Carmen Alvarez

JD @UCalgaryLaw | Poli Sci B.A. @UBC |

Law, politics, & human rights. Views my own. Retweets not endorsements.

[Carmen Alvarez @maybeitscarma]

Every word.

[Mohammed El-Kurd @m7mdkurd]

You know, the killing is so relentless that you almost get used to it. A classroom of children killed every single day. You write about it, you read about it. Someone’s mother digs herself up from the rubble. Someone’s father is split in half. There was a video of wounded man using his arms to crawl across the road. Another man is so hungry he weeps. You read the stories. Each one is more brutal than the next and somehow the brutality is banal. You are numb, for better or for worse. But there are moments in the day, maybe just a singular moment, when you actually contend with the magnitude of the tragedy, when you are able to quantify the loss and in those moments you feel crushed—there are no adjectives. There are people mourning their lovers. Students missing their teachers. Orphans. Widowers. Grandmothers who look just like your own. I cry when I think about the people who were martyred just hours before they could apologize for something, or confess to something, or have something to eat. Or the slain who believed they would survive. And as the rancid rotten people of the world pontificate and debate the definition of genocide, you are at war with yourself, trying desperately to ignore the material meaning of the word. You read the news and you read the news and it is so hard to accept that the dead, the thousands of people they are slaughtering, they are your loved ones and your loved ones’ loved ones. This isn’t just a bad dream.

[Mark Kersten || @markkersten.bsky.social @MarkKersten]

'We cannot let this become the new normal.'

“This weekend eight children were reported killed and a further 17 injured in five different locations in the Gaza Strip, while in the West Bank, a seven-month-old boy died after being shot by Israeli forces" https://t.co/o2WqyAulf1

[Terrill Tailfeathers @Terrilltf]

Reminder that 2 of these countries are currently removing Indigenous children from their homes and incarcerating Indigenous adults at disproportionate rates.

[Carmen Alvarez @maybeitscarma]

In a shocking (but unsurprising) move, @CanadaFP @AnitaAnandMP @MarkJCarney @liberal_party misread the room and fundamental comprehension of conflict.

When diplomacy fails (e.g. when a state commits genocide,) you don’t keep dithering about peace. You sanction.

[Anita Anand @AnitaAnandMP]

Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia are launching a new International Peace Fund for Israelis and Palestinians. Canada is contributing $1.8 million over three years to support initiatives that foster dialogue, build trust, and strengthen civil society engagement. By investing in those working to bridge divides, we are helping lay the foundations for a lasting peace where Israelis and Palestinians can live in peace and security.

[Mohamad Safa @mhdksafa]

Israel killed nearly 100,000 people in almost 1,000 days in Lebanon and Palestine with weapons supplied by 51 countries.

That means Israel killed about 100 people every day for ~1,000 days with complete impunity.

This's what real threat to world peace looks like.

[Carmen Alvarez @maybeitscarma]

They’ll do anything but hold Israel accountable.

This is a slap-in-the-face to Palestinians undergoing genocide.

Another tick from the @liberal_party list of non-actions.

[Foreign Policy CAN @CanadaFP]

Joint Statement on the launch of the International Peace Fund for Israelis and Palestinians
Read full text here
https://t.co/bJoyikCXjo

[Kavita Algu @KavitaAlguMD]

Earlier this year, @CMA_Docs rightly stood in solidarity with "one of our own" when Alex Pretti was horrifically murdered by ICE.

Yet, they will spare no words for Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya and the 14 kidnapped Palestinian doctors.

They have no words for >1,800 of our colleagues murdered in cold blood by Israel.

Why does solidarity with "our own" stop when the victims are not white skinned, @CMA_Docs?

CMA is one of Canada's top lobby groups.

They must call for our government to stop arming Israel, to sanction Israel, and to cut diplomatic ties.

#FreeDrHussamAbuSafiya
#FreeThemAll

[Carmen Alvarez @maybeitscarma]

@CanRevAgency let’s go

[Melanie Ward MP @melanie_ward]

Funding illegal Israeli settlements is not charitable activity. It is extremist activity.

Working with Israeli human researchers, I found at least 32 UK charities who have sent £28 million to settlements in recent years.

There’s a likely taxpayer subsidy of at least £5 million

[Carmen Alvarez @maybeitscarma]

@CanadaFP @AnitaAnandMP @MarkJCarney

I know they know but it never hurts to remind

[Alex Cosh @AlexCosh_]

Israel's ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank is state policy, not the work of a few "extremist" Jewish settlers.

Canada's sanctions on individual settlers and organizations are pathetically inadequate. https://t.co/7r3T1M8gHe

[Canadian Muslim Public Affairs Council @CMPAConline]

We welcome the Government of Canada’s decision to impose a fifth round of sanctions on individuals and entities involved in extremist settler violence against Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank.

At the same time sanctions should not be viewed as an end in themselves. Canada should ensure that no individual, organization, or institution under its jurisdiction directly or indirectly supports, finances, partners with, or facilitates the activities of sanctioned actors and illegal settlements. Meaningful enforcement requires proactive measures to prevent material support for unlawful settlement activity and on-going monitoring of such activities.

While accountability for extremist settler violence is necessary, it cannot be separated from the broader reality of Israel’s ongoing violations of international law. Unlawful settlement expansion, the destruction of civilian infrastructure, mass displacement, ongoing attacks that have killed more than 75,000 people in Gaza, and military operations that have displaced over 1.3 million people in Lebanon have all raised serious concerns regarding war crimes and grave breaches of international humanitarian law.

Addressing settler violence must therefore form part of a broader effort to uphold international law and end impunity for all violations. Canada should build on these measures by sanctioning regimes, supporting international accountability mechanisms, including ongoing investigations by international courts and bodies, and by using all available diplomatic, economic, and legal tools to promote compliance with international humanitarian law and protect civilian populations. #cdnpoli

[Zachary Foster @_ZachFoster]

We stopped hearing about hostage crisis in Israel & Palestine because 100% of the remaining hostages are Palestinian .... being tortured, raped & starved to death.

[Carmen Alvarez @maybeitscarma]

This crime wasn’t committed by anyone you sanctioned @CanadaFP @AnitaAnandMP

[Samira Mohyeddin سمیرا @SMohyeddin]

📍NEW Video shows the moment an Israeli soldier shot a seven month old Palestinian baby in Hebron. What a vile vile vile state and army.

[Aidan Simardone @AidanSimardone]

Don’t care until they sanction all of Israel

[Carmen Alvarez @maybeitscarma]

It’s as if @CanadaFP has a list of half measures that it periodically picks from and ticks off so it can avoid doing anything of consequence (sanctioning Israel) while @liberal_party MPs can say, but look at all we’re doing!

[Foreign Policy CAN @CanadaFP]

Joint statement in response to the deteriorating situation in the West Bank

To read the statement: https://t.co/5Ahn8gKSNn

[Carmen Alvarez @maybeitscarma]

I’d like to see this same kind of action from @NDP and @liberal_party MPs of conscience.

[Husam Zomlot @hzomlot]

Thank you to the 140 honourable members of the U.K. Parliament for signing a letter to Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper calling for accountability and sanctions against Israel, including a total ban on trading with the illegal settlements.

Over to the U.K. government.

[Al Jazeera English @AJEnglish]

"My son is 8 years old. What wrong did he commit? Was he carrying missiles?"

The nightmare of every parent. In Gaza City, Youssef Salman says a final goodbye to his son Jad, who was killed by an Israeli strike while leaving school.

[Carmen Alvarez @maybeitscarma]

@MarkJCarney

[Al Jazeera English @AJEnglish]

"My son is 8 years old. What wrong did he commit? Was he carrying missiles?"

The nightmare of every parent. In Gaza City, Youssef Salman says a final goodbye to his son Jad, who was killed by an Israeli strike while leaving school.

[Jake Landau (He/Him) 🇨🇦🇵🇸🇻🇪🇺🇦 @JakeLandauTO]

When the Harper government did this, the courts declared it a violation of the Charter. But now that Carney, a Liberal, does the same thing, Liberals will defend what can only be described as a vicious and greedy act of cruelty.

[Mark Kersten || @markkersten.bsky.social @MarkKersten]

“We’ve lived in sadness for a long time. We want this sadness to end.”

Exhumation underway to find remains of Atikamekw baby missing for 50 years https://t.co/69JbnAJEUc

[Althia Raj @althiaraj]

My latest: The Carney government cut health-care funding for refugees. Here's what that looks like to Olivia https://t.co/MhwdMIr9gs via @torontostar

[Mark Kersten || @markkersten.bsky.social @MarkKersten]

Canada continues to send millions of dollars in weapons to Israel, per its own data.