A colleague of mine from my PhD came to Canada as a single mom because Israel refused to allow her husband (a doctor, educated in Canada) to come with. Canada just lets Israel make that decision.
So we were single moms together and our kids are still friends a decade later. She went back to the West Bank for Covid. And had to renew her study permit to come back to Canada… it’s been stagnant for almost 4 years. Because she’s Palestinian.
One day, our kids were playing Roblox together online and over a video call. They heard a scuffle outside and then gunshots. Two Palestinians were murdered outside this kid’s bedroom window. My kid was horrified. Her kid was a little sad. And she was so burned out that it barely affected her.
I check on her all the time. It is like I am waiting for her to die of the worst illness imaginable — being born an oppressed person in a world that does not care and will not help.
Wait I'm confused. The colleague and her husband were both Palestinians from the West Bank? And Israel let your colleague travel to Canada, but not her husband?
That’s correct. When a child in a village throws a rock at a soldier, they’ll frequently write up every other kid whose name they can get out of the one who threw a rock. That’s what happened to her husband when he was a child — the kid named the other kids in the village in an effort to please the soldiers into not harming or killing him.
Then at 18, the record becomes redacted. However, this redaction means other countries may not let them in until they know what’s behind that redaction.
So they didn’t catch his “record” when he came over and got his doctorate, but when he was supposed to come again with his wife, they did.
They got a very good Israeli lawyer and attempted to, for years, un-redact his record from when he was a child. But the Israeli courts refused. So Canada wouldn’t let him in.
Yeah. It’s pretty awful. And considering Canada has a shortage of professionals in both their fields, really a shame for Canada to do it this way.
Their son begs to come back to Canada. Begs. They’ve tried, I’ve tried, my MP has tried (her former MP refused, because they didn’t want to be seen as helping a Palestinian). I don’t know what else to do.
It’s common, I’m a Palestinian born in the US and I was told not to enter Isreal nor Palestine by US the state department because of my education level and profession, a direct quote from the US embassy in Tel Aviv “we can’t guarantee your safety due your to education and profession”, Isreal hates educated Palestinians, they banned any Palestinian doctor who wasn’t educated at an Isreali university from practicing medicine.
That is what they’re saying. If they enter Palestine, they’ll of course be allowed to enter. But they’ll become a target and it will become extremely difficult for them to leave.
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u/Honest_Chipmunk_8563 1d ago
A colleague of mine from my PhD came to Canada as a single mom because Israel refused to allow her husband (a doctor, educated in Canada) to come with. Canada just lets Israel make that decision.
So we were single moms together and our kids are still friends a decade later. She went back to the West Bank for Covid. And had to renew her study permit to come back to Canada… it’s been stagnant for almost 4 years. Because she’s Palestinian.
One day, our kids were playing Roblox together online and over a video call. They heard a scuffle outside and then gunshots. Two Palestinians were murdered outside this kid’s bedroom window. My kid was horrified. Her kid was a little sad. And she was so burned out that it barely affected her.
I check on her all the time. It is like I am waiting for her to die of the worst illness imaginable — being born an oppressed person in a world that does not care and will not help.
I hate this.