Editor's Note:   On August 30th, 2025 at Parliament Hill, health care workers in the Ottawa region  welcomed several hundred advocates for justice, peace, and liberation in Palestine to a vigil to meditate and reflect on Israel's continuing assault on children and families in Palestine's Gaza and Westbank.  Surrounded by the advocates, children were doing what children are born to do:  drawing, playing, talking, being, with parental guidance.

Across the Parliament Hill lawn stood a small tent with a gathering of people.  There, Tamils were witnessing against genocide in Sri Lanka. 

The scourges of racial hatred and settler dominating colonialism is killing hundreds of thousands of humans - with innocent children and parents most vulnerable - in Ukraine, in D.R. Congo, in Yemen, South Sudan, Myanmar, and God knows where else.  Too many governments and civil organizations especially in Western governments and even faith-based organizations have remained silent, or issued tepid hollow wordy statements - virtually declaring these horrors "normal" fare for daily living.   This negligence must end!

Happily the streets of a great many cities resound with voices of individual demonstrators calling for Palestine to be "free from the River to the Sea" - a slogan by which people of faith and justice mean liberation for all inhabitants of the region, freed for life in its fulness.  That means for the Indigenous Palestinians, but also for Israelis who need freedom from the lies and assurances that peace can be created by continuing the apartheid domination and warfare Zionists began 100 years before. 

Peace based on mutual respect and foundational justice are the only ways forward.  Governments empowering the United Nations and the International legal framework are key vehicles in that direction for ending  the annihilation of beloved children and adults of God's ONE human family.

I am profoundly grateful to Diana Ralph for her ongoing courageous testimony (here with her permission to publish), her faithful witness and inspiring actions for just peace at the Vigil for Gaza's Children organized by regional Health Care Workers on Saturday, August 30th, 2025.     Please note the opportunities for "What Can I Do?" below Diana Ralph's text.

Diana Ralph is a devout Jew, a founder of Independent Jewish Voices, and a former medical social worker

and therapist.   [email protected].

A H Harry Oussoren

Editor.  [email protected]

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Diana Ralph's testimony:

Thank you to all those who organized this important vigil and to all of you for standing

here for humanity and justice for the children of Gaza.

As a devout Jew, I have three messages for you:

1. Judaism values life, justice, compassion, honesty, and generosity. We treasure all

children as pure, beautiful and inherently worthy of being nurtured and protected. 

2.  What Israel has been doing to the children of Gaza and to all Palestinians since

1948 violates everything I cherish about Judaism. Zionism is NOT Judaism. From its

inception, Israel has been a violent, racist, settler colonial apartheid state which

oppresses Palestinian people. And now, it is perpetrating genocide.

3.  Blaming Jews for Israel’s crimes is antisemitic. Jews, like all other people, don’t

deserve to be blamed or attacked. But criticizing Israel’s crimes is NOT

antisemitic. Opposing and stopping these crimes is a moral obligation for everyone,

and especially for Jews. 

[On the Jewish calendar] this is the month of Elul, when Jews prepare for the High Holidays. It is a time when we Jews take communal responsibility before God for the wrongs we collectively have

committed. We apologize, beg forgiveness, do what we can to repair the damage we

have caused, and commit to return to an ethical path. Many Jews oppose what Israel is

doing. But to the extent that we have ever colluded with and benefited from Israel’s

behaviour, we Jews have a special moral responsibility to oppose and apologize for

Israel’s crimes. Similarly, as a Canadian, I also have a responsibility to apologize for my

government so uncritically supporting Israel’s crimes.

So, with deep contrition and remorse, I chant a Vidui, a confession to God, to you, and

to the children of Gaza and their parents for the sins that the Israeli government is

committing in our name:

Since 2007, we have held over 2 million Gazan people under siege, most of them

already Nakba refugees, denying them life’s essentials, and waging ongoing military

attacks on them.

We have imprisoned and tortured many thousands of Palestinians, including children,

without charge or due process. 

We have destroyed their homes, schools, hospitals, water treatment plants, trees, and

food sources. 

Since 2023, we have starved, wounded, bombed, traumatized and killed all of Gaza’s

children and their parents. We have literally committed ecocide, destroying the very land

itself. 

We have tried to justify these crimes by demonizing innocent civilians, including infants

and small children, as “Hamas terrorists”.

We have called those who speak out for justice for Palestinian "antisemitic" to silence,

discredit, and criminalize them.

We have imprisoned and killed journalists, students, and activists who tried to expose

these crimes. 

For all these crimes and sins, I along with many other Canadian Jews deeply apologize.

We stand in solidarity with Palestinians and commit to do whatever we can to stop

Israel’s genocidal atrocities and to repair the damage done in our name. 

I will close with a prayer we Jews recite on Yom Kippur, our holiest day. The words

mean:   For all these sins, God of forgiveness, please forgive us, pardon us, and help us

atone! 

Ve’al kulam eloha selihot selah lanu. Mehal lanu. Kaper lanu.

Thank you. 

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What Can I Do?

1. Sign petitions to tell the Government of Canada to take action  (google the organizations)

• Doctors without Borders
• Amnesty International
• CJPME   (Canadian for Justice and Peace in the Middle East).

     2.  Donate to Organizations Helping on the Ground

• Palestinian Children's Relief Foundation
• Doctors without Borders
• International Development & Relief Fund
• United Church of Canada partners:   https://united-church.ca/donate-provide-crucial-aid-refugees-within-and-outside-gaza

     3. Write  your local MP, the Leaders of the several Federal political parties and the Prime Minister

• P.M  Mark Carney:    [email protected]   or, better yet, send a letter or note:   Rt.Hon. Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada, Office of the PM, 80 Wellington St., House of Commons, Ottawa K1A 0A2 (no stamp required)

      4. Learn

• from Book, Films, Opinion Pieces, educational events, conferences, workshops, etc.
• Distinguish between truth-telling sources and the voluminous propaganda from Israeli government and its lobbyists like CIJA  (Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs);
• look beyond major media and choose on-site reporting, e.g. from:  The Guardian, Al-Jazeera
• Read:  Jewish scholars:   
• Ilan Pappe's "The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine" 978 1 85168 555 4;  or his "Ten Myths about Israel"  978 1 80429 704 9
• Peter Beinart's "Being Jewish after the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning"  ISBN 978 0 593 80389 9 

  5. Pray    (this paraphrase of the Beatitudes in Matthew's Gospel (5:1-10) or your own prayer)

Bless, O Holy One, all who mourn, so that they may be comforted in their immense loss;  bless all who hunger and thirst for justice, so that they may be filled with joy; bless the merciful and compassionate as they model your goodness; bless the peacemakers, for they are your special children; and bless and strengthen those who witness to your truth, for they announce the freedom that comes with your reign.