Protesting on the anniversary of an assault that made over a thousand victims is obviously a delicate undertaking, but critics of the genocide in Gaza will not be silenced.
320 protesters rallied at the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in Victoria on the first anniversary of the Al-Aqsa Flood, to counter the Zionist message that the attack justifies the ensuing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, recently unfolding into a regional conflict with neighbouring nations unrelated to the operation.
Commemorations from both factions took place worldwide to mark an incident that made over a thousand victims and kept over a hundred Israeli hostage to this day. The occasion elicited public statements from politicians, mostly in unilateral condemnation of Hamas for perpetrating the attack, and drew uncharacteristic attention from the mainstream media; the Times Colonist sent a correspondent to this event for the first time in nearly a year.
The demonstration was spearheaded by Victoria councillor Susan Kim, who lamented the acute bias in favour of Israel by provincial political parties in today’s public releases, a sentiment shared by the audience. I have received multiple requests to withhold footage of the address in order to avoid giving ammunition to her political opponents. UPDATE 2024/10/10: Multiple readers have reached out to me requesting this whole statement be retracted. I decline to exercise my discretion in this case, especially since she didn’t even reach out to me herself.
In contrast, there was no notable commemoration in town by supporters of Israel, and only a rare few counterdemonstrators showed up tonight at the Legislature, who proved unable to interrupt performances by musicians voicing their sorrow at a civilian death toll that keeps soaring in the beleaguered Gaza strip, fully one year on with no end in sight—save perhaps that of the last surviving Palestinian—while the conflict bafflingly spreads to Lebanon. UPDATE 2024/10/08: There actually was a commemoration by the Jewish community later in the evening at the Esquimalt Gorge Park Pavillion which drew about a hundred people, according to the Times Colonist. The organisers’ stance on the yearlong genocide in Gaza isn’t disclosed.
Tonight doubled as an organising event. The attendance was urged to muster the vote for the upcoming provincial election, and to keep pressing candidates until they commit to holding Israel accountable for atrocities on a scale no terrorist attack could ever justify.
One group of concerned citizens elected to rally next week at the James Bay Community School Centre, on October 16 at 7PM, for an election forum hosted by the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) and the Greater Victoria Teachers Association (GVTA). Participants’ demands include Nakba education, anti-racism training, and rejection of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of antisemitism which equates it with anti-Zionism, a stance long opposed by the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA). BC Conservative candidate Tim Thielmann, who espouses Israel’s agenda, will be present.
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