“Palestinians, both in Palestine and those among the diaspora, and their allies observed Palestine Land Day March 30th. It was the 50th commemoration of the 1976 murder of six people protesting the State theft of land in Galilee. Israel chose the same date to pass in its Knesset the ‘Death Penalty for Terrorists Law’, an infamous, one-sided statute codifying capital punishment (for some) while providing only limited recourse to appeal, or commutation. Worse, the “Gallows Law” is expected to apply equally to Palestinian children.
Hanna Kawas is chairperson of Vancouver’s Canada-Palestine Association. He’s too a long-time radio journalist whose program, Voice of Palestine had been a beacon for the city’s diaspora community, and others facing both Canadian state repression, and media marginalization…CPA will be front and centre this Friday, April 17th in Vancouver, at Creekside Park for Palestinian Prisoners’ Day.”Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Hanna Kawas, John Helmer April 7/15, 2026
Category: Media Watch
Letters to the editor from Canada Palestine Association members addressing Palestine in the news.
Boycott Genocidal “Israel” and its Enablers!
Over the last year, a new campaign has been gathering momentum in British Columbia, Canada that aims to ban the sale of Israeli wine in publicly owned liquor stores. Activists in BC have a long history of calling to deshelve Israeli wines, starting in 2008; that campaign was modelled on a previous local one against South African wines, called “Don’t Drink with Apartheid”.
This new initiative carries the slogan Don’t Drink with Genocide, and their public campaign letter stated: “It’s time to call on the BC government to ban Israeli wine in order to pressure the Israeli government and defend the rights of Palestinians.”
All the Israeli wines in BC liquor stores are linked to either vineyards or operations in West Bank or Golan Heights settlements. But even if they weren’t, we would and should still be boycotting them. No longer can we call to boycott just “settlement products”; this false dichotomy is untruthful and promotes a dangerous narrative.
The whole economy and infrastructure of the Israeli state is linked with the “settlement enterprise”, and the genocide in Gaza has fully exposed the rotten foundation that all of that rests on. In a Mondoweiss article over 4 years ago, I noted: “Gone are the days when many activists felt they must temper their comments and ‘soft sell’ the demand to boycott all of Israel, its entire state apparatus and any complicit companies.” Surely, after the genocide and carnage in Gaza, this must be the only position going forward.
A decade ago, you could argue that campaigns against illegal settlement products had a place in the Boycott Israel movement, but only as a first step or entry point towards something more.
As I concluded in 2021: “The danger lies in letting settlement boycotts become the dominant feature of BDS work and allowing their limited parameters to set and restrict the agenda for most Boycott Israel work.
A further danger of focusing mainly, or only, on settlement boycotts is that it reinforces the faulty concept that the two-state solution is still viable and a worthwhile goal for Palestine advocacy. It traps activists in this circular spin that falsely gives the impression to supporters that the illegal settlements are the most important obstacle to any genuine peace with justice for Palestinians.”
Boycott beyond the settlements: The sequel
We are past telling consumers that its somehow more egregious and more worthy of boycott when a product has links to the settlements. No, after two years plus of live-streamed horrors from Gaza, of beheaded kids and murdered medical staff, we demand that all and any Israeli products be banned and boycotted.
There is a move now to re-ignite boycott campaigns and we must be vigilant to not allow this energy to be co-opted by those who, for reasons of ideology or convenience, want to retreat back to the focus only on “settlement products”.
Yes, its an “easier sell” in the imperial core to highlight more obvious violations, like Israeli settlements in what are “internationally recognized” occupied territories. But if we learnt anything from the last decade of boycott work, its that governments including here in Canada, are more than happy to turn a blind eye to not only international law, but even their own stated policies when needed.
For example, a huge effort was mounted some years ago to focus attention on the labelling of these wines in Canada, which then and now carry the “Product of Israel” wording. Although such labels clearly violated even the Canadian government’s position on the illegality of settlements, still the government appealed an initial decision that the labels were “false, misleading and deceptive”. The final court ruling was classic double-speak and ultimately referred the issue back to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
The Zionist lobby interpreted this to mean that the “Product of Israel” label could remain on the bottles so long as they added “clarifying information”. And so it stands – activists documented a few months ago that Teperberg Winery’s Malbec was labelled as “Product of Israel” at a BC liquor store and on the official website.
The Palestinian people are now at a critical juncture and need our principled support more than ever. We are boycotting their oppressor, the Israeli state, and all those who give it sustenance who also have blood on their hands. We are boycotting this modern-day monstrosity called Zionism and we owe it to ourselves and the Palestinians to be meticulously clear on our objectives.
By Marion Kawas
(Cover photo is a recent picket in Nanaimo, BC)
Mark Carney’s Hypocrisy at Davos
After seeing the full text of Canadian PM Mark Carney’s hypocritical speech at Davos, one might despair at the lack of understanding in many responses. Carney performed as if he was the next great challenger to US imperialism. If there weren’t so many lives and futures at stake, it would have been laughable.
But first, lets unpack Carney’ s statements.
His much-touted Davos speech was only newsworthy in one aspect, and that was his admission that not only was the international “rules-based order” a complete fraud but also that Western powers consciously supported this fraud.
“We knew the story of the international rules-based order was partially false, that the strongest would exempt themselves when convenient, that trade rules were enforced asymmetrically, and we knew that international law applied with varied rigour, depending on the identity of the accused or the victim.”
Although he refers repeatedly to the communal “we”, he did not acknowledge that his own government was one of the most complicit in that, nor did he accept any responsibility for Canada’s role in the genocide in Gaza. So we take his new-found and convenient commitment to challenge the US-led imperial hegemony with a grain of salt.
“We participated in the rituals, and we largely avoided calling out the gaps between rhetoric and reality.
This bargain no longer works.”
Well, PM Carney, this bargain never worked for most of the global south; it always only worked for those Western powers eager to prop up US imperialist designs. Which is why your pledge towards “acting consistently, applying the same standards to allies and rivals” rings so hollow.
Carney went on to say: “When middle powers criticize economic intimidation from one direction but stay silent when it comes from another, we are keeping the sign in the window.”
Oh really! We are waiting for your revised statements then on Venezuela, Haiti, Iran, Gaza and others. Acknowledgement without accountability, especially when that acknowledgement is motivated by self-interest, is the height of liberal double-talk and hypocrisy.
But then you’ve done this before. A look at how your alleged “recognition of the state of Palestine” quickly degenerated into a de-militarized (if you will) “Zionist Palestinian state” was instructive.
As Canada Palestine Association noted in August 2025, this would be “the trajectory of how this is supposed to unfold. An entity (we can’t call it a state) that must be demilitarized and is forbidden to decide who can run in its own elections. And, as has been detailed before, all of this is expected to occur with ‘mutual’ recognition of Israel by those Arab states who have not yet done so and the eventual dismantling of UNRWA.”
And now lets move to the social media-induced amnesia and superficiality. Even progressives in Western countries often jump from one issue to the next without questioning their own knowledge, or lack thereof, and the effects of supporting struggles with no commitment to long-term solidarity. The thirst for social media stardom means that many activists are too busy chasing the next “hot topic” to ever have time to delve properly into a fuller understanding of the struggles they claim to be supporting.
Gaza and Venezuela are two examples, but this is not a new phenomenon. However, it has been magnified in recent years by the nature and functioning of the digital and social media environment.
And don’t even get me started on celebrity activism – that will need a whole book to properly analyse. Not that the support of celebrities or others isn’t appreciated, it is. The problem arises when their positions are embraced as the ultimate guide to what’s necessary for principled solidarity. Despite all the chatter about centring Palestinian voices, it rarely happens in any meaningful way.
US imperialism has killed millions of innocent people around the world and destroyed the futures of millions more. From Vietnam to Afghanistan to Iraq to Palestine to Lebanon, to Cuba and Venezuela, the people of the world know who their enemy is and also know who has been aiding and abetting US hegemonic schemes. Mark Carney and the Canadian government are like rats fleeing a sinking ship; they have blood on their hands that will not easily be forgiven nor forgotten.
By Marion Kawas, also published on AlMayadeen English: Mark Carney’s hypocrisy at Davos | Al Mayadeen English
New interview with CPA Chair
State repression, and the spirit of resistance!
By Marion Kawas
On October 15, 2024, both the Canadian and US governments listed Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network as a “terrorist” group and ratified their years-long persecution of both the organization and its representatives. The banning of Samidoun, however, was not an isolated incident; rather, it falls into the broadening and still ongoing harassment of pro-Palestine advocates in many Western countries. Subsequently, in the US, Addameer is now banned as well.
From universities to media outlets to health agencies, there has been a concerted effort to squash the pro-liberation and pro-resistance Palestinian narrative. Just recently, Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada proposed sweeping new restrictions on university formations that will limit freedom of speech.
Meanwhile, mainstream media continues its biased reporting. Although they may occasionally run a piece to “balance” their image (cue CBC), their declared overall policy is still…No to Palestine. Even after the Canadian government’s performative recognition of a non-existent Palestinian state, still the media refuses to use the word Palestine in most instances.
But let’s return to Samidoun and how their being designated as “terrorist” has affected pro-Palestine advocacy here. We must recognize that it did have chilling repercussions and influenced the trajectory of what many activists are willing to include in their solidarity work.
The last year has seen an overemphasis on cultural aspects of Palestinian resistance and a downplaying of support for the armed resistance. Not that the cultural field isn’t important, it is, but not to the detriment of the underlying principles of the Palestinian struggle. Despite a lot of talk about “Centering the Thawabet”, there is little in the way of concrete implementation of most of its basic tenets.
However, it is enlightening (and heartening) that despite all their repression, the Zionist lobby and the Israeli media have admitted that the principles they targeted in Samidoun’s messaging are still being put forward today by other organizations. Multiple groups have accelerated their demands in recent months that the prisoners will always be the compass, and further, that they will not be silenced.
In an article earlier this year, I wrote the following:
“Even for those that felt they had political differences with Samidoun, once people are arrested and targeted, it is our duty to close ranks and defend them. This is the only response that can and will stem the violent repression currently underway, both in Palestine and globally.
Slogans are not enough, we must be willing to put those words into action. The only reason the Palestinian struggle is still alive is because of the bravery of generations of its fighters during the last century. We cannot shy away now from honouring that proud legacy of Sumoud and resistance, the Palestinian people deserve our last breath of courage and strength.”
And now with the phoney ceasefire and all that entails, we are entering a defining moment in Palestinian history. We must be clear that the Palestinian right to armed resistance is protected by UN Resolution A/RES/43/106 of Dec. 8, 1988 that “Reaffirms the legitimacy of the struggle of peoples for their independence, territorial integrity, national unity and liberation from colonial domination, apartheid and foreign occupation by all available means, including armed struggle”.
We must be clear that calling on the Palestinian resistance to “disarm”, something that the Israeli-US military aggression was unable to achieve in its two years of carpet bombing, is a non-starter. Why would anyone disarm while still under the mercy of an incredibly cruel and brutal genocide? While still being bombed daily and while the so-called ceasefire deal is being violated on all levels?
We must also resist the temptation to allow other voices to narrate and dominate the Palestinian viewpoint. It is positive to have elected officials or UN representatives support the struggle for Palestinian liberation, but they do not have the legitimacy nor the understanding to determine what is required at this stage.
In fact, the Palestinian Resistance organizations in Gaza have shown themselves to be highly effective and resourceful in their strategy over the last two years. In years to come, it will be studied in history books how these groups and the Gazan people managed to resist with so little and despite the overwhelming forces aligned against them. From the Western imperialist countries to the Zionist colony, to the rotten Arab regimes who were supporting this vicious attack over the last 2 years…Gaza has stood against all of them.
The will to survive and to resist demonstrated in Gaza should be an example for us all. If the Palestinians in Gaza are going back to destroyed homes and neighbourhoods, knowing what faces them, then the least we can do as solidarity activists is to honour that spirit. The spirit of a people that have resisted for over a century and plan to keeping on doing so, a spirit that will never surrender.