🇵🇸 Gazan Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist | ED Elham Fund | Board of
@psychotherapyon
| When I’m not fighting injustice, I help others fight their demons.
Hi George. I’m a Palestinian Christian from Gaza. The majority of Christians who left did so due to Israel’s illegal blockade. My family’s orchards were bulldozed by the IOF. My grandfather was expelled from Bir Saba’ in 48. My great aunt was sniped by a terrorist soldier in Nov.
Hi Mirna from Portland, like you I’m Christian. Like you I come from a Palestinian family. But if you really cared about the plight of Christians in the Middle East you’d be supporting Israel and condemning Hamas.
In Israel, the Christian population grew from less than 40,000 in
I know that Yoseph Haddad is lying or misinformed because I’m a Christian from Gaza.
My family is sheltering in the Holy Family church, not from Hamas, but from Israeli airstrikes that murdered my cousin at St. Porphyrius.
It wasn’t Hamas that murdered my great aunt Elham who
When Bella Hadid posts a picture of a Christmas tree spelling out the word "Palestine" in sympathy with the residents of Gaza, does she know that Christians in Gaza are exterminated and disappearing, suffering discrimination and persecution under Hamas’ rule?
Out of thousands of
This morning Israeli snipers shot and killed my two family friends in an attack on the Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza.
Nahida (Um Emad Anton) and Samar, mother and daughter, were walking to the Sisters’ Convent to use the only bathroom.
One was killed as she tried to
It saddens me. And I can’t keep it in. Auntie Elham’s body was run over by an Israeli tank. Only parts of her were recovered. We don’t know if she was still alive when she was crushed.
My relatives in Gaza didn’t want to cause further distress, so they kept it from us till now.
I was born in that hospital. My sister was born in that hospital. My grandfather worked in that hospital. There was a tennis court and a church in that hospital. Al Ahli hospital was a community. It held memories, it told stories, it treated the most destitute in Gaza.
When I was 12 years old, I raised my voice at an Israeli soldier at the Erez military checkpoint. My mother scolded me for putting our lives in danger.
Today, the Palestinian resistance destroyed the Erez checkpoint.
Mission Accomplished 🇵🇸
We are officially suing the Canadian government for selling weapons to Israel.
On March 5, we initiated legal proceedings in the Federal Court against the Canadian government for exporting arms to Israel.
I’m joined by my mother, Hiba Farah; Dr. Ayman Oweida; and a confidential
My cousin was also killed last month when Israel bombed St. Porphyrius.
A relative with a developmental disability was killed in the first intifada. The soldiers tied his body to the back of their Jeep with his arms spread out like Jesus on the cross and drove around with him.
Recall Johnny Thalgieh in the West Bank? Church altar boy, sniped in the chest by a terrorist Israeli soldier in 2002. Ever listened to Archbishop Atallah Hanna? Edward Said, George Habash, Wadie Hadad or Hanan Ashrawi, whose families were expelled in 48? Hamas didn’t exist then.
It was the Israeli state. The same state you serve as ambassador for to Azerbaijan, the country that Israel supplies with the weapons used to occupy and kill Armenians…who are 🥁 roll…Christian.
So you’re the last person to lecture
@abierkhatib
about care for Christians.
I’m not going to pretend that we’ve faced zero discrimination (mostly exclusion, actually) by the Muslim majority, but it wasn’t Muslims or Hamas that expelled thousands of Christians from their lands, bombed our churches, spat on our nuns, and shot and detained our priests.
My mother texting with my sister, describing a horrific situation at the Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza. israeli tanks have surrounded the church, and snipers have taken position around it, shooting at the oldest Christian community in the world.
Sure, Rami Ayyad was a victim of Muslim extremism, but our community overwhelmingly puts the root cause of that extremism on conditions imposed by Israel’s ethnic cleansing, followed by occupation then siege. Don’t insult our intelligence and don’t patronize us.
Ever wonder why you can’t find many (if any) examples of attacks on our community after 2008? It’s because Hamas reigned in these renegade elements in their campaign to consolidate power after 2007. Just like they executed the Salafist murderers of Vitorio Arrigoni.
Shukri Al Souri has passed away at the Holy Family Church in Gaza, where conditions are worsening.
He was grieving the loss of his brothers & up to 10 other family members in the Israeli bombing of St. Porphyrius.
The Souri family has been erased from the civil registry ✝️🇵🇸
Israeli media are also reporting that the cold-blooded murder of Ghada Sabateen by Israeli occupation forces was a possible suicide.
The Israeli state and media will go great lengths to shift responsibility onto its victims. The depth of its denial is simply unparalleled.
Just to give an idea of how propagandized Israelis are: despite the army admitting that the murdered Palestinian mother had no weapons, mainstream Israeli media outlets continue to report misinformation (as they do), and the Israelis are celebrating in the comments. Demented.
My great aunt, Elham Farah (my mother’s aunt), is a stubborn, fiercely independent, 84-year-old woman. She lived life travelling (whenever it was possible) and being known as the relative who shows up at every family, church and community event — whether she was invited or not 🧵
We then learned that when Israeli snipers shoot civilians in the leg in open, visible areas, the objective is to lure fighters out (or anyone for that matter) who try to rescue the civilian, and then kill them.
Essentially, my great aunt Elham is being used as bait.
Update: A fierce battle erupted in the vicinity between the Zionist army and the resistance. As the neighbours fled their homes, they came across her body and found her dead.
Rest in paradise, auntie Elham. It will be easier to see you in the afterlife than it has been in Gaza.
Amazing: New Israel Fund of Canada just withdrew its support for the IHRA definition, citing “worrying” evidence it will be used to suppress free speech by equating any criticism of Israel with antisemitism.
A woman leaving a church shelter to go to the toilet was shot dead by an Israeli sniper & her daughter who went to help her was killed as well
Kay Burley: "The IDF says it didnt happen, wasn't them... you don't believe the IDF?"
Archbishop of Westminster: "No I don't"
The denial of my family’s existence is institutional gaslighting at a profound scale.
Gazan Christians have lived in the birthplace of Christ for 2000 years.
My family is dying and my community is being ethnically cleansed by the Israeli Occupation Forces.
Merry Christmas
Palestinian Canadian therapist and political organizer
@hammam_therapy
debunks assertions by British-born "deputy mayor" of occupied Jerusalem that there are "no Christians" in Gaza.
Her name was Hala Khrais AbdelAti.
She was a member of our community and an Arabic teacher at the Holy Family Catholic ✝️ School in Gaza.
The little boy in the video is her grandson. I can’t imagine the trauma he’ll be living with.
Her son was barely able to carry her body,
If any humanitarian organizations can intervene on my family’s behalf, please DM me. I’m sorry, auntie Elham, for not answering your calls. I’m sorry for being terrible at staying in touch. Don’t take your loved ones for granted. You don’t know where life will take you.
Breaking: Eighteen-year-old Serapion Al Turk has succumbed to his wounds after having fallen from the roof of the Holy Family Catholic Church last Thursday.
Serapion was working on the damaged roof of the church building when it collapsed beneath him. Israeli forces shelled the
We have appealed to the Red Cross to get permission from the Israeli military to rescue my great aunt. We have no way to know if she’s still breathing. If she’s still alive, she’ll die of thirst in a matter of days.
As she walked towards her home, an Israeli sniper shot her in the leg, below the knee. She fell to the ground in the middle of the street, visible to everyone in the area. She used her cell phone to call our relatives back at the church. They called the neighbours in her vicinity
If Ukraine wasn’t white it would still generate the same reaction from Western imperialism and corporate media. It’s not about their whiteness, but about Ukraine’s geopolitical significance to American capitalism and the expansion of its empire.
Breaking: The churches in Gaza are stocking up on supplies amidst rumours of a large-scale Israeli assault on the Olive (Zeitoun) neighbourhood.
Hundreds of Palestinian families, including mine, have been sheltering in the churches since October.
She was also that relative that if you answered her call, you knew you’d be giving her the green light to call you every other day. She’s also a survivor. In the 2014 Israeli assault on Gaza, the Israeli military announced that it would bomb the high rise she lived in.
On November 12, my great aunt Elham couldn’t stand remaining sheltered at the Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza City. So, she found a ride to drive her back home. The driver refused to go beyond a certain point, so he dropped her off on the road.
The neighbours said they could all see her, but can’t get to her due to shooting in the area. A few hours later, her phone’s battery ran out, and my relatives lost contact with her.
I spoke to
@CBCNews
about the internet blackout imposed by Israel ahead of its ground invasion of Gaza. We all know that’s what oppressive regimes do before they perpetrate war crimes under the cover of darkness.
The residents all left, but she was unaccounted for. We feared she didn’t hear about the announcement and stayed indoors, only to later find out she wasn’t home to begin with. She also somehow managed to cross the Rafah border and return at its most dangerous times.
It shouldn’t have taken 18,000 Palestinian deaths for Canada to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. This isn’t a celebratory moment, but a moment of deep reflection about Canada’s relationship to Israeli settler-colonialism and the genocidal policies of the Israeli apartheid state.
While my fellow progressives celebrated
@theJagmeetSingh
’s iconic game with AOC the other night, I just couldn’t get past the memory of Singh’s supporters and relatives walking into the NDP convention hall to vote No to Palestinian human rights.
Shukri Al Souri with his brothers, Tarik and Abdelnour, and nephew Issa. Abdelnour just got his Master’s in Sustainable Development in June.
They are all martyrs now 🇵🇸✝️🇵🇸
We will not forget.
“The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”
Let it be known that today the
@OntarioNDP
stood on the side of genocide. Even its most progressive members failed to speak out for
@SarahJama_
. Cuz her real error was to expose the hypocrite careerists for what they are, and inspired a new wave of voices to challenge them.
A four-year-old child sheltering at the Holy Family Catholic church is in urgent need of a medication called Creon Pancreatin 25,000.
If anyone has any leads on how to procure and deliver this med to the church in the north, please DM me.
Spoke yesterday to
@guardian
columnist and podcast host
@OwenJones84
.
Christmas is cancelled in Gaza.
This year, my family will spend Christmas hiding out in a bombed-out church, mourning our countless dead loved ones, and fearing for our lives.
Do not let the world forget
I took part in disrupting the Israeli trade minister to tell Palestinians back home: You are not alone. Palestinian Canadians are with you, and we will hold our government accountable when it fails to pressure Israel to respect your human rights.
#cdnpoli
#غزة #غزة_تحت_القصف
What a failure. The progressive left is an embarrassment. Spare us your “indigenous solidarity”, calls for “decolonization”, your moralizing buzz-words and empty rhetoric.
There is no justice without justice for Palestine.
My family members are taking shelter in the church in Gaza City. Cousins, aunts, uncles. Others are elsewhere, scattered. Their homes have been destroyed.
This is a genocide.
You are all responsible.
This is not even an exaggeration.
Israel’s use of the word “affiliated” is very broad and doesn’t include membership in Hamas. You could be “affiliated” if you have a distant relative who’s a member, or if you used to buy your shawarma from a joint that was owned by a member.
@AlanRMacLeod
@SALHACHIMI
By affiliated, we mean their second cousin's sister in law's half-brother.
For the rest of the 85-90%, we couldn't find any link.
The Palestine solidarity movement just scored a long overdue victory in Canada!
The
@NDP
just voted to boycott illegal Israeli settlements and impose a ban on weapons sales with Israel!
CONGRATULATIONS to my amazing team who worked so hard on this! We cry and celebrate now.
The Irish Senate just became the first in Europe to support the banning of illegal Israeli settlement products! Why Ireland? Because of its own history of struggle against British colonialism and solidarity with Palestine!🇵🇸🇮🇪
My uncle passed away from COVID-19 in Gaza this morning. He gave the warmest hugs whenever we left, which spoke the unsaid known — that we may never meet again. Rest in power, 3ammo. It will be easier to see you in the afterlife than it has been in
#Gaza
.
After a three-hour shutdown of the railway, surrounded by police, with trains stopped dead in their tracks, we’ve dispersed with our heads held high.
Thanks to all those who stood in solidarity with us. We will continue to fight for our families in Palestine.
#StopArmingIsrael
After seeing the intensity of Russia being singled out for sanctions, the era of comments like these is finished.
Nobody talk to us about BDS. It has a place on campuses, the Olympics, FIFA, in culture, music, and every institution complicit in the denial of Palestinian rights.
I was just on the phone with family members sheltering inside the Holy Family Church in Gaza.
And I could hear children chanting in the background. I was told it was an exercise for their mental health. It made me smile, teary eyed.
Happy Easter.
Canada doesn’t even respect the sanctity of human life, much less of holy sites.
How do you call for de-escalation while you supply the weapons that cause escalation? How do you stand with both people while arming an apartheid state against a defenceless population?
Violence in & around al-Aqsa is unacceptable. The sanctity and status quo of holy sites must be respected. We call for de-escalation of tensions. Canada stands with the Israeli and Palestinian peoples in their right to peace & security.
Eighteen-year-old Lara Sayegh died today.
She left the Holy Family Church with her mother to make the dangerous trek to the south.
They passed an Israeli army checkpoint — through the infamous Netzarim corridor — with tanks on either side.
No ambulances or medics are allowed
Welcome to Erez
I’ve been through the Erez Crossing multiple times.
Erez was an Israeli military checkpoint and a militarized corridor. It was never manned jointly by Palestinian security forces, not even when the PA was in Gaza.
Gazan workers making the crossing were
Today is the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. It exists because the world knows there is a great injustice inflicted on the Palestinians, but the powerful do nothing to stop it. Every year we call for accountability. Every year we long for return.
Harvard President Claudine Gay's response to Elise Stefanik was embarrassing but not for the reasons people claim. It was embarrassing because she accepted Stefanik's premise that saying "intifada" is equivalent to a call for genocide, which is ridiculous.
Ethnic cleansing is absolutely happening. It’s not only happening, it’s happening with Canada’s backing. It’s happening with
@OmarAlghabra
refusing to cancel a weapons deal with Israel. It’s happening with CIFTA. It’s happening because you make it happen.
Miss Hala Khrais AbdelAti was a teacher at the Holy Family Catholic School in Gaza. An Israeli sniper murdered her as she marched south carrying a white flag and holding her grandson’s hand.
Breaking: Eleine Nassif Audi Burbara has passed away at the Church of Saint Porphyrius in
#Gaza
due to a lack of medicines and proper health treatment after months of bombardment and challenging living conditions.
Dr. Jameel Tarazi and Nagham Farah (my aunt, my mother’s younger sister) say good-bye to Jameel’s son, Soliman Tarazi, 35, in Gaza.
Soliman was pulled from the rubble after Israel bombed St. Porphyrius Orthodox Church, known to be the third oldest church in the world.
My deepest condolences, Khalil. This is devastating. I have relatives from the Sayegh family. My family is also sheltering at the Holy Family church.
We are all mourning. This is not the way to spend Christmas.
Today, I received the devastating news of the death of my father, who was among the besieged Palestinian Christians at the Holy Family Catholic Church. He died due to medical neglection and lack of access to medicine or hospitals in Gaza.
Support and solidarity are needed at the railway. Community members, allies, organizers, friends, make your way to Lisgar GO railway station in the Meadowvale area of Mississauga.
We are waiting for you with love and solidarity ❤️🇵🇸
The last time ppl cared this much for Palestinians was in 2014 Gaza.
That’s the easy part.
The hard part is getting yourself to act between crises, between 2014 and 2021, between the massacre and the expulsion.
That’s when we really need you to act.
We went out in Toronto to say no to the illegal Israeli annexation. No to apartheid. Now is the time for meaningful action. Now is the time for sanctions.
#StopAnnexation
Auntie Elham, you defied those who cautioned you to stay in the church. But they forget that that’s who you were. A shining example to women subjugated by Zionist oppression and the patriarchal standards of our society.
Elham is one of the first music teachers in Gaza.
Elham’s family is a deep rooted Gazan Christian family & her father Hanna Farah,is a well known Palestinian poet,
Ilham’s life ended yesterday
She was injured in a besieged area in northern Gaza & NO one was allowed to rescue her
I can’t sit through another meeting with fake land acknowledgments and self-righteous expressions of indigenous solidarity while we turn a blind eye to the genocide Israel is carrying out in Gaza before our very eyes.
The
@NDP
should distinguish itself form the Liberals by adopting a ban on illegal Israeli settlement products. It can’t win over the Palestinian vote without a more principled approach.
In the wake of the horrific genocide in Gaza, the PLO should revoke its formal recognition of the state of Israel. Recognition is meant to be mutual. How pathetic do you have to be to recognize an entity openly mass murdering your people before the eyes of the world?
Israel’s “independence” was Palestine’s Catastrohpe: What sort of independence is contingent on the ethnic cleansing of 750,000 people? Oh that’s right, a colonial-settler one.
As
#Israel
Independence Day approaches, I’m once again honoured to be elected chair of the Canada🇨🇦-Israel🇮🇱 Interparliamentary Group, along w/ a strong multipartisan executive committee. Special thanks to our Vice-Chairs
@DavidSweetMP
@r_garrison
&
@marcomendicino
.
#YomHaatzmaut
Hey
@theJagmeetSingh
, now that the
@NDP
passed a resolution calling for a boycott of illegal Israeli settlements, maybe you could start by condemning the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem.
#SaveSheikhJarrah
And when did you leave *our* families as Palestinian Canadians out of it, Kevin? My relatives are dead because of you.
A protest at a politician’s house is nothing new. It’s well within our rights. If you can’t handle it, then perhaps this isn’t the job for you.
If you’re going to protest in front of the legislature or city hall, go ahead. If you’re going to protest our offices, have at it.
But your right to peaceful assembly does not include protesting at Minister
@melaniejoly
’s home.
Leave her family—and our families—out of it.
A question occurred to me over Shabbat. It's for people upset about "cancel culture." When
@canarymission
creates profiles of college students who criticize or protest Israel, with the intent of making them unemployable after graduation, is that "cancel culture?"
Let me get this straight.
Canada opposes an ICC investigation into Israel’s war on Gaza in 2014. And today we learn that it signed a contract to purchase from the same Israeli company whose weapons were used in that same assault on Gaza.
This is why we need an arms embargo.
Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East
I’m incredibly grateful to speak to you right before Christmas and tell my family’s story of sheltering in Gaza’s churches.
Christmas is cancelled. We will never forget this grief and heartache.
I'm so honoured to speak to
@hammam_therapy
, a Palestinian Christian activist.
His relatives are sheltering in the besieged Holy Church; some have been killed by the Israeli onslaught.
His testimony will shock you 👇
Projection is accusing Palestinians of inciting genocide while Israel carries out genocide.
Projection is accusing Palestinians of wanting to “throw Jews into the sea” while Zionist forces literally drove Palestinians into the sea in 1948 (eg. at the port of Haifa, where many
It’s outrageous and repulsive to fine anti-apartheid and homelessness activists up to $100K.
Hamilton authorities must be terrified to take such punitive measures against calls to defund the police and the IDF.
It exposes a weakness that will only embolden us further.
NO ONE should be given fines of up to 100K for speaking out against homelessness and apartheid!
We alongside
@DefundHPS
demand these discriminatory tickets be dropped immediately!
#DropTheChargesHamOnt
Thank you
@AliAbunimah
,
@norabf
and the rest of the
@intifada
crew for having me on the livestream.
There are Palestinian Christians in Gaza.
Tonight, we’re preparing for Christmas under siege and mourning our dead.
This may be our last Christmas in Gaza.
Hear our story👇🏽