In a show of solidarity, a Sault-based climate action group has welcomed pro-Palestinian activists into its regular Friday rallies, amplifying calls for an end to the war in Gaza<\/p>\n
A local\u00a0climate action group has invited pro-Palestinian protesters to join its weekly rallies outside the office of Sault Ste. Marie’s member of parliament.<\/p>\n
For years, Clean North has been the local organizer for global\u00a0“Fridays for Future” climate rallies to raise awareness of climate change and to press for change from decision makers.<\/p>\n
More recently, the organization has invited\u00a0supporters of SSM4Palestine<\/a>, a Sault Ste. Marie-based group seeking an end to the war in Gaza.<\/p>\n On Friday, about 20 protesters from both groups stood outside MP Terry Sheehan\u2019s office, rattling pots and pans to draw attention to what they describe as a genocide in Gaza perpetrated by Israel with support from the Canadian government.<\/p>\n SSM4Palestine is asking the Canadian government to place an embargo against arms sales to Israel,\u00a0said organizer Alya Husseini.<\/p>\n “It’s an awful thing that our government has been supporting for a long time and is continuing to support,” Husseini said to reporters in front of Sheehan’s office during the protest.<\/p>\n Husseini said her own father was forced to leave Palestine in the late 1960s.<\/p>\n “My dad was not able to go back home after that, even though he was born in Jerusalem,” she said.<\/p>\n Israel and Palestine have long been at conflict. The current war in Gaza began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas launched coordinated armed incursions into Israel from the Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n Husseini claimed Israel’s response that has led to death and starvation amounts to genocide.<\/p>\n “What’s happening in Gaza is just completely unacceptable to almost everybody in the world,” she said.<\/p>\n