Over the summer, I have been in contact with Maysa Hawwash, a Canadian physical therapist attempting to serve people in the West Bank. I came to know her through her work as a founding member of Doctors Against Genocide.
Maysa has been sending me footage of what she is witnessing.
The footage is like something from a grainy horror movie – night terror, violence, threats and murder.
What she shared has totally shaken me up.
I am no stranger to the issues. Over the last year, I have been following the increasing violence by Israeli settlers and soldiers. The United Nations has issued frightening reports of how sexual violence against families — including children — has become part of the normalized terror against Palestinian families.
The Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem has been documenting the increasing number of Palestinian children murdered in the West Bank as part of the campaign by settlers and soldiers to terrorize the population.
But watching Maysa’s footage made me see how this wasn’t genocide from bombs and drones – it is a terror campaign that is up close and personal.
Cocky young settlers banging on the windows of Palestinian families at night; cars pulling up to homes where settlers confidently stepped out to throw incendiary bombs that trap families in the fiery explosion.
Maysa has documented beatings, the terrorizing of farmers and the displacement of their families.
In one heartbreaking interview, she spoke with a paramedic whose colleague was murdered in the ambulance by heavily armed Israeli settlers.
As I was pulling this article together, I learned that Israel’s National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir has invited journalists to watch the public gallows being erected to hang troublesome Palestinians.
I couldn’t help but think of the terrifying images of the photos of Nazi gallows that were used against civilians in Ukraine and the Balkans.
But the settlers who murdered the ambulance driver or who killed the Palestinian youth trying to protect his flock won’t face the gallows. They are protected by the Israeli state.
Palestinian families who dare seek justice are targeted and punished.
I tracked Maysa down at a clinic in Ramallah to help me understand what is going on. She explained how the terror in the West Bank is part of the larger Israeli war taking place in Gaza and Lebanon.
But what separates the West Bank is that civilians are committing the terror.
“This is a genocide determined to destroy you, your family and your entire history.
We cannot let this be treated as a fringe or far away issue.”
Maysa is pleading with Canada to speak up.
“We cannot be silent.
This is about our shared humanity and our shared future about the kind of world we want to leave to our children.”
Please take the time to watch.
Contact Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand and insist full sanctions on Israel over the terror campaign in the West Bank.
Email: Anita.Anand@parl.gc.ca
Hill Office: House of Commons, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A 0A6
Telephone: 613-995-4014
Has any thinking person ever doubted Israel's ultimate goal in Gaza? Quite simply, it is, and always has been, to push all Gazans into the sea so their land can be settled by Israelis.
I understand that the IDF now occupies 70% of Palestinian territory, and it plans to continue to advance. This will not stop as long as the Benighted States turns a blind eye and actively supports Israeli policy.
Does Canada import Israeli products? Do we do business with its government. If so, we must stop now!
Thank you for this report.
Israel has shifted from evil leadership and military to an evil citizen population. Those citizens of Israel that are not yet subscribing to this evil MUST stand up and stop it in any way possible… or be as guilty of genocide as the killers.