Raising Hope for Gaza

Local fundraiser held for Palestine Children’s Relief Fund

It’s agonizing to watch the horrors of Gaza and feel so utterly unable to help, as if we in Canada live on another planet, not just in another country. Canadians are a generous people, as are the residents of the West Kootenay region of British Columbia. Their generosity is all the more remarkable given that this tends to be a low-income area. Like so many of us, longtime activist Nadine Podmoroff was heart-weary with seeing the scenes of human suffering in Gaza in the media. So she organized a fundraiser for the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF), held at the Brilliant Cultural Centre near Castlegar, BC on March 24^th to raise money for civilian victims of Israel’s brutal war on Gaza. Guest speakers included both Palestinian and Jewish presenters. The PCRF’s fundraising is wholly dedicated to Palestinian aid. International aid auditor Charity Navigators has awarded the PCRF its four-star top rating for 11 consecutive years. Only 3% of assessed charities have received this rating. The event raised over $4,500 Canadian for the charity.

The program was opened by Doukhobor spiritual leader J.J. Verigin, who noted that three educational events on the Gaza conflict were recently held in the Kootenay-Boundary region. “We don’t want the accusation that we do nothing while others suffer; so we are very pleased and honoured to be at this event.” Kootenay Muslim Association representative Hamza Al-Hanafy, a Castlegar resident, offered a prayer to bless the event. Doukhobor singers sang the Russian Lord’s Prayer “Otcha Nash” and the audience enjoyed two songs from the Children’s Voices of Change choir. 

Podmoroff followed Verigin with updated information on the situation in Gaza. Nearly 100 journalists have been targeted and killed since the conflict began October 7, and communications infrastructure bombed, so it’s difficult to get accurate information. The UN and Al-Jazeera estimate 32,070 civilian deaths and 74,298 injured, with 50% of these casualties children, and 8,000 missing. For comparison, Israeli officials revised the death toll in Israel down from 1,405 to 1,139, with nearly 9,000 injuries. Gaza’s 36 hospitals have been partially or wholly destroyed by bombing on the premise that they are Hamas hideouts, a claim international medical staff and aid workers say has no basis in reality. “Torture of Palestinians is ongoing and food and medical aid is being blocked by Israel,” said Podmoroff. “The level of cruelty we are witnessing is inhuman.”

Children and women are often hit disproportionatly hard in war zones and Gaza is no exception. The Palestine Children’s Relief Fund dedicates all its fundraising to their aid.

Hannah Hadikin, co-chair of Canadian Voice of Women for Peace, spoke about the alarming growth of militarism during the 21^st century all over the world, with NATO providing support for much of it. Counting the current conflict, Gaza has been the subject of five major attacks by Israel since 2005. Hadikin said women suffer disproportionately in that part of the world – 15,000 pregnant women in Palestine have no access to medical facilities for pre or post-natal care. Levels of miscarriage are expected to increase. Famine resulting from Israel’s aid blockade will make women’s situation far worse. There are currently 17,000 orphaned and unaccompanied children in Palestine, said Hadikin. I spoke to Hadikin after the event to explain that men are just as much victims of war, usually the first to be killed or tortured in any conflict. Photos of Palestinian men stripped to their underwear with hands tied behind their backs while IDF soldiers beat and humiliate them—at best—are lurid testimony to this unfortunately timeless fact. Some are kneeling before what appear to be freshly dug mass graves.

Sid Shniad, Independent Jewish Voice Canada, laid the blame for the Gaza crisis at the feet of Zionism, an extreme right-wing philosophy. “Zionism arose when European colonialism was in full bloom and shares its basic tenets,” he said. “The impact of Zionism on Palestinian and Lebanese peoples has been consistently ignored in this discussion.” He showed maps that reveal the continually shrinking portion of Palestinian settlements since 1948, when 700,000 Palestinians were forcibly evicted from Palestine by Israel. “In order to create a Jewish majority, the Israeli state employed a policy of ethnic cleansing,” he said. IJVC supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement to pressure Israel economically. Shniad explained that while anti-semitism is very real, it is unfairly weaponized against critics of Israeli government policy.

BC-born Gera Hanafy of the Kootenay Muslim Association spoke in order to “to humanize the Palestinian people,” in contrast to Israeli government officials’ statements that they are “human animals.” She explained that Palestinians do not have the support of other countries for modern military equipment or strategic aid. Instead, Hamas has fought back with makeshift weapons and homemade bombs, resulting in accusations of terrorism. By contrast, Israel receives $3.3 billion annually in military aid from the US alone, with state-of-the-art weaponry. “The iron wall around Gaza has created world’s largest open air concentration camp, complete with 24/7 surveillance with drones, cameras and towers with snipers,” said Hanafy. “Over 25,000 people have been murdered by the IDF (Israel Defense Force), including women and children.”

Randy Janzen, retired instructor of Peace and Justice Studies and former chair of the Mir Centre for Peace, spoke of his work in conflict resolution overseas, including Palestine’s West Bank. “I volunteered to monitor a checkpoint that children had to pass through every day on their way to school. The soldiers’ purpose was to humiliate them and make their lives miserable. Even throwing a stone could get a child killed. In spite of so much despair I saw there, every child’s birthday, every wedding or birth was cause for celebration. All of us need to continue to push for a ceasefire.”

Jennah Hanafy spoke about actions the audience could take by boycotting a long list of corporations that directly or indirectly provide aid to Israel, including Indigo Books, Chevron, Disney, Paramount, McDonald’s, Burger King, Starbucks, PepsiCo brands and countless others. Amazon and Google have a $1.2 billion contract to provide surveillance and IT technology for the Israeli military and government. She noted several websites such as “Who Profits – The Israeli Occupation Industry Company Database” and the BDS website. Hanafy urged the audience to instead support local businesses whenever possible.

Maxine Kaufman-Lacusta of Independent Jewish Voices Canada closed the program with her own experiences volunteering for peace initiatives in Israel and Palestine, where she worked as Hebrew-English translator for groups seeking nonviolent solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. She is the author of Refusing to Be Enemies, with both Jewish and Palestinian voices calling for a peaceful resolution. “I was impressed with the wide variety of non-violent resistance to Israeli occupation. Most Palestinians I spoke to condemned violence.”

Through Substack Maxine offered the following clarification: “To clarify, my emphasis was on North America and Israel Palestine based organizations through which Canadians can support the Palestinian struggle for justice nonviolently, either by direct participation and observation "on the ground," or through information-sharing or sharing financial support.” She has provided me with a long list of such organizations, some of which I have posted in the LINKS section below.

NOTE: Normally I use extensive footnotes with citations to support my articles, however, in this case I have chosen to extensively hyperlink to sources so readers may check for themselves.

Donations can still be made at the PCRF webpage “Fundraiser Gaza Kootenays”: https://pcrf1.app.neoncrm.com/np/clients/pcrf1/campaign.jsp?campaign=14&fundraiser=664802&

LINKS: This extensive list of activist links for peace in the Middle East has been generously provided by Maxine Kaufman-Lacusta.

• Independent Jewish Voices Canada (IJV): Independent Jewish Voices - Canada (IJV) is a grassroots organization grounded in Jewish tradition that opposes all forms of racism and advocates for justice and peace for all in the land of historic Palestine. We believe that the broad spectrum of opinion among the Jewish population of this country is not reflected by those institutions that claim to represent Jewish communities as a whole – and certainly not by the government of the state of Israel. We have therefore resolved to promote the expression of alternative Jewish voices, particularly in respect of the grave situation in the Middle East, which threatens the future of both Palestinians and Israelis as well as the stability of the whole region. Our vision: a just peace in Israel-Palestine based on principles of equality and human rights.

• Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions movement

• Who Profits? An independent research centre whose website lists private sector companies, Israeli and other, which profit from and/or contribute to the Israeli occupation and “profit from, sustain and bolster Israel’s military-industrial complex…” E.g., the Dec. 17 2023 update details “The Companies Supplying Weapons to Israel’s Attack on Gaza,” the weapons they supply, and how they are used.

• Canadian Friends (Quaker) Service Committee: Canadians can donate to AFSC’s Gaza relief, send letters supporting an end to Canadian arms sales to Israel and on related issues to politicians; find out about CFSC’s work on Indigenous Peoples’ Human Rights, Peace, and Transformative Justice.

• Canadian Friends of Standing Together: A “grassroots movement mobilizing Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel in pursuit of peace, equality, and social and climate justice.” NOTE: Not to be confused with the organization of the same name that provides services to IDF soldiers!

• Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East: A grassroots-based, action-oriented organization, CJPME aims “To empower Canadians of all backgrounds to promote justice, development and peace in the Middle East, and at home in Canada.”

• Middle East Children’s Alliance: (MECA) works to protect the rights and improve the lives of children in the Middle East through aid, empowerment and education. In the Middle East, MECA provides humanitarian aid, partners with community organizations to run projects for children, and supports income-generation projects. In the US and internationally, MECA raises awareness about the lives of children in the region and encourages meaningful action.”

• Ottawa Forum on Israel-Palestine (OFIP): “The mission of the Ottawa Forum on Israel/Palestine (OFIP) is to encourage the development and implementation of a Canadian foreign policy in the Middle East based on recognized values of democracy, equality, justice and respect for international law.”

• Center for Jewish Nonviolence: “CJNV mobilizes Jews around the world to join Palestinian-led coresistance work for freedom & justice.”