My letter to the leader of the federal New Democratic Party of Canada

Dear Mr. Jagmeet Singh, MP,                   September 23, 2022

This is Dr. John Soos, a Vancouver-based clinical psychologist. I have a long-standing personal and professional interest in Palestine - as a human rights advocate and as a psychologist who has been to the West Bank and Gaza on numerous occasions. I have personally seen the devastating impacts of the ongoing grave human rights abuses, including violent, state-sponsored military actions such as night-time raids and abduction of children in the West Bank, and indiscriminate, deadly aerial bombardments in Gaza. In addition to witnessing such atrocities, I have conducted training seminars for my Palestinian mental health colleagues on the treatment of psychological trauma stemming from decades of oppression, military occupation and siege. The reality on the ground is truly heart-breaking. 

Orchestrated Israeli propaganda campaigns are designed to obfuscate this harsh reality and indeed invert reality by claiming that Israel is the victim when in fact invading Israeli troops are violently subjugating the indigenous Palestinian population on a regular basis. All of us who have criticized Israeli policies have had to endure bad-faith, false accusations of antisemitism and I am certain as a result of your principled, courageous statements, you too will be vilified. Please remain steadfast and do not allow yourselves to be manipulated. 

I am just sharing this bit of context to underline the importance of recent NDP policy proposals on Palestine-Israel. They are a welcome development, and I applaud your integrity and compassion completely. I want to therefore thank you for taking this important approach and ask that you stay firm in your commitment to international law, human rights and common decency that have always characterized New Democratic values. 

Specifically, I’m pleased to see that the NDP is calling for increased pressure on the Israeli government to stop its plans to annex Palestinian territory. This is urgently needed considering the rapid expansion of Israel’s settlements on the ground. As you know, land theft and population transfer - in the form of Jewish-only segregated settlements are war crimes and hideous, unacceptable reminders that Apartheid and colonialism is an ongoing reality in Palestine-Israel. 

I’m counting on the NDP to advocate for human rights and international law in Palestine-Israel in Parliament. Occupation, colonialism, and apartheid are crimes against humanity and dismantling injustice is the way to attain peace, health and happiness for all persons residing there.  

Sincerely yours, 

John G Soos, PhD

Vancouver, BC

Resuming International Travel

Because of global restrictions on travel stemming from the pandemic, I'm only now writing about my first international trip in two years. Ironically I write this under strict quarantine conditions imposed by the Canadian Government. I won't call this "solitary confinement" as I don't want in any way to trivialize deplorable conditions political prisoners are subjected to. Let's just say, "home alone" for ten days. Why? An app and algorithm selected me for a "random, mandatory" covid test to be done  24 hours from receiving an email message at the Toronto airport after shortly landing from Manchester. I'm fully vaccinated with the addition of boosters and have no symptoms.  In fact I just cycled 175 kms with ease. More on that later.  But as I'm a big fan of public health and I just came back from the UK where there is near-zero remaining covid consciousness amidst the highly infectious Omicron strain, I  adhere with the request. The test came back positive - perhaps picking up noninfectious antigen remnants from an earlier covid exposure - but I comply fully. Here we go ...

Big Ride for Palestine

The Big Ride for Palestine was set up in 2015 by Palestine solidarity activists wanting to combine their love of cycling with an aim to raise awareness about Israel's brutal, ongoing military occupation and to raise funds for charities working in Palestine. I joined this year's Big Ride.  Money we raised goes to the Middle East Children's Alliance (MECA) specializing in assisting children traumatized by living under occupation, and The Gaza Sunbirds - a cycling club championing para-cyclists aiming to send a team to the 2024 Olympics in France. 

Getting set to head-out from Derby, UK

I cycled about 175 kms with 300 fellow cyclists - all committed to ending human rights violations in Palestine. We cycled from Derby to Stoke on July 29, Stoke to Manchester on July 30, and around the City of Manchester, July 31. Please visit their website for a deeper dive: 

https://www.thebigride4palestine.com/big-ride-summer-2022

Entering Manchester 

The overall experience was extraordinary. Coming from Canada, I was struck by the wide-spread community understanding of the need to end Israel's ongoing political violence in Palestine. The enthusiastic, heartfelt supportive greetings we received as we cycled through towns in  England was extraordinary. Sadly such impassioned embrace of human rights for Palestine is  much less evident in this country. Canada speaks of its commitment to international law and human rights, but the hypocrisy and exceptionalism with regards to Israel is glaring. 

As a cyclist who has been to Gaza on various occasions, including to conduct a seminar for mental health professionals on coping with their own psychological trauma, I chose to cycle in support of the Palestinian para-cycling team - The Gaza Sunbirds. 

Please check out my page, "Soos Cycles for Palestine" here: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/sooscyclesforpalestine

If you can and wish to donate, any amount is greatly appreciated.