Call it what it is: A genocide!

In the early morning of 8 October 2025, Israeli naval forces illegally intercepted our vessel Conscience in international waters, approximately 130 nautical miles from Gaza. The vessel was carrying humanitarian aid, with journalists, medics, and activists on board, sailing to break Israel’s illegal siege on Gaza, imposed for the past 18 years.

Israeli naval commandos confined all 92 of us in the vessel’s cafeteria until we reached the port of Ashdod. I was wearing a kufiyah, and as I disembarked and walked a few feet, I felt someone trying to pull my arms behind my back. It was still dark. At first, I resisted and freed myself, but then more force was applied; my arms were zip-tied behind me. Several Israeli guards mishandled me and took my kufiyah. I was taken to a holding area and forced to kneel on a hard surface, possibly stone, for nearly an hour or more. The pain was unbearable. I saw my comrades in the same position, though most of their hands were not zip-tied.

Eventually, one of the guards took me for immigration processing. Later, I was tightly blindfolded, placed on a prison truck, and transferred to Ketziot Prison with my comrades.

The following morning, while we (the Freedom Flotilla participants) were illegally detained in Ketziot Prison, Israeli police guards came to our cell and rushed us out. Two comrades and I were taken to another location within the prison compound. We were not informed of our destination. We were ushered into a room inside a steel container, where we met our lawyer from the legal centre Adalah, which represents Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. Our lawyer informed us that this was a tribunal gathering testimonies regarding our mistreatment at the hands of Israeli naval and ground forces.

Besides our lawyer, there was a judge, a police officer, and a person introduced as the judge’s interpreter—though he was most likely an undercover intelligence operative. The judge clearly understood everything I said and required no interpretation.

Read: Freedom Flotilla Coalition announces expanded 2026 sailings to Gaza, calls for escalated global action

After my comrades gave their testimonies, it was my turn. When I finished, the judge ended the session. I requested to make additional comments, as she had permitted my comrades to do. She initially refused, saying the time was over, but I insisted. Eventually, she relented.

We had been advised not to make political statements, as doing so could be used against us—they could extend my detention or even subject me to torture. But I chose to speak out. I said we were kidnapped in international waters in violation of international law. I emphasised that we were humanitarians, medics, and journalists bringing aid to break the illegal siege on Gaza and end the genocide. I stated that our missions would continue until the siege is lifted and the genocide ends. The room fell silent as the judge looked at me in surprise. I then broke the silence and said, “That’s all I have to say.”

I knew I was putting myself in danger by using the word “genocide” in front of an Israeli judge, a police officer, and a so-called interpreter while under illegal detention in one of Israel’s most notorious prisons. But I also knew that standing up for justice carries a price—and I was prepared to pay it.

I refuse to live as a coward who cannot even utter the word “genocide” when it is unfolding before him.

There is already sufficient evidence for Canada in particular, and the world in general, to make a genocide determination.

In January 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel is plausibly committing genocide in Gaza and ordered it to prevent genocidal acts and allow humanitarian aid into the territory. These measures are legally binding. Yet Israel not only ignored the orders, it acted in direct defiance, continuing its indiscriminate bombing, killing, and starvation of Gaza’s population.

Any state that continues to arm Israel risks complicity in violating the ICJ order.

International human rights organisations, including the UN Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), have recently concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. The Commission has called on all states to fulfil their obligations under the Genocide Convention, including the duty to prevent and punish genocide.

Canada, a signatory to the Convention, is legally obligated to halt any material support, such as arms transfers, that could contribute to Israel’s genocidal acts.

In February 2024, UN experts released a statement singling out countries including Canada, urging them to immediately halt arms transfers to Israel.

In her October 2025 report, Gaza Genocide: A Collective Crime, UN Special Rapporteur on the OPT, Francesca Albanese, examined the role of Western states, including Canada, in enabling Israel’s actions through military, diplomatic, and economic support.

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“The ongoing genocide in Gaza is a collective crime, sustained by the complicity of influential Third States that have enabled longstanding systemic violations of international law by Israel…. The world now stands on a knife-edge between the collapse of the international rule of law and hope for renewal. Renewal is only possible if complicity is confronted, responsibilities are met, and justice is upheld.”

A series of investigative reports released jointly by four Canadian organisations—World Beyond War, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME), Independent Jewish Voices, and the Palestinian Youth Movement—revealed that Canadian companies have continued to ship military goods, including ammunition, bomb parts, and F-35 components, to Israel. This includes indirect exports via the United States, which do not require permits or undergo stringent human rights reviews, unlike direct exports that are subject to Canada’s obligations under the Arms Trade Treaty.

Continuing such exports via the US loophole constitutes a violation of international law and implicates Canada in complicity in genocide.

To close this loophole, NDP MP Jenny Kwan introduced Bill C-233 (An Act to Amend the Export and Import Permit Act—also known as the “No More Loopholes Act”) in Parliament. The bill is scheduled for a vote on 26 February 2026.

This bill must be supported by all MPs and the Liberal government, not only to honour Canada’s international legal commitments but also to uphold Canadian values of freedom, justice, and human dignity.

There is no sitting on the fence when it comes to genocide. You are either against it, or by your silence and inaction, you are complicit. Canada must act. It’s time to call it what it is: Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.