The NFU condemns the Israeli military forces’ targeted damage of a Seed Multiplication Unit in the southern West Bank city of Hebron.
On July 31, 2025, the Israeli army, using bulldozers and heavy machinery, laid waste to Palestinian heritage seeds and key infrastructure belonging to the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UWAC) — a Palestinian farmer organization and member of the global La Via Campesina movement.
As farmers, we share an intimate knowledge of the significance of seeds to a people’s food sovereignty, culture and survival. For generations, Palestinian farmers have carefully selected and saved seeds for their specific traits and ability to continuously adapt to changing conditions. Seeds saved by Palestinian farmers are the bedrock of their national food system. Locally adapted, culturally relevant seeds embody generations of agricultural knowledge. They hold the stories, visions, legacies and hopes of their people.
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UWAC’s seed bank held seeds that were the heritage and trust of Palestinian farmers in the West Bank and Gaza. The existence and survival of their heritage seeds are inseparable from Palestinians’ physical and cultural survival. The Israeli government’s deliberate attack on this seed bank is intended to demonstrate to Palestinian farmers and Palestinian society their helplessness as they are pushed toward the brink of total annihilation.
This malicious attack and deliberate targeting of a civilian agricultural facility represents a further escalation of the violence, crimes against humanity and genocide in Gaza.
Israel’s assault on Gaza has resulted in the officially recorded deaths of over 66,700 Palestinians to date. The actual death toll is almost certainly far higher. Farmers and food providers have been devastated by acute bombardment, as well as by the ongoing restriction of movement and access to land and resources. The intentional denial of food and water in Gaza is being used by Israel as a tool of genocide against the Palestinian people, and the resulting mass starvation is a crime against humanity, a violation of international human rights to food and water and a breach of international humanitarian law.
On behalf of the thousands of farmers and farm workers who are members of the National Farmers Union, we denounce Israel’s deliberate attack on Palestinian seeds and agricultural heritage. We renew calls for the Canadian government to do everything in its power, including implementing a two-way arms embargo and diplomatic and economic sanctions, to stop Israeli military operations against Palestinians in Gaza and uphold the principles of the Geneva Convention.
