Remarks by Harold Shuster on behalf of Independent Jewish Voices at a rally, Stories of Grief, Resistance and Hope at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, Saturday, March 16, 2024
So my role is to try and provide you with hope, and what further actions that you can do.
But first an apology, and one that I am happy to offer, to my co-planners, to Hala. When I first saw the planned set up for today and there were 500 chairs, I was adamant, even a little obnoxious in stating that that was too many chairs, that there would rows of empty seats and the venue would look half empty and that would be terrible. I am humbled and overwhelmed to be proven wrong, by your support - it gives me strength.
We have heard many stories of grief, we have listened to words of resilience, and now we must use those words, those stories to motivate us. It can be hard not to feel hopeless, to see the task ahead of us as too big, to see the forces working against us as too powerful, but we must not let those feeling of hopelessness stop us. The people of Gaza, the Palestinians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Israel need us to act, to mobilize, to use their words and their stories to help bring justice to them, working with the same “sumud”, the same steadfastness, that they are using to resist the injustices they are facing.
ACTION 1: You have already made a contribution by being here. You have joined with the millions of citizens across the globe that are calling for a ceasefire and showing their solidarity with the Palestinian people. You can get deeper involved by becoming a part of one of the growing advocacy groups supporting the Palestinian struggle - academics, union member, nurses, doctor, queer, straight, somewhere in between, there is a place for you in the movement. IJV is always looking for supporters. Or start your own!
ACTION 2: Keep putting pressure on your elected officials, in demanding a ceasefire. This is the minimum that any elected official at any level should be calling for.
ACTION 3: Contact the Prime Minister and demand that Canada live up to its international obligations. Canada should be demanding a permanent ceasefire. Calling for the release of all civilian hostages, held by both Hamas and Israel. Allowing for the unhindered delivery of much needed life saving humanitarian aid to be delivered to Gaza - by road, in trucks, not dropped from the sky or by boat. End all arms sales to Israel. Introduce sanctions against Israel until it complies with international and human rights laws and ends its occupation, ends its apartheid rule, and justice is achieved for Palestinians. Supporting the ICJ case brought by South Africa.
ACTION 4: Do BDS! Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) is a Palestinian-led movement for freedom, justice and equality. Inspired by the South African anti-apartheid movement the Palestine BDS is a simple, non-violent peaceful form of civil disobedience. It urges pressure on Israel until it complies with international law by meeting 3 demands:
1. Ending its occupation and colonization of all Arab land and the dismantling the wall
2. Recognizing the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality.
3. Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return their homes and property as stipulated in UN Resolution 194.
The BDS Movement website has a list of companies that they are asking us to boycott. Not all but many of the products and companies operate in Canada and their products are widely available.
ACTION 5: Donate money if you are able. There are a number of wonderful international aid organizations working hard to try and save lives right now in Gaza, and doing what they can to make live sustainable, not only in Gaza, but in the West Bank, where on-going settler violence has seen hundreds killed and forced evacuations of Palestinian villages, and all of this happening while Israel is conducting its genocidal war on Gaza. UNRWA. Save the Children. Doctors Without Borders. UNICEF. Mennonite Central Committee.
ACTION 6: We want justice, we want peace. For that to happen you need to know what is really happening, not just now, not just what has happened since October 7th, but what has been happening since the siege of Gaza in 2004. Since the Occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem in 1967. Since the the Nakba and the founding of the State of Israel in 1947. Since the founding of the zionist movement 125 years ago. What we generally know, what we generally understand about the history of Palestine and Israel is what Israel and its zionist supporters have wanted us to know. They have controlled the narrative which has allowed them to control what is happening. We owe it to Palestinians to know their history, to know their stories and the narrative of what it means to be an oppressed people. There are lots of very good reliable sources.
There is great significance that what we are doing today, what we have been doing since October 7th, what we have been doing for months and years before that, is asking for, no demanding, that the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the international treaties and declarations, is taking place in the very building that our country has constructed and is dedicated to honouring and preserving, to showcasing and educating us on what happens when those agreements are violated. What the Palestinian people have been calling for, and calling on the global community to stand in solidarity with them, to lift and amplify their voices, is to have their human rights, their dignity, their history and culture, recognized, honoured and protected - no different than any other people.
For it is human rights that allow for a child to have a childhood, that allow for that child to grow and thrive, to pursue an education, to have access to safe work, to love who they chose, to live their own authentic lives free from discrimination and persecution. It is human rights that are meant to ensure that every child, every person, every individual, have equal access to the things that sustain us - clean air and water, nutritious food, a healthy sustainable environment. So it is significant that we are asking for all of those things for the Palestinian people, in a building that for too long worked hard to prevent the Palestinian story to be heard.
So keep coming out. Keep standing up. Keep raising your voices. Keep educating yourselves. Demanding a ceasefire is just the beginning. The war on Gaza is simply the latest iteration of the Nakba, the catastrophe that Palestinians have been living through for the past 76 years. This is the latest act of violence by the Israel government that has controlled Palestine and Palestinians through a culture of violence. Your voice, your presence, your commitment to seeking justice will be needed just as much when the war is over as it is now.