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Thursday, July 3, 2025
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Delegation visits Georges Abdallah in Lannemezan with greetings of international solidarity

A delegation from the Collectif Palestine Vaincra visited Georges Ibrahim Abdallah in Lannemezan Prison in December 2021. Georges Abdallah is a Lebanese Arab struggler for the Palestinian resistance who has been imprisoned in French jails for 37 years. His story and life in struggle is the subject of the film “Fedayin: Georges Abdallah’s Fight,” and over 1,000 people gathered in Lannemezan in October 2021 to demand his immediate release.

The Collectif Palestine Vaincra, based in Toulouse, France, is a member organization of Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network. The delegates met with Abdallah for many hours for lively discussions on the situation of the movement for the liberation of Palestine, political developments in Lebanon and social struggles in France, among other topics.

During the visit, Georges Abdallah emphasized the centrality of the Palestinian prisoners’ cause to the struggle for justice and liberation and expressed his support and encouragement for the International Week of Action to Free Ahmad Sa’adat, 15 to 22 January 2022.

They carried greetings and messages of solidarity for Abdallah from organizations and activists, including fellow members of the Samidoun Network. They also delivered a solidarity statement from the Internationalt Forum in Denmark, republished below:

Free Georges Abdallah – Free Palestine

Internationalt Forum sends our warmest greetings to Georges Abdallah, Lebanese internationalist who has for more than 37 years been confined in French prison for his participation in the Palestinian liberation struggle.

We support the international campaign for the immediate release of Georges Abdallah from the jail in Lannemezan in South Western France.

The French state is a colonial and imperialist state which supports the Zionist state Israel and its colonization of Palestine and the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people.At the same time, the French state fights Palestinian and other antiimperialist freedom fighters – and blacklists and persecutes them.

This is the background of the fact that since 1984 the French state has kept Georges Abdallah imprisoned – although according to the French judicial system he had the right to be released in 1999.The release of Georges Abdallah will be a slap in the face of the French state and the Zionist lobby in France, but also of imperialism and Zionism.

Internationalt Forum in Denmark which is an antiimperialist solidarity organization, expresses our deepest respect to comrade Georges Abdallah for his personal and political courage and steadfastness behind bars, expressed through his unbreakable solidarity with  the Palestinian liberation struggle, hereunder the Palestinian  political prisoners in Zionist jails and his continued struggle against Zionism and imperialism.

Free Georges Abdallah now!
Free all revolutionary prisoners!
From the River to the Sea – Palestine shall be Free!
Long live International solidarity!
Internationaltforum.dk

Løslad Georges Abdallah – Frit Palæstina!

Internationalt Forum sender sine varmeste hilsener til Georges Abdallah – libanesisk internationalist, der på 38. år sidder indespærret i fransk fængsel for sin deltagelse i den palæstinensiske befrielseskamp. Vi støtter den internationale kampagne for øjeblikkelig løsladelse af Georges  Abdallah fra fængslet i Lannemezan i det sydvestlige Frankrig.

Den franske stat er en kolonial og imperialistisk  stat der støtter den zionistiske stat Israel og dens kolonisering af Palæstina og den etniske udrensning af det palæstinensiske folk. Samtidig hermed bekæmper den franske stat palæstinensiske og andre antiimperialistiske frihedskæmpere og terrorstempler og forfølger dem.

Det er baggrunden for at den franske stat siden 1984 har holdt Georges Abdallah indespærret – på trods af at Georges Abdallah ifølge det franske retssystem var berettiget til løsladelse helt tilbage i 1999!

En løsladelse af Georges  Abdallah vil være et slag i ansigtet– ikke kun på den franske stat og den zionistiske lobby i Frankrig, men også på zionismen og imperialismen.Internationalt Forum i Danmark, som er en antiimperialistisk solidaritetsorganisation, udtaler vores dybe respekt for kammerat Georges  Abdallah for hans personlige og politiske mod og udholdenhed  bag tremmerne – der har givet sig udtryk i hans ubrydelige støtte til den palæstinensiske befrielseskamp, herunder de palæstinensiske fanger i zionismens fængsler, og hans vedholdende kritik af og kamp imod zionismen og imperialismen.

Løslad Georges Abdallah NU!
Løslad alle politiske revolutionære fanger!
From the River to the Sea- Palestine shall  be Free!
Styrk den internationale solidaritet!
Internationaltforum.dk

Write a letter: Canada’s trifecta of anti-Palestinian racism—diplomats Wettlaufer and Stadelbauer, and Minister Joly

Take one minute to write to Prime Minister Trudeau, Head of Mission in Ramallah Wettlaufer, Ambassador Stadelbauer in Tel Aviv, and Foreign Affairs Minister Joly.

Click here to write your letter!

Let them know that their anti-Palestinian behaviour is not acceptable.

Along with the usual trend each December of Canada voting with Israel, the USA and a couple of small countries beholden to the US, opposing most pro-Palestinian resolutions at the United Nations, it has also been an embarrassing time for the Canadian government with its Foreign Affairs minister and its two top diplomats in Ramallah and Tel Aviv all making anti-Palestinian comments.

Canada’s Top Diplomat to Palestine denies Canadian arm trade with Israel

On December 15, 2021, Robin Wettlaufer, the Head of the Canadian Mission in Ramallah, criticized Electronic Intifada editor Ali Abunimah for tweeting that Canada “arms and funds the apartheid state to murder Palestinians and steal their land.” She responded by writing “we neither arm nor fund Israel.”

After Abunimah and others provided evidence of Canada “arming and funding Israel” the Canadian diplomat then blocked Abunimah on Twitter.

Ms. Wettlaufer should be aware that Canada helps to “arm Israel”. Canadian weapons sales to Israel have received attention in recent months with calls for two way embargos, including her receiving 1K letters just before the election and another almost 3500 over the last month or so. At the NDP convention in April, a resolution was passed calling for Canada to (among other things) end arms sales to Israel; and party leader Jagmeet Singh raised this on multiple occasions during the rise of Israeli violence in May.

Between 2015 and 2020 Canada exported about $15 million a year in weapons directly to Israel.

An equal or greater number of Canadian weapons sales are delivered to Israel through US exports. Under the Canada-US Defence Production Sharing Agreement the two countries’ arms industries are highly integrated so there is little data about weapons exports to the US, some of which would be exported to Israel.

Read more

Canada’s Foreign Minister and anti-Palestinianism

On December 7, 2021 during a response to a question in Parliament, Canada’s foreign affairs minister, Mélanie Joly said:

“…obviously we are a steadfast ally of Israel and friends to the Palestinian people. I raised the question regarding the Palestinian civil society organizations listed by Israel as terrorist organizations with my counterpart, Lapid, when I had the chance to talk to him. Of course, he said to me that he would be giving more clarity on this matter, so I am waiting for him.”

Her reference to the six Palestinian human rights organizations is deeply concerning. Why is she asking and still waiting for information from the Israeli government, when she should be considering the statement made in October by United Nations experts? She has received more than 6,000 letters outlining the situation, and her colleague Nathaniel Erskine-Smith has sponsored a parliamentary petition, E-3679, asking Canada to call upon the Israeli authorities to immediately rescind the designations and end all efforts aimed at delegitimizing and criminalizing Palestinian human rights defenders.

On December 7 in Parliament, she also noted:

“…of course we will always be there to help vulnerable Palestinians. We would rather see them sitting in classrooms in schools that are funded by United Nations organizations than in the streets fighting. That is exactly why we want to make sure we continue to support UNRWA.”

This comment was a clear-cut case of anti-Palestinian racism that needs both a public apology and a commitment to cease and desist from any further dehumanization of the Palestinian people and nation.

Canadian Ambassador to Tel Aviv praises Israel for its support on arbitrary detention

Perhaps Lisa Stadelbauer should check her email—over the last few weeks she received copies of almost 6,000 letters sent to the Prime Minister and Minister Joly, expressing concern about administrative detention in Palestinians by Israel in contravention of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Also, Liberal MP Salma Zaid has sponsored two parliamentary petitions, E-3312 and E-3608 signed by almost 7,000 Canadians this year in regard to the treatment of children under Israeli military law including administrative detention.

There are currently approximately 500 Palestinians jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention, out of 4,550 Palestinian political prisoners. These orders are issued by the military and approved by military courts on the basis of “secret evidence”, denied to both Palestinian detainees and their attorneys. Issued for up to six months at a time, they are indefinitely renewable, and Palestinians — including minor children — can spend years jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention. Currently there are 170 children in Israeli jails.

The tweet:

https://twitter.com/canembisrael/status/1470310569467121665

UN Vote 2021 and historically

Once again Canada has maintained its “No” vote for Palestine at the UN, with the exception of the one resolution supporting self-determination. In 2019 in a desperate and unsuccessful attempt to show the world Canada was worthy of a seat at the UNSC, Canada after over a dozen years reversed this vote to a “yes”; it has continued to try and save face in 2020 and now in 2021, by maintaining this lone yes vote on Palestinian self-determination. #NoUNSC4Canada

Click here to write your letter!

Read more:
It is that time of year again! The UN votes on Palestine! Nothing new– Canada’s vote at the UN since 1947 shows at best conditional support for Palestine

Co-sponsored by

Canadian BDS Coalition

Canada Palestine Association

Just Peace Advocates

Palestinian and Jewish Unity

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network

Solidarity with Palestine at the Aubervilliers market in France

Samidoun Région Parisienne held its third stand in the Aubervilliers city center market this Saturday, 18 December, receiving a warm welcome from people attending the market.

Many people stopped to discuss the necessity of boycotting Israel as a tool in the fight against colonialism and apartheid. Participants in the stand distributed several flyers with a list of Israeli products and complicit international companies, including the sports equipment manufacturer PUMA and the computer brand Hewlett-Packard. In addition, the organizers distributed hundreds of leaflets on the situation of Palestinian prisoners. Currently, 4,550 Palestinians are imprisoned in Israeli jails including Hisham Abu Hawash, who has been conducting a courageous hunger strike for freedom for 124 days.

Solidarity with the struggle of the Palestinian people and their resistance is an integral part of the struggle against colonialism and racism. Samidoun Région Parisienne regularly organizes stands at the Aubervilliers market. Do not hesitate to contact us by email samidoun.rp@gmail.com or on our various social networks ( Facebook , Twitter and Instagram ) if you wish to participate!

18-19 December, NYC: Palestine Lives Weekend Holiday Pop-Up Shop

Saturday, 18 December – 10 am to 5 pm
Sunday, 19 December – 11 am to 7 pm
An-Noor Social Center
7114 5th Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11209
Organized by Within Our Lifetime and Existence Is Resistance
Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/CXbVHYcLcvg/

You don’t want to miss out on our upcoming event this weekend! Celebrate Palestinian people, culture and resistance at our two day holiday pop-up this weekend. We will be featuring vendors, art, poets performing live from Gaza and other liberation struggles @gazapoets @troikakollectiv, a Palestine photo booth, a political prisoner letter writing workshop for Palestinian prisoners and prisoners in the US with help from @samidounnetwork and Black liberation movement elder @dequi4liberation , Knafeh @kanafa.cups, giveaways and more!

Some of the vendors we’ll be featuring include
@tarinandreadesigns @purepali @arabellabymansour @marijonco @lays_embroidery @palestinian_made @kyledidthis @rodrigostarz @linas.macarons.nyc
@kanafa.cups @candlescape_nyc @deadseapearls.us @sisterbatwing @retrofixdirect @chewsabox

Contact @wolpalestine or @existenceisresistance ASAP if you’re interested in vending

#Palestine #FreePalestine #WithinOurLifetime #Existenceisresistance #brooklyn #nyc #Palestineslives

19 December, Online Event: International commemoration of prison massacre in Turkey


19 DECEMBER 2021 – INTERNATIONAL ONLINE CONFERENCE

The international online conference in commemoration of 28 political prisoners in Turkey who were brutally murdered in a prison operation during 19-22 December 2000, will be live streamed on Sunday, 19 December, 7:00 PM Central European Time (Germany)

find converted time for your region here:
https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html

*Participants from Peru, Greece, Italy, Turkey, Ireland, France, UK, Germany, Philippines, USA, Palestine and Donbass…
18 speakers from the mentioned countries will reflect on the solidarity with political prisoners in different parts of the world.

*Eye witnesses will report about the hell they went through these days in different prisons and also about their resistance which went beyond their limits to push back the brutal attack and to protect their comrades, especially those in a death fast against the forced transfer to isolation prisons.

*Grup Yorum will contribute to the event with a message and songs

Share this event with others and watch our interesting live program which will be broadcasted in English and Turkish on the Youtube channel – Free Ali Osman Köse: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0pQGKSK79KDeMduwuNKW8A

 

Toulouse city hall and the supporters of Israeli apartheid aim to silence the Collectif Palestine Vaincra

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network fully supports the following statement from the Collectif Palestine Vaincra, a member organization of the Samidoun Network. (Read the original in French). We are committed to confronting repression and attempted intimidation of the movement for justice and liberation in Palestine:

For several months, officials of B’nai B’rith and NGO Monitor (organizations close to the Israeli far right) have been waging a campaign on social networks in an attempt to intimidate the Collectif Palestine Vaincra. In recent days, these attacks have focused on the presence of a “boycott Israel” sticker on a sign advertising Israeli produce in an Auchan supermarket in Toulouse and a collage of posters at the University of Toulouse Jean Jaurès.

This ridiculous propaganda campaign has gained a platform since the Israeli channel I24news devoted no less than two debates on this subject in its program “Les Grandes Gueules du Moyen-Orient” (“The Big Mouths of the Middle East”) presented by Benjamin Pretover. Faithful to our anti-racist principles of boycotting Israel, its products and its institutions, the Collectif Palestine Vaincra declined for the second time an invitation to participate in this program on a television channel with an openly reactionary editorial line.

https://twitter.com/CollectifPV/status/1470728414403383302

Giving credence to this trumped-up campaign, the Toulouse town hall sent Maxime Boyer, deputy mayor and vice-president of Toulouse Métropole, to participate in this media circus on the “Grandes Gueules du Moyen Orient” on I24news, with these words: “We condemn this collective and the many actions they have been carrying out for several months throughout the city, in the public domain, but also sometimes within universities or in other structures. » And Boyer continues by making a shameful comparison, associating the Collectif Palestine Vaincra with the attacks of Mohammed Merah. He continues with this announcement :“We are mobilizing, in connection in particular with the CRIF, the services of the State. We approached the Prefect and the Public Prosecutor so that everyone can assume their responsibilities. And that then there can be judicial processes which are implemented in order to restore the law”. He concluded by saying: “We call for the dissolution of all the structures which contravene the republican pact” .

In an attempt to discredit and stigmatize the movement for justice in Palestine, they lie shamelessly. For example, they claim that boycotting Israel is illegal in France. False! The European Court of Human Rights also condemned France in June 2020 for “hindering freedom of expression” following its convictions of activists from Mulhouse who had called for a boycott of Israeli products. Let us recall that the Collectif Palestine Vaincra organizes monthly information stands in Toulouse, in particular on the boycott of Israel.

In addition, the “Grandes Gueules du Moyen Orient” ranted about the support of the Collectif Palestine Vaincra for the Palestinian resistance in all its forms. Once again, this is an anti-colonialist principle recognized by the UN in its resolution 37/43 adopted in 1982, which affirms, among other things, “the legitimacy of the struggle of peoples for independence, territorial integrity, national unity and liberation from colonial domination, by all available means, including armed struggle.” Affirming our support for the resistance is therefore upholding a legitimate right, recognized even in international bodies.

The Collectif Palestine Vaincra denounces this new campaign of intimidation on the part of the supporters of Israeli apartheid, zealously relayed by the city hall of Toulouse which is infamous for its positions of defense of Israel and the shameful twinning with its capital Tel Aviv. It is unacceptable that the town hall of Toulouse is relaying and supporting a campaign which aims to silence an anti-colonialist voice. Beyond these attacks on the Collectif Palestine Vaincra, it is all collectives, associations, unions and anti-racist organizations that are targeted. We will not be intimidated. We will continue our activities and defend our right to freedom of demonstration and expression to defend the vision of a free and democratic Palestine for all, from the river to the sea.

17 December, Online Event: Overseas compatriots and national and social liberation movements with Jose Maria Sison, Mohammed Khatib and more

REGISTER HERE: https://forms.gle/dfzYVq3J9P1mq5vu5 | December 17, 2021, Friday, 9:00 PM Philippine Time (7 AM Mexico, 8 AM NYC, 1 PM Senegal, 2 PM Belgium, 6:30 PM New Delhi)

The multiple crises of the capitalist system continue to worsen especially at this time of the global pandemic. People lose their jobs and the rate of unemployment continues to rise. This forces people into abject poverty and with the global pandemic, the real condition of the healthcare system was exposed and marginalized people are struggling to receive health care services.

Nearly two years have passed and a lot of people, especially in the underdeveloped countries remain unvaccinated. This is happening despite booster shots being administered among people in developed and developing countries. Such conditions all the more expose the unevenness and the inability of many governments to respond to the needs of its people.

This condition, especially in the underdeveloped world, forces people to find other means in order to survive and address their basic human needs like food, housing, health care services, and education. There are now 281 million international migrants which is 3.6 percent of the global population according to the International Organization for Migration or IOM. In the Philippines, almost 10 percent of its population are living and working abroad with almost half working as temporary migrants and a considerable number are without proper working documents.

The current migration we have is a forced one and its roots can be attributed to the worsening economic, political and environmental conditions in the home country. Meanwhile, states where most of the migrants are from have taken advantage of the situation to institutionalize and profit from the exportation of human labor. Such is the case of the Philippines where for almost 50 years, export of labor was developed into a major industry and government earns from the meagre salaries of Filipino migrants through their remittances and revenues from various government fees. This condition makes the country “financially sound” at least on paper and become more attractive for foreign loans. This is one way of how neoliberalism plays its role in the economy of countries like the Philippines and other third world nations.

The capitalist crises make it an imperative to launch national and social liberation movements. In such movements, all oppressed and exploited peoples have role including overseas nationals.

What is the role of overseas compatriots in national and democratic struggles in their home country? What can migrants do to advance solidarity and the people’s fight against imperialism?

Main Speaker: Prof Jose Maria Sison, ILPS Chair Emeritus

Reactors:

  1. Mohammed Khatib, European Coordinator of Samidoun Solidarity Network for Palestinian Political Prisoners
  2. Nilufer Koc, Spokesperson for the Commission on Foreign Relations of the Kurdistan National Congress (KNK)
  3. Gabriela Malespin, Co-Chairperson of the New York Boricua Resistance

BC Government in Canada: Stop Profiting off War Crimes, Boycott Israeli Wines

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network is a signatory of the following statement launched by Canada Palestine Association and BDS Vancouver-Coast Salish. It calls on the provincial government of British Columbia — which owns publicly owned BC Liquor Stores and the BC Liquor Distribution Branch — to boycott Israeli wines and stop profiting from war crimes. Our Vancouver chapter is active in supporting the campaign to boycott Israeli wines and demand that BC stop selling these products from stolen and colonized Palestinian and Syrian land. Additional signatories are welcome! If your organization would like to join the statement, email cpavancouver@gmail.com.

BC Government: Stop Profiting off Israeli War Crimes

The British Columbia Liquor Distribution Branch is complicit in violations of Palestinian human rights. Despite calls from multiple local organizations for a boycott of Israeli wines, many produced in occupied Palestinian and Syrian territories in the West Bank and the Golan Heights, they continue to be sold in publicly owned BC Liquor Stores. Repeated appeals to the provincial cabinet ministers responsible for the Liquor Distribution Branch have seen no action and little response.

The Israeli wines carried in BC stores have consistently been linked to the Israeli settlement enterprise. The wines in question are either from the Golan Heights Winery and its joint venture the Galil Winery; or from the Israeli Teperberg Winery, which proudly displays a map on its website showing vineyards in occupied Palestinian territory. According to the progressive Israeli research group “Who Profits”, Teperberg Winery “owns and sources from vineyards in the occupied West Bank, including in the Ezion Bloc settlement and in Mevo Horon.”

Israeli settlements are illegal under the Fourth Geneva Convention and international humanitarian law. They are part and parcel of the systematic targeting of the Palestinian people for dispossession, occupation and apartheid for over 73 years. Consecutive BC governments have also been aiding and abetting the pillage of Palestinian and Arab property and resources, expressly forbidden in Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

Earlier this year, the New Democratic Party NDP of Canada passed a resolution that committed in part to end “all trade and economic cooperation with illegal settlements in Israel-Palestine”. As noted in our April 19, 2021 letter to the Finance Minister in BC’s NDP provincial government (which has received no response to date):
“The sale of wines from illegal Israeli settlements in BC and Canadian liquor stores has been an ongoing travesty for over a decade; there is no better place for the NDP to implement its new policy (and for)… action to finally be taken on this issue. In September 2018, thirty-one organizations already told the BC government: ‘We do not wish to be made complicit in these violations of international law’.“

Human rights violations are not a valid “consumer choice” – but they are the choice being made every day by the BC Liquor Distribution Branch. These are our publicly funded stores and should reflect a commitment to human rights, including justice for the Palestinian people.

We are calling on B.C. Finance Minister Selina Robinson and the Liquor Distribution Branch to immediately halt this complicity in Israeli war crimes.  The current BC government has recently shown its disregard for the rights of indigenous people, with its violent raids on Wet’suwet’en territory. They need to make a change and respect international law rather than violating it.

From Turtle Island to Palestine, profiting off colonization is a crime!

Signed by:
BDS Vancouver-Coast Salish Territories
Canada Palestine Association

Endorsed by:
Association of Palestinian Students UTM
Barnard-Boecker Centre Foundation of Victoria
Canadian BDS Coalition
Canada-Philippines Solidarity for Human Rights
Coalition against Israeli Apartheid Victoria
Friends of the Filipino People in Struggle – CST
Greater Toronto 4 BDS
Human Rights for All HR4A, Saskatchewan
Independent Jewish Voices Vancouver
Justice for Palestinians, Calgary
Niagara Movement for Justice in Palestine Israel
PCCC-Palestine House
Palestine Solidarity, St. John’s
Palestinian And Jewish Unity
Palestinian Youth Movement Vancouver
Peace Alliance Winnipeg
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
SANSAD South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy
Socialist Action
Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights UBC
Sulong UBC
Vancouver & District Labour Council
Vancouver Peace Council
Victoria Friends of Cuba
West Coast Coalition Against Racism Society

(Group endorsements can be sent to cpavancouver@gmail.com; we will be updating the endorsers list on a regular basis. Please join us in saying: From Turtle Island to Palestine, Profiting off Colonization is a Crime!)

Support Hakoura cooperative farm in Greece: Run by Palestinian refugees, preserving Palestinian produce

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network supports this important initiative launched by Palestinian refugees in Greece. The project not only highlights the deep connections to land and agriculture that have not been severed by 73 years of the denial of the right to return, but also keeps Palestinian seeds, produce and agriculture alive in preparation for the implementation of the right to return. Supporting the steadfastness of Palestinian refugees outside Palestine is key to supporting return and liberation. Join us in sustaining this project via this crowdfunding campaign:

 

After a successful test run in rural Athena, Qays and Ahmad saw the potential of building a cooperative community of Palestinian refugees working together towards self-sufficiency by cultivating organic seasonal produce. They are now starting Hakoura, a cooperative farm, to achieve this dream. Click here to make a donation.

There are more than 8000 Palestinian refugees in Greece, many living under harsh conditions because of a lack of opportunities, labor exploitation, and no support. Ahmad and Qays saw that by starting a cooperative, it’s a way of taking matters into their own hands and paving an alternative path in mitigating economic, social, and cultural threats, as well as the security risks facing refugees and other marginalized groups.

Farming is not only about providing jobs, it’s also about nurturing an innate Palestinian need to connect with the land. The farm will be growing organic produce with Palestinian seeds and creating a seed bank for preservation. Seed saving practices sustain culture, tradition, biodiversity, and help support other cooperatives.

Your contributions, no matter how small, make a big difference. Qays and Ahmad have now secured 1 hectare (10 dunums) of land in rural Athena to create Hakoura. Support Qays and Ahmad’s cooperative, Hakoura, to make it a successful model that improves the economic and social situation of refugees in Greece.

Click here to make a donation.

Posters in French cities against torture of Palestinian children spark outrage among Israeli apartheid supporters

Last weekend, many posters appeared in the streets of Lyon and Paris, France, with a clear message: “The torture of children by the Israeli occupation” illustrated by a young Palestinian surrounded by Israeli soldiers. This was enough to provoke strong reactions from supporters of Israeli apartheid.

Pascal Blache, mayor of the 6th arrondissement of Lyon, reacted on social networks by stating, “Wild displays of hateful, anti-Semitic propaganda on our land are intolerable. I strongly condemn this method of action.” On Twitter, many people responded to denounce the shameful association of criticism of Israeli policy, namely the torture of minors, with anti-Semitism.

These remarks were immediately taken up by the news site Lyon Mag, which referred to “anti-Israel messages […] that [have] greatly shocked the Jewish community.” This attempt to associate the Jewish community with Israeli policy is deeply reactionary. Criticism of Israeli policy, and of the Zionist project that led to the creation of Israel, has nothing to do with anti-Semitism. This received a strong response from Internet users, as documented at the CAPJPO-Europalestine website.

A large spectrum of supporters of Israeli apartheid, from the fascists of the LDJ – Ligue de Défense Juive to the Union des Etudiants Juifs de France – UEJF and representatives of the CRIF, to cry out in scandal alongside the extreme right-wing newspaper Valeurs actuelles.

All these declarations in support of a colonial and racist state will not make us forget the reality denounced by these posters. Today, 170 children are detained by the Israeli occupation as documented by the human rights organization Addameer in its latest report. In the interrogation centers, they are subjected to physical and psychological torture: tied up in uncomfortable positions without being able to sleep, sometimes beaten, threatened with abuse, etc. They are usually asked to confess to throwing stones at tanks or bulldozers that are demolishing their homes, to denounce other children, to become “informers”, and to sign documents in Hebrew (a language they do not understand). These arrests, imprisonments and abuses have serious consequences on the development of the children. Here is a video that provides more information:

Source: Collectif Palestine Vaincra Translation: Samidoun

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