Liberal MP Salma Zahid sponsored a parliamentary press conference with Palestine Vivra on Tuesday, June 10 to promote the Global March to Gaza taking place over the next week.
Dr. Yipeng Ge of Ottawa announced at the press conference that he would be departing shortly to join the march and would be taking leave of his medical practice to do so. He said that he was doing so because personally felt he had to do everything possible to stop the genocide in Gaza.
“Liberation is good medicine,” he said.
Palestine Vivra representative Manuel Tapial said that they had received nearly 700 applications from people in Canada who wanted to participate in the march. Because of logistical and other issues, they have had to limit the Canadian contingent to about 100 people.
Tapial said he expected over 4,000 people to gather in Egypt for the march to the Rafah border. International solidarity actions are expected to take place around June 14 and 15 when the March to Gaza is expected to reach the Rafah border crossing.
When asked about the Liberal government’s announcement today to apply limited sanctions against two far-right Israeli cabinet members, Salma Zahid said that it was an important first step.
NDP defence and foreign affairs critic Heather McPherson, also present at the press conference, said that the NDP had been calling for full sanctions against the Israeli government for the past 18 months. NDP house leader Alex Boulerice told the press conference that he stood in solidarity with those going to Gaza.
Green leader Elizabeth May attended the press conference remotely, recalling that she had been part of a delegation of the Canada-Palestine Parliamentary Friendship in March 2018.
“What we saw then was horrible,” she said, “and now its genocidal.”
When asked why the Liberal government had such difficulty declaring what was happening in Gaza a genocide, Salma Zahid said that the International Court of Justice had declared there was a plausible case of genocide and that the court would decide.
When it was pointed out that Canada seemed to have no difficult declaring genocide and war crimes taking place elsewhere, why was it so difficult for the Liberal government to declare genocide was taking place in Gaza?
Dr. Yipeng Ge responded that one reason is that the Canadian government is deeply complicit in what was happening in Gaza. For the government to recognize that genocide was actually taking place had serious repercussions given the deep entanglement of the Canadian government and corporations with Israel.
“We need to end that complicity, that’s our responsibility,” he said.
Palestine Vivra representative Manuel Tapial ended the conference with an impassioned plea to listen to the victims of Gaza.
“This is the house [parliament] where the rules are made,” he said. “It has to end.” Donations to support the Global March to Gaza can be made via Palestine Vivra here. A full recording of the press conference is available through CPAC, here.
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