From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will Be Free

When the events of October 7^th led to the Israeli continued genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, I said I would stay out of it. But there are so many Zionist attacks on anyone supporting Palestinians that it made me angry.

The Breach published a long article about the crackdown on pro-Palestinian statements and activities that is happening in Medical Schools and hospitals around the country. https://breachmedia.ca/abuse-of-power-hospitals-med-schools-crack-down-on-palestine-advocacy/ . Most of it concerns hospitals and Universities in Ontario but the last part of the article writes about the Medical School at the University of Calgary. That is getting close to home.

Netanyahu was warned a year in advance in great detail by Egypt, exactly what Hamas was planning. He was warned again close to October 7^th. He chose to ignore the warnings and leave Gaza more lightly defended than West Bank. It was said that Hamas massacred 1200 Israelis including 400+ IDF in a most horrific fashion, however more reports are showing that many of the people killed were murdered in “friendly fire” by the IDF. To date the IDF has murdered around 30,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, while many more are injured (70,000) and experiencing famine. Israel fires on starving people as they come for food, the recent one killing and injuring over 1000 people in The Great Flour Massacre. The IDF restrict supplies going into Gaza, banning insulin and restricting medical supplies such that many children have had amputations without anesthetic.

More than half of Gazan homes have been destroyed or damaged, 390 educational facilities damaged, hospitals have been attacked by bombs and IDF dressed as civilians, 267 places of worship have been damaged including some of the oldest Christian churches, and 1.7 million people live in refugee camps as 85% of the population has been displaced. The IDF push the Palestinians southward, crowding  2 million people into tighter and tighter areas, intending to force them into the Egyptian desert.

If Hamas set out to put the Palestinian occupation by Israel back on the front burner, they have succeeded beyond their wildest hopes. Arguments for and against Israel are everywhere and the Israeli genocide is turning world opinion against Israel. However, the Zionists are fighting back to silence support for Palestine, using their favourite weapon, equating anti-Zionism with anti-Judaism. Biden has said he is a Zionist, that without Israel, Jews are not safe anywhere. Jews are not any safer in Israel than in America. Claiming Zionism and Judaism are one and the same has now put Jews in danger all over as many people cannot differentiate. Zionism is a fascist political movement and has more registered evangelical Christian members than Jewish members.

Zionists have always deliberately conflated Zionism and Judaism and to oppose Israel is to be an Antisemite. ADL attacks and smears anyone who dares criticize Israel in Canada and USA. It has the politicians running scared. ADL targets Universities, all media, hospitals, doctors, any people or institutions of importance and credibility. In the USA, Canary Mission doxxes university students and professors whom it perceives as anti-Israel. Where does it get its funding?. “You can help expose hatred by alerting us to anti-Semitic activity on your college campus and beyond”. AIPAC spends millions to primary and defeat any American politician that is perceived as anti-Israel. Canada and some American states have passed laws against BDS which opposes companies doing business in occupied West Bank. The Simon Wiesenthal Centre also asks people to report anyone they perceive to be  anti-Israel.

The Cumming School of Medicine has received over $20 million dollars since 2003 from the Libin Institute, founded by the wealthy Libin family. The main lecture room is called Libin and an entire floor in the main research building also has their name. The current Dean was the Director of the Libin Cardiovascular Institute of Alberta from July 1, 2010 to July 31, 2019. 

A collective of medical students put up an art display for a student art show called Names not Numbers, with the names of over 6,500 murdered Palestinians. The display was ordered to be torn down by the Vice Dean.  The Dean claimed seeing the names of dead Palestinians treated with respect harmed students, and while Deans Anderson and Adams did not apologize for ordering the destruction of the art piece, they both did express regret for the manner in which it was removed.

Names, Not Numbers

The destroyed display

After the students met with the Dean, all the Deans from Canadian medical schools met with two American Deans to discuss how to handle current events. We do not know what was said, but a student ethics presentation on censorship was censored.

Several Deans continue to speak about “Jewish” people when they mean Zionist, a form of antisemitism which would be laughable if it wasn’t so insidious. These Deans also continue to ignore that the student collective is multi-faith.

A faculty member who witnessed the destruction of the art display, informed Global Media, who interviewed them for a story. The story never appeared. Fortunately, CBC published an article detailing the chilling effect as people expressing pro-Palestinian views are censured and suspended from work and school.

CBC documented many instances across Canada in which employees and students have faced firings, suspensions or calls for them to not be hired based on their publicly stated political stance on the Israel-Hamas war. It's a trend that has been reported not just in Canada but also in the U.S. and Europe, and across various industries, including media, law, health care and the service sector. "A lot of the time, what's happening to them is a result of anonymous sources reaching out to their employers or to their institutions, raising concerns with either their behaviour or something they have said or [are] alleged to have said."

None of the lawyers who spoke with CBC News had been notified of similar cases relating to expressions of support for Israel. "I've certainly seen stories of people who have chosen to leave jobs where they … don't feel supported as an Israeli or as a Jewish person [or] don't feel comfortable with statements that the organization [they] work for has made.”

Nearly 650 lawyers, law students and professors across Canada allege that some in the profession are "contacting the employers of lawyers and encouraging they be fired for their pro-Palestinian advocacy" and that those engaged in pro-Palestinian advocacy — many of whom are younger and people of colour — are being bullied for it. 

Screenshot sent to CBC News by a member of a closed Facebook group called Canadian Jewish Physicians show a handful of members saying they have compiled a list of 271 medical students who signed an open letter calling for a ceasefire and an end to targeting health-care facilities and workers in Gaza. 

The stated intention is to share this list with program directors ahead of residency interviews.

There are many more examples in the CBC article. And for detailed information about anti-Palestinian Racism see this website Understanding Anti-Palestinian Racism Antipalestinianracism.com