🍉 VanGran4Pal Community Newsletter
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**Neighbours and Friends, **
We’re sending this newsletter edition slightly ahead of schedule because there are some really important actions we want to bring to your attention, including some taking place this evening and tomorrow. Right now, there is nothing else we want to do but focus on Gaza.
We are spreading the word on every protest, petition and action we can take in our communities right now. Gaza is being starved. There is nothing to eat. This is 2025 and this is a man-made famine. It is painfully reminiscent of the 1940s Warsaw ghetto. Never again requires all of us to take action, because our actions MATTER. The only reason any politicians are doing anything, disgracefully late, is because of the continued pressure we, the people, have applied. But politicians’ words can’t be trusted, and we can’t let up. The Canadian government tried to appease us by saying they were not shipping arms to Israel: the hard work of researchers from four NGOs - World Beyond War, the Palestinian Youth Movement, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East and Independent Jewish Voices - just proved this to be a lie. We each play a part in this movement, in holding power accountable every step of the way, and we will not stop.
Action Updates
Demand reunification for Palestinian Canadian families
From @gazancanadians (click here for the ‘what are our demands’ post):
🔥 Week 3: We’re Escalating the Sit-In for Gaza 🔥
📍 IRCC Vancouver – 1148 Hornby Street
🗓 Wednesday, July 30 11am-5pm
This week’s sit-in will be louder, stronger, and more creative — because silence is complicity.
🥁 Bang the Pots + Drumming for Gaza at the top of every hour
🎶 1:30 PM – Left Coast Labour Chorus sings for justice
📣 Hourly Megaphone Moments with updates + family stories
🧵 Family-Friendly Resistance: Tatreez, bracelets, posters & more
👫 Bring a buddy. Bring your voice. Bring your love for Gaza.
Please also click here to petition your MP to reunite Palestinian Canadian families now!
Bang your pots Gaza - Every night @ 6pm
From @alawdavancouver:
GAZA IS STARVING.
Not by accident, but by design, as an act of genocide by the Zionist entity that continues to act with impunity, unchecked by any so-called "leader" of the world.
A Stage 5 famine has been declared in Gaza and Palestinians of all ages have begun to wither away from hunger as aid trucks in the thousands wait to enter on the other side of Rafah.
@wizard_bisan1 has called on us to bang on our pots. We are not helpless, we can do so much more.
Every night at 6PM, wherever you are, bang on your pots for 2-5 minutes. Don't stop until the aid is let in, until the borders are opened, and Gaza gets the relief it has patiently waited for.
May our beloved Palestine soon be free, from the river to the sea.
A Call from the Workers of Gaza to Labor Unions Around the World: A Cry in the Face of Starvation and Genocide
Click here to read the full, powerful message from the workers of Gaza to workers and labour unions around the world. An excerpt is below:
“…We address you today once again, not merely as victims, but as the workers of Palestine: an integral part of the popular and working classes of this world, struggling for justice, liberation, and dignity. And we call upon you to:
Break the silence and complicity, raise your voices within your unions and federations, and denounce the policies of starvation, siege, and massacre in Gaza.
Pressure your governments to end arms deals and military cooperation with the occupation, and to impose sanctions on the Zionist settler-colonial and apartheid regime.
Boycott companies that support the occupation, and withdraw union investments from any company, institution, or entity involved in funding or profiting from the war.
Organize days of rage and global solidarity in factories and workshops, in ports and airports, in the streets and public squares, in support of Palestine and its brave people.
We especially appeal to the unions of seafarers and port workers, urging them to refuse to load or unload “Israeli” ships or those bound for Zionist ports, and to halt any form of maritime or commercial cooperation with the tools of war and siege. Your strong hands and awakened consciences are capable of halting the machinery of extermination and stopping the shipments of death sent to Palestine. Show all humanity the power of the struggling working class when it rises united in defense of justice and human values.”
Upcoming Events
Vigil | Tues July 29
📅 Tuesday July 29, 2025
📍 Location: Grandview Park
7:30pm
Honouring our martyrs – Vigil
Grief binds us, resistance fuels us. On Tuesday, July 29th 2025, we will gather at Grandview Park at 7:30 PM to honour the martyrs in Palestine, in Iran and to reaffirm our commitment to liberation of all people fighting colonial annihilation. July 31st marks the anniversary of the martyrdom of Ismail Haniyeh, a key leader of the Palestinian resistance who was assassinated by Zionist forces. The assassination of negotiators like Haniyeh proves that Israel fears dialogue, fears justice, and will resort to any brutality to maintain its occupation.
We honour the Iranian scientists murdered in their homes by Israel, their lives stolen for daring to advance knowledge and sovereignty in the face of imperialism. We mourn Sheikh Khader Adnan and Walid Daqqah, martyred prisoners assassinated through deliberate medical neglect , because even in captivity, their voices were weapons.
The same colonial power that arms Israel’s starvation campaigns in Gaza, that justifies the murder of Iranian scientists, is the same machinery that has massacred Indigenous, Black people here in Turtle Island.
P4P Power Hour | Tues July 29
🗓️** Tuesday, July 29**
🕣 8:30–9:30 PM (PDT)
📍 Online (Zoom)
From @parentsforpalestineyvr: Join us for a virtual power hour focused on organizing impactful actions in your community. We’ll share ideas, tools, and updates—including the ongoing family reunification sit-ins led by @gazancanadians families—and ways you can support, both on the ground and from afar.
📩 Reply to this post or DM @parentsforpalestineyvr to get the Zoom link!
From Palestine to the Philippines | Thurs July 31
📅 Thurs, July 31st at 5:30 pm
📍 Location: Grandview Church
FFPS-CST and Canada Palestine Association’s Basil Al-Araj Prisoner Committee invite you to join us in honoring the revolutionary struggle of women and queer people from Palestine to the Philippines.
Food, music, and child care provided!
** Dyke March with QCFP | Sat August 2**
📆 Saturday, August 2nd
⏰ 12pm
📍 McSpadden Park, Victoria Drive
From @qc4pvancouver: The Queer Collective for Palestine will be marching in the Community Section for this year's annual Vancouver Dyke March! The march is taking place on Saturday, August 2nd at 12pm along Commercial Drive, and will be followed by a festival at Grandview Park. We invite you to join us at the front of the march or by lining the streets, showing your solidarity and support with queer and trans Palestinians. Bring your flags and signs!
Full information and schedule on Instagram here.
Additional call for queer community members and queer and allied groups and societies - please click here to read and sign the open letter to Vancouver Pride Society.
** Tatreez for Palestine | Sun August 3**
📆 Sunday, August 3rd
⏰ 1-6 pm
**📍 Holland Park, Surrey **
From @hiyadania: 🧵🇵🇸 Tatreez for Palestine is heading to Surrey this weekend! This Sunday, August 3rd is National Watermelon Day and we'll be at Holland Park to raise funds for our people in Gaza (and stitch some Watermelons for you!).
Bring your clothing, kufiyas, tote bags or any other cloth items to get a motif from above stitched on. Funds will be sent to vetted fundraisers in Gaza.
Bisan Documentary | Thurs Aug 7
📅 August 7th
🕘 7:00pm
📍 2122 Kingsway, Vancouver
**🎟️ Tickets @ **Islamicrelief.ca/events
From @islamicreliefcanada: Join us for a powerful double feature screening of
“Bisan” and “Ahmad Alive”, two gripping documentaries from the Seen Palestine series that break through the media silence to share raw, unfiltered stories from Gaza.
In partnership with SeenTV, Islamic Relief Canada is honoured to bring these two films to highlighting voices that refuse to be silenced and stories the world needs to hear.
Don’t miss this chance to stand in solidarity, bear witness to their truth, and honour their resilience - we hope to see you there for this unforgettable screening experience.
Community Spotlight
**Help fund the Gaza Soup Kitchen - Parents for Palestine YVR **
From our friends at Parents for Palestine YVR:
Thanks to your incredible support, Parents for Palestine YVR is now sponsoring one day a week at the Gaza Soup Kitchen’s Al-Nusairat location — feeding up to 350 families each time.
Together, we’ve raised $18,300, allowing the kitchen to run for 11 full days so far.
But the crisis is worsening.
Over 50% of Gaza Soup Kitchen operations are being shut down due to ingredient shortages and rising costs.
It now takes $1,000 USD a day to operate — and prices keep going up.
We currently have 215 weekly donors. If 45 more people give just $10/week, we can fund two days a week of meals.
👉 Join us as a weekly sustaining donor and help keep families in Gaza fed.
Contribute to the Newsletter
Do you have something you would like to share with your neighbours? We welcome submissions of all kinds — stories, poems, art, and event info. Simply reply to this email to send in your contribution.
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With gratitude and in solidarity,
Your Neighbours
Van Gran 4 Palestine
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