Razing Palestine: Punishing Solidarity and Dissent in Canada

For two years, the world watched in horror as 2 million people on 140 square miles of land bore an unprecedented and unfathomable pummelling by the Israeli Army. More bombs were dropped on Gaza than in World War II; more children killed, wounded and orphaned than in any other conflict of this century; more journalists and healthcare workers killed than in any other conflict ever; and entire towns and districts were reduced to dust. Those who spoke about the carnage were punished by censure, sanction, smearing and worse. Across the country, journalists were muzzled, academics were stifled, doctors were fired, activists were arrested, and artists were banned. Words such as genocide and ceasefire were excised from the vocabulary, and criticism of the conflict invited accusations of antisemitism. Razing Palestine brings together the testimonies and stories of a wide range of individuals across a variety of domains who have suffered the cost and consequences of speaking up for Palestine. Even as Gaza was being razed, this book gives voice to those who continued to raise alarm.

Author of The Philistine and My Thievery of the People, Leila Marshy’s Palestinian father was exiled from his home in 1948, never to return. During the First Intifada, Marshy lived in Cairo and worked for the Palestinian Red Crescent and the Palestinian Mental Health Association. She has been a community and political organizer, including founding a dialogue group with the Hasidic community in her neighbourhood. Her stories and journalism has been published in Canadian and American media. She lives in Montreal