This is the state of some of the flotilla humanitarians as they arrive at Istanbul airport. This is what Israel does to the citizens of the world. Israel’s denial of the systemic rape, torture and starvation of Palestinians, is laughable.
Iran's demands are reasonable and should be implemented. In fact, given the barbarity of the illegal aggression—the assassination of their head of state and civilian leaders, massacre of civilians, destruction of hospitals and schools—the demands are if anything restrained.
My father Stephen Lewis is spectacularly uninterested in social media, so I’m posting this myself (though he has read it and is prepared to suffer the indignity of all I'm about to reveal).
When he was Canada’s ambassador to the UN from 1984-88, Dad was truly shocked by the regularity of open, vitriolic antisemitism in the cocktail parties and ambassadorial receptions that surround that crucial but flawed institution.
For this reason (among others) he’s always been the one in our family with the deepest atavistic fear of antisemitism. He was sympathetic to the idea of Israel as a refuge longer than the rest of us.
This is no longer the case. Like so many Jews who for decades adopted the dominant narratives of Zionism, he can no longer defend the current actions of the state of Israel.
He now regards Israel as a rogue state, committing genocide and other crimes against humankind, which ought to be opposed by every tool and tactic in Canada's diplomatic arsenal.
To return to the personal, seven years ago my Dad was diagnosed with a vicious cancer and was given as little as 3 months to live. It’s a sublime understatement to say that he’s a fighter - but he has persevered in life with a tenacity familiar from his political, diplomatic and humanitarian pursuits.
Which brings us to this morning, when at 87 years old, he spent an hour standing at the side of the road in his old riding of Scarborough West. Standing up as a Jew against genocide. Standing up for justice for Palestine. Standing up on the right side of history, where the vast majority of humanity currently stands.
I’ve never been prouder, never more humble before the stubborn principle and insistent moral clarity of the guy I’m so lucky to call Dad.
People of Canada: don’t stop talking about Palestine.
Starvation as collective punishment can never be forgiven.
Burning and burying children alive can never be defended.
Stand up against genocide until we make it stop!
Thanks Dad.
And special thanks to @CharlieAngusNDP for shining his spotlight on Ted Schmidt and the other excellent folks who gather every Thursday at 8 am at the corner of Victoria Park and Kingston Road in Scarborough.
So saddened at the news of Stephen Lewis’ passing, and profoundly grateful for his contributions to the NDP, Canada and the world.
We’ve lost a true Canadian titan.
Deepest sympathies to Avi and family - blessed that his Dad lived to see his incredible achievement as leader.
Something really inspiring is happening right now in Nova Scotia. Student unions from multiple universities across the province have joined a coordinated student strike to demand affordable tuition and divestment. The tides are turning, and history is being made here.
Over the past 29 months the devastating, multilayered impact of Israel’s ongoing genocide has pushed Palestinian women and girls in the occupied Gaza Strip to the brink.
Women in Gaza are being denied the conditions needed to live and to give life safely.
Read more 👇 https://t.co/AD2A0YDJ9o
“Any regimes that need changing, including the US, Israel & ours, need to be changed by the people, not by some bloated, lying, cheating, greedy, resource grabbing, bomb dropping imperial power & its allies, who are trying to bully the whole world into submission.”
Arundhati Roy
A desalination plant supplying drinking water to 30 villages.
A flour and starch factory.
Oil depots blanketing Tehran in thick black smoke and contaminated rain.
65 schools. 13 hospitals.
Centuries-old heritage sites.
These are the latest targets in the illegal US-Israeli assault on Iran. These are not military bases, they are the civilian infrastructure that keeps ordinary people alive. More than 1,300 people have already been killed since the attacks began, and nearly 6,700 civilian sites have reportedly been struck.
This war has nothing to do with democracy — or even nuclear weapons. Canada must have no part in it and Prime Minister Carney must use every ounce of his influence to put a stop to it.
The UN education agency, UNESCO, says that the bombing of a primary school during the US and Israeli military attacks on Iran on Saturday constitutes a grave violation of humanitarian law.
https://t.co/Mb1Vt1cRLl
BREAKING :
The UN accuses Israel of committing EXTERMINATION in Gaza.
EXTERMINATION.
Repeat it. Spread it. Let the world know.
“Israel is responsible for extermination, murder, using starvation as a method of war..”
—The UN Human Rights Council