We are all witnesses to genocide.
A community group in Collingwood calling for an end to the killing in Gaza, a full arms embargo, and unrestricted humanitarian aid. A ceasefire was declared in October 2025. Israeli forces have kept killing Palestinians in Gaza since. The evidence is documented. The law is clear. Silence is a choice.
We gather peacefully every Saturday at Collingwood Town Hall, 10–11 AM. Workshops and book clubs are coming soon.
Israel’s largest arms maker just bought a Canadian company.
On October 20, 2026, Elbit Systems announced it had bought International Submarine Engineering, a B.C. company that builds underwater drones and has held Department of National Defence contracts. Canadian suppliers still ship parts to Elbit, and the federal government still buys weapons from it.
Arms Embargo Now is asking people to call and email their MP, the Prime Minister, and cabinet ministers to demand that Canada sanction Elbit. The campaign page has the script and the phone numbers.
Coverage of the sale: The Maple · Breaking Defense
This is not a “conflict.” It is a documented genocide.
Four findings, from four institutions whose job it is to know. Click any source to read it in full.
Genocide, determined
The UN’s Independent Commission of Inquiry concluded in September 2025 that Israeli authorities and forces have committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. In October 2026 it reported that genocidal acts continued after the ceasefire.
Plausible genocide, ICJ
In South Africa v. Israel, the International Court of Justice ordered provisional measures in January 2024, finding it plausible that Israel’s acts in Gaza constitute genocide.
Arrest warrants, ICC
In November 2024, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including using starvation as a method of warfare.
Famine, confirmed
In August 2025 the IPC, the global authority on hunger classification, confirmed famine in Gaza Governorate, the first it has ever confirmed in the Middle East. After the ceasefire let more food in, its December 2025 analysis still found 77% of Gaza’s population facing high levels of acute food insecurity.
What you can do this week.
Sustained pressure is what moves governments. Pick one. Do it today. Invite one other person to do it with you.
Tell Ottawa to sanction Elbit
Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest arms maker, bought a Canadian drone company in October. Arms Embargo Now has a script and contact list for your MP, the Prime Minister, and the ministers who can act.
Call your MP
Calls carry more weight than emails. Use this script.
Read the script
“Hello, my name is [name] and I’m a constituent in [riding].
In October, Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest arms maker, bought
a Canadian company. I want the government to sanction Elbit and
stop Canadian suppliers from selling to it.
The UN Commission of Inquiry has found that Israel committed
genocide in Gaza, and reported in October that genocidal acts
continued after the ceasefire. In March, the House voted down
Bill C-233, which would have closed the loophole that lets
Canadian military parts reach Israel through the U.S. I’d like
to know how the MP voted and why.
I’m asking for a full two-way arms embargo, sanctions on Elbit,
and full humanitarian access to Gaza.
Can I have the MP’s position in writing? Thank you.”
Learn with us
Workshops, book clubs and talks in Collingwood for anyone who wants to understand more. No signs, and you don’t need to know anything already.
Show up in person
Peaceful gathering at Collingwood Town Hall, every Saturday from 10–11 AM. Bring a sign, bring a friend, or just bring yourself.
Donate to relief
- Médecins Sans Frontières: emergency medical care
- Palestine Children’s Relief Fund: treatment for sick and injured children
- UNRWA: UN agency for Palestine refugees
- Gaza Soup Kitchen: hot meals on the ground in Gaza
Send a policy letter
One-click letters to decision-makers on active Canadian campaigns:
Or read our boycott, divestment and sanctions guide.
Where to find us.
Town Hall gathering, 10–11 AM
Collingwood Town Hall, 97 Hurontario Street. Peaceful, family-friendly, and open to all. Signs provided if you don’t have one. We make space for people of all faiths and none, and we reject racism in every form.
Bring weather-appropriate gear and water. Look for the flags.
Learn with us
Not everyone is ready to stand outside Town Hall, and that’s fine. We’re starting workshops, book clubs and talks for anyone in the area who wants to understand what is happening in Palestine and why. Come with questions. You don’t have to agree with us to come.
Workshops
Short sessions on the history, the law, and how to talk about Gaza with family and coworkers.
Book club
Read a book together and talk it through. First title to be announced.
Talks
Speakers with first-hand experience, like Dr. Yipeng Ge at our May screening.
Film Screening: The Voice of Hind Rajab
On May 13 we were honoured to host a community screening of Kaouther Ben Hania’s Oscar-nominated, Venice Grand Jury Prize-winning film at the Simcoe Street Theatre, with a powerful introduction from Dr. Yipeng Ge, the Canadian physician who served as a volunteer doctor in Gaza in early 2024 and has since become one of the country’s most outspoken medical voices on the genocide.
The film is built from the real recordings of five-year-old Hind Rajab’s emergency calls to the Palestine Red Crescent before she was killed by Israeli forces in Gaza City. The voices on the phone are real.
Thank you to Dr. Ge, to everyone who came, to Kitch’n Savvy for the refreshments, and to everyone who contributed non-perishable food donations on behalf of the Mobile Soup Kitchen. All ticket proceeds went directly to families in Gaza.
If you want the primary sources.
This is the paper trail. Every link below goes to the original report from the institution that produced it. Read for yourself. Cite freely.
UN Commission of Inquiry
The UN Human Rights Council’s independent commission concluded in September 2025 that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, documenting the acts, the intent, and the legal basis. Its October 2026 report found that genocidal acts continued after the ceasefire.
UN Special Rapporteur: Anatomy of a Genocide
Francesca Albanese’s March 2024 report to the Human Rights Council, laying out the pattern of genocidal acts in Israel’s assault on Gaza and calling for arms embargoes and accountability.
UN Special Rapporteur: Economy of Genocide
Albanese’s 2025 report maps the corporate and state actors profiting from the occupation and the war on Gaza, and recommends embargo and divestment measures.
ICJ: South Africa v. Israel
South Africa’s case alleging breaches of the Genocide Convention. In January 2024 the Court ordered provisional measures, finding it plausible that Israel was committing genocide. Multiple subsequent orders have followed. The case is ongoing.
ICC arrest warrants
The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including using starvation as a method of warfare.
IPC famine determination
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification is the global authority on famine. It confirmed famine in Gaza Governorate in August 2025. In December 2025 it found famine had been pushed back after the ceasefire, with the situation still critical.
Amnesty International
Amnesty’s December 2024 investigation concluded that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, based on the patterns of attacks on civilians, infrastructure, and aid.
Human Rights Watch + B’Tselem
Human Rights Watch concluded in December 2024 that Israel committed acts of genocide. In July 2025 the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem published Our Genocide, reaching the same conclusion, as did Physicians for Human Rights Israel. These are reports written by Israelis as well as outsiders.
Want the longer view?
The Facts & Timeline page goes deeper: a dated timeline from the British Mandate to the present, plus longer notes on international law, humanitarian access, and Canada’s specific obligations.
Talking to someone who disagrees?
Common objections, answered briefly and with sources. Use what is helpful.
“Anti-Zionism is antisemitism.”
Anti-Zionism is opposition to a political ideology and its policies. Antisemitism is hatred of Jewish people. They are different things. Independent Jewish Voices Canada, Jewish Voice for Peace, and many Israeli scholars have made this case for decades. Conflating the two protects governments from criticism and makes real antisemitism harder to name.
“It all started on October 7.”
The attacks on October 7 did not happen in a vacuum. By then, 75 years had passed since the Nakba of 1948, the West Bank and Gaza had been under military occupation for 56 years, and Gaza had been under blockade for 16. Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and B’Tselem had each already concluded that Israel’s system of control over Palestinians amounts to apartheid.
“Hamas steals all the aid.”
The agencies actually delivering aid (UN OCHA, UNRWA, WFP, MSF) report that the dominant barriers are Israeli restrictions on what can enter, attacks on aid convoys, the destruction of crossings, and the killing of aid workers. The “Hamas steals it” framing has been challenged directly by the agencies on the ground. UN OCHA, UNRWA.
“What about Israel’s right to exist?”
International law protects the rights of people: to self-determination, to be free from persecution, to be protected as civilians. It does not give any state the right to commit genocide in self-defence. The Genocide Convention is binding on all signatories, Israel included. So is the Fourth Geneva Convention.
“The numbers are exaggerated.”
The Gaza Health Ministry’s casualty count has been independently reviewed by UN OCHA, by named identification of the dead, by forensic analysis (including Forensic Architecture), and by Israeli journalists reporting on leaked Israeli intelligence assessments. Peer commentary in The Lancet has argued the official toll likely undercounts the dead when indirect deaths from disease, starvation, and infrastructure collapse are included.
“It’s complicated.”
Some things are complicated. Whether starving children is wrong is not one of them. Whether bombing hospitals is a war crime is not one of them. Whether killing journalists is illegal is not one of them. Complexity is a tactic when it is used to delay clear moral judgment on documented acts.
Tap any objection to see the answer.
A playbook that has worked before.
The BDS movement was founded in 2005 by Palestinian civil society. It is non-violent. It is targeted. It worked against apartheid in South Africa, and South African leaders, including Bishop Tutu and Nelson Mandela’s family, have said so.
Consumer boycotts
BDS Canada and the global BDS movement maintain target lists focused on companies most complicit with the occupation and the war on Gaza. Move spending elsewhere and tell the company why.
Divestment
Pension funds, universities, churches, and municipalities can screen out arms manufacturers and companies operating in illegal settlements. Ask yours if it has. Trinity College Dublin divested in stages in 2024 and 2025. So has Norway’s sovereign wealth fund.
Sanctions and embargo
This is government policy work. Canada can revoke export permits, sanction Elbit Systems, and review the Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement. In Europe, Ireland, Spain and Slovenia have pushed to suspend the EU’s trade deal with Israel. Constituents can push for this through MPs, party leaders, and provincial pension funds. Start with the Elbit Out of Canada campaign.
You are not alone.
A small selection of what ordinary people have done since October 2023.
Civilian flotillas
The Madleen flotilla sailed for Gaza in June 2025 carrying humanitarian aid; it was intercepted by Israeli forces and its activists, including Greta Thunberg, were detained. The Global Sumud Flotilla followed in late 2025 with dozens of boats from over forty countries.
Dockworker refusals
Workers in Italian ports (USB union), Greece (Piraeus), Belgium, and Spain have refused to load arms shipments bound for Israel. Conscience at the loading dock has slowed material flow when governments would not.
Campus divestment
A student encampment at Trinity College Dublin won a pledge in May 2024 to divest from Israeli companies on the UN settlement list. In June 2025 its board voted to divest from every company headquartered in Israel. Encampments spread to hundreds of campuses, including in Canada. Long fights. Real wins.
States stepping up
South Africa filed the ICJ case. Nicaragua, Spain, Mexico, Turkey, Belize, Bolivia, Cuba, Colombia, Ireland, Libya, Maldives, Palestine and others joined the proceedings or filed interventions in support. Spain, Ireland and Norway all recognised the State of Palestine on the same day in May 2024.
Inside Israel
Israeli rights groups (B’Tselem, Physicians for Human Rights Israel, Breaking the Silence, Standing Together) document and oppose the violence. They face threats and arrests for doing so.
The press, against odds
Palestinian journalists in Gaza have been killed at the highest rate of any conflict on record. Many continued to broadcast until the moment they were killed. The Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders maintain the record.
This is what showing up looks like.
Neighbours, retirees, students, parents, and friends. Every Saturday, 10–11 AM, at Collingwood Town Hall. No experience required.
