Israel’s Protests Ignore Palestine’s Quest for Freedom and Justice

April 10, 2023

– Iqbal Jassat is an Executive Member of the South Africa-based Media Review Network. He contributed this article to The Palestine Chronicle. Visit: www.mediareviewnet.com

By Iqbal Jassat

‘Unchartered territory’ is how many mainstream Western media outlets have described the unprecedented political crisis that’s engulfed Benjamin Netanyahu’s rabid right-wing regime.

Overnight the protest movement that’s been brewing for weeks in opposition to his “judicial reforms”, brought the self-proclaimed Jewish state to its knees.

The escalation in protests which shut down the main airport, harbor, universities, businesses, shopping malls, and some ministries, has come as a rude shock to most of the settler-colonial apartheid regime’s allies and hard-core apologists.

The intensity of the crisis saw senior military officials including Yoav Gallant, the Defense Minister take a public stand against plans for the controversial judicial overhaul. Firing him added fuel to a raging fire.

“We’ve never been closer to falling apart. Our national security is at risk, our economy is crumbling, our foreign relations are at their lowest point ever, and we don’t know what to say to our children about their future in this country. We have been taken hostage by a bunch of extremists with no brakes and no boundaries,” is how former PM Yair Lapid described the crisis.

The “shock and awe” of America’s client-state falling apart, in whom the US has invested billions in arms and funds is reflected in back-to-back media coverage.

The Western narrative that internecine civil strife only happens in Syria, Yemen, and Libya – not in Israel, patronized as the “only democracy” in the Middle East, has been exposed as a racist construct.

The reality however is that Zionism as the political underpinning and ideological foundation which led to the dispossession of indigenous Palestinians to pave the way for the creation of Israel has failed.

The irony is that most, if not all, the formations who are at each other’s throats – from protesters to their opponents in the streets and in government – profess to be zionists.

The insults thus hurled at each other such as “anarchists” speaks to the huge divide between racists right-wing settlers and the so-called “left”.

Cynics argue that those perceived to be leftist opponents of the regime are in effect embedded in the status quo. They have yet to transcend their pro-democracy stance by acknowledging that the democratic values preserved for one ethnic group only is no democracy.

A cursory glance at South Africa’s apartheid-era “democracy” explains what Israeli “democracy” implies.

While America’s response to the protests has been largely muted, indications are that the Biden administration has been looking on with alarm. Notwithstanding the billions of dollars it provides in “aid”, the US lacks leverage for fear of treading on the toes of powerful pro-Zionist lobbies.

Having been out-boxed by China’s bold initiative to pave the way for Iran and Saudi Arabia to rekindle full diplomatic and economic ties, America’s strategy alongside Israel’s has been severely impaired.

Most of the region especially those Arab states who have opted to “normalize” ties on the basis of the “Abraham Accords” would be concerned about the end result of the turmoil. Their security which they hinged to Israel’s security is on a roller coaster ride.

As America’s influence wanes so too will they have to reconfigure their “normalisation” while at the same time weighing their options which include closing ranks with Syria.

Turkey faces a similar conundrum. It cannot pretend any longer that ties with Israel guarantee “protection” while observing the impending disaster unfolding in the Jewish state.

That Palestinian people continue to be hunted down and killed by settler-militias and by the regime’s armed forces, while protesters on the streets remain oblivious of these crimes, explains why the crisis faced by Israel is mainly about Israelis against themselves.

Palestinians remain subject to harsh restrictions, military checkpoints, arbitrary arrests, home demolitions and occupation. None of their grievances have featured in the protests, thus rendering them invisible, while their precious lives are on the line.

The only recourse they have in defending their lives and properties is to resist the occupation.

By all accounts, as much as the crises facing Israel are unprecedented in scale and numbers, it remains a selfish outpouring of anger directed against Netanyahu’s subjugation of the judiciary.

Though he has pushed the pause button, Netanyahu has already pushed through part of the bill which effectively strips the court of the power to declare a prime minister (himself) unfit for office. Though he denies any wrongdoing, it is known that Netanyahu is determined to push the “reforms” through due to his own ongoing corruption trial where he faces charges of fraud, bribery, and breach of trust.

Though Israel’s image has been severely damaged by its own racist right-wing extremists, and its macho power weakened at the same time, the core of Palestine’s freedom struggle to rid itself of the occupation has not altered.

Taking the ‘Little Way’ to Organize for Palestine: Contesting an Anti-Palestinian Documentary in Toronto

February 16, 2023

A pro-Palestine demonstration in Toronto, Canada. (Photo: Paul Salvatori, Supplied)

By Paul Salvatori

– Paul Salvatori is a Toronto-based journalist, community worker and artist. Much of his work on Palestine involves public education, such as through his recently created interview series, “Palestine in Perspective” (The Dark Room Podcast), where he speaks with writers, scholars and activists. He contributed this article to The Palestine Chronicle.

Recently I organized a demonstration outside a Toronto theatre. It was to protest the screening of a dishonest documentary—First to Stand: The Cases and Causes of Irwin Cotler—taking place inside.

The documentary is on former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, professor and lawyer Irwin Cotler. He also denies the Nakba—the catastrophe of 1948 when at least 800,000 and 15,000 Palestinians were, respectively, displaced and killed by Israeli forces to make way for the state of Israel. The film however presents Cotler as a human rights “hero”, which no Nakba denier can be.  

Admittedly all documentaries have a degree of bias in them in that they portray individuals, states of affairs, etc. from a particular point of view, often the filmmaker who, say, wants to convey a certain social or political message. However, First to Standdoes more than this. It misleads the public by keeping outside the frame any substantive discussion or critique about Cotler’s denialism.

That’s a major part of who Colter is. For years he’s been promoting the view that the Nakba, as understood by historians the world over and formally acknowledged by a United Nations resolution last year, is effectively a fiction.

In doing so, he Is part of a larger global subculture, if you will, of racists, that either seek to downplay the severity of the Nakba or, like Cotler, erase it as a historical fact. In turn, they, deplorably, trivialize the legacy of Palestinian suffering and trauma caused by the Nakba itself, which—as we see on social media daily—is ongoing through Israel’s violent ethnic cleansing against Palestine, carried out with impunity (e.g. Israel not being sanctioned by Western powers). 

Whether it manifests itself in the bombing of Gaza, random killings of unarmed Palestinian civilians, illegal evictions of Palestinians from their homes in the West Bank (to build more Israeli settlements that contravene international law), such cleansing is inextricably connected to the Nakba. For the Nakba is coextensive with the founding of Israel which, ever since, has been a state that was founded on and continues to expand by destroying Palestinian life. Israel would simply not be where it is today without that destruction.  

At recent Toronto launch of film about ⁦@IrwinCotler⁩ attendees deny existence of Palestinians & react angrily to protesters calling him a human rights “fraud” pic.twitter.com/jBArAYDvQ7

— Yves Engler (@EnglerYves) February 7, 2023

This all went into my thinking as I independently organized the demonstration. The event was not sponsored or part of any formal organization. I mostly did the organizing online and when it was thought, at first, that Cotler would be in attendance there seemed to be quite a bit of enthusiasm among possible demonstration attendees. Many of us, at the time, were moved by the idea of contesting Colter, non-violently and face-to-face in the theatre. But as it turned out (and was advertised) he would only be at the screening virtually. 

When this came to light the enthusiasm dropped. This was admittedly discouraging; I wasn’t sure if it was worth organizing any demonstration at all. I felt I might be the only one to show at it—a lone person standing outside the theatre with a sign protesting Cotler. 

The thought of that changed everything. I asked myself why not do that. Why does a demonstration have to be big? Loud? A crowd? Why can’t a demonstration, however great the injustice it opposes, not be comprised of one individual? What ultimately matters, it seemed to me, is that a demonstration conveys a clear message, such as that First to Stand is a dishonest film. 
I also thought that I had a duty to protest the documentary, as an ally to the Palestinian people who could not be outside the theatre (living in another continent and, in the case of Gaza more specifically, under illegal blockade) at the time of the demonstration. Accordingly, the duty, as I conceived of it, would consist of me being a voice in solidarity with the Palestinian people, not for them, where they were physically absent. Whether I’d get much of a rise from any single passerby (and there turned out to be many) was irrelevant. Central to my thinking was that the documentary, whatever merit it had, is whitewashing the anti-Palestinianism of Cotler and by extension the current Canadian government where he enjoys the prestigious post of Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism.

Moreover, I didn’t want the documentary to be screened and people—entering the theatre, passing by it, etc.—not know this was happening. If I could get them to think about that or, better, engage in conversation with them so that eventually they might join the larger struggle for Palestinian justice, I believed that would be a tiny but meaningful victory. And so in a similar spirit to what St. Therese of Lisieux and later Dorothy Day referred to as the “little way”, while strengthened by love for the Palestinian people, I resolved to do so while holding up a simple sign. Made with only a black marker it read: “IRWIN COTLER IS A NAKBA DENIER.” 

I announced my plan to others in the WhatsApp group where I was doing part of the organizing. I also invited any who wanted to join me to do so. My tone was cordial. I did not want anyone to feel they had to or feel bad if they couldn’t. Additionally, I wanted to clarify for any who anticipated something bigger that the demonstration might very well just be me. I didn’t want people to attend it thinking they had in any way been misled to believe they would be part of a sizeable, animated crowd—though any non-violent action for Palestine, whatever the scale, is in my view both necessary and worthwhile. 

As the video of this article shows and to my pleasant surprise about 10 fellow Palestinian allies showed also protest the dishonesty of the film. They were of different faiths, ethnicities, etc. with one thing in common—their love for the Palestinian people and unwavering commitment to justice for Palestine itself. 

Some I knew already, others the honor of meeting the first time. It was an emotional experience for me. It confirmed there were others who believed enough in my small act of standing alone, in solidarity with Palestine, to join me and ultimately turn the act into a group event. 

We held signs, distributed a flyer about Cotler’s anti-Palestinianism, chanted loudly pro-Palestinian messages and others that challenged the legitimacy of Cotler—in contrast to the documentary—as a beacon for human rights. As we did so people, many of whom were entering the theatre, passed by us. Some were curious to know more about our message. We engaged them in constructive dialogue, as I had hoped. 

Others mocked and yelled at us, not unlike at the pro-Palestinian demonstration I attended in Toronto last December and wrote about. Like at that demonstration, we were at times met with anti-Palestinian animus. At least two people told us that there was no Palestine, echoing the false and racist position of Toronto groups such as the Canadian Education Antisemitism Foundation (CAEF) thatdoes the same and held an event last November where Cotler was a featured guest. 

Not only did the demonstration allow us to contest the documentary it also brought out the anti-Palestinianism that still exists in Toronto. I’ve brought this to the attention of several local and federal elected officials, including recently resigned Mayor John Tory, inviting them to work with those concerned about both the safety of Palestinians in Toronto and justice for Palestine more broadly. None have replied.  

On a positive note, the demonstration was a success. It challenged people to think about who Cotler really is and, in turn, how anti-Palestinianism in Canada and elsewhere is not being taken seriously. I’m also encouraged by, looking back, how it doesn’t take much to hold a demonstration as we did. It can begin with one person saying I’ll be at a certain place and time to protest an injustice, be it against Palestine or otherwise. If others see your sincerity, that you’re not doing it to be “cool” or get likes on social media, they will join you. Even if they don’t you can still demonstrate alone. 


That requires the mustering of at least some courage, the inspiration for which can be drawn from the Palestinian people themselves. Risking their lives they fight daily against Israeli military might, far exceeding their defense resources and capacity. If they can do that surely we, in safer and more privileged parts of the world, can demonstrate against anti-Palestinianism—however large or small we are in number—in public. 

That has more impact than posting about Palestine online. It tells people you are serious about Palestine and you are not afraid to fight for it in the proximity of random strangers, who you can’t just scroll over like on a computer screen. This will surely upset some but, more importantly, mobilize others.

Among those strangers are those who want justice for Palestine too. If it means holding a sign in front of a theatre, let them know they can join that struggle with you. 

There’s no reason to hide from that struggle if it’s in your heart to partake in it. There’s an international family of pro-Palestinian brothers and sisters waiting for you. And unlike First to Stand we do not hide the truth.  
We are not afraid to say that the Nakba is ongoing and it’s high time it ends.

Palestinian Voices are Still Presumed Guilty in Canada

December 26, 2022

Zionist activists verbally abuse peaceful demonstrators protesting a pro-settlement event in Toronto, Canada. (Photo: video grab, Supplied)

By Paul Salvatori

The recent article by Yves Engler, published by The Palestine Chronicle, resonates with me. It reminds me that many in the Canadian establishment not only do not care about Palestinian justice. They will go out of their way to undermine efforts that aim to achieve it.

I was at the pro-Palestinian demonstration Engler talks about. It happened in fact not far where I live in Toronto and in the same riding to be exact.

However, those opposing us at the demonstration—unapologetic Israeli ultranationalists—made me feel that I was in some other world. We were, in addition to being called “murderers”,“terrorists”, and “pieces of garbage”, told by them to “get out of our neighborhood you scum.”

In what democracy is this ok, let alone against those protesting the dispossession and displacement of Palestinians? Why are the Canadian politicians mentioned in Engler’s article not condemning the anti-Palestinian hatred we were subjected to but instead misframing the demonstration so as to suggest it was somehow antisemitic? And perhaps most importantly why do they repeat this kind of behavior and get away with it?

One of the main reasons I believe is that they are continuing to exploit something that Canadian society has not fully grappled with or taken seriously. I will call this an anti-Palestinian presumption of guilt.

It rears its head every time, and there have been many, pro-Palestinian voices are attacked, maligned, degraded or abused. Instead of perpetrators being held accountable their targets or victims are misrepresented, illustrated by social media posts cited by Engler, as the wrongdoers. (How this occurs specifically in the world of Canadian academia is presented well in “Unveiling the Chilly Climate: The Suppression of Speech on Palestine in Canada”, by Sheryl Nestel and Rowan Gaudet of Independent Jewish Voices.) 

https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?height=314&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fpaul.salvatori%2Fvideos%2F699257648380164%2F&show_text=false&width=560&t=0

Those engaged in such misrepresentation also do so confidently. They know they will likely be believed and not pro-Palestinian voices. This works, so to speak, since Canada is still a society where much of the public—reflecting again by the presumption of guilt—views Palestinian solidarity efforts as a “dangerous” or “violent” threat. It’s a warp in the public mind that needs to be corrected.

I’ve talked in previous articles about how this can be done through a responsible school system. In a similar spirit, it can also be done through launching public anti-hate campaigns, as the City of Toronto has commendably—through its Toronto For All initiative—done for several groups. It is yet to do so for pro-Palestinian voices.

Not only would this help the public better understand that the larger Palestinian community, including Palestinians and non-Palestinians alike, are fighting against Israeli apartheid—a crime against humanity. It will also expose and address how power, presently and historically, has tried to undermine this through the presumption of guilt.

I don’t believe that the Canadian public, learning about such underhandedness, will be tolerant of it. Canadians are largely people of conscience. They care about many things that used to be largely hidden or never discussed: racism, violence against women, police brutality, religious intolerance, truth, and reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, to name a few.

But, no, we are not yet at that point where we as a society are pushing back against those unfairly vilifying Palestinian voices. Indeed it has become normalized and those perpetuating it are not being taken to task or being seriously questioned by mainstream media. In this regard such media is complicit with Regavim—the group our demonstration was protesting against and works to expedite the illegal evictions of Palestinians from their homes. For almost a week they spread the myth, in various Toronto locations, that Palestinians are not deserving of the same respect as their more “civilized” Israeli counterparts. Mainstream media, including the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC)—cherished by many as an outlet that tells the truth (nice and not so nice) about Canadian affairs—has yet to say a word about this. Not even the widely circulated press release and associated letter campaign by Just Peace Advocates, emphasizing both the moral and legal problems of Regavim in Canada, was able to get mainstream media to break their silence. 

This has been weighing heavily on me. It confirms that, in addition to Palestinian voices, you can denigrate Palestinians themselves in Canada and not be held accountable. 

I purposely avoid using any sort of words like “punished”, which too often emanates from a spirit of revenge. Animated by the spirit people harm others. They do not move towards, much less achieve, accountability. Likewise, I wish no harm against those who verbally attacked me for my solidarity with Palestine. In fact, similar to what well-known musician and pro-Palestinian activist Roger Waters observed in a webinar, I “pity” them.

They’ve been conditioned to believe, perhaps through the Israeli ultranationalist subculture of which they are part, that hating me or Palestine is the right thing to do. It forms part of their identity; without that hate, they somehow feel lost. They might not even know who they are. Vile as that hatred this too is tragic. It pains me to know that anyone is consumed by deep-seated resentment of any kind.

A young man some meters across from me at the demonstration, on the opposite side of the police line dividing us, was among those demanding we get out of the neighborhood. In fact, he entered the area of the demonstration while yelling for us to “f**k off” from his car. He even told one of the officers that approached him shortly afterward—as if he owned the area and was in a position of authority over the officer himself—to rid our presence. 

When he was a little calmer and now across from me I told him that I lived in the area. I was hoping that would open some kind of dialogue between us. I also added that my late grandmother or nonna (Italian) cleaned the homes and businesses of the area for many years. In fact, a great deal of the furniture in my home are gifts from those very places. 

I’m not a deeply religious person but, in sharing that bit about my nonna, it felt like she was present and giving me the strength to invite this person into dialogue. A friend of mine at the demonstration cautioned against this, saying that it was a waste of time but I still believe it was important to try. Through dialogue, people can, however difficult and slowly, overcome hatred. 

Perhaps my friend was right. The young man replied by calling me a “local terrorist” and that my grandmother must be “rolling in her grave.”

All I could ask in turn was, “Do you believe yourself to be a decent person?” He seemed to curse me a little bit more under his breath at this but was not looking my way anymore. He still stood in the same spot but mentally removed himself from the situation by returning to whatever he was doing on his phone. 

I wish there was some way of telling him, without being patronizing, that the phone won’t eliminate anti-Palestinian hatred from his heart. And that, like hatred generally does, will distort your sense of reality. That’s why Israeli ultranationalists see Palestinians as beneath them, as somehow lacking in our shared humanity. Moreover, til you allow yourself the opportunity at least to connect with Palestinians as people—not the discriminatory ideas you have of them in your head—you will retain that hate. 

The Palestinian struggle for justice, on the other hand, defies hate. That’s ultimately why we were demonstrating. We imagine, desire, and insist on a world where all peoples can live together—where no neighborhood is “off-limits” on account of one’s ethnicity or otherwise. 

Likewise challenging both Regavim and the anti-Palestinian presumption of guilt is not only to contest hatred. It’s a refusal to give up on what all of us want despite our unique differences.

To live and care in community. 

– Paul Salvatori is a Toronto-based journalist, community worker and artist. Much of his work on Palestine involves public education, such as through his recently created interview series, “Palestine in Perspective” (The Dark Room Podcast), where he speaks with writers, scholars and activists. He contributed this article to The Palestine Chronicle.

‘The Palestinian View’ – with Ramzy Baroud: Will the UN Deliver Justice for Palestine? (VIDEO)

September 21, 2022

Baroud comments on the Palestinian Authority’s quest to obtain full UN membership and whether such status is merely symbolic. (Photo: Palestine Chronicle)

By Palestine Chronicle Staff

In the latest Palestine Chronicle episode of the “Palestinian View’, Ramzy Baroud raises the question “Will the United Nations Finally Deliver Justice for Palestine?”

Baroud comments on the Palestinian Authority’s quest to obtain full UN membership and whether such status is merely symbolic. 

To understand the historical context of this issue and to offer your own opinion, make sure to watch and share the Palestine Chronicle’s latest production. 

(The Palestine Chronicle)

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