Canadians Condemn Israel’s Assault on Al-Aqsa Mosque
Rallies are being called in different cities in Canada to condemn Israel’s brutal assault on Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem.
On April 5 heavily armed Israeli police stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem for the second consecutive night, smashing doors and windows to barge their way into the mosque, one of Islam’s holiest sites, while worshippers were in the midst of Ramadan evening prayers.
Police brutally assaulted Palestinian worshippers, targeting them with concussion grenades, tear gas canisters and rubber-coated steel bullets and beating people, including elderly people and women, with batons and rifle butts. Many suffered injuries and hundreds of men and youth were arrested.
Also on April 5 a 14-year-old Palestinian boy was shot and injured by a settler in the Old City of Jerusalem while Israeli warplanes, artillery and navy targeted different sites in Gaza, causing material losses.
On April 6, the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Francesca Albanese, issued an official statement in which she decried the fact that Israeli violence in the first three months of 2023 had “left a devastating toll of 80 Palestinians dead and over 2,000 wounded in less than 90 days.” During the same period she said a total of 13 Israelis were killed.
Many of those killed in recent months have been minors. In 2022 there were 36 Palestinian children shot and killed by Israeli forces or settlers in the occupied West Bank.