My close friend, colleague, and fellow Canadian lawyer lost 42 of her family members in Gaza due to the relentless bombings from Israel. 19 of the victims were children, two of them were less than a year old. I agree that Israel has the right to defend itself, but we all know that genocide is not self-defence. As a former immigration and refugee lawyer, I have always been proud to be Canadian. As a Canadian citizen, it is our responsibility to stand against injustice and demand adherence to international laws and treaties that we have signed. Canada, by its inaction, is also accountable for what is happening to these children. We must advocate for accountability for any violations of international law and support the human rights and dignity of all people affected by the conflict.
In a statement by Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), dated November 9, 2023, they publicly stated, “This morning around 10:30 am our teams treated a paramedic who was shot while inside an ambulance. Since 11 am this morning, Israel military vehicles have blocked ambulances from entering the hospitals, forcing them to refer patients to hospitals further away. Last night a soldier fired at the emergency unit of the hospital, hitting the wall in full view of our colleagues who were standing outside. Today, our team witnessed Israeli forces fire at the entrance of the hospital, with bullets hitting the wall directly above the door. Hospitals are not targets and must remain safe spaces. Medical care must not be impeded. We call on the Israel military to stop firing on hospitals and to stop their military vehicles from blocking ambulances and medical staff from reaching health care facilities.” There is clear intent of the Israel Defence Forces to target hospitals with no documentary evidence provided that Hamas is there.
On November 11, Doctors Without Borders released a statement from a MSF surgeon who is currently in Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza, in which he stated that “there’s a sniper who attacked four patients inside the hospital, one of them has a gunshot wound directly in his neck and he is a quadriplegic patient and the other one was shot in the abdomen. Some of the people who go outside the hospital they want to go to the South. [But] they bombed them, they bombed their family. Two neonatal patients [babies] have died because the incubator is not working […] They hit the hospital many times. We are alone. No one hears us but we cannot evacuate with the patients…” MSF reiterates to stop attacking the hospitals, call for an immediate ceasefire and allow people who wish to leave the hospitals the right to do so without killing them.
The fact that Israel argues they are trying to protect Palestinian civilians is an insult to our intelligence in consideration of the unprecedented casualties including innocent children, humanitarian aid workers and journalists as well as the bombing of hospitals, refugee camps, and United Nations schools compared to any other conflict.
The Guardian reported on November 9, 2023 that "According to three sources familiar with the talks, the original deal on the table involved freeing children, women and elderly and sick people in exchange for a five-day ceasefire, but the Israeli government turned this down and demonstrated its rejection with the launch of the ground offensive." Clearly, Mr. Netanyahu’s priorities are not the release of Israeli hostages but the genocide of the Palestinian people.
Save the Children Canada argues that Palestinian children are paying the highest price for a conflict they had no part in creating. The number of casualties in Gaza is unprecedented and is considered a “text-book case of genocide” according to the former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in New York, Mr. Craig Mokhiber, who resigned in protest of the United Nations “failing” to act. As Canadians, we cannot be complicit in this war crime. There are serious violations of international humanitarian law, including war crimes, by all parties involved. Canada must demand that Israel meet its commitments under the Geneva Conventions and international humanitarian law.
I once thought the issue was a “complicated situation.” However, when I look at the children being murdered, decapitated from the force of the bombs, and enduring amputations without anesthesia, I realized the issue is actually quite simple. Stop the killing of innocent civilians and demand a CEASEFIRE.
Amnesty International, Save the Children, Doctors Without Borders, as well as the heads of eighteen United Nations agencies and numerous non-profit organisations have joined in a collective voice to demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. They believe it is the best option to negotiate for the release of innocent Israeli hostages and allow humanitarian aid in Gaza as well as allow Palestinian people to leave safely.
In other words, if there was a mass shooter hiding in a school, do you think it would be right to bomb that school along with all the children simply to kill the shooter? It is not complicated to choose the side of humanity and demand a ceasefire. As a mother of two toddlers, it breaks my heart to see videos of children in Gaza writing their names on their arms so that they can be identified if they die. No child should be subjected to that.
An immediate ceasefire would end the unlawful attacks by all parties and stop the increasing death tolls in Gaza, protect innocent civilians including the children and allow aid agencies to transport life-saving medical equipment and supplies to Gaza and alleviate the immense human suffering we have witnessed. A ceasefire would also provide opportunities to negotiate for the release of hostages and to investigate the allegations of war crimes committed by Israel against the innocent civilians of Gaza as documented by Human Rights Watch. As there are reports of war crimes being committed, Canada must not provide any support in this conflict or else we risk being complicit in those crimes.
The United States and Canada were two of the only six countries in the 192-member United Nations to vote against a resolution calling for an end to illegal Israeli colonization of territories seized by military force in contravention of international law. As Nelson Mandela stated, “we know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.”
I believe dismantling Israel’s system of apartheid imposed on Palestinians is the only solution to ensure the security of Israel. Canada must work with international partners to address the root cause of the conflict and work in the development of long term solutions to ensure security and prosperity for all parties. Israel’s engagement of disproportionate force against civilians as a war tactic is not new. We witnessed this in Lebanon, which gave rise to Hezbollah and made them much stronger.
I believe grief, pain, and resentment will only encourage orphans and men to join Hamas in creating Hamas 2.0 when the genocide in Gaza is over. The people of Palestine have suffered decades of violence and human rights violations. As the Queen of Jordan stated, you can kill the combatants, but not the cause. Mr. Robert Pape, a professor of political science and director of the University of Chicago Project on Security and Threats, argues that there is a “smarter way to eliminate Hamas.”
Mr. Pape offers compelling arguments and stated that Israel is likely already producing more terrorists than it is killing. He describes the term as “counterinsurgency mathematics,” in which the current generation of terrorists can be killed, only to be replaced by a new and larger generation of terrorists in the future. Instead, we need to be focusing on political operations that drive a wedge between the terrorist and the local population from which they come from. A long campaign of years of sustained selective military attacks against identified terrorists combined with political operations to give people hope of a better future is the only way. As such, the only viable way to separate Hamas from the local population is politically. Mr. Pape reiterates that “Israel’s strategic vision has been to go in heavily militarily first and then figure out the political process later. But this is likely to integrate Hamas and the local population together more and more and to produce more terrorists than it kills.” Ensuring a peaceful and stable Middle East is in the best interest for Canada and our global community.
I struggle to sleep at night knowing that a child is dying a horrific or painful death every ten minutes in Gaza, perhaps even alone. If this simple fact does not compel you to act in demanding a ceasefire, then we have already lost our social conscience and humanity.
Yours truly,
Katrina Sriranpong
Former Immigration and Refugee Lawyer
Human Rights Advocate
