Pro-Palestine Canadian activists protest Israel’s aggression

Pro-Palestine Canadian activists and demonstrators have staged a protest against Israel’s decades-long aggression and atrocities against Palestinians, to which state-run media have chosen to turn a blind eye under the pretext of covering a rally against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

The pro-Palestine march was carried out along Yonge Street in Toronto, the capital of the central Canadian Province of Ontario, towards the Israeli embassy on Friday.

The protesters chanted “Free Palestine” slogans and waved Palestine’s national flags.

Deprived of any coverage by Canadian media and news agencies, the protest was held on the same day that thousands of Canadians showed their support for hundreds of Canadian truckers on their way to the capital Ottawa during a demonstration against obligatory vaccination mandates announced by Trudeau for cross-border drivers.

The Canadian premier announced a vaccine mandate for federal workers in October, and then last month, Canada and the United States imposed a similar one for cross-border truckers.

The new regulations require unvaccinated Canadian truck drivers to isolate for 14 days when they re-enter Canada from the US, a move drivers have been saying would have a major negative impact on their industry.

Israel occupied the West Bank and the Gaza Strip — territories the Palestinians want for a future state — during the six-day Arab-Israeli war in 1967. It later had to withdraw from Gaza.

More than 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 occupation of the West Bank. All of the settlements are illegal under international law. The United Nations Security Council has condemned the settlement activities in several resolutions.

ME