Tag: Palestine

We Belong to the Land at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church at 7pm on Saturday 3 October 2026

A unique event of words, drama, music and more to celebrate our belonging to the land from Turtle Island to Palestine.

On the third anniversary of October 7, we look to the land, the common element uniting all Indigenous peoples. From Turtle Island to Palestine we celebrate belonging, resilience and cultural resistance. We recognize Indigenous ties to the land and honour good stewardship of the land.

Join for an evening of community sharing to raise urgently needed funds to help feed families in Gaza. The night includes speakers featuring Elder Myeengun Henry, Robert Massoud, Healing the Seven Generations, dramatic reading of an original play specially written for this event. And much more.

Funds will be collected on site by IDRF, a Canadian registered charity which will issue tax-deductible receipts.

We Belong to the Land | Turtle Island to Palestine | Guests: Myeengun Henry, Robert Massoud, H7G Drum Circle, Dramatic Reading of original play, Poetry & Music, more | Saturday, October 3 ~ 7: pm | Doors open at 6:3 pm | St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church | 54 Queen St. N., Kitchener | Celebrating belonging, resilience and cultural resistance | Recognizing Indigenous ties to the land | Honouring stewardship of the land | Commemorating the genocide and the 3rd anniversary of October 7 | For purchase: Zatoun olive oil from Palestine, local Indigenous crafts, kuffiyehs & books | Free registration at tinyurl.com/belongtheland or by using QR code (background image of the Turtle Island medicine wheel with quarters of white, black, yellow, red, overlaid with the fishing net motif seen in kuffiyehs; WRFP logo in bottom left, and a QR code)

Palestine Day Festival, Downtown Kitchener, 1pm-9pm on Sunday 12 July 2026

The 5th Annual KW Palestine Festival introduces Ounadikom, or Palestine Calls on You.

Hosted by the Palestinian Youth Movement and Sporas Scattered.

As the genocidal Zionist entity continues its campaign of ethnic cleansing against our people, and the cancer of Zionism continues to spread in our region, our people remain standing, steadfast and unshakable in the face of bombing campaigns, imprisonment, forced displacement and more. They refuse to bow down or accept the barbarity of the Zionist regime, resolute in their pursuit of complete and total liberation.

This year, we call on you to join us in honoring their steadfastness and resistance as we come together for the fifth annual KW Palestine Festival, Ounadikom. We will renew our commitment to the Palestinian cause, and ground ourselves in the role we play in the diaspora through various exhibits, performances, presentations and a celebration of our culture.

Palestine Is Calling On You | Ounadikom | 5th Annual Palestine Festival | July 12th 1:00pm - 9:00pm Carl Zehr Square 200 King St. W, Kitchener Vendors | Food | Games | Performances | Prizes | Exhibitions | Art (illustration of a hand from the top holding a hand reaching up from the bottom. There are sponsor logos along the bottom)

The Language of Peace at the Mennonite Central Committee, Kitchener, 11:30am on Thursday 25 June 2026

This talk by Robert Massoud, founder of Zatoun and co-founder of WRFP is offered as part of the “Lunch & Learn” series sponsored by MCEC PIN (Mennonite Church Eastern Canada – Palestine/Israel Network) .

No shortage of words for peace, just shortage of peace.

We hope for peace and live in the “language of peace” but where has it brought humanity and the planet. Why is peace so elusive? Why is the language not bringing us closer to peace?

Robert looks at the language of peace and why it betrays the pursuit of peace and how we can begin to recapture the language and the peace. All are invited to conversation following.

For more details, please visit Lunch and Learn: The Language of Peace – Mennonite Church Eastern Canada.

We can be grateful for living in a vibrant community of courage, commitment and solidarity. See you on Thursday for The Language of Peace, For the Children of Gaza Benefit Concert and for “Walk with Palestine” on Saturday.

Irene
Waterloo Region Friends of Palestine
www.instagram.com/wrfriendsofpalestine/

For the Children of Gaza Benefit Concert at St. Jacobs Mennonite Church, 7pm on Thursday 25 June 2026

Dear friends of Palestine,

WRFP is overjoyed to partner with Peggy Weber & Friends to bring this unique evening to Waterloo Region. Together we celebrate the culture and resistance through song and music, while fundraising for families in Gaza.

Tax-deductible Donations via MCC at St. Jacobs Benefit Concert for Children in Gaza June25 | Mennonite Central Committee

Already over $2,100 raised online alone! Thank you to the many that have given even if cannot attend event.

WRFP is very happy to be hosting For the Children of Gaza, a fundraising concert on Thursday, June 25 at 7:00 p.m. at St. Jacobs Mennonite Church.

The evening features Peggy Weber & Friends joined by Palestinian singers. Peggy brings together an eclectic group of 15 well-known local musicians to make glorious music from heartfelt folk, blues, gospel harmonies, classic singalongs, to soulful acoustic performances. With a presentation and conversation with Robert Massoud, long-time Canadian-Palestinian activist and co-founder of WRFP.

This unforgettable evening of music will raise funds for the children of Gaza. Although the destruction of Gaza is not in the news now, the children still live in rubble and tents and are in greater need of emergency support than ever. All donations are tax-deductible through Mennonite Central Committee and directed toward emergency aid for Gaza children and families, including food assistance, warm clothing, and mental health support programs.

For people who cannot attend the event to donate, there is a webpage to accept tax-deductible donations online – already has received $2,100 towards the overall goal of $12,000.

It promises to be an unforgettable evening of inspiring music to bring people together and make a difference in the lives of Gaza’s children.

The event is Free – no registration required. Come as you are, bring your heart, and make community for a unique and inspiring evening. All ages and all nations welcome!

See the exciting program: Waterloo Region Friends of Palestine – Children of Gaza Benefit Concert – program – 2026-06-25 (PDF, 82 kBytes)

Irene
Waterloo Region Friends of Palestine
www.instagram.com/wrfriendsofpalestine/

For the Children of Gaza Benefit Concert | Thursday, June 25 - 7:00pm St. Jacobs Mennonite Church | Peggy Weber & Friends with Special Guests (photo of a mural of a child holding a doll)

Flotilla Fundraiser: Film screening of “All That’s Left of You” & Speaker, 1pm on Sunday 31 May 2026

Flotilla Fundraiser: Film screening & Speaker

Hear a Flotilla organizer share their experience trying to break the siege on Gaza and bring in humanitarian aid. After the short talk, watch the award-winning film, All That’s Left of You, which traces one Palestinian family’s history from the Nakba to modern day. Sunday, 31 May 2026, doors at 1:00pm Register for Kitchener location. $15.50 – proceeds to Canadian Boat to Gaza. Co-sponsored by N4P & IJV. Let’s show our support for the returning activists. We hope to see you there! Register: https://actionnetwork.org/ticketed_events/all-thats-left-of-you-film-screening-flotilla-fundraiser

All That's Left of You | A Film by Cherien Dabis (a line of people in formal wear standing in front of a travel poster; several film award logos along the top)

About The Film

All That’s Left of You begins in the Occupied West Bank of the 1980s, when a Palestinian teenager is swept into a protest that changes the course of his family’s life. Reeling from its aftermath, his mother, Hanan, shares the story that led them to that fateful moment. Spanning seven decades, this epic drama traces the hopes and heartaches of one uprooted family, revealing not only the scars of displacement, but the unbreakable spirit of survival. Executive produced by Mark Ruffalo and Javier Bardem, the film is a New York Times Critics’ Pick, Independent Spirit Award Nominee, and was shortlisted for an Oscar.

The film is presented in partnership with Canadian Boat to Gaza and is co-sponsored by Neighbours for Palestine: Waterloo Region (N4P) and Independent Jewish Voices Waterloo Region (IJV).

Film: The Voice of Hind Rajab, Princess Original Cinema at 7pm Friday 30 January 2026

Dear Waterloo Region friends of Palestine,

WRFP is privileged to share our first film showing of 2026 with partner, Princess Cinema.

A shattering film using only sound and humanity; screened on the 2nd anniversary of the murder of 5 year-old Hind Rajab.

The voice of Hind Rajab is the voice of Gaza itself, a cry for rescue the entire world could hear, yet no one answered.

On January 29, 2024, a five-year-old Palestinian girl named Hind Rajab and six members of her family attempted to obey an evacuation order by Israel’s military before their home in Gaza City was to be bombed. The Israeli military shelled and shot at the fleeing vehicle, killing Hind’s family and trapping the young girl in the wreckage. Hind was able to place a call to the Palestinian Red Crescent begging for help as darkness falls. She waited 3 hours for an ambulance to be granted permission by the Israeli military to come to her only to have it shelled by a tank just as it reached her. The two paramedics were murdered — as was Hind herself.

Instead of directly depicting this horrific action, the director, Ben Hania, centers the drama within the offices of the Palestinian Red Crescent in the West Bank. The film chronicles the efforts of the call centre dispatcher to maintain an open phone line with Hind while negotiating safe passage for the rescue ambulance with Israel’s uncaring military.

In a bold and inspired move, the director utilizes the actual audio of Hind’s phone calls in the film, a choice that refocuses the line between fiction and documentary, yet never feels exploitative. The film was made with the support of Hind’s mother and the real-life dispatchers who tried to coordinate the rescue effort. The Voice of Hind Rajab is heartbreaking but it is also unflinching portrayal of genocidal intent and the dangers of humanitarian aid work in middle of military fire which targets civilians and civil society. The film is a memorial to a young, innocent life extinguished by a brutal genocide.

The film will be introduced with opening remarks by Robert Massoud, founder of Zatoun.

In deference to the film’s subject it will not be followed by the usual conversation / Q&A.

Tunisia, France, USA | Kaouther Ben Hania | 89 minutes | Arabic with English subtitles

Awards and reviews:

The Voice of Hind Rajab  was awarded the Grand Jury Prize at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival in 2025. It received the longest standing ovation in the festival’s history (24 minutes).  Director Ben Hania said in her powerful acceptance speech: “The voice of Hind is the voice of Gaza itself, a cry for rescue the entire world could hear, yet no one answered. Her voice will continue. Her voice will continue to echo until accountability is real, until justice is served.”

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has 98% based on 49 critics reviews. The website’s consensus reads: “Incorporating real-life elements that are as difficult to witness as they are impossible to forget, The Voice of Hind Rajab is a harrowing docudrama that makes a powerful appeal to humanity.” Metacritic assigned the film a score of 85 out of 100, based on 14 critics, indicating “universal acclaim.”

“Not a day has gone by that I haven’t thought of Hind and the life that she was denied. Ben Hania’s film asks you to do the same: to remember her smile, her voice, her love of the sea, and her.”  rogerebert.com.

The film is Tunisia’s entry for Best International Feature Film at the 98th Academy Awards on March 15, 2026.

Hope to see you at the film on Friday, 30 January 2026 (extra showings on Saturday and Sunday).  Please share with family and friends.  Princess Cinema needs our support to encourage screening of more films on or about Palestine.  Thank you.

In solidarity and peace,
Irene, Robert and WRFP

Film: The Voice of Hind Rajab "I'm so scared... please come" Gaza: January 29 2024 Hind Rajab 3.5.2018 29.1.2024 Friday January 30 ~ 7:00 pm Doors open at 6:30pm Princess Original, Waterloo 6:45pm remarks by Robert Massoud, founder of Zatoun Extra showings: Saturday, Jan-31 @ 4:30pm & Sunday, Feb-01 @ 2:30pm (illustration of a young girls face, with flowers in her hair)

Neighbours for Palestine: Day of Action outside Centra Industries, 1pm on Saturday 3 January 2026

Canada is still complicit in genocide, and Waterloo Region is still arming Israel.

It’s time to act.

Join us as we bring our collective power into 2026. Bring a neighbour. Bring your voice. Liberation is not a moment, it is a practice we return to again and again, year after year.

No more F-35s in our backyards!

Parking: Do not park at Centra Industries. Instead, find parking on Saltsman Drive or nearby businesses that are closed, while avoiding any ‘No Trespassing’ signs.

What to bring: Bring your Palestine flags, posters, signs, megaphones, drums, and anything to make noise. Since we’re meeting in January, be sure to wear warm, comfortable clothing!

Safety guidelines for the day of action

  • Marshals will be wearing vests. You can ask them any questions you may have!
  • Do not interact with agitators, police, or media. We have trained members assigned to deal with each.
  • We will not be interacting with the facility or employees. Our goal is to raise awareness about this manufacturer, not to provoke workers and take away from our message.

Why Centra Industries?

F-35 components made at Centra Industries travel to the assembly line in Fort Worth, Texas, where the F-35s are assembled and then purchased by Israel. Centra Industries is only one of several companies in Waterloo Region contributing weapons to Israel’s genocidal arsenal, but we’re focusing on them because of the exceptionally deadly nature of the F-35 warplane.

Since being elected, Cambridge MP Connie Cody has remained silent on the presence of Centra Industries in her riding and on Bill C-233 (the No More Loopholes Act), which would close the U.S. Loophole. To learn more about the proposed bill, see the Arms Embargo Now (black letters, "Now" is white on red text between two halves of a broken bomb)Arms Embargo Now website.

Lecture: Poetry, Pain, and the Promise of Palestine, UofW, 7-9pm on Wednesday 26 November 2025

The University of Waterloo’s Faculty of Arts is honoured to present guest speaker Dr. Sa’ed Atshan – scholar, Palestinian Quaker, and LGBTQ human rights advocate – on the role of poetry in capturing the realities of contemporary Palestinian life in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and beyond.

Please join us for this unique opportunity to explore how interdisciplinary scholarship can be applied to both understand and address a global crisis which has had such tragic human consequences.

About the speaker

A bald man wearing a suit jacket. He is staring past the camera to the left.
Sa’ed Atshan
Dr. Sa’ed Atshan is Associate Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies and Anthropology and Chair of the Department of Peace and Conflict Studies at Swarthmore College. He has previously served as an Associate Professor of Anthropology at Emory University, as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Senior Research Scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, and as a Postdoctoral Fellow at Brown University’s Watson Institute for International Studies. He earned a PhD in Anthropology and Middle Eastern Studies and MA in Social Anthropology from Harvard University, an MPP from the Harvard Kennedy School, and BA from Swarthmore College. Atshan is the author of Queer Palestine and the Empire of Critique (Stanford University Press, 2020), coauthor (with Katharina Galor) of The Moral Triangle: Germans, Israelis, Palestinians (Duke University Press, 2020), and co-editor (with Galor) of Reel Gender: Palestinian and Israeli Cinema (Bloomsbury, 2022).

Details and proceedings

Registration is required for in-person and online attendance. For those attending in-person, proof of registration is required at the reception area.

  • Doors open: 6:30 p.m.
  • Lecture and moderated Q & A: 7:00 to 8:20 p.m.
  • Reception for the in-person audience: 8:30 to 9:00 p.m.

Paid visitor parking is available in Lot M across from Federation Hall. More parking information.

This lecture is made possible through the generosity of alumni and friends. UofW Faculty of Arts extends sincere appreciation to the donors who contributed to the Foundation for Palestinian Studies Fund.

Watch past recordings from the UofW Palestinian Lectures series on YouTube.

Rise Up for Gaza, Gaukel Block in Kitchener, 2pm on Saturday 4 October 2025

This October marks two years since the beginning of the genocide in Gaza. Two years of mass killing, displacement, and starvation of a besieged civilian population—carried out with total impunity in full view of the world.

For two years, the Canadian government has chosen complicity—arming Israel, providing unwavering support, ignoring international law, and hiding behind loopholes and half-measures. It is up to us to make clear that this is unacceptable and that we refuse to allow our government to aid genocide in our name.

On Saturday, October 4, join the Palestinian Youth Movement in the streets of Kitchener-Waterloo to shut it down and demand an end to our government’s complicity in genocide. Bring your friends, your family, and your community—together we can make it impossible for our government to ignore our voices.

📢  RiseUp For Gaza

🗓 Saturday, October 4

🕑 2:00 PM

📍 Gaukel Block, Downtown Kitchener

There is no denying it. An extensive UN investigation recently confirmed what has long been known–a genocide is happening in Gaza. The world was warned by the International Court of Justice when it ruled a “plausible genocide” in January 2024 and issued legally binding provisional measures, including that all states must refrain from arming Israel while it is under investigation. In November 2024, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister and Defense Minister for war crimes and crimes against humanity. And leading genocide scholars and human rights experts have loudly sounded the alarm.

Yet the Canadian government has still not even called this a genocide. Instead, Canada remains complicit–sending and buying weapons and military technology, and providing diplomatic cover by repeating the false claim that Israel has a “right to defend itself” while it carries out atrocity crimes against the indigenous Palestinian population of the land it illegally occupies, and continues to annex, in defiance of international law.

Genocide is the crime of all crimes. It cannot be justified under any circumstances. Canada is a signatory to the Genocide Convention, which makes it our government’s responsibility not only to punish but to prevent genocide. The duty to prevent arises the moment serious risk is identified, not after it becomes politically unviable to defend the indefensible. Our government has failed, and the people of Gaza cannot be saved with symbolic gestures like state recognition—they need the bombs to stop falling, the weapons to stop flowing, the blockade to be lifted, and Canada’s complicity to end.

Here in Waterloo Region, our community is directly implicated. Our region is home to over a half-dozen weapons and technology companies exporting parts and components that fuel this genocide. This complicity stains our community and our conscience.

The responsibility to resist genocide falls on all of humanity—but especially on Canadians, whose government is actively helping to sustain it.

Your presence matters on October 4th. Together, we will show that Waterloo Region refuses to stand idly by while genocide is carried out with our government’s support.

Stop the genocide. Stop Canada’s complicity.

We will not be silent until Palestine is free.

In solidarity,

Neighbours for Palestine: Waterloo Region

Presentation: Canada and the Genocide in Gaza, WLU, 7pm on Friday 19 September 2025

This event has been cancelled. For more information see Wilfrid Laurier University cancels talk on Canada and the Genocide in Gaza from ActionNetwork.org.

  • What: Public Event: Canada and the Genocide in Gaza CFPI | Canadian Foreign Policy Institute (stylized red letters)
  • When: 7:00pm to 9:00pm on Friday 19 September 2025
  • Where: Room 106, Schlegel Building, Wilfid Laurier University
  • Location: 75 University Avenue, Waterloo, Ontario Map
  • Contact: Tamara Lorincz tlorincz@dal.ca

What Rules-Based Order?

Join us for a free, public presentation about Canada’s complicity in the ongoing Israeli genocide against the Palestinian people with Dr. Peter Eglin & Yves Engler. What global rules are Canada & the U.S. following arming Israel? What are the possibilities for peace?

Moderated by Tamara Lorincz, PhD candidate, Balsillie School of International Affairs, Wilfrid Laurier University.

Books will be available for sale.

In recognition of Peace Week. All welcome!

Speakers

  • Dr. Peter Eglin, Professor Emeritus of Wilfrid Laurier University and author of the new book “Analysing the Israel Effect in Canada: A Critical Auto-Ethnography”.
  • Yves Engler, author of “Canada and Israel: Building Apartheid” and NDP leadership candidate.

Public Event: What Rules-Based Order? Canada and the Genocide in Gaza Friday, September 19, 7:00 - 8:50 p.m. Room 106, Schlegel Building Wilfrid Laurier University 75 University Ave., Waterloo (photo of a balding man wearing glasses) Dr. Peter Eglin, Professor Emeritus of Wilfrid Laurier University and author of the new book “Analysing the Israel Effect in Canada: A Critical Auto-Ethnography” Join us for a free, public presentation about Canada’s complicity in the ongoing Israeli genocide against the Palestinian people with Dr. Eglin & Yves Engler. What global rules are Canada & the U.S. following arming Israel? What are the possibilities for peace? Moderated by Tamara Lorincz, PhD candidate, Balsillie School of International Affairs, Wilfrid Laurier University. Books will be available for sale. In recognition of Peace Week. All welcome! (very close close-up of a man with five-o'clock shadow, wearing a blue collared shirt) Yves Engler, author of “Canada and Israel: Building Apartheid” NDP leadership candidate www.foreignpolicy.ca