Ceasefire Now! Stop Bombing Gaza! Stop Genocide! Stop Bombing Rafah! Israel Out of Gaza Now!
Statement by Mobilization Against War & Occupation (MAWO)
Updated April 26, 2024
Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza is still intensifying into 7 months of brutal bombardment. At the hands of Zionist Israeli forces, over 41,000 Palestinians have been killed and over 77,143 are wounded.
Nearly 40% of all those killed have been children (17,000 children) and over 90% have been civilians. Two million Gazans have been displaced from their homes. Media centres, schools, industrial buildings, mosques, churches, heritage sites, and hospitals have all been destroyed by Israel’s vicious and relentless bombing campaign. After 180 days it has become clear that nothing is off limits to the Israeli government and military in their campaign of genocide.
In recent days the number of bodies found in a mass grave inside the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis are rising to over 400, after Zionist Israeli forces withdrew from the area following a bloody siege. This follows the brutal 2-week Israeli siege of Al Shifa Hospital, the largest hospital in Gaza, that left the complex in ruins. At least 1,500 Palestinians have been killed or disappeared at Al Shifa Hospital, including medical staff and patients.
Israel has also caused a famine across Gaza and over 1.1 million Palestinians in Gaza face “catastrophic famine” as per a March 18 UN report. Meanwhile Israel continues to target aid deliveries and those seeking aid. On April 1 Israeli airstrikes killed 7 humanitarian aid workers, including foreign nationals, despite their aid delivery being in coordination with Israel.
Despite worldwide condemnation, Israel is still launching air strikes on Rafah and threatening a catastrophic ground invasion, where 1.5 million Palestinians are sheltering — including those displaced from across Gaza who were told they would be safe in Rafah.
Yet the U.S government continues to support Israel politically, economically and militarily. On April 23 the US Senate approved $13 billion in military aid for Israel. This is the latest package of funding and weapons from the US to Israel — on March 30 the White House authorized $2.5 billion of fighter jets and bombs to Israel, including 1,800 MK84 2,000-pound “bunker buster” bombs.
United Nations Security Council Ceasefire Resolution
On Monday March 25, 2024, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) was finally able pass a resolution, “demanding an immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramadan, the immediate and unconditional release of ‘hostages and ‘the urgent need to expand the flow’ of aid into Gaza. There were 14 votes in favour with the United States abstaining,” according to the UN News website. Disgustingly, the U.S. government and President Genocide Joe Biden worked behind the scenes the previous weekend to water down this United Nations resolution for a ceasefire in Gaza. The U.S. succeeded in some places to weaken the resolution’s demands on Israel, but not to the point that they could vote in favour of the resolution. At the same time Israel is so determined in its path of genocide and ethnic cleansing of Palestine, that it has rejected even this watered-down UN resolution. But the world is watching.
Of course, passing this resolution at the security council is a step forward for Palestine, which has been fighting for international support of its rights for decades. But the passing of the UNSC resolution has been stained by the hypocrisy of the U.S. which is now trying to change the meaning of the word ‘ceasefire’, turning it into something that can only happen if Palestinians capitulate to all of the demands of those who are committing genocide against them, the Zionist apartheid state of Israel and its allies. Both the U.S. ambassador to the UN and the U.S. State Department spokesperson have since tried to clam the UNSC resolution was “non-binding” on Israel, despite the fact that ALL Security Council resolutions are binding. Once again, the world is witnessing how with every war crime committed by Israel, U.S. imperialism is there to aid, fund, arm, and give the political green-light for the bloodshed to continue. The U.S. abstention on the ceasefire resolution, does however show the immense pressure the Biden administration is under, both at home and abroad, for its support of the Israeli Zionist regime.
While the World Demands an Immediate Ceasefire, Israel Commits New Atrocities
Since the UN Security Council resolution passed, Israel has not paused, has not ceased, and neither has United States’ political, military, and financial support. On March 30 the White House authorized $2.5 billion of fighter jets and bombs to Israel, including 1,800 MK84 2,000-pound “bunker buster” bombs. The Israeli regime “thanked” the U.S. for its donation by doubling down the next day, April 1, 2024, with at least three new atrocities. These include: the destruction of the Al-Shifa Hospital and mass murder of medical staff and patients; the bombing and destruction of a consular section of Iran’s Embassy in Damascus, Syria; and the targeting killing of 7 aid workers with World Central Kitchen (WCK) helping to feed the starving people of Gaza.
Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City: On April 1 Israel declared the end of its 2-week campaign of violence and destruction at the Al-Shifa hospital. The photos of what the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) left in the wake of their campaign of devastation speak more powerfully than any description this text could provide. Buildings were demolished, there is evidence of patients being bound and then assassinated, reports of doctors who refused to leave their ill patients being murdered, and other horrors committed against those seeking healthcare under life and death circumstances.
Now over 10 days after Israeli forces left the hospital in ruins, Gazans continue to search the rubble to recover their dead. According to the Gaza Civil Defense so far 400 bodies have been recovered from Al-Shifa and surrounding destruction. In an article from NBC news, journalist Daniel Arkin reminds readers, “in the six months since the start of the war, Israeli forces have repeatedly pummeled hospitals in Gaza, even though international law states that hospitals should not be attacked during war.” Arkin continues, “the IDF has said Hamas operates command centers at hospitals, uses ambulances to transport militants and funnels hospital-bound fuel to military efforts, all of which Hamas and hospital staff members deny. Israel’s military has drawn intense international condemnation for its military operations in Gaza, and many humanitarian groups have accused the country of breaching international law by exercising collective punishment. Hamas’ terrorist attack in Israel on Oct. 7 killed more than 1,200 people; Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 33,000, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.”
Iranian Embassy Complex in Syria: Also on April 1, 2024, an Israeli airstrike targeted and destroyed part of Iran’s embassy in on Damascus, Syria. This attack killed 7 Iranians, two senior military personnel, as well as five of their accompanying officers. All 7 were invited guests in Syria on an advisory mission, this was a clear act of extra-judicial murder. According to international law and diplomacy norms, embassies are considered the official territory of that nation. Thus, this attack is seen by Iran and the international community as a violation of Iran’s sovereign territory. There was also a violation of Syria’s sovereign territory and airspace.
News reports have also stated that Israel’s airstrikes also impacted Canada’s embassy in Damacus. According to CBC news, “A source at Global Affairs Canada (GAC) told CBC News that Canada’s embassy building sustained damage in the April 1 airstrike, including the destruction of at least some of its windows. Officials have not yet been able to assess the building for structural damage.” Of course, the government of Canada has said nothing publicly because of its deep imperialist loyalty to the Zionist state of Israel — despite all of its illegal, reprehensible, and gruesome actions.
It is clear that Israel’s regime bombed this embassy to provoke Iran and the international community. The Zionist regime and its imperialist allies hoped that Iran would lash out and give the U.S. and Israel further justification to expand this war into an outright regional conflict. So far Iran has vowed revenge, but has not shown interest to escalating its conflict with Israel, which might take the eyes of the international community away from the brutal genocide being committed by Israel in Gaza. While the Israeli regime committed this act of aggression in flagrant violation against international law against Iran, they are now trying to paint themselves as the victims and encouraging Israeli citizens to hide and shelter from the potential incoming Iranian attack.
Planned Starvation & Attack on the World Central Kitchen Aid Convoy in Gaza: Meanwhile Israel continues to paralyze and target aid deliveries, as well as killing Palestinians who are trying to reach the limited aid being provided to them. Most recently, on April 1 Israeli airstrikes killed 7 humanitarian aid workers, including foreign nationals, despite their aid delivery being in coordination with Israel. According to an article by the BBC World News, after the Israeli attack on the aid convoy on April 1, World Central Kitchen (WCK) founder José Andrés, “accused Israeli forces in Gaza of targeting his aid workers ‘systematically, car by car’.” Andrés further stated, “it was really a direct attack on clearly marked vehicles whose movements were known by everybody at the IDF [Israel Defense Forces]”. This was not only a deliberate attack on this institution which is known to provide 60% of the non-governmental aid in Gaza at this time (BBC). This targeting has led to WCK and several other aid organizations freezing their services to Gaza.
This is despite the recent United Nations report which found that 1.1 million Palestinians in Gaza face “catastrophic famine” and over half of Gaza’s population may be at risk of death within the coming weeks. The apartheid regime of Israel is fully committed to its campaign of starvation of the people of Gaza, as in most international conflicts, this has the deepest effect on women and children. Anyone unconvinced that attacks on aid workers is a part of Israel’s genocidal policy, should look back to how Israel has also targeted other aid institutions with slander and violence, such as United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNWRA).
The need for humanitarian aid blocked by Israel is dire, as Palestinians in Gaza are facing unprecedented starvation, lack of water and a collapsed health system. This forced starvation is especially serious in the north, where according to a February 19 World Health Organization report, 1 in 6 children under the age of 2 is acutely malnourished and across Gaza, 90% of children under the age of 2 and 95% of pregnant and breastfeeding women, face severe food poverty. Yet due to unsubstantiated and irrelevant slander by the Israeli regime against the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), 16 countries have suspended funding to UNRWA, which is the main lifeline for Palestinians in Gaza, and which relies on funding to deliver desperately needed food, water, fuel, and medical supplies. On March 9, 2024, Reuters news exposed an unpublished UNRWA report which says that Israel coerced some agency employees to falsely claim Hamas ties to fabricate the lie that 12 of UNRWA’s 13,000 workers were involved in the Hamas military operation, Al-Aqsa Flood, on October 7. Imperialist countries who have used this to justify cutting funding are the same giving Israel support for their genocide. Canada also is among 16 countries on January 26, 2024, that have suspended funding to UNRWA, which is the main lifeline for Palestinians in Gaza due to unsubstantiated and irrelevant slander by the Israeli Zionist regime against the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA). MAWO joins the world-wide call for funding to UNRWA to be reinstated immediately!
Israel — Hands Off Rafah!
Israel is not slowing down. In fact, they are continuing to threaten a ground invasion targeting Rafah, the southernmost city in Gaza. Rafah has grown 5 times its usual population to 1.5 million, full of Palestinian families displaced from across Gaza, sheltering in tents and already facing disease, lack of sanitation, lack of clean water supplies and starvation. In late 2023 Palestinians were told they could find safety from Israeli bombardment in Rafah, yet at the beginning of February 2024 Israeli forces attacked Rafah with air and sea strikes, killing more than 100 Palestinians, in just two days, including many children sheltering with their families in tents. This unthinkable horror has continued with further airstrikes, and the ongoing threat of ground invasion from the Israeli regime — despite worldwide condemnation that further attacks and a ground invasion on Rafah will be catastrophic.
“In Our Millions, In Our Billions, We Are All Palestinians!” à Mobilize! Organize! & Fight Back!
What the world recognizes is that once again the United States and its allies, including Canada, have no real political solution to this current war and genocide, or the 75 years of Israeli occupation of Palestine. The world is united with Palestinians in Gaza who need an immediate stop to the killing and destruction, and for humanitarian aid to be reinstated. The world is continuing to mobilize in the millions internationally for Palestine! We must demand a real ceasefire that will change life on the ground in Palestine. That will allow aid into the country and that will stop the genocide. We will continue demand Ceasefire until Israel stops killing Palestinians, until there is a real change in favor of Palestinians and their right to life and self-determination!
Israel Must Comply with ICJ Demands.
The world is watching and speaking up on numerous fronts against the brutal Israeli genocide. The expected International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling announcement came in on January 26, 2024. The South Africa Petition charging Israel of genocide in the ICJ, which was supported and endorsed by more than 70 countries, demanded that the Israeli racist regime be put on trial for committing genocide in Gaza. Although the January 26 ICJ ruling did not directly and clearly condemn Israel’s genocide practice in Gaza and did not call for an immediate ceasefire, it did implicitly recognize Israel’s genocide in Gaza. It implied the South African case charging the Zionist regime of genocide could proceed, and it rejected the Israeli regime’s request to dismiss the case altogether. In other words, the ICJ upgraded the legal status of Israel in the ICJ from suspected genocide to accused of genocide, establishing that there is substantial evidence to proceed with the trial. This crushing defeat isolated Israel further worldwide.
In part, the ICJ court ruling reads, “The State of Israel shall, in relation to Palestinians, ensure that its military, as well as any irregular armed units or individuals which may be directed, supported or otherwise influenced by it and any organizations and persons which may be subject to its control, direction or influence, do not commit any acts…or engage in direct and public incitement to commit genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, attempt to commit genocide, or complicity in genocide…” The ICJ’s reference to genocide numerous times is an indication of how well South Africa’s legal team laid the charge of genocide against the Israeli regime.
The ICJ ruling is a tremendous victory for the Palestinian struggle for their liberation and self-determination, as well as a significant defeat for the Israeli genocidal Zionist regime. This colossal victory did not come because the ICJ and its judges genuinely favour Palestine. The ICJ is proceeding with the case due to the pressure created by the heroic Palestinian struggle, their uncompromising will and resilience to Israel’s brutality, suppression, and criminal practices. Also, growing mass opposition worldwide to Israel’s war crimes and genocide in the previous 100 days, from thousands to millions, reinforced the visibility of crimes by Israel. Consequently, it substantially reduced the room for maneuvering for the U.S., Israel and their imperialist allies, such as Canada. The ICJ and all other UN institutions have been created for conflict resolution in favour of imperialist countries. However, the Palestinian genocide could not be denied or swept under the rug by the ICJ. The case was overwhelmingly proven even before the ICJ court ruling, with tens of millions worldwide rallying and marching on the streets of more than one hundred countries for over a hundred days.
Canada’s Shameful Position
Shamefully, Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Mélanie Joly, released a statement in support of Israel. In a statement, Foreign Minister Joly said, “Canada supports the ICJ’s critical role in the peaceful settlement of disputes and its work in upholding the international rules-based order.” And further, “Our support for the ICJ does not mean that we accept the premise of the case brought by South Africa.” That is to say, the Liberal government of Canada welcomes and endorses the result of ICJ only if it is in favour of Canada and other imperialist countries. This is a sheer hypocrisy not democracy.
With all its limitations and shortcomings, the ICJ ruling is an enormous setback for all imperialist countries, including Canada. The U.S., Canada, and their imperialist allies, alongside Israel, have been vehemently denying the ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. Thus, they are all complicit in the crimes of the genocidal regime of Israel through political, economic, and military support.
The World is at a Turning Point
As the struggle of Palestinians continues against the occupation and for the liberation of Palestine, we must continue our mobilization, organization and fight back. Mobilization Against War & Occupation (MAWO) endorses, supports, and will continue to organize actions and mobilizations in solidarity with Palestine and encourages supporters to join in and stay on the streets!
It is clear that October 7, 2023, marked a turning point in the over 75 years of the genocidal and racist Zionist Israeli occupation of Palestine. In an unprecedented move, Palestinian resistance fighters from Gaza launched defensive military operations in Israel including air, sea, and ground attacks, surprising Israel and catching one of the most technologically advanced militaries in the world unaware.
The Israeli Zionist propaganda machine and mainstream imperialist media are frantically trying to paint Israel as a victim of terrorism and has launched a vicious dehumanization campaign against Palestinians, openly calling Palestinian people monsters and human animals. However, it is evident that this is a war and the actions of Palestinian resistance fighters are an act of defense in this war. This war has been one of oppressor against oppressed and did not start on October 7 but has been waged since 1948 when Israel was founded as a state on the land of Palestine by imperialist countries, with the false recognition and legitimization of the United Nations. Resisting oppression and occupation is not terrorism, fighting for dignity is not terrorism. The Palestinian people have been fighting for their right to self-determination and the right to return to their homes, which were brutally taken away by the Zionist Israeli regime.
On October 7, 2023, for the first time in the last 75 years of the Israeli occupation of Palestine, Israel’s so-called invincibility and impunity seems to have crumbled entirely. Now, everyone can see that the king has no clothes. Israel is going through a deepening social and political crisis. That’s why the Israeli racist government is so angry and has been committing war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and genocide. An immediate ceasefire for Palestinians is needed. However, a ceasefire should by no means be seen as a real solution to the genocidal war by Zionist Israel against Palestinians, both inside and outside of Gaza. The Israeli apartheid regime has announced numerous times that it will continue bombing Gaza after any ceasefire or “humanitarian truce.”
Palestinian History of Genocide by Zionist Israel
Decades over decades, the Palestinian people have faced forced expulsion from their cities and villages to overcrowded refugee camps, which in Gaza constitutes the 3rd most densely populated place on earth. Palestinians have faced ethnic cleansing and massacres, with over 10,748 Palestinians killed since September 29, 2000, including over 2,434 Palestinian children killed — previous to October 7, 2023. Palestinians especially in the West Bank have faced an ongoing Israeli Zionist policy of home demolitions, with over 56,502 Palestinian homes demolished by Israel since 1967, not including homes destroyed through bombing campaigns against Gaza. Palestinians also are subject to arbitrary detentions and torture. Out of 9,000 Palestinian political prisoners, over 2,000 are held without charge or trial under indefinitely renewable administrative detention orders, many of whom are children as young as 12 years old. Daily life for Palestinians in Gaza and West Bank is defined by occupation, with checkpoints and blockades limiting freedom of movement even to jobs and school, lack of access to food, water, medicines and basic necessities, and the constant threat of military attack from the Israeli Zionist regime’s military or racist Zionist settlers.
In the last year, the life under Israeli occupation has gotten measurably worse. The UN declared 2023 as the deadliest year for Palestinians since it started counting deaths in 2006, even before the current indiscriminate Israeli assault on Gaza. From January 2023 until the beginning of October, Israeli forces and racist Zionist settlers killed more than 250 people in the West Bank, including over 50 children. There have been repeated Israeli military assaults into areas of West Bank, including three major Israeli military incursions into the Jenin refugee camp. In Jenin, during these attacks Palestinians were terrorized and killed by deadly airstrikes, hundreds of Israeli ground troops, helicopter gunships, rockets and armoured vehicles, and faced destroyed homes and massively damaged sewage and water networks. In a further insult to Palestinians, worshipers at Al-Aqsa Mosque in al-Quds (also known as Jerusalem) have faced repeated raids and attacks by Zionist Israeli police and military, as well as by racist Israeli settlers.
This has all been part of a genocidal campaign of ethnic cleansing by the Israeli regime, led by prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu who since 2019 has repeatedly proposed and planned to annex the West Bank and Gaza. This is nothing new, but a longstanding policy of ethnic cleansing since 1948. In September 1992, former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin told a delegation from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy “I would like Gaza to sink into the sea”.
Self-determination for Palestine!
For over 75 years, Palestinians have tried every avenue to assert their right to self-determination, including legal and diplomatic measures. 78 resolutions in the United Nations demanding that Israel respect various aspects of Palestinian human rights have been repeatedly violated. All so-called solutions imposed by imperialists and Israel on Palestinians since 1948, especially the Oslo Accord in 1993, have not brought peace. Instead, as planned they have prolonged and expanded the racist Zionist Israeli occupation and war against Palestine. From October 7, 2023, the defensive military operation of Palestinian resistance fighters from Gaza into Israel has effectively ended all deceitful plans in the past, present and future. Today the tide is turning as Palestinians won’t accept any false promises or distractions and are fighting for their self-determination and right to exist as a nation and to form a nation-state.
Today the world is watching as the Zionist Israeli military is launching a massive attack on Gaza, indiscriminately collapsing whole apartment complexes, and targeting homes and hospitals. The Israeli Zionist Prime Minister Netanyahu has promised to turn Gaza into a “deserted island” and told Palestinian civilians to leave the territory. This warning to Palestinians to leave Gaza is entirely outrageous — Gaza is an open-air prison, with a population of over 2.3 million Palestinians that are essentially prisoners with absolutely no freedom of movement. Since 2005 Palestinians in Gaza have been blockaded by Israel by air, sea and land, surrounded a 65km long, 20 feet high concrete, iron and steel wall with radar systems, sniper towers and underground sensors. For 18 years Israel has controlled and restricted access to anything moving in or out of Gaza, including water, food, medicine, fuel, and electricity, and even Palestinians, journalists, aid organizations and visitors’ ability to leave or enter Gaza.
Imperialist governments, led by the United States, are declaring their support for Israel. The US has moved aircraft carriers to the eastern Mediterranean Sea and several air force squadrons to the region, as well as has promised additional munitions to Israel. This imperialist support for Israel isn’t because their governments really care about the Israeli people — since the Balfour Declaration by the British government in 1917, to the formation of Israel on Palestinian land, Israel has always been an imperialist project, first for Britain and today for the United States. Israel is the United States’ forward base into West Asia, a foothold in the region from which to launch surveillance, military attacks, wars, and occupations, and to expand their plunder of resources and markets. The US imperialist new era of war and occupation has accelerated their drive for hegemony in the region, which we have seen since the war and occupation of Afghanistan in 2001, and continued with the war on Iraq, Syria, Libya, and Yemen. This is why Israel as a Zionist racist and apartheid regime has never been a truly functional legitimate state. Without the economic, financial, and military support of the US and their imperialist allies, including Canada, Israel cannot survive more than a few weeks. The US supplies more than $4 billion a year in military aid to Israel, and in 2022 the US provided Israel with at least $13.1 million per day in military aid. Canada also provides military aid and exports to Israel, and Canadian bank Scotiabank is the largest foreign investor in Elbit Systems, a major Israeli weapons manufacturer, who sells “battle tested” drones — battle tested against Palestinian people.
No Justice, No Peace! Palestine Will be Free!
We have been lied to for years that the Israel-Palestine conflict is “complicated,” and peace is distant. Before the Zionist project with the support of Britain and other imperialists imposed the state of Israel on Palestinian land, Palestinians of Muslim, Jewish and Christian faith lived in harmony side by side for centuries. Despite the claims that Israel needed to be created as a “safe” homeland for Jewish people, there can be no safety when that state is imposed by a genocidal occupation, as has been done on Palestinian land. This was just a convenient solution for racism in Europe and North America, where historically and today Jewish people face antisemitism, where Jewish people should have the right to live without discrimination. In fact, the safest place historically and today for Jewish people has been in West Asian countries, side by side with their Muslim neighbours! The solution that we are told is complicated is in fact simple. Palestinian’s legitimate demand for the right to self-determination must be met, preferably a single democratic state with the fundamental right of one person, one vote, where Palestinian and Jewish people can live in together in peace and harmony. It is only the Zionist regime and their imperialist backers that are blocking this only viable solution from becoming a reality. If it this could happen in South Africa, it can happen in the entire land of Palestine today from the river to the sea.
Today solidarity with Palestine is more important that ever. While the imperialist and Zionist narrative tries to get support for the massacre of Palestinians that the Israeli military is unleashing on Gaza, it is up to the solidarity movement worldwide to demand an end to 75 years of Israeli Zionist occupation. Since October 7, millions of people in more than 100 countries around the globe are protesting against the Zionist Israeli regime and in defense of the Palestinian struggle against Israeli occupation. Today in Palestine and around the world, we are fighting for a new path forward against imperialism, against Zionism, and for the Palestinian right to self-determination.
Ceasefire Now!
Israel Out of Gaza Now!
End Canadian Complicity!
Stop Bombing Rafah!
Stop Bombing Gaza!
End the Siege on Gaza Now!
End the Israeli genocide in Gaza Now!
Free Palestine!
From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!
Reinstate UNRWA Funding Now!
Stop Arming Israel Now!
Stop Funding Israel Now!
Self-determination for Palestine!
