Ontario Nurses’ Association Must Speak Out Against Gaza Atrocities

 

A call for consistency and solidarity from a group of nurses around the province

As rank and file nurses, we are disgraced by the ongoing complicity of our health care leaders and institutions seven months into Israel’s most recent assault on Gaza. We must take matters into our own hands in the pursuit of justice. As one of the slogans of the Ontario Nurses’ Association (ONA) goes, “The nurses are coming. Injustice makes us angry. Anger makes us act.”

We demand the Ontario Nurses’ Association support the campaign of boycotts, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) against the state of Israel until the latter abides by international law. Afterall, Canadian labour and civil society organizations have been supporting BDS for years. To start, the ONA should sign onto the statement initiated by Labour for Palestine, World Beyond War and Labour Against the Arms Trade which demands the federal government impose a comprehensive arms embargo on Israel. 

While ONA’s most recent statement on Apr. 12 urges the Canadian government “to do everything in its power to achieve a ceasefire and restore access to humanitarian aid and health care,” and also “uphold international law,” it steers clear of mentioning an arms embargo, which is a concrete and necessary precondition to all of the above. It is also worth noting that the statement was not published as a media release nor on ONA’s social media accounts, so it is unclear how it is intended to put any political pressure on the Canadian government, or even empower rank and file nurses to do so.

Of course, ONA cannot and will not propose such a solution until it names the problem for what it is, which is that Israel is plausibly committing genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza, including by way of systematic attacks on the health care system. Indeed, it has been argued that the attack on health care in Gaza is part of Israel’s strategy to create a major health crisis that kills thousands of Palestinians in the short-term and makes it impossible to heal, rebuild, and thrive on their land in the long-term.  (more...)

Ontario Nurses’ Association Must Speak Out Against Gaza Atrocities