With a regional war unfolding in the Middle East, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) decries the Trudeau government’s failed approach to Israeli belligerency over the past year. CJPME believes that there’s a clear line between Israel’s horrific collective punishment against Palestinians following last year’s Oct. 7 attack by Hamas – considered a genocide by many – and the outbreak of regional war today. Just hours ago, Iran launched a massive missile attack on Israel, citing Israel’s assassination of Hezbollah and Hamas leaders. Israel’s subsequent vow of widespread retaliation will only plunge the region into greater misery and despair.
“Canada’s strategy of acting in lockstep with the US on Middle East policy this past year has been a total failure,” declared Thomas Woodley, President of CJPME. The US, for example, blocked a UN Security Council resolution for a ceasefire in Lebanon last week. “The failure is not theoretical. The lives of millions of people will be devastated as a result of Canada’s indifference to Israel’s brutal violence,” added Woodley. CJPME notes that the lives of millions of Palestinians, Lebanese and Israelis have already been disrupted by the violence, yet Canada has failed to publicly pressure the US or Israel to curb the violence. Worse, Canada has been equivocal about whether it will even support international efforts at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and International Criminal Court (ICC) to hold the actors in these conflicts accountable.
“At each major juncture over the past twelve months, the Trudeau government has avoided holding Israel accountable,” continued Woodley. “Canada has failed to publicly condemn the genocidal comportment of the Netanyahu government. It has failed to condemn Israel’s reckless and illegal violence in Lebanon. It has failed to take decisive action to withhold arms from Israel. It has failed to support international resolutions and action at the UN, the ICJ and the ICC. It has failed to review and cancel key bilateral agreements with Israel.” CJPME points out that just yesterday, given Israel’s violence in Lebanon, Belgium called for EU sanctions on imports from Israeli settlements. (more...)
Canada’s Failed Israel Policy Enables Regional War
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