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Israel’s Starvation of Gaza: Some Canadian Connections [ZINE]

 Posted by  Posted on September 26, 2025  Leave a Comment on Israel’s Starvation of Gaza: Some Canadian Connections [ZINE]

This is a zine to help make specific connections to Canada with what is going on in Gaza. It is short, and intended to be used as a handout and popular education tool, to reach beyond standard social media bubbles and to help people make connections for themselves – especially to help break down some people’s misconception that it is wholly “something happening elsewhere.”

It also contains some information that is not that well known.

The PDF file to print is at this link: updated version = v1.1 September 27, 2025.
It is two pages on the PDF, i.e. meant to print double-sided on a single paper, then fold.
So maybe it is more appropriate to call it a pamphlet rather than a zine.

The full text of it to read in your browser is below – this includes italicized sections of reference sources / links, and a bit of added commentary, that were not able to fit into the print version.

It is worth noting that the starvation imposed by Israel on the people of Gaza is only one part of the genocide* it is committing – and also worth noting that ‘starvation’ refers technically not only to lack of food, but also of potable water and other basic necessities of life. *For those who question whether it is a genocide, that is addressed near the end of the “FEED ME…” section.

Image of the top section of the front page of the zine

ZINE CONTENT:

**LIE**: “Israel has never interfered with nor blocked any aid, including Canadian-funded assistance” — Iddo Moed, Israel ambassador to Canada (Global News, 2025-07-25)

One week after the October 7th 2023 attacks, the Israel Office Director of Canadian lobby group CIJA (Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs) – David M. Weinberg – wrote the following calls in two Israeli newspapers, Jerusalem Post & (in Hebrew) Israel Hayom:

“Shattered is the notion that Israel can “shrink the conflict” or “disincentivize violence” by gifting Hamas tens of thousands of work permits in Israel for its populace, or by facilitating the transfer into Gaza of tens of thousands of tons of civilian and humanitarian goods every day, or by selling gas, electricity and water to a Hamas government. Israel must terminate any responsibility for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip until Hamas is eliminated.” [bold emphasis added]
[—and—]
“Shattered is the hope that the world ever will apply “international humanitarian law” and the so-called “laws of war” to Israel’s enemies. Shattered is the notion that these much ballyhooed but tendentious frameworks can any longer be allowed to tie Israel’s hands behind its back when the IDF goes on the offensive. Israel must not respond just “proportionately” to Hamas. It must and will apply disproportionate force to eliminate the enemy.” [bold emphasis added]

So long as Israel continues its longstanding imposed military control of all Gaza borders it does have responsibility under international law to/for the population of Gaza. In the genocide case against Israel, the International Court of Justice’s initial 2024-01-26 “Provisional Measures” (to protect the people of Gaza from genocide) orders to Israel included to “take all measures within its power… to prevent… the deprivation of: access to adequate food and water; … humanitarian assistance … ; and medical supplies and assistance.” In line with Weinberg’s counsel, Israel has clearly chosen to not obey.

On 2024-06-21, the National Post published an op-ed by the E.D. of so-called Honest Reporting Canada claiming that international monitoring had shifted a previous assessment, and now there was evidence of no high risk of famine. But in fact, it had reported an inability to gather evidence due to the unsafe conditions in Gaza. The National NewsMedia Council later ruled that the op-ed had violated the principle of journalistic accuracy.

The “Canada Well” destroyed by Israel — one of 30 that month

In July 2024, with no military purpose and while not in active engagement with Palestinian military forces, IDF soldiers willfully and deliberately planted explosives on a large water treatment facility and reservoir in Rafah, and detonated them. It was known as the “Canada Well,” built with CIDA funding in 1999. What the IDF accomplished was removing access to potable water from the Palestinian population. One of the soldiers recorded the operation and posted it to social media, saying “in honor of Shabbat.” According to Reuters, it was one of 30 wells in Gaza the IDF destroyed that month.

Canadian officials of course issued words of concern demanding an independent investigation, and Israel officials of course issued words denying it was part of IDF policy — repeating a very worn-out dynamic that leads to no accountability or change.

“FEED ME” and red paint on the National Holocaust Monument

In the early hours of 2025-06-09, the words feed “FEED ME” were graffitied onto the side of the National Holocaust Monument in Ottawa, along with splashes of red paint. The culprit eventually pled guilty to a charge of ‘mischief to a war memorial.’

The vandalism was widely perceived and portrayed as an act of antisemitism: “This is pure hate against Jews” – Iddo Moed; “This doesn’t feel like it’s about Israel” – CIJA; “It’s ridiculous to say that this was not motivated by hate” – Lawrence Greenspon. In a bail ruling, the judge stated it “could be seen as weaponizing through extreme hatred, targeting the vulnerabilities of a section of our community.” In his plea, the culprit acknowledged the pain caused to the Jewish community; his lawyer explained afterwards, “He looks forward to demonstrating that his motivation was rooted in a desire to call attention to human suffering, not to cause harm or spread intolerance.”

The Monument commemorates the Jewish and other victims of Nazi Germany and its collaborators, and is also a tribute to the survivors. Its Committee has a duty to “ensure that the atrocities that occurred during this dark period of history are remembered and that we never forget the lessons of the past.” So while the graffiti on the Monument is seen by some as an attack on Jews, it can also be perceived as aligning with the overarching principles the Monument represents against genocide in general.

But Monument Committee co-chair Lawrence Greenspon stated, “It’s high time that the leaders of the world, including our own prime minister, stop blaming Israel for the situation in Gaza. It is not a situation that was created by Israel, nor is it one that is being continued by Israel,” and that this ‘unfounded’ criticism of Israel “is fueling the fires of hatred which cause these types of crimes.”

The other perspective can be understood via Omer Bartov, an Israeli-American Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies. His 2025-07-15 NYTimes op-ed explains the “edging ever closer to a consensus” amongst genocide scholars that Israel is indeed committing genocide — and that when Holocaust scholars and/or commemoration “insist on ignoring or denying Israel’s genocidal actions in Gaza, they threaten to undermine everything that Holocaust scholarship and commemoration have stood for.”

Trudeau’s gone, but the genocide continues. What about Carney?

Federal Liberal leader Mark Carney, during an election campaign event 2025-04-08, responded to an audience member shouting “Mr. Carney, there’s a genocide in Palestine!” by saying, “I’m aware. That’s why we have an arms embargo.” The outrage from supporters of Israel was swift and amplified; the next day he said to media he hadn’t heard the word ‘genocide’ and only knew it had been a reference to Gaza. The day after that, he answered a media question by stating, “This question [of genocide] is in front of the International Court of Justice, the situation is a horrible situation. I will not and I will never politicize that word or this situation.”

As Prime Minister, Carney issued a joint statement 2025-05-19 with UK’s Prime Minster and France’s President. In part: “If Israel does not cease the renewed military offensive and lift its restrictions on humanitarian aid, we will take further concrete actions in response.” On 2025-07-24, Carney stated on social media that “[Israel’s] denial of humanitarian aid is a violation of international law.” On 2025-07-30 he issued notice that in September at the United Nations General Assembly, Canada would recognize Palestinian statehood, as long as various imposed conditions were met by Palestine.

  • References: (To be added soon)

    


EXCERPT: Blessed is the Flame: an introduction to concentration camp resistance and anarcho-nihilism — by Serafinski

(The idea for the book first came in Toronto, their 93-year-old Holocaust-survivor grandmother’s home.)

… suffice it to say that being kept forever on the brink of starvation, worked beyond the capacities of the human body, exposed daily to wanton acts of cruelty, subjected to year-round elemental onslaught, and being perpetually enveloped in pestilence and disease, has the capacity to turn human bodies into emaciated shells devoid of will power or physical strength. Throughout survivor testimonies, starvation is the most frequently cited obstacle to resistance. One survivor of the Warsaw ghetto, Marek Edelman, annoyed with perpetual questions about the passivity of those who boarded trains bound for death camps, explained to his interviewer: “Listen . . . do you have any idea what bread meant at the time in the Ghetto? Because if you don’t, you will never understand how thousands of people could voluntarily come for the bread and go on to the camp at Treblinka. Nobody has understood thus far.” Vera Laska, a survivor of Auschwitz and editor of Women in the Resistance and in the Holocaust, reflects on the significance of bread in the camps:

“I have seen with my own eyes in Auschwitz an SS man enter the barracks of 1,450 women, throw chunks of bread into their midst and then step back in a fit of laughter as hundreds of women pushed and shoved, clawed and fought for the crumbs. Within minutes, three women were trampled to death and dozens injured.”

Though we may recoil learning about situations like this, most of us will never really know what it feels like to be so systematically deprived of food; thus our exploration of this topic must always be guided by the deepest humility for the hunger that we can read about but never truly know.

  • This excerpt is from the “Precluding Resistance” sub-section of the “Introduction to Concentration Camp Resistance” section. There are multiple formats of the text available online: for example, a 158-page (4.5″x6″) PDF and ePUB and a 77-page (8.3″x11″) PDF are both available on archive.org, as is an audiobook version. The two specific quotes in this excerpt are from, respectively, Marek Edelman’s 1990 book, The Ghetto Fights (page 21), and Vera Laska’s 1983 book, Women in the Resistance to the Holocaust (page 186).

Commentary note (not included in the print zine): These couple sections above and below that aren’t specifically about Gaza, are included because they can be relevant to understanding the circumstances, as well as broadening an empathy that is sometimes reserved only for certain groups of people.

One person asked when first looking at the zine, whether the current relevance of these sections was explicitly explained. No, it isn’t. It is up to the reader to make their own connections, to think about how it is relevant. But, for example, in relation to the above excerpt from “Blessed is the Fire”: at the very end of this 2025-09-15 Democracy Now interview with Chris Hedges, he brings up the topic and draws a connection (however, a further connection isn’t made explicit there, and that is of the possible subconscious intergenerational trauma connection to what is currently being perpetrated).

CANADIAN HISTORY OF RELEVANCE:

Jewish refugees turned away in 1939;

Lt. Gen. Romeo Dallaire watched 800,000 Rwandans genocided in 1994

In 1939, Canada turned away the MS St. Louis boat with over 900 Jewish refugees from the Nazis on it. Over 1/4 of the passengers were later killed in the Holocaust. In 2018, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued an official apology, stating Canada’s government had been “unmoved by the plight of these refugees” and “chose to turn its back on these innocent victims,” and “bitter resentment towards Jews were enshrined in our policies.”

In 1994, Canadian Lt. General Romeo Dallaire was the commander of a United Nations peacekeeping mission during the genocide in Rwanda: “He found himself powerless to stop the violence… the political will to intervene was sorely lacking. Dallaire’s efforts to intervene were often blocked, and he was left in a state of despair as he watched the brutality unfold… His helplessness was not just a matter of resources but also of the global community’s indifference to the unfolding genocide, which was not referred to as a genocide for a very long time by any international body or state body.”

  • Reference: 2025-03-31 post by “Reflections on Genocide”, a project by masters students in the course ‘Genocide, war and society’ at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).
    **CORRECTION**: The original v1.0 version of the zine incorrectly identified this source as the CBC.

Open Letter to Carney (2025-06-09) from 412 Canadians, including academics, lawyers, former and retired ambassadors (including to the United Nations), ministers and public servants, UN human rights experts, and civil society, labour and faith leaders:

“It is time for the further concrete action that has been promised”

  • Work actively towards an immediate, permanent ceasefire and the release of all Israeli and Palestinian captives;
  • Insist on full humanitarian access to Gaza and demand that the Israeli ban on the UN Relief and Works Agency be completely lifted;
  • Publicly support the role of and fully comply with international courts in holding to account those who violate international law;
  • Pursue all possible domestic measures, including immediately withdrawing from the free trade agreement between Canada and Israel, imposing sanctions on Israeli leaders, initiating investigations under the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act, enforcing a full and comprehensive two-way arms embargo, and stripping charitable status from organizations found to be complicit in crimes under international law;
  • Without further delay, join the 149 states who recognize the State of Palestine and support all efforts for Palestine to be admitted as a full member of the United Nations.

Source: The letter is online at this post on AlexNeve.ca and includes PDF links to the English and French versions, as well as to the *updated* list of endorsers (*: 532 signatures was a June 15 update).

There’s also the NotInMyName.oxfam.ca campaign with four demands (as of 2025-09).

** And: **

GazaHealthcareLetters.org :

July 2024 letter from Canadian healthcare workers who’ve provided medical services in Gaza since 7th October 2023. They’ve also had multiple press conferences.

ArmsEmbargoNow.ca :

July 2025 report that documents continuing military exports to Israel despite statements from the government saying they stopped in 2024.

MarchToOttawa.com :
Sept. 2025 actions and five-day vigil at Parliament Hill to bring the urgent message to the politicians. Demands include those based on the six of the “Hague Group”.

  • (Some additional MarchToOttawa links soon)

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