On July 24, an estimated 250 people gathered at Waterloo Public Square to protest Canada’s complicity in Israel’s total blockade on Gaza, responding to a call from several local pro-Palestinian organizations.

UW Voices For Palestine (UWVFP) called for an emergency protest two days earlier, gathering about 25 students outside of the Engineering 5 building to travel together to the demonstration. 

By 6 p.m., the protesters began to rapidly fill the square, with many wearing keffiyehs and carrying Palestinian flags. Some in the crowd also brought pots and pans, drumming to the rhythm of the organizers’ chants.

 “We want justice, you say how, end the siege on Gaza now,” the crowd repeated in unison. 

“Not another nickel, not another dime, no more money for Israel’s crimes!”

The chants were then followed by speeches from the local organizers. Shatha Mahmoud, an organizer for the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), opened by underscoring the critical situation on the ground in Gaza. She described that over 80 children had died from hunger in the past 48 hours, that over the last two weeks there had been over 1,200 cases of vision loss due to malnutrition, and that, that same day 25 Palestinians were killed by the Israeli military while seeking aid. 

Mahmoud referenced that over 1,000 Palestinians have been systematically killed by Israeli forces in US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) aid sites since May, according to a UN statement. 

“This is not a humanitarian crisis, this is a calculated, and engineered genocide,” Mahmoud said to the crowd. “We are here today because we refuse to normalize this brutality. We refuse to allow starvation to be framed as a humanitarian strategy.”

Another speaker from Neighbours for Palestine, a Waterloo-based organization, highlighted Canada’s complicity in Israel’s actions in Gaza. They criticized Canada’s response in making statements of condemnation while failing to take meaningful action.

“After promising further concrete action several months ago, the Canadian government has taken action by promising to take further action,” the Neighbours for Palestine speaker said. 

After the first speeches concluded, the demonstration moved outside of Waterloo Public Square and up King Street, turning at Erb Street, and then proceeding down Regina Street, as dozens of police lined the side of the road. Protesters arrived outside of Waterloo City Hall at around 6:45 p.m., where Mustafa Muhammad, from the Canadian Muslim Public Affairs Council (CMPAC) spoke on the necessity of a meaningful arms embargo, and questioned the silence of Canadian MPs like Bardish Chagger.

Muhammad said that Canada has still not recognized what is happening in Gaza as a genocide because it would compel them to apply punitive and preventative measures, according to the Genocide Convention Canada signed in 1948. He outlined the importance of substantive economic punishment on Israel, objecting to the Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement, which enables the import of millions of dollars worth of Israeli merchandise. 

“We demand for Canada to take further action, real action, and not just give us lip service,” Muhammad said. 

Before the protest ended, demonstrators returned to Waterloo Public Square, where organizers wrapped up with closing statements and chants. 

“No peace for our MPs, until Palestine is free!”

The crowd began to disperse at around 7:30 p.m., as heavy rainfall picked up. 

After the demonstration, organizer Ayah Hamaoui from the PYM provided further insight into the urgency of their movement, underscoring the dire conditions in Gaza and the irreversible implications of famine. 

“This is completely unimaginable and horrific. The levels of malnutrition and starvation in these places … past the border, you see aid trucks waiting there and they won’t be allowed in,” Hamaoui said.

“These are damages to people that will affect them for generations passed.”

She connected the crisis imposed by Israel on Gaza to institutional complicity in Canada. 

“University of Waterloo has huge, huge ties, money ties, to Israel, and to weapons manufacturers in general. They allow their dollars and their bills to be complicit in the genocide in Palestine,” Hamaoui said.

“We see this time and time again, not just at UW, but at Laurier and across multiple institutions across Canada. You see the same kind of pattern with every institution, turning a blind eye to the Palestinian cause and struggle — for money, and for connections, and for power.”