On October 8th, over 100 members of the community gathered outside St. John’s City Hall in a call for a two-way arms embargo with Israel.
This emergency rally for Palestine was announced following the interception of the Conscience Freedom Flotilla, where six Canadians were abducted by the Israeli military – three of them Newfoundlanders.
The goal of those aboard the Conscience was to provide humanitarian aid to those in Gaza, but the ship was intercepted before reaching its intended destination.
The rally included several speeches from the family and friends of the abducted Newfoundland activists Devoney Ellis, Sadie Mees, and Nikita Stapleton.
“I know she would want us to steadfastly continue the campaign to have MUN divest into the Canadian government to end its complicity and double-talk, and stop supplying arms to Israel,” says Mees’s aunt, Vicky Axford, on behalf of Sadie’s mother, Kira.
A close friend of Ellis’s reads a statement from Misty Ellis: “As her mother, I’m asking from the deepest place in my heart for Canada to bring our six citizens home safely.”
“I ask you all to please contact your governments – any members, any people you can reach out to – and it’s not just for Nikita’s safety, it’s for the safety of every one of them” says Stapleton’s mother, Karen.
Following the speeches, the protestors continued to demand an arms embargo, and for the safe return of those aboard the Conscience.
“Hopefully now, due to the bravery of our comrades who have been abducted by the IDF, we will finally see action,” says Daniel Smith.
“We’re not going anywhere until there’s a free Palestine, and until our friends are home.”