As Muslims in New York City and around the world mark the beginning of the Islamic New Year, Muharram calls us to reflect on the values of justice, compassion, and moral courage that guide us in our lives and our communities.
As we welcome this new year, may it renew our commitment to one another and to the work of building a city where every New Yorker can live with dignity and opportunity.
I tried to attend the @OntariosDoctors annual general meeting tonight in Ottawa, and was removed from the room by members of their executive team Sandy Zidaric and Adam Farber because I wore my watermelon pin that I’ve worn countless times without issue in many spaces including on parliament hill. They cited the concern that the watermelon pin as a political symbol could possibly make other physician colleagues in the room “uncomfortable” or “unsafe”.
All the while genocide continues in Palestine. When I asked if their policy of what could not be worn on the bodies of their members in their meetings have applied to any other political symbols or attire, they could not give me other examples. They asked me to remove the watermelon pin or leave the room, or sit in another room by myself to tune into the meeting virtually. I declined and left. I explained to them this is an incredibly disappointing and discriminatory policy for their meetings, and I hope it is revised.
I know medical colleagues including medical learners who have been kicked out of clinic because they wore a watermelon pin. These are examples of anti-Palestinian racism. As a physician, I stand in solidarity with my Palestinian medical colleagues who have been killed by the Israeli military and continue to be subjected to genocidal violence. Over 1,700 Palestinian healthcare workers have been killed by the Israeli military in Gaza. Many Palestinian healthcare workers remain in Israeli captivity and are being tortured by the Israeli military, including Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, a paediatrician who stayed to care for his patients in the hospital he was the medical director of.
Shame on @OntariosDoctors for not only censoring what is allowed to be displayed on the bodies of their members, and even more so to be painfully silent in the face of attacks on our medical and healthcare worker colleagues in Palestine. Don’t look away from the genocide in Gaza. These acts of discrimination are forms of racism, and racism is a distraction from the real issue of ending Canadian complicity in Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
Palestinians take part in the International Palestine Marathon held along the coastal road in Gaza City, May 8, 2026. simultaneously with a marathon that took place in Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank.
Everyone felt sad for the penguin walking alone and the monkey rejected by his mother. But this video is far more heartbreaking, yet it didn’t receive the same attention.
Everyone felt sad for the penguin walking alone and the monkey rejected by his mother. But this video is far more heartbreaking, yet it didn’t receive the same attention.