In order for Canada to confront Israeli occupation, it must confront itself

 

International Court of Justice ruling makes Canadian support of Israel illegal

In a landmark decision on Friday, the International Court of Justice ruled by a majority that the Israeli presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) is unlawful and that Israel must end the occupation “as rapidly as possible.” Israel must also cease all new settlement activity, remove all settlers from the occupied territories and pay reparations for all damages incurred from acts which have taken place within the OPT since 1967.

Importantly for Canada, the Court also ruled that “all States are under an obligation not to recognize as legal the situation arising from the unlawful presence of the State of Israel in the [OPT] and not to render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation created by the continued presence of the State of Israel in the [OPT].”

This is a crushing moral and rhetorical blow to the Canadian government and its indefensible support for Israel as it continues to carry out a campaign of genocide against the Palestinian people.

As the Israeli regime continues its brutal campaign of collective punishment of Palestinians, the scale and tempo of both war crimes and crimes against humanity which are being committed are difficult for the human mind to fully comprehend.

Famine conditions are spreading across the Gaza Strip, as the flow of humanitarian aid has been deliberately reduced in order to starve the population. According to the latest figures, “96 percent of the population is facing acute food insecurity at crisis level or higher (IPC Category 3+), with almost half a million people in catastrophic conditions (IPC Category 5).” The destruction of crops, farms, as well as nearly all of Gaza’s small fleet of fishing boats, means that Palestinians have no independent food systems upon which they can rely for subsistence.  (more...)

In order for Canada to confront Israeli occupation, it must confront itself