Pro-Palestine activists ask Montrealers to continue to show up

Hundreds of thousands took to Parliament Hill in Ottawa to show solidarity for Palestinians experiencing bombing campaigns in Gaza and mass arrests in the West Bank. At the same time, weekly protests continued here in Montreal. Hundreds gathered in Downtown Montreal to show solidarity for Palestine and to both demand a permanent ceasefire and an end to Israel's occupation of Palestine.

Saturday, November 25 marked the 50th day of Israel's bombing campaign. On November 24, a four-day humanitarian pause was carried out. The pause was extended to a week, and ended on December 1.

Montreal activists and protesters are urging Canada and Quebec to take concrete action and are demanding that Canada puts an end to sending aid to the Israeli military. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau continues to call for "humanitarian pauses". The Legault government considers banning protests. Other world leaders also continue showing support to Israel.

United States President Joe Biden intends on removing almost all restrictions on Israel's access to supplies of weapons from the US. If permitted, Israel would have access to weapons at a lower cost. Israel would have access to smart bombs, missiles, vehicles, and other military equipment. 

More than 15 thousand Palestinians have died in Gaza due to bombing campaigns from the Israeli government since October 7. Over a million people have been displaced. Aid workers said that the original four-day pause would not be enough to resolve the current humanitarian crisis currently happening in Gaza. 

During the pause, some hostages and detainees were released. There are conflicting reports as to how many. CBC News has estimated that approximately 150 Palestinian detainees and 69 Israeli, Thai and Filipino hostages were released. At the same time of the hostage exchange, Israel has arrested over 100 civilians in the West Bank.

The pause also allowed for humanitarian aid to enter Gaza, including fuel, food, water, medical supplies, and hygiene kits. However, aid workers worry it will not be enough for the level of devastation that has already happened. They urged people to continue pushing for a permanent ceasefire, as well as an end to the Israeli occupation and siege on Gaza.

During the November 25 protest, groups and organizations such as Montreal4Palestine, Palestinians Abroad and Fightback also spoke on the pause. They called the pause ineffective, mentioning that civilians were still being killed by the Israeli forces, and that the Canadian government and media outlets are complicit.

Negotiation talks continued with discussion of extending the humanitarian pause. However, Israel said they would not extend the pause beyond Sunday, December 3. On December 1, the pause had failed to be extended and Israel resumed their bombing campaign on the Gaza Strip.

As the Saturday protest progressed, Montrealers made their way towards media offices. Police in riot gear blocked off the entrances of CBC News, CTV News and other media outlets.

Activists say that language and portrayal of Palestine in the media dehumanizes Palestinians and manufactures consent allowing for the killing and mass displacement of Palestinians. Multiple medias have used the words
"conflict" and "war" to describe the current humanitarian crisis happening in Palestine, which activists say diminish the magnitude of the situation.

Activists say many media outlets also pin October 7 as the starting point, ignoring 75 years of killing and displacement Palestinians have experienced under Israeli occupation. The protesters criticized CBC News, The Montreal Gazette and CTV News for censoring critical Pro-Palestinian stories and messages.

They implored Montrealers to attend Pro-Palestine protests every week, until Palestine liberation.