A group of about a half dozen protesters marched in downtown Whitehorse on Oct. 13 to support Palestinians amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.
The group departed from the Healing Totem on Front Street and marched to the Elijah Smith Building, chanting “Free Palestine” along the way.
Conflict escalated between Israel and Palestine following attacks launched on Israel on Oct. 7 by Hamas, a Palestine-based Islamist militant movement and political organization that has been designated a foreign terrorist organization by Canada, the United States and the European Union. Hundreds were killed on the first day of the attacks, according to reports.
After the series of attacks, Israel declared war on Hamas, bombing buildings and infrastructure in the Gaza Strip, which it says has been used as an operational base by the terrorist group.
Since the war began, more than 1,400 Israelis have died, according to officials, as of Oct. 16. In Gaza, the death toll is at more than 2,800, per Palestinian official record, as of Oct. 16.
Protest organizer Anya, who wouldn’t give her last name because she argued she could be attacked by “extremists”, said Palestinian people have been fighting for liberation since 1948.
“Recently there was a united front counter offensive on Israel, from the Palestinians in an effort to fight for their freedom. And because of that counter offensive, they are now facing an ethnic cleansing and genocide and I refuse to stand by and allow for that to happen,” she said.
Anya works with the African People’s Socialist Party, a Florida-based pan-African political party and organization which works towards reparations for slavery in the United States.
She said Palestinians are fighting to resist Israel’s colonialism and oppression.
“If you are an oppressed person facing colonialism, how are you supposed to resist that colonialism?” Anya queried. “Are you supposed to hold hands with your oppressor or are you supposed to sing for your freedom? Are you supposed to use the democratic systems that they placed upon you to legislate for your freedom, because the people in Gaza have no vote, they have no democratic way to ask for their freedom and the most important part of this to know is that freedom isn’t something you ask for and receive, freedom is fought and won.”
On Oct. 11, a former Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal called for a “Day of jihad” on Oct. 13 and called for protests across the Muslim world.
Anya, who told the News she is neither Jewish nor Muslim, quoted an unnamed author from her phone, stating that jihad is not an incitement of terror as Western media represents it.
“Jihad is the struggle of the soul to do good,” she said. “Loving one’s parents is jihad, working is jihad, protesting is jihad, caring for the sick is also jihad. They said, raising the voice of the oppressed is jihad.”
In an emailed statement, Whitehorse city Coun. Ted Laking called the protest march an “anti-Semitic gathering with the purpose of glorifying violent murders of Jewish citizens.”
Laking said any gathering in the city “supporting such horrifying incidents is sickening.”
“The celebration and promotion of such violence is reprehensible and I unequivocally condemn it,” he said. “This hate-filled anti-Semitic sentiment has no place in our community and I am calling on all leaders to join me in condemning it.”
Anya was unfazed. She said there are children in Gaza who are dying because of the bombing from Israel.
“I’m not here for performative bullshit. I’m here to stand up with the people of Palestine. So, if you want to call me anti-Semitic and call solidarity with Palestine anti-Semitic, you can all you want and your heart knows the truth, and I do, too. And I will stand confidently in that truth when I say free Palestine.”
Contact Patrick Egwu at patrick.egwu@yukon-news.com
