Today marks the 78th anniversary of the Nakba (the Catastrophe) – the forced displacement of more than 750,000 Palestinians from their homes and lands in 1948. More than 70 massacres were perpetrated, approximately 15,000 people were killed, and more than 500 villages were depopulated and destroyed.
But the Nakba did not end in 1948. It continues today through the ongoing colonization of Palestine. In Gaza, we continue to witness genocide and destruction, as the Gazan population remains under blockade, with Israel denying them any aid or reconstruction. Israel has established a “Yellow Line” here: a military zone demarcated by Israel after the ceasefire agreement, encompassing more than 58% of Gaza, including the cities of Rafah in the south and Beit Hanoun in the north. During a visit to Gaza in December 2025, the Israeli Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, unequivocally declared the Yellow Line to be “a new border.” In the West Bank, Israeli annexation is progressing at a pace unseen since 1967: the number of settlements has increased by nearly 50 percent in three years, and there are an average of five settler attacks per day.
In short, Zionism is a racist, colonialist, and supremacist ideology and political system that favors one people over another and strives to carry out ethnic cleansing and erase Palestinians from Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem.
Racism in Israel is not a flaw in the system; it is the system itself. Hagai El-Ad, director of B’Tselem, Israel’s oldest human rights organization, stated it unequivocally: “Israel is not a democracy under temporary occupation; it is a single regime stretching from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, and we must consider the situation as a whole and recognize it for what it is: apartheid.” It is a colonial project that uses oppression, violence, persecution, roadblocks, house demolitions, forced displacement, expulsions, imprisonment, land theft, rape, child torture, and collective punishment to carry out the ethnic cleansing of non-Jewish populations.
This is part and parcel of the ultimate Zionist plan to establish a Greater Israel, a territory stretching from the Nile in Egypt to the Euphrates in Iraq. It did not begin on October 7; it is not about Hamas or Hezbollah; and it will not end with the current occupation of southern Lebanon and parts of Syria, nor with the US-Israeli aggression against Iran.
Today, in defiance of the International Court of Justice ruling demanding that Israel end its illegal occupation, Palestinians continue to be colonized; their lands continue to be confiscated for the construction of illegal settlements; Palestinian families continue to be separated by walls; Palestinian communities continue to be forcibly displaced; Palestinian homes continue to be demolished; and the olive trees of Palestinian farmers continue to be uprooted. Palestinian children continue to be terrorized, detained, and killed by Israeli occupation forces; Palestinian refugees continue to be exiled; and Palestinians living in Israel continue to face discrimination. Worse still, Palestinians in Gaza, whose lives and livelihoods have been utterly destroyed, continue to endure daily bombings and atrocities; they continue to be deprived of adequate food, water, and medical care.
Canada’s complicity in the Nakba goes back to its origins. Lester B. Pearson’s diplomatic role in the partition of historic Palestine earned him the nickname “Canada’s Balfour.” Approximately 300 Canadian veterans of the Second World War fought in Zionist militias as the Machal Volunteers, just as Canadians serve in the Israeli army in Gaza today. 78 years later, Canada’s position remains unchanged. This is evidenced by its refusal to include Nakba denial among the forms of anti-Palestinian racism in its 2025 anti-racism strategy. This refusal not only denies the legal and moral basis for the return of Palestinian refugees and their descendants, but it also comes while the entire world was witnessing the unfolding genocide in Gaza—a genocide that Canada continued to arm. While Canadians from all walks of life expressed their support for the Palestinian people, Canada looked the other way.
May 15, 2026
