Canada are not willing to touch. The noticeable exception was the Communist Party who did send an encouraging response that we highlighted in our third release. 

We should mention the recent position of the NDP, especially in the debates where their leader Jagmeet Singh emphasized that the word genocide must be used to describe what is happening in Gaza. As Yves Engler pointed out: “...the electoral calculation has finally become clear to him and the party. Better late than never and everyone campaigning against genocide deserve praise.” 

We remain skeptical of the NDP’s intentions, and question if their new-found “passion for Palestine” will continue (although we fervently wish it would). In 2019, the NDP sent positive answers to the first #IVotePalestine campaign, and then two months later, Jagmeet Singh proceeded to backtrack in a roundtable with CIJA. 

We stated in the introduction to our 2025 questionnaire: 

“We do not believe that any single election in Canada will substantially change policy on Palestine, but we do see the educational value in bringing these issues to the public and highlighting the overwhelming Canadian complicity in genocide. Yes, go to candidates in your riding and raise these crucial points, but also stay focused on organizing in our communities, on grassroots activism and on stepping up direct action campaigns going forward.” 

On March 21, 2025, even before the election was called, we noted: “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!” 

Full info here: Demand to know where politicians stand – for justice or for genocide! – 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!”

#Nakba76 Activist Kit: Raise The Flag

Special Offer:
Order one Palestinian flag and a scarf (or two flags) for $15, including shipping to anywhere in Canada. (Also included will be a bonus sticker, small flag or pin.)

Flag is 90 cm x 150 cm, and the scarf has the Palestinian flag/keffiyeh motif plus an image of Al-Aqsa mosque.
Send an e-transfer for $15 to cpavancouver@gmail.com (along with your mailing address in a separate email) to ensure you have what you need to #Stand4Palestine everyday and on Nakba76!

Media Complicity in Demonizing Palestinians

York University Update

“The damage has been done, the smear was repeated and repeated, and a half-hearted revision five days after the first story will not undue the harm that has been caused.”

This quote is from the article posted on the CPA website yesterday, entitled “Jerusalem Post admits to printing false info about York University protest”. That article detailed how false and dangerous accusations against pro-Palestinian supporters in a Jerusalem Post story had lacked any credible evidence and were eventually revised in updated versions.

But indeed, the smear becomes accepted fact. Just today, November 28, 2019, the Toronto Sun carried an inflammatory article by Joe Warmington, entitled “Did York University protestors commit a hate crime?” repeating the same false accusation, again referencing the Jerusalem Post and its quote from Shar Leyb. The original Sun article declared: “One person they may want to talk with is Calgary-born Shar Leyb, a Reservists on Duty speaker who — according to the Jerusalem Post — said “there were hundreds of posters that read ‘stop the IDF killers on campus,’ and ‘we do not let Zionists on York University campus” and we heard some outside chanting “Intifada, Intifada, go back to the ovens, you belong in Europe.’ I have never felt so much hate in my life.”

However, after we pointed out to them in an email exchange that even the Jerusalem Post had revised that quote and removed the second part of it, the Sun has now also revised their story. Mind you, they did not feel compelled to alter the misleading title.

Following the original exchange with the Jerusalem Post and a further query by Dimitri Lascaris, the paper is now on the 5th version of this particular article. FIVE versions in less than a week. Surely that points to the lack of any credibility of the one biased source for this information. Nonetheless, JPost still insists on repeating it in their introductory paragraph, although attributing it to only “several” protestors.

Even the right-wing FrontPage Mag has revised its story on who alleges to have heard this “chant” and the exact wording involved, but they also are still insisting on leading with this claim in their article and even in their title. Their source is also Shar Leyb, not surprisingly the same source as the Jerusalem Post.

This is how media works to demonize Palestinians and their struggle. First, its an angry mob of 600 who chanted this offensive slogan, then it was downgraded to a handful or several protestors. Then the actual quote from the one source is completely removed from the Jerusalem Post. But the seed has been planted and the tags of racist and anti-Semitic have been loosely thrown around, with even the spectre of “hate crimes” brought up. Will anyone, including PM Justin Trudeau, bother to review all of these developments and admit they were wrong to issue their dangerous accusations of anti-Semitism? And recognize the harm caused by their rush to embrace such fabrications and deceptions?