I Am On My Fifth Hunger Strike Fast In Solidarity With Palestinians of Gaza

To: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
Global Affairs Minister Melanie Joly
Minister of Export Promotion, International Trade and Economic Development Mary Ng
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, MP for Beaches-East York

Today I am on my fifth Hunger Strike Fast; doing one day per week. These fasts are in solidarity with the residents of Gaza who it is now clear are starving – Gazans now make up 80% of all people facing famine or catastrophic hunger worldwide. The most recent reports indicate that some Gazans are eating grass and drinking polluted water. This should not be allowed to continue.

Five of MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith’s constituents, all of us members of faith communities in Toronto, met with him this morning, February 1, to discuss with him our concerns regarding the terrible violence and outright killing of innocent men, women and children in Gaza. We talked mostly about how Canada is responding to the ICJ decision and its six orders that if followed would end some of the suffering in Gaza as well as Canada’s unfortunate decision to pause its funding of UNRWA due to a dozen out of thirty thousand workers who it is alleged assisted Hamas. We also called for an embargo on arms trade between Canada and Israel and the U.S. (because Canada makes mostly components many of which are assembled into weapons in the U.S. or israel)

So these are my thoughts/suggestions for peace in Israel/Palestinian and the world:

Ceasefire possibilities – including return of all hostages by both Hamas and Israel (Israel has several thousand Palestinian prisoners held on administrative detention with no charges by military court; many are teenagers who have been arrested for just hanging around). A permanent humanitarian ceasefire will save many lives. There are presently nearly 30,000 Palestinian civilian casualties with likely many more under rubble. A child is killed every ten minutes in Gaza.  

I am asking for more Canadian government involvement in supporting the ICJ case brought by South Africa and its decision that there is a plausible case for declaring a genocide in Gaza by Israeli forces. Canadian leaders talk a lot about the ‘Rules based order of Western democracies’ but seem to apply them differentially depending on who is being considered; this is hypocrisy. Israeli lawyers attended the hearing last Friday, January 26  in The Hague; they asked for a dismissal of charges. The court asked Israel to take steps to protect civilian lives in Gaza as well as to not destroy any evidence and to report back to the court in one month. It does seem that Israeli lawyers will return since the court was cautious about saying that a real genocide exists. 

I ask that Canada place an embargo on weapons trade to Israel.  Canada and the U.S. and other nations risk reputation damage by continuing to supply weapons to Israel when the ICJ says that there is ‘plausible genocide taking place there.

I ask that Canada in Parliament reverse its decision to stop financial support to The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.(UNRWA). Financial support to UNRWA has been suspended due to a dozen employees possibly supporting the Hamas massacre of Israeli soldiers and some civilians on October 7, 2023. UNRWA with thousands of workers and infrastructure on the ground in Gaza is best placed to continue food and material support for the starving people of Gaza. Cancelling support of UNRWA at the same time as the ICJ says that there is ‘plausible genocide’ being committed in Gaza looks like punishment for the ICJ decision – very poor optics. 

I support a two state solution given the animosity between Palestinians and Israeli’s now. Palestine should be allowed to create its own state by self determination without interference from Israel. The occupation by the IDF of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza (from outside) should end. 

I would ask that Canada create its own foreign policy and stop following the foreign policy of the U.S. which seems to be that all conflicts in the world are to be solved by bombing foreign militaries (like the Houthis in Yemen, who are pirating shipping in the Red Sea, bound from or to Israel ports, to demand a ceasefire in Gaza) )which includes large numbers of civilian casualties. Part of this would be to refuse to purchase high tech weapons from the U.S. as we are doing with the Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth bombers that have nothing to do with Canadian security and the recent purchase, again from the U.S. of Reaper Unmanned Drones with Hellfire missiles. Also where do combattant armies and militias as in Sudan, get all their military hardware/bombs etc. What is going on in the world when extremely poor nations can afford these weapons which are used primarily to kill and displace civilians? Who is benefitting? Certainly not the Sudanese. 

To ask that world leaders start acting like adults instead of like pre-kindergarten children. Even Kindergarten children learn not to hit other children and learn to share and put others before them. We have all kinds of research on how to mediate and reduce tensions between neighbours. Why don’t we use it in international matters? World leaders including in the West (Biden, Putin?) talk like they are only using their reptile brain. Why couldn’t NATO, meaning the U.S. – Biden, have listened to Putin when he asked for security for Russia by not having Ukraine be a member of NATO as well as not having nuclear missiles stationed on Ukrainian territory. Biden refused, not acknowledging that the Russian people suffered the most in WW2 as Germany tried to invade them.

I owe this to Paul Rogers, professor emeritus of Bradford University UK. The United States made a huge mistake after 911 by going to war against terrorism – a war in Afghanistan and then Iraq, instead of doing a police action to catch the Saudi actors who guided the planes into the twin towers etc. Bin Laden led them into a trap, realizing that the U.S. would react with violent revenge for Al Qaeda’s actions. The result after twenty years is millions of civilian deaths plus that Iraq and the whole middle East are unstable. Afghanistan which was ruled by the Taliban in 2001 has them restored as the rulers in 2021,having outlasted the West – NATO and the U.S. including Canada. Rogers also pointed out that Al Qaeda and ISIS control or cause trouble in large swaths across North Africa. Regime change in Libya by NATO (Canada participated) resulted in Libyan arms being released to extremist groups in North Africa. Rogers described his fear that Israel has fallen into the same trap, set for it by Hamas by the outrageous attack on Israelis on October 7. The State of Israel is now destroying itself in its revenge filled assault on everyone – women and children in Gaza. 

This is my hope and prayer: “He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.” Isaiah 2: 4