K'JIPUKTUK, HALIFAX - It was a plea for peace said in four powerful words: stop killing our children.
The message, written on signs and chanted by a group of close to 300 protesters, was carried through the streets of downtown Halifax yesterday as a part of a march to raise awareness of Israel’s ongoing attacks on Gaza city.
Led by the Dalhousie group Students Against Israeli Apartheid, demonstrators protested for Israel to end its use of collective punishment against Palestinian civilians.
At least 300 palestinians have been killed in the last two weeks and 2,000 more injured, including children, after Israel started bombing the Gaza strip.
Israel’s violent campaign —Operation Protective Edge —began following the kidnapping and deaths of three Israeli teenagers by a Palestinian militant group last month.
But that’s not the story people are hearing, says student leader Amer Hussein.
He led demonstrators to the doors of CBC Nova Scotia to protest for better media coverage of the bloodshed that is happening to the Palestinian people.
“Most news stations, including CBC are not providing enough information for people to think about what’s really happening in Palestine and (help them) see the situation as it really is,” he said at the protest.
Hussein believes the mainstream media have inaccurately presented the Israeli attacks as part of a fair war between nations when in “it’s actually a genocide.”
“I want to see justice in coverage,” said student-protestor Mohamed Abdelhay. The poor media coverage is to blame for the indifference people in Canada show towards the ongoing crisis in Gaza, he believes.
“No one cares,” he says. . “The media is caring about nothing.”
Hussein agrees, saying that Palestinians are just portrayed as numbers on the news and that no one hears the stories behind the lives lost.
To help put a face to the statistics the group will hold a candle light vigil tonight to commemorate the hundreds of death.
Hussein, who helped organize the student group in March, was surprised at the number of people who participated in yesterday’s protest, but believes “people are angry” and no longer complacent with Canada’s inaction to save lives.
He wants the Canadian government to intervene and pressure Israel to agree on a ceasefire on behalf of the Palestinian people.
In the meantime, he says the group will continue to protest and raise awareness of the atrocities in Gaza,
Starting in the fall, the student group plans to start a boycott, divestment and sanction campaign. It will ask Dalhousie’s students, faculty, and alumni to stop all investments and purchases of products that support Israeli occupation of Palestine.
