A still from the Academy award-winning documentary 'No Other Land.'
Kiera Merriam
Palestine Solidarity Grey Bruce continues to engage the community and raise awareness about the ongoing genocide happening in occupied Palestine with an upcoming fundraiser and screening of Academy Award winning documentary 'No Other Land' on Saturday, April 26. The event is set to get underway at 4:30pm at the Bailey Hall, Owen Sound District Secondary School, 750 9th Street West.
Tickets are $20 and all proceeds will be donated to Palestine Relief.
Since Israel broke the ceasefire agreement on March 18, 2025, Gazans and Palestinian refugees are once again facing unimaginable violence, including escalating attacks on the last of the refugee camps in Rafah, attacks against schools and vital infrastructure, bombing of the last functioning hospital in Gaza City, and the killing of 15 first responders.
All headline-worthy events with few headlines making their mark on mainstream media.
Israel's initial statement with regard to the 15 first responders claimed the group of emergency vehicles were proceeding 'suspiciously' and without emergency lights but they quickly back tracked as video recovered from the phone of one of the paramedics killed clearly shows the emergency lights engaged at the time of the attack.
In February this year, Palestine Solidarity Grey Bruce (PSGB), a grassroots initiative advocating for peace, justice and an end to the occupation and apartheid in Gaza and the West Bank, hosted a screening of another award-winning documentary 'Israelism' at the Owen Sound Library.
In their introduction to a crowd of about 60 attendees, PSGB's Leslie Moskovits offered a land acknowledgement and said they recognize that in standing in solidarity with Palestinians, "we join in opposition to the violence of settler colonialism and that as so-called Canadians we live on land that is also part of the legacy and ongoing process of settler colonialism."
"While we focus our actions today on Palestine in a time of extreme genocidal violence, we recognize our responsibility for action here, we stand in solidarity with Indigenous communities of Turtle Island in a fight for sovereignty and to oppose the ongoing processes of settler colonialism," Moskovits said.
Released in 2023, 'Israelism' criticizes Israel's treatment of Palestinians, illustrates the portrayal of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in American Jewish institutions and is critical of the way American Jews are educated on the conflict and the history of the region.
It follows a former IDF soldier, Eitan, and Simone Zimmerman, an American Jew who, when she began to ask tough questions that her community couldn't answer, she started to look more deeply into the history and Zionism's role in the region. 'Israelism' postures that American Jews are taught a narrative that demonizes Palestinians and erases the existence of Palestine.
The film highlights a generational divide within the Jewish community and examines the growing number of Jews awakening to the reality of Israel and Zionism.
During a group discussion following the film PSGB member Yehuda Nestel said he grew up a third generation Socialist Zionist "which is maybe a slightly different flavour than what we saw [in the film]" which features Jewish institutions such as Hillel. Nestel said as a member of a Socialist Zionist youth group in the 1990s he heard a range of opinions from violently racist views of, and wishes upon Palestinians; to debating the merits of a two state solution.
"The reality is soldiers just go and kick Palestinian families out of their homes for no reason," Nestel said, adding that "that understanding comes later, that's not where they introduce you to it," he said.
"The messy details and the mechanics of how Israel exists, that's not where this starting point is in terms of indoctrinating kids or talking about how amazing [Israel] is," he said. "It's just, 'Oh there's some bad guys and we have to protect ourselves.'"
Nestel called it the "thin edge of the wedge" unless, like Zimmerman, you have the wherewithal to ask those hard questions.
Ibrahim Zoghbor, who is from Gaza but now lives in Saugeen Shores, reminded those in attendance that the Zionist movement started in Europe and began in response to anti-Jewish sentiments in Europe. There was never a history of conflict between the Jewish, Christian, or Muslim communities in Palestine prior to the Zionists immigrating to the region, said Zoghbor.
"There are Jewish communities in Gaza and now the political situation has destroyed everything," he said.
"That was not the history of Gaza, we have lived a genocide since 76 years," Zoghbor said, adding that we are fortunate to be able to see and understand what is happening from the Palestinian perspective. "It's miserable when you see hundreds of people that you know have been killed," he said.
"And for what, they are human and they deserve an independent state with national dignity," Zoghbor said.
"We still have the keys to our homes we lived in in 1948," he said. "We were forced to move, human ethnic cleansing since 1948 and before."
Later in an email to Saugeen Shores Hub, Zoghbor said that for the region to truly move forward, war crimes must be stopped, and justice must be served. "Accountability is essential, not to dwell on the past but to ensure that such injustices are not repeated," he said.
"Only through justice and equal rights can we build a future where peace is not just an aspiration, but a reality," Zoghbor said. "I believe that a just and lasting solution can only come through the establishment of one secular, democratic state where all individuals have equal rights, regardless of their background."
To date, the death toll in Gaza is over 51,000, with an additional 14,000 missing and over 116,000 wounded.
In one year Israel killed over 20,000 Palestinian children, more than were killed in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and Ukraine in a combined 34 years of conflict.
Adjusted for population, Israel ranks highest for jailed journalists in the world.
Gaza is currently six weeks into an Israeli-imposed siege on food and medical supplies, with UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees and the Near East) calling for "immediate action."
In addition to Jewish communities withdrawing their financial support of Israel, it's up to all of us to demand our elected officials withdraw their support for the ongoing genocide.
Protests continue to happen around the world and earlier this month a group of Ontario teachers interrupted the annual meeting of the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan to demand they stop profiting from the murder of Palestinian children and educators.
The group wore t-shirts that read 'Divest from War Crimes and Genocide Now!' and 'Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Invests in Palestinian Death.'
We are in a unique position here in Canada right now with a federal election around the corner. Between now and April 28, we have a chance to demand those vying for our votes take a firm stand against Israel's actions in occupied Palestine and our country's continued support of and complicity in those actions.
'Vote Palestine' is an online platform through which candidates running in the upcoming federal election have an opportunity to endorse any or all of the campaign's five points including:
1. Two-way arms embargo on Israel
2. Ending Canadian support for settlements
3. Combat anti-Palestinian racism and protect pro-Palestine speech
4. Recognizing the state of Palestine
5. Funding Gaza relief efforts, including UNWRA
At the time of publishing on April 16, 2025 293 candidates from across Canada had endorsed the Vote Palestine platform, the vast majority offering full endorsement with a few offering partial endorsement.
Also as of April 16 the only candidate in the ridings of Huron-Bruce or Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound (BGOS) to endorse the platform was Huron-Bruce NDP candidate Melanie Burrett, offering full endorsement. As of April 22 Green candidates Natasha Akiwenzie (BGOS) and Gregory J McLean (Huron-Bruce) had also signed on with full endorsement. As of the morning of April 25 Christopher Neudorf, NDP candidate for BGOS had offered full endorsement. The total number of candidates across Canada had reached 336.
As of April 25, 2025, no candidates in Simcoe-Grey, the riding east of BGOS, had endorsed the platform; and east of Huron-Bruce in Perth-Wellington NDP candidate Kevin Kruchkywich had offered full endorsement. There isn't a Green candidate in that riding.
You can search your riding and send an email to your candidates by visiting votepalestine.ca/candidates.
You can watch 'Israelism' in its entirety by visiting www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iq6J7Q6L0yw.
'No Other Land' is directed by a Palestinian-Israeli collective and "transcends typical filmmaking, offering an unflinching, unique and vital perspective on the ongoing displacement and demolition of Palestinian homes and communities in the West Bank," read a press release from PSGB, adding that the film "allows viewers to witness firsthand the struggles faced by Palestinians living under the constant threat of demolition and dispossession."
You can join Palestine Solidarity Grey Bruce for their screening of 'No Other Land' on April 26 at 4:30pm at OSDSS. For tickets email palestinesolidaritygreybruce@gmail.com.
To rent 'No Other Land' privately or for information on community screenings and theatre showings, visit supportmasaferyatta.com/nootherland.
For more information about the film visit releasing.dogwoof.com/no-other-land.
A group from the February event at the Owen Sound Library, standing in front of the title screen of 'Israelism.'
Last updated April 27, 2025.
