Rallies of solidarity continue by city’s Jewish, Palestinian communities

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This article was published 15/10/2023 (735 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Rallies of solidarity continued Sunday as Winnipeg’s Jewish and Palestinian communities gathered in honour of the war dead and wounded on either side of a violent conflict that ripped through parts of the Middle East last week.

“This was an opportunity for all of us to come together and share in the grief and share in the process of grieving,” said Ron East, founder of the Israeli-Canadian council.

East helped organize a rally on the grounds of the Manitoba legislature, alongside Friends of Israel co-founder Yolanda Papini-Pollock and the Winnipeg branch of Bridges for Peace, a Christian organization that offers support to Israeli people.

The vigil — marked by prayer, speeches and a candlelit vigil — brought more than 100 people to the provincial office. Some walked in by foot, while the majority gathered in their vehicles at the Asper Jewish Community Campus in southwest Winnipeg and formed a convoy before heading downtown.

“I don’t know of any Israeli’s in Winnipeg or any Canadian Jews who are taking glee or joy in what’s happening in Gaza,” East said, adding his entire community has been impacted.

The latest violence began Oct. 7 when Hamas stormed into Israel from the neighbouring Gaza Strip, leaving a path of carnage and terror in its wake. More than 1,400 Israeli people were killed and others were kidnapped in what the Jewish community is condemning as the single deadliest antisemitic event since the Holocaust.

The Israeli government declared war against Hamas in return, proceeding to unleash days of explosive bombardments onto Gaza — a narrow stretch of land on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Roughly 2 million people have been relegated to the impoverished strip for decades, leading human rights organizations to describe it as an open-air prison.

Around 2,670 Palestinians have been killed and 9,600 wounded in the days since the conflict began, The Associated Press reported.

Gaza is currently under an Israeli blockade, with limited access to food, water and medical supplies as the government works to flush out and eradicate Hamas. Caught in the middle are thousands of Palestinian, Israeli and international civilians who have suffered the brunt of the bloodshed.

Shortly before the Israeli rally began, a crowd of roughly 80 Palestine supporters met near the Canadian Museum for Human Rights to issue their own plea of grief and condemnation. The event was a grassroots gathering, and not organized by a formal group, said attendee Rana Abdulla.

“We are here to raise our voices because our government is not seeing us as equal human beings… We are a voice for the voiceless,” Abdulla said, referring to the federal government’s repeated and explicit support of Israeli officials.

Abdulla described the retaliatory bombardments as a massacre of innocent civilians unable to flee from the bombs. She called on the Canadian government to advocate for an end to the Israeli blockade and allow the medical aid to reach Gaza.

“We are getting to the war-crimes level,” she said later, while delivering an impassioned speech which saw her stop several times to compose herself.

“They give us one of three choices: We either leave and immigrate, accept to live subject to the subjugation of Israel, or we die — and that is what’s going to happen right now. This does not lead to peace.”

Supporters at both rallies asked the general public to educate themselves on the history of violence between Israel and Palestine before casting judgement on either side.

Although Winnipeg Police Service members did not form an obvious presence at either event, as they had during previous rallies at city hall and at the Jewish campus last week, the force remains in constant communication with organizers throughout the city.

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“We are certainly monitoring various events, whether they are organized or not, or whether there is a large attendance. We are being mindful,” Const. Jason Michalyshen said by phone.

“Certainly, we are trying to make our presence known, at times, and to ensure that people are acting appropriately… People are allowed to protest or voice their opinions, but they’ve got to do so in a safe, respectful and lawful manner.”

Last week, the WPS issued a release saying it has increased patrols around cultural centres, schools, synagogues, mosques and other places of worship across the city.

As of Sunday afternoon, Michalyshen was not aware of any serious incidents or arrests in Winnipeg as a result of the conflict.

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca

Tyler Searle
Reporter

Tyler Searle is a multimedia producer who writes for the Free Press’s city desk. A graduate of Red River College Polytechnic’s creative communications program, he wrote for the Stonewall Teulon Tribune, Selkirk Record and Express Weekly News before joining the paper in 2022. Read more about Tyler.

Every piece of reporting Tyler produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.