Solidarity Halifax condemns the massively disproportionate Israeli punishment of the people of Gaza. This Palestinian territory, with 1.5 million people, many of whose families have been doubly displaced from their homes in what is now Israel, is fifteen times smaller than Halifax Regional Municipality.
Gaza, justifiably called “the largest open air prison in the world,” has been subject for many years to a ruthless Israeli blockade by air, sea and land that has strangled its economy, starved its inhabitants and deprived them of a normal life. This has been accompanied by extrajudicial assassinations, bombings, land invasion, the mass destruction of property and the robokillings of innocents.
While Gazans have the right to resist their occupation, the killing of civilian non-combatants by either side is a crime against humanity. However, the unbalanced nature of the mathematics – 130 Palestinians killed and over 1000 injured compared to five Israeli deaths (as of 20 November, 5 pm AST) – reveals the overwhelmingly differential power of the two sides.
We note the cynical timing of the pre-planned Israeli incursion – between the American and the Israeli elections, and just after a significant “peace offensive” by West Bank Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, a pattern that was followed in the Gaza massacre of 2008-9 and many times before that. We call for a ceasefire, an end of Israeli provocations, an end to the blockade, and the self-determination of the Palestinian people.
We note that mass demonization of an entire people, whether Jewish or Arab, is morally wrong. We also condemn the current government of Canada’s one-sided and unquestioning support of Israel as well as the current Nova Scotia government’s unbalanced championing of the Israeli side through strengthened economic links.