A Zionist Gaza is a Sick Vision Unworthy of any Country with Integrity
Dear Anita Anand, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada:
Prime Minister Carney’s statement that the solution to Mideast peace was a “Zionist Gaza” made me ill. It demonstrated his support for Israel’s genocide of Palestinians and showed total contempt for international law.
Canada’s official foreign policy supports international law and Canada
is a signatory to the Fourth Geneva Convention. The ICJ has repeatedly called Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and the UN GA even demanded last year that Israel vacate the Palestinian territories by this year. A Zionist Gaza means either the outright Israeli theft of the Palestinian territory or continued illegal occupation: probably the Israeli imposition of the collaborationist Palestinian Authority, which virtually no Palestinian respects.
That our government would support Israel’s control over Gaza as a result of this genocide makes me ashamed of our country.
What value does an independent Canada have if it has no integrity and
displays no respectable sovereignty? We understand that Canada must
tread carefully to avoid giving the US excuses to invade, but we would
like to see some signs of integrity in our government. Something that
makes us care about preserving our independence (such as it is).
Can Israel Survive Without the West? The Answer Reveals Our Collective Power
The Israeli genocide in Gaza, along with the escalating regional wars it has ignited, has brought two chilling truths into our focus: first, Israel is deliberately and aggressively undermining the security and stability of the entire Middle East and, second, Israel is utterly incapable of surviving on its own.
These two assertions, though seemingly distinct, are inextricably linked. For if those who relentlessly sustain Israel – militarily, politically, and economically – were to finally withdraw their support, the Middle East would not be the powder keg it has been for decades, a situation that has catastrophically worsened since 7 October 2023.
Though no oversimplification is intended, the brutal reality is that all it would take is for Israel to withdraw from Gaza, allowing the devastated, genocide-stricken Strip the faintest chance to heal. Over 56,000 Palestinians, including more than 17,000 children and 28,000 women, have been brutally slaughtered since the commencement of this war, a horrifying tally expected to surge dramatically when comprehensive investigations into the missing are finally conducted.
Only then could the process of returning to some semblance of normalcy begin, where the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people must be fiercely championed within an international system built, at least theoretically, upon unwavering respect for basic human rights and international law.
The abhorrent “might makes right” maxim would have to be utterly expunged from any future political equation. Middle Eastern countries, both Arab and Muslim, must finally rise to the occasion, stepping up decisively to aid their brethren and to ensure that Israel is powerless to divide their ranks.
For Israel, this demand is simply impossible, a non-starter and, understandably so, from its colonial perspective. Why?
“Invasion is a structure, not an event,” the influential scholar Patrick Wolfe has famously asserted. This profound statement unequivocally means that Israel’s wars, commencing with the ethnic cleansing of Palestine, the Nakba, of 1948, and all subsequent wars and military occupations, were not random historical coincidences, but rather integral components of an enduring structure of power designed to eliminate the indigenous population.
This renders as simply false the notion that Israel’s behavior after October 7 was solely driven by revenge and devoid of strategy. We are perhaps excused for failing to initially grasp this distinction, given the grisly, unspeakable nature of the Israeli actions in Gaza and the palpable sense of perverse pleasure Israel seems to derive from the daily murder of innocent people.
Yet, the language emanating from Israel was chillingly clear about its true motives. As Benjamin Netanyahu declared on 7 October 2023, “we will turn Gaza into a deserted island”.
That has always been an intrinsic, unchanging part of Israel’s colonial structure, and it will remain so unless it is decisively reined in. But who possesses the will and power to rein in Israel?
Israel operates through a network of enablers, benefactors who have long viewed Israel’s existence as an indispensable colonial fortress serving the interests of Western colonialism.
“The connection between the Israeli people and the American people is bone deep. (…) We’re united in our shared values,” Joe Biden declared with striking conviction in July 2022.
Without even bothering to question those “shared values” that somehow permit Israel to perpetrate a genocide while the US actively sustains it, Biden was undeniably honest in his stark depiction that the relationship between both countries transcends mere politics. Other Western leaders blindly parrot the same perception.
The unfolding genocide, however, has spurred some Western—and a multitude of non-Western—governments to courageously speak out against the Israeli war, Netanyahu, and his extremist ideology in ways unprecedented since Israel’s very establishment. For some of these countries, notably Spain, Norway, Ireland, and Slovenia, among others, the proverbial ‘bond’ is demonstrably ‘breakable’ and their support is most certainly not ‘unequivocal’.
There are various theories as to why some Western governments dare to challenge Israel, while others stubbornly refuse. That important discussion aside, shattering the bond between Israel and the West is absolutely critical, not only for a just peace to finally prevail, but for the very survival of the Palestinian people.
The nearly 21 agonizing months of unrelenting Israeli genocide have taught us a brutal lesson: Israel is, after all, a vassal state, utterly unable to fight its own wars, to defend itself or even to sustain its own economy without the direct, massive support of the US and others.
Prior to the war, there were occasional outbursts from Israeli officials proclaiming that Israel is an independent country, not “another star on the US flag”. These voices have since been largely silenced, replaced by a constant stream of begging and pleading for the US to come to Israel’s rescue.
While Palestinians continue to stand with legendary courage to resist the Israeli military occupation and apartheid, those who genuinely care about international law, justice, and peace must take decisive action by directly confronting governments that persist in helping Israel sustain the genocide in Gaza and the destabilization of the Middle East.
Governments like Spain and others are doing what many had not expected only years ago: Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is powerfully advocating for the suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, an extensive trade deal in place since 2000, due to “the catastrophic situation of genocide.”
If more such governments were to adopt a similar, uncompromising stance, Israel would be choked off, at least from acquiring the very murder weapons it uses to carry out its barbaric genocide.
It is our collective responsibility to march in lockstep behind such courageous voices and demand uncompromising accountability, not only from Israel, but from those who are actively sustaining its Israeli settler colonial structure.
Dr. Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He is the author of six books. His latest book, co-edited with Ilan Pappé, is Our Vision for Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders and Intellectuals Speak Out. His other books include My Father was a Freedom Fighter and The Last Earth. Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA). His website is www.ramzybaroud.net.
The Israeli genocide in Gaza, along with the escalating regional wars it has ignited, has brought two chilling truths into our focus: first, Israel is deliberately and aggressively undermining the security and stability of the entire Middle East and, second, Israel is utterly incapable of surviving on its own.
These two assertions, though seemingly distinct, are inextricably linked. For if those who relentlessly sustain Israel – militarily, politically, and economically – were to finally withdraw their support, the Middle East would not be the powder keg it has been for decades, a situation that has catastrophically worsened since 7 October 2023.
Though no oversimplification is intended, the brutal reality is that all it would take is for Israel to withdraw from Gaza, allowing the devastated, genocide-stricken Strip the faintest chance to heal. Over 56,000 Palestinians, including more than 17,000 children and 28,000 women, have been brutally slaughtered since the commencement of this war, a horrifying tally expected to surge dramatically when comprehensive investigations into the missing are finally conducted.
Only then could the process of returning to some semblance of normalcy begin, where the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people must be fiercely championed within an international system built, at least theoretically, upon unwavering respect for basic human rights and international law.
The abhorrent “might makes right” maxim would have to be utterly expunged from any future political equation. Middle Eastern countries, both Arab and Muslim, must finally rise to the occasion, stepping up decisively to aid their brethren and to ensure that Israel is powerless to divide their ranks.
For Israel, this demand is simply impossible, a non-starter and, understandably so, from its colonial perspective. Why?
“Invasion is a structure, not an event,” the influential scholar Patrick Wolfe has famously asserted. This profound statement unequivocally means that Israel’s wars, commencing with the ethnic cleansing of Palestine, the Nakba, of 1948, and all subsequent wars and military occupations, were not random historical coincidences, but rather integral components of an enduring structure of power designed to eliminate the indigenous population.
This renders as simply false the notion that Israel’s behavior after October 7 was solely driven by revenge and devoid of strategy. We are perhaps excused for failing to initially grasp this distinction, given the grisly, unspeakable nature of the Israeli actions in Gaza and the palpable sense of perverse pleasure Israel seems to derive from the daily murder of innocent people.
Yet, the language emanating from Israel was chillingly clear about its true motives. As Benjamin Netanyahu declared on 7 October 2023, “we will turn Gaza into a deserted island”.
That has always been an intrinsic, unchanging part of Israel’s colonial structure, and it will remain so unless it is decisively reined in. But who possesses the will and power to rein in Israel?
Israel operates through a network of enablers, benefactors who have long viewed Israel’s existence as an indispensable colonial fortress serving the interests of Western colonialism.
“The connection between the Israeli people and the American people is bone deep. (…) We’re united in our shared values,” Joe Biden declared with striking conviction in July 2022.
Without even bothering to question those “shared values” that somehow permit Israel to perpetrate a genocide while the US actively sustains it, Biden was undeniably honest in his stark depiction that the relationship between both countries transcends mere politics. Other Western leaders blindly parrot the same perception.
The unfolding genocide, however, has spurred some Western—and a multitude of non-Western—governments to courageously speak out against the Israeli war, Netanyahu, and his extremist ideology in ways unprecedented since Israel’s very establishment. For some of these countries, notably Spain, Norway, Ireland, and Slovenia, among others, the proverbial ‘bond’ is demonstrably ‘breakable’ and their support is most certainly not ‘unequivocal’.
There are various theories as to why some Western governments dare to challenge Israel, while others stubbornly refuse. That important discussion aside, shattering the bond between Israel and the West is absolutely critical, not only for a just peace to finally prevail, but for the very survival of the Palestinian people.
The nearly 21 agonizing months of unrelenting Israeli genocide have taught us a brutal lesson: Israel is, after all, a vassal state, utterly unable to fight its own wars, to defend itself or even to sustain its own economy without the direct, massive support of the US and others.
Prior to the war, there were occasional outbursts from Israeli officials proclaiming that Israel is an independent country, not “another star on the US flag”. These voices have since been largely silenced, replaced by a constant stream of begging and pleading for the US to come to Israel’s rescue.
While Palestinians continue to stand with legendary courage to resist the Israeli military occupation and apartheid, those who genuinely care about international law, justice, and peace must take decisive action by directly confronting governments that persist in helping Israel sustain the genocide in Gaza and the destabilization of the Middle East.
Governments like Spain and others are doing what many had not expected only years ago: Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is powerfully advocating for the suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, an extensive trade deal in place since 2000, due to “the catastrophic situation of genocide.”
If more such governments were to adopt a similar, uncompromising stance, Israel would be choked off, at least from acquiring the very murder weapons it uses to carry out its barbaric genocide.
It is our collective responsibility to march in lockstep behind such courageous voices and demand uncompromising accountability, not only from Israel, but from those who are actively sustaining its Israeli settler colonial structure.
Dr. Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He is the author of six books. His latest book, co-edited with Ilan Pappé, is Our Vision for Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders and Intellectuals Speak Out. His other books include My Father was a Freedom Fighter and The Last Earth. Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA). His website is www.ramzybaroud.net.
The Silent
It would be over now. This Holocaust would be over now if all of you who privately claim to care publicly chose to do something – anything. If you could bring yourself to march and chant. If you could fly a flag. If you could wear a badge. If you could post a poster or stick a sticker. If you could just turn up.
The polls say that most of you are on our side. Why do you leave us feeling alone? Why do you let the people who hate and murder feel so normal and accepted?
You came out of the woodwork to tell me I was brave for going to the other side of the world for the Global March to Gaza. I wasn’t brave, I was privileged. Millions would have joined if they could. They would have joined because we are all desperate to find ways of breaking through. Millions of people pour their hearts and souls and time and money beyond measure into this – this desperate screaming attempt to raise the alarm over things that can never be undone. The dead will never not be dead. Each day the number grows and these indelible violent acts will live in memory for generations of sorrow and generations of guilt. We are all sick of banging our heads against the brick wall of public immobility.
Oceans of tears are shed by a those brave enough to open their eyes and hearts to the sorrow. Many feel that they must bear witness to the graphic horrors even if it rips them to shreds. And you wont even click on a post, like a post, or share a post, let alone make a comment. Some force themselves to face nightmares, and you literally will not raise a finger for what you claim to believe in.
It has been so long and so lonely. The argument was won over a year ago, but the cruelty, the killing, the maiming, the starving, the destruction goes on. The polls show that most people know this is wrong, you just don’t care enough to do anything.
I was asked what I did over the summer for the work newsletter. I told them that I did Palestine solidarity activism. They told me it couldn’t be included in the newsletter because they didn’t want to be political. You asked what I did and I told you. Do you think censoring that is not political? Do you think your silence is not political? Do you think your inaction is not political? Do you think avoiding learning more because it might make you sad and angry isn’t a fucking political choice? Do you think history will look kindly on this generation of Western genocide enablers? It will not.
If everyone who tells pollsters that they are against the killing in Gaza took that tiny step further and said that they support Palestinian freedom because Palestinians are humans with human rights; and if every one of those people just wore that on a badge or put that on a bumper sticker it would change everything. It is such a small thing for each individual, but together the visual signal of where people stand would radically change the crucial presumptions of journalism and politics.
A ceasefire in Gaza will not end the genocide, it will merely lead to slow killing through deprivation and broken aid promises peppered with the violent ceasefire violations that Israel always practices. If Palestine is not liberated then in a few years another pretext will be found for another major massacre. This issue is not going away. It is time to choose to stand with what you believe, or to continue being a traitor to yourself.
Taking action is not hard. Facing reality is hard. Finding out that everything is worse than you thought. Finding out that the news media has to censor most of the newsworthy stories so they can maintain “balance”. Finding out that your leaders aren’t merely selfish and myopic, they are actively working to make the world safe for mass murder. Taking action ends the horrible tension of guilt, but it must be real action.
Don’t give money to seek some facile absolution. Money to people in Gaza does not make one morsel of food enter. Money fuels inflation, and inequality. Money pays bandits and profiteers. Real action means becoming active. Real action means taking on an identity and owning it.
No one can ever do enough. The small enjoyments and large privileges we have in life will always create dissonance and discomfort, but a clear conscience doesn’t require perfection, it requires earnest and vulnerable commitment. It requires that you make it part of who you are and deal with the social consequences as best you can. Once you do a burden will fall from you.
And for those who already are taking a stand it is time we stop making excuses for others. Our low expectations are not kindness nor humility, they are a type of arrogance. We are letting our society fall into an evil that demeans the individual and increases the tyranny of the state. Their choice to be silent now will lead to the end of choice for all of us in the future.
Marah’s Story, or The Disintegration of a Country Family
In this miserable country love stories end too soon and families fall apart in the blink of an eye.
This is how Marah Kamal begins her life story and if you know anyone from Gaza, you know how much they love the land they live on. They literally ‘worship the ground they walk upon.’ Only God is loved more than the land. So, for Marah to call her country miserable, is to admit that after a year and a half of war, there is nothing left. Even pregnancy is a curse.
Here, in Gaza, a woman becomes pregnant and rejoices, endures the pain of labor and gives birth, then breastfeeds, cares for her baby and loses sleep. She pours her life into raising her children, all so she can watch them grow up. Then the Occupation decides to bomb a house and it’s as if a mother’s child never even existed. There isn’t even a body left for burial. This country is not fit for marriage, pregnancy or childbirth. Ditto education and work. It’s a land of orphans and widows, of the dead and the wounded, of tarps and tents and shattered streets.
These are the dilemmas we will never have to face. How long does it take you to recall all the names of loved ones who have been murdered? How many of us have watched our children die? Or our brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, aunts and uncles, husbands or wives? This is how Israel practices birth control on Palestinians. All we worry about is Roe vs. Wade.
I want the world to hear my story and stand by me however it can. I want to find a glimmer of hope for a simple, peaceful life filled with the warmth of family and friends. I want to live like the simplest of people. I want my children to be able to do what they wish, eat what they crave and play whenever they like. I just want to live a life free from death and destruction. Am I asking for too much?
Simple requests from a widowed young woman who studied genetic engineering and IVF fertilization in college. Now, she raises her orphaned children, three-year-old Sana and baby Adam, as they play games of dodging bullets from the sky. No one needs fertility help in Gaza anymore. They’re all waiting to die instead.
Marah’s Husband Bahaa
This war has devastated my life. It stole my name, my life, my hope—everything. First and foremost, I lost my husband Bahaa. Just a week before the war started, on October 1st, Bahaa bought a car. He had recently gotten a degree in accounting but finding work is hard in Gaza, so he decided to become a taxi-driver. Even after October 7th, after we fled our home, he kept working, driving anyone who needed to be evacuated from northern Gaza to the south. There were infants, the elderly, people with disabilities, the wounded and the sick. He helped many people evacuate to safer areas without charging them a single shekel. He said to me, “This is all I can offer to people… how could I withhold it?” I remember him once saying, “A man once rode with me all the way from the far north to the far south. He had no money for the fare and was ashamed. He had a bag of lemons, and I told him, ‘Give me a lemon, so you don’t feel embarrassed.’”
Bahaa died on November 3, 2023, while driving his taxi with his brother-in-law Mohammed to reunite with his family. They died the usual way people have died in Gaza since October 7th: as casualties of war. In this case, shot to death.
Have you grown tired of my story, or shall I go on? Marah asks me.
To me, Bahaa was a hero who stood by his people until the very last moment with everything he had. He didn’t lock himself away in fear. He lived his life with courage, and to this day, I feel pride every time someone tells me how kind and humane Bahaa was. Now, I have to be everything for my two small children. I have to bury this heavy sorrow deep in my heart and keep on living, even with a knife pressed against it…for the sake of these two little hopes, to secure a life for them.
Marah’s tragedy is not unique. As you probably already know, it is commonplace in Gaza. With every good turn comes bad news. After nearly three months of blockading humanitarian aid, the embargo was lifted, only for the Occupation to massacre hundreds of people waiting to be fed. Marah thinks of her children when she feels like giving up.
I remember one time, my daughter Sana told me after waking up at dawn that she had dreamt of her father. He came to her and gave her red jelly with sugar. Sugar has become so expensive in Gaza, and she refuses to drink milk without it. I’m sorry, my love, on behalf of this entire world. And my baby Adam, who lost his father before he ever got to hear him say “Baba” has now started saying it to his grandfather instead.
As I finish Marah’s story on July 1st, 2025 I hear, yet again, there is talk of another cease-fire deal. Will it ever be over? Or is this the new way of war? Designed to string us along because the people in power don’t want it to end?
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