Palestinian civilians seeking refuge must not be shunned or abandoned.
As Canadians, we look back proudly at how our country, in recent years, opened its doors to Syrian and Ukrainian refugees. As Canadian Jews, previous generations of our own people have come to this land as refugees. But we remember Canada’s painful history of antisemitism: in the 1930’s and 40’s, when the Jews of Europe desperately sought refuge from Nazi genocide, Canada closed its borders to them: “None is too many,” a Canadian official remarked. Our religious tradition clearly teaches “welcoming the stranger” as one of its highest values. In other words, the plight of refugees weighs, or ought to weigh, heavily on us as Jewish Canadians.
This is why we signed and helped organize this open letter, signed by over 50 Jewish communal leaders and eight progressive Jewish organizations. It is significant that such a broad cross section of the Jewish community has gotten behind this push.
Unfortunately, both our Canadian government and too many mainstream Jewish institutions have abandoned the Palestinians of Gaza desperately seeking refuge in Canada. January marks one year since the federal government announced a Temporary Residency Visa (TRP) program for Gazans escaping the war. At first they capped the number at 1,000 individuals eligible to be let in to reunite with family in Canada, then it was expanded to 5,000. So far, only a few hundred have made it to Canada from Egypt, yet it is unclear if any made it out of Gaza because of the program. Palestinians stranded in Gaza urgently need safe passage out.
By contrast, Canada has welcomed almost 300,000 Ukrainians. Since October 7, 2023 almost 8,000 Israelis have made it to Canada. Neither group faces the plethora of restrictions and obstacles that the Canadian government imposes on Gazans. (more...)
The Jewish voice of solidarity for Palestinian refuge in Canada
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