🍉 VanGran4Pal Community Newsletter

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**Neighbours and Friends, **

It’s been a tough couple of weeks - whilst the ICJ determined Israel’s continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territories to be illegal, the genocide and occupation in Palestine continues. America received war criminal Netanyahu** **in Congress with a standing ovation. Right here in Vancouver, we’ve seen a rise in abhorrent Zionist hate campaigns, including the doxing of Dania - a Palestinian community member who has been peacefully protesting and advocating for Palestine. We need to stand together as a community in solidarity during these times. Please show up THIS SATURDAY (July 27th) at 6pm by the Olympic Cauldron for a silent march against genocide - further event details below. Please also sign the open letter** **to David Eby and Sonia Furstenau in support of Dania.

As ever, the strength we have is in community. For every act of hate, there are more of love. The protests against the visit of the leader of the illegal occupation were huge. Show up where you can: learn about direct action - get into the habit of consulting the BDS website or a divestment app before purchasing any goods. Do not let Zionist graffiti stand in your neighbourhood. The small actions we take every day can make a difference - we keep each other safe! Peace and love to everyone in this special community, and thank you for sticking with us.

Action Updates

Stand With Dania - Sign the Open Letter

Dania Barakat, a beloved Palestinian member of Vancouver’s community, is facing vicious smears and doxing by pro-Israeli racists after participating in a July 3 protest against Team Israel, who were shamefully welcomed in Surrey to play in the Canada Women’s Softball Cup tournament.We are outraged by the slanderous, anti-Palestinian statements from BC Premier David Eby and BC Green Leader Sonia Furstenau, who echoed baseless claims made by pro-Israeli racists. They misleadingly portrayed the event as a children’s game, when it was, in fact, an adult women’s game.These false narratives aim to defame and de-legitimize Palestinians, and the Palestinian Liberation movement.This is anti-Palestinian racism. Eby and Furstenau’s tweets distract from why the protest took place: to oppose Israel’s horrific genocide on Gaza, which has resulted in over 186,000 Palestinian’s murdered by Israel’s Zionist war cabinet, including over 100 children daily.Eby even retweeted Michael Sachs, Executive Director of the discredited Jewish National Fund, known for its well-documented history of racist and colonial actions in Palestine and links to the Israeli military, and whose charitable status in Canada is under review.Take action now! Sign and share the open letter, calling on Premier David Eby and Sonia Furstenau to rescind their slanderous comments about the protest on July 3 and Dania Barakat, stand against Israel’s war crimes, condemn Zionist settler-colonialism and support the Palestinian community.Sign and share the open letter now!

Update from a Meeting with Taleeb

A member of our community recently met with MP Taleeb Noor Mohammed. He was, in this instance, receptive to our concerns.

There was a discussion regarding his involvement with the amendments to the NDP motion passed in March, which watered down ‘recognizing Palestinian Statehood’ to simply ‘working towards’ that goal as part of a two-state solution, among other amends. His response was that even though a number of MPs would have voted yes for the motion, there were not enough for it to pass. As such, he purportedly worked with Heather McPherson of the NDP and the NCCM to have amendments made so that it would pass in some capacity. When asked if he would have voted for the original NDP motion, he says he would have. When asked specifically whether he felt that anti-Zionism was equivalent to anti-Semitism, he acknowledged that the two are completely separate and not equatable.

In regards to the recent ICJ opinion and the pending ICC warrants for Israeli leaders, when asked if he supports the decisions, his response was that our Government has already stated that we recognize the authority of the ICC and ICJ. He alluded that there will be some action taking place in the next couple of weeks but did not elaborate on the details. It should be noted however, that this genocide is symptomatic of Israel itself and not just its leader, as evidenced by the recent motion passing in the Knesset denying a two-state solution.

Further into the meeting, Taleeb reviewed the ways in which he had pushed to increase UNWRA funding and bring people from Gaza. It was relayed that whilst we are happy that UNWRA funding has been increased, without taking concrete actions to actually stop the continued oppression of Palestinians, it appears to our community that that increased funding offered in isolation is an action made to alleviate Western powers’ guilt and win over voters. We see the ways that they continue to support Palestine’s oppressors - providing aid does not obscure or remedy that fact.

To that end, Taleeb was informed that the Liberal party has lost support from not just the Muslim community, but all communities that support justice. If the Liberal party is interested in regaining trust or support from our communities, we need to see definitive actions and sanctions, similar to those taken against apartheid South Africa and Russia.

Upcoming Events

Silent March Against Genocide - July 27th 6pm

SATURDAY JULY 27TH | 6PM"VANCOUVER" | Unceded Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh territoriesOLYMPIC CAULDRONWEAR BLACK. TAKE TRANSIT. SHOW UP.186,000 Palestinians in Gaza murdered by the occupiers*. Our government is complicit in war crimes. Words are clearly not enough.Please note:- This march will include visual and audible representations of genocide.- With road closures and increased traffic due to the Festival of Lights, please avoid driving and use public transportation, if possible.- Bring your family and your friends. Now is the time to show up.*According to The Lancet on July 5th, 2024: "Applying a conservative estimate [...] it is not implausible to estimate that up to 186,000 or even more deaths could be attributable to the current [GENOCIDE] in Gaza."

Kids Market for Gaza - August 3rd 11am-4pm

SATURDAY AUGUST 3rd | 11am-4pm

1422 William Street (hosted at Progress Lab 1422)

From @parentsforpalestineyvr - Join us on Saturday Aug 3 at the amazing @progress_lab_1422 space for a child-centered, family event. We will be selling gently loved toys, books, and clothes for children of all ages! We'll also have many children's activities and live entertainment. See you there!

If you can volunteer, please send Parents4PalestineYVR a DM.

Community Spotlight

I found some downtime this week to print and fold some free Zines I found online. A quick search on DuckDuckGo, Instagram, YouTube etc will yield lots of results to choose from. If you’ve never folded a zine before, there are handy YouTube tutorials depending on the size and style of your template. The process is cathartic and requires no artistic talent! Some of them may need to be edited for your local comunity/country, a process which is in itself interesting and useful.

I’m choosing to spread these out amongst a few local lending libraries and supportive businesses to minimize the chances of them being snatched up and destroyed by unhelpful people. Hopefully one makes its way to you! ~Cherry

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With gratitude and in solidarity,

Your Neighbours

Van Gran 4 Palestine

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