The Sunday events were held one day ahead of the Oct. 7 anniversary of Hamas attacks on Israel
Hundreds gathered in downtown Calgary for demonstrations a day before the one-year anniversary of Hamas attacks on Israel.
Both those in support of Israel and those in support of Palestine took up areas near City Hall on Sunday, with about 100 people on each side of Macleod Trail S.E.
The dual demonstrations underscored the deep divisions within the community over the complex and long-standing conflict.
The Israeli demonstration was a memorial to the Oct. 7, 2023 attack, when Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people and took another 250 hostage. They still hold around 100 captives, a third of whom are believed to be dead.
Opposite those in favour of Israel, pro-Palestine protesters countered the event, with one organizer calling it a “slap in the face.”
“Raising these flags (of Israel), marking the anniversary of 43,000 Palestinians being killed genocide — this is how we view it,” said Reyad Abusalim, chairman of the Calgary Palestinian Council.
“This conflict is not a conflict, it’s a genocide that started 75 years ago,” said Abusalim. “This government just wants to wage war consistently, and they use terrorism as an excuse.”
The Hamas attacks and abductions triggered an Israeli counter-offensive in Gaza that has killed nearly 42,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
The ministry did not say how many were fighters, but says a little over half were women and children.
Dror Pery, who helped to organize the Israel demonstration in front of Calgary City Hall, said, “We want to show what we support, we support Israel, we support democracy, we support western values.”
Speaking about what he feels needs to be done, Pery said, “I honestly think that everybody has to change, but the other side has to change a lot more.”
He referred to Israel navigating the relationship with its neighbours as “almost impossible,” with different culture and values.
“Because you can’t do it by speaking, you can’t get to a compromise, it becomes a fight,” said Pery. “They don’t blame themselves for anything . . . when you have a conflict in any relationship, it’s not one party.”
Despite not liking or agreeing with it, Pery said he was okay with the pro-Palestine counter-protest happening across the street.
A few minor verbal altercations took place between those on either side of Macleod Trail but nothing escalated between the two groups, as the event for Israel finished around 2 p.m. on Sunday.
Police in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver have reported a sharp spike in protests and alleged hate crimes since the war began, and many jurisdictions were bracing for rising tensions as the war is set to mark its one-year anniversary.
Israel’s military says it has expanded the so-called humanitarian zone in southern Gaza. Hundreds of thousands of people have sought refuge in sprawling tent camps there with little food, water or toilets.
“Many ceasefires that have been offered . . . Israel chose never to accept any of them,” said Abusalim. “There’s no end in sight, these guys will not stop.”
He said that for them, Sunday was about bringing awareness and creating a union between their own community, “and we’re trying to tell the guys across the street that they should be ashamed.”
— With files from The Canadian Press and The Associated Press