Showing posts with label Canada. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Canada. Show all posts

Canada opposes 15 Palestinian attempts to join United Nations treaties

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OTTAWA – Canada has formally opposed Palestinian attempts to join 15 different United Nations treaties and conventions — a position that puts the federal government on the wrong side of history and at odds with its citizenry, the Palestinian envoy in Ottawa says.
Canada is objecting in writing to the UN because it maintains Palestine is not a legal state. The Palestinians have formally replied to Canada’s objections in writing, issuing a pointed reminder that they won non-member observer status in November 2012 at the UN General Assembly.
The dispute has sparked the most scathing Palestinian criticism to date of the Harper government’s unwavering support of Israel.
“It pains the Palestinians to know that Canada is trying to exclude us from our rightful place in the family of nations. It is awkward to see a great country like Canada relegated to the role of cheerleader for Israeli extremists at the UN,” Said Hamad, the chief representative of the Palestinian delegation to Canada, said in an emailed response to questions.
“When future Canadians look back at Canada’s positions during this time they will be appalled that their country was so boldly opposed to justice and so far on the wrong side of history,” he added.
“We invite Canada to pursue a position of its own — rather than parrot policies developed by the Likud Party and its ultranationalist allies — on the matter of Palestinian freedom.”
Canada voted against the Palestinian bid for statehood recognition along with Israel, the United States and six smaller countries, but it still won the approval of the 193-member UN General Assembly.
On Nov. 29, 2012, John Baird — who was foreign affairs minister at the time — flew to New York to deliver a speech to the General Assembly to express Canada’s opposition to the bid.
Now, Canada is making it clear to the UN that because it does not recognize “Palestine” as a state, it does not recognize any treaty relations with it, either.
In documents filed by the UN, Canada has objected to the Palestinians acceding to the Rome Statute that creates the International Criminal Court and 14 other conventions and protocols.
Among them are the Convention on Biodiversity, the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, the UN Law of the Sea, a convention against transnational organized crime, a protocol on biosafety and biological diversity and the convention on womens’ rights.
In repetitive legalese, one of the documents citing Canada’s position says, “‘Palestine’ does not meet the criteria of a state under international law and is not recognized by Canada as a state.” It says that Canada considers any declarations “made by the ‘State of Palestine’ to be without any legal validity or effect.”
In its repeated replies, “The State of Palestine” says it “regrets the position of Canada and wishes to recall” the resolution of Nov. 29, 2012, that granted it “non-observer state status in the United Nations.”
The Department of Foreign Affairs says Canada has officially registered its objections to the Palestinian action with the UN Secretary General and the International Criminal Court.
“Canada’s position on Palestinian efforts to join the ICC and to become party to other treaties is clear: the Palestinians do not meet the criteria of a state under international law. They are not recognized by Canada as a state,” said spokesman Francois Lasalle.
“This provocative Palestinian attempt to politicize international organizations will not contribute to peace in the region.”
New Democrat foreign affairs critic Paul Dewar said the Palestinians have earned the right to join UN treaties and conventions.
“At a time when we’re facing a crisis in Ukraine and devastation in Syria and Iraq, I’m sure there’s much more important work that our diplomats at the UN could be doing to save lives and promote global peace and security.”
Canada also opposes the Palestinian bid to join the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM), a treaty that Canada itself signed in 2008 but has yet to ratify.
While the Canadian government has yet to formally deposit any ratification documents on the CCM with the UN, it has nonetheless managed to register its objection to the Palestinian desire to ratify it.
“Canada considers the declaration made by the ‘State of Palestine’ to be without any legal validity or effect,” says the notification on the CCM circulated by the UN on Jan. 23.
Last week, the UN circulated the Palestinian reply, which came with the same boilerplate statement of regret and reminder of UN recognition.
“The Conservatives should focus on ratifying Canada’s commitments on the Convention on Cluster Munitions rather than trying to keep others from joining this important international treaty,” said Dewar.
Canada has faced international condemnation for dragging its heels on ratifying the CCM, and for proposing ratification legislation that could undermine the treaty.
Cluster bombs are tiny submunitions that often lay dormant for decades, eventually maiming and killing innocent civilians.
Israel’s 72-hour bombardment of south Lebanon with cluster bombs in the final hours of its 2006 summer war with Hezbollah terrorists spurred the international effort to create the treaty banning the weapons.
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To Harper, not all child casualties of war are innocent

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Before last week, I thought I understood the depth of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s malevolence. I was wrong.
Only now do I appreciate just how ugly this prime minister is. I didn’t think it was possible for even a government as rabidly partisan as this one to add Palestinian children to its long list of enemies. That’s not hyperbole. Truth.
How else can we begin to explain Harper’s failure to help Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish — a University of Toronto professor described by his Israeli colleagues as “a magical, secret bridge between Israelis and Palestinians” — in his efforts to bring 100 innocent victims of the war in Gaza to Canada for medical treatment?
How else can we explain Harper’s indifference to the plight of these kids when hospitals, doctors, nurses, public health officials, the Ontario government, unions and the federal opposition parties are all ready and eager to help?
What plausible excuse could Harper have for standing on the sidelines when so many of Canada’s allies — including Great Britain, Germany, Belgium, Turkey and Egypt — already have provided safe havens or medical aid to scores of wounded children?
Harper’s PR flacks have claimed that it would be too risky to move those kids from whatever is left of their shattered homes in Gaza for treatment in Canada. That’s crap. We know it — everybody knows it, including the geniuses in the PMO who came up with that line of spin.
Here’s the truth: Harper won’t help these children because they’re Palestinians from Gaza.
How do I know?
Exhibit A. Take a look at this picture tweeted out by Ottawa Senators’ owner Eugene Melnyk last Thursday night after Harper gave a speech at the United for Ukraine fundraising gala in Toronto to raise money to send Canadian physicians to that war-torn country — a humanitarian initiative I applaud.
There’s the beaming prime minister standing shoulder to shoulder with proud Ukrainian-Canadians Melnyk, Wayne Gretzky and his wife, Janet. “A wonderful evening with @pmharper and @officialgretzky in support of sending Canadian doctors to the Ukraine,” Melnyk tweeted.
I tried to find out what kind of material, financial or logistical role the Canadian government is playing in “support of sending Canadian doctors to the Ukraine” from Harper’s legion of press officers in Ottawa. The PMO didn’t answer my questions. Foreign Minister John Baird’s press secretary didn’t get back to me, either.
Still, in his speech, Harper vowed “unblinking” support for Ukraine and implied that, in effect, he values Ukrainian lives infinitely more than the lives of Palestinian children.
“Let me say at this point just how pleased I am to be able to support the Canada-Ukraine Foundation and the worthy cause that’s brought us all here together tonight and to salute the medical personnel who will be going to the aid of Ukrainians bloodied in the Euromaidan protest and affected by the ongoing conflict. Congratulations to everyone supporting this great cause,” Harper said. “It is, my friends, sadly too late to help the heavenly hundred who were slain simply for the crime of seeking a better country … We can help those who survived and lived to continue the struggle.”
So Harper “salutes” and offers his unqualified support to the “great cause” of sending doctors to Ukraine and pledges to “help those who survived” but he won’t say a word (other than ‘no’) or raise a finger to help even one of the 3,106 wounded Palestinian children who survived relentless, indiscriminate bombardment for weeks. This obscene double standard is a reflection of Harper’s breathtakingly cynical and malicious nature.
Harper will never “salute” the laudable efforts of Dr. Abuelaish and so many others who are trying to arrange for injured Palestinian children in stable condition to be treated in Canadian hospitals. And he certainly will never refer to any of those Palestinian kids as the “heavenly hundred.”
In Harper’s perverse geopolitical calculus, those kids are mere pawns in a PR campaign to make the Israelis look bad. Their suffering is all Hamas’s fault. De facto: To help any of those kids would mean helping Hamas and Harper would never do that.
Harper won’t do any of that because he doesn’t see what anyone with an ounce of empathy sees when they look at pictures of wounded Palestinian children lying on hospital gurneys or being cradled by their parents.
Millions of Canadians see children gripped by pain, fear and despair who desperately require care and attention. Harper looks at those heart-wrenching images with suspicion and disdain.
To Harper, those kids are just Hamas sympathizers, if not terrorists-in-waiting — every one of them. In his perverse geopolitical calculus, those kids are mere pawns in a PR campaign to make the Israelis look bad. Their suffering is all Hamas’s fault. De facto: To help any of those kids would mean helping Hamas and Harper would never do that.
Ever the optimist, Dr. Abuelaish remains hopeful that this characterization of Harper’s attitude toward wounded Palestinian children isn’t true. He hopes that the prime minister can still see those kids for who they are: human beings who need our help. “The (prime minister) needs to see the human face of these children. They have names, faces and lives,” he says. “The priority must be to save their lives.”
But Harper and Baird’s spokespeople claim their bosses are “too busy” to meet with Dr. Abuelaish to discuss his Heal100kids initiative. Another lie.
They won’t meet a man who has devoted his life to saving the lives of Palestinians and Israelis alike — even though Israeli tank shells killed three of his daughters and a niece in 2009. They don’t want to offend Benjamin Netanyahu and his supporters at home and in Israel by even appearing to provide medical aid and comfort to Palestinians who elected a Hamas-led government.
Baird has brushed off Dr. Abuelaish and the Heal100kids campaign onto Garry Keller, his chief-of-staff. Keller wrote Dr. Abuelaish an email in early August to remind him that he had been told “many times that Minister Baird is not available to meet.”
But Baird’s daytimer seems to be wide open when it comes to meeting a friendly, multi-millionaire owner of a hockey team to discuss Canada’s response to the turmoil in Ukraine.
According to the Globe and Mail, on March 4 “Melnyk flew from Barbados to Ottawa on his private jet to meet that day with the Foreign Minister about the situation unfolding in Ukraine.”
Melnyk was mum about his 20 minute face-to-face with Canada’s oh-so-busy foreign minister — whose schedule, according to his PR people, is set in stone weeks, if not months, in advance. Yet somehow, a wealthy entrepreneur miraculously got a private meeting with Baird smack in the middle of an international crisis — while Dr. Abuelaish still gets the bureaucratic stiff-arm. (Melnyk and Baird also reportedly spoke by phone in December 2013 on the eve of the minister’s visit to Kyiv. You have to wonder if Melnyk has Baird on speed-dial.)
Melnyk’s overtures to Baird paid dividends. On February 14, 2014 Baird announced “funding to provide equipment, supplies and medical care for Ukrainian activists.” Four days later, Baird’s office announced even more aid to provide “urgent medical relief” to injured “courageous (Ukrainian) activists.”
And in his speech in Toronto last Thursday, Harper told his appreciative Ukrainian-Canadian audience that “a few weeks ago, a Canadian Hercules from Canadian Forces Base Trenton touched down in Kyiv with a cargo of protective medical and logistical equipment to help the soldiers of Ukraine defend their territory.”
Think about that. Harper and company can send money and “urgent” medical assistance to wounded Ukrainian activists and medical “equipment” by military aircraft to Ukrainian soldiers, but they won’t do a damn thing to help Dr. Abuelaish provide urgently needed care to wounded kids from Gaza.
This wilful blindness to the suffering of Palestinian children is contemptible. It dishonors the office Harper holds — and the country he serves.
Andrew Mitrovica who wrote the above post is a writer and journalism instructor. For much of his career, Andrew was an investigative reporter for a variety of news organizations and publications including the CBC’s fifth estate, CTV’s W5, CTV National News — where he was the network’s chief investigative producer — the Walrus magazine and the Globe and Mail, where he was a member of the newspaper’s investigative unit. During the course of his 23-year career, Andrew has won numerous national and international awards for his investigative work.
The views, opinions and positions expressed by all iPolitics columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of iPolitics.
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University Students In Ontario Canada Do Not Want To Remain Complicit In Israeli War Crimes

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Ontario university students' union joins BDS

The Canadian Federation of Student's Ontario branch decided to join the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement against Israel in its annual general meeting.
The branch, which represents over 300,000 university students in the province of Ontario, has passed the decision unanimously, said executive member Anna Goldfinch.
The resolution "endorses a number of solidarity tactics that have been called for by Palestinian civil society," Goldfinch told theCanadian Press.
Rajean Hoilett, the president of the Ryerson Students' Union, which put the resolution forward, urged schools in the province to not "remain complicit" with "Israeli war crimes."
The students' union will hold several panels where students will be able to voice dissenting opinions.
Adapted from:‘Ontario university students' union joins BDS  and published on-line at:http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.611948
               
            
Distributed by PAJU (Palestinian and Jewish Unity)
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Canada Has Sold Millions in Military-Grade Hardware to Israel

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Written by
Ben Makuch
Editor, Canada

The shock and awe of Israeli military technology might be happening thousands of miles from North America, in Gaza, but Canadians shouldn’t feel too left out. A government report shows some of that military hardware could very well be Canadian made.

It’s no secret the American government offers up military support to the Israelis, even in the face of their controversial war with Hamas in Gaza. But after The Intercept cast light on the wider Five Eyes involvement with the Israelis, the previously unknown Canadian support for the IDF was exposed.

And the Canadian contributions to the embattled Israeli government have gone beyond signals intelligence and into the realm of physical reinforcements.

According to the latest released Foreign Affairs department report on the lawful export of Canadian military-grade products, shipments to Israel between 2010 and 2011 amount to over $6.3 million worth of equipment. The report says gear classified under automatic rifles and their components, military training simulators, bombs, torpedoes, and unmanned aerial vehicles, were all potentially sold to the Israelis.

It’s worth noting the Canadian government didn’t provide the military technology from its own stock. But it approved the shipping of millions of dollars worth of gear from Canadian contractors. These types of sales are subject to strict arms control laws and international treaties.

The big ticket items in both years appear to be “Software” and “Technology” designated military exports, along with some naval gear. In 2010, the Israelis purchased $814,666 worth of unnamed Canadian software, with another, larger purchase, amounting to $2,626,245 in 2011.

The vaguely designated “Technology” procured from 2010 to 2011 amounted to close to $3.5 million.

And that’s not all the military gear shipped from Canada to the lone Jewish state in the Middle East.

Israel also purchased over $500,000 worth of Canadian products classified as, “Bombs, torpedoes, rockets, missiles, other explosive devices and charges, and related equipment and accessories specially designed for military use.”

But the numbers in the Foreign Affairs report only tell part of the story. Another little-known government report from Industry Canada shows ammunition sales to Israel spiking from 2010 to 2013.

Under a similar designation as the Foreign Affairs report, Canadian domestic exports of “Other ammunition,” which includes “Bombs, Grenades, Torpedoes, Mines,” went from just over $50,000 in 2010 to $1.8 million in 2013, and was among the top 25 product exports to Israel from Canada cited online by the government.

It’s possible these “bombs” and assorted explosives in both lists could be crowd-control offensive weapons like flash-bang grenades, and other non-lethal materials.

The Foreign Affairs report also suggests drones or smaller aircraft components, which have taken up an almost cultural spectre for Palestinians as buzzing eyes in the sky, might’ve been purchased from Canadian contractors.

Under the 2-10 description in the Foreign Affairs report, which includes “aircraft, lighter-than-air vehicles” and “unmanned airborne vehicles,” the Israelis purchased over $600,000 of unknown equipment.

Unfortunately the Foreign Affairs and Industry Canada reports both provide unspecific weapons classifications under vague code numbers like “2-14,” “2-9,” or “930690” with accompanying imprecise descriptions. That means knowing exactly what kind of materials were sold to Israel is a relative guessing game.

We do know that shadowy defence contractors like SNC Lavalin (known to have unsavoury international relationships), and CAE have done extensive business with the Israelis before.

I asked Foreign Affairs to clarify some of the details on the military exports to Israel, specifically what the “Software” and “Technology” shipped off were exactly.

“I can tell you that the top military exports to Israel between 2010 and 2011,” said spokesperson Adam Hodge, “included technology relating to equipment for naval vessels, various electronic equipment and components, and aircraft technology.”

When it came to names of companies Hodge wouldn’t elaborate: “For reasons of commercial confidentiality, we are not able to provide further details.”

Hodge did tell me that the Canadian federal government will continue to support Israel because “that is what friends and allies do,” with “no plans in changing our current arrangement with Israel.”

Hodge also said the, “fight against international terrorism is the great struggle of our generation. Israel is constantly on the front lines of this struggle.”

Increased Israeli purchases of Canada’s finest military products, matches overall rising Canadian military exports under the Harper government and the cozier diplomatic relationship developing between Canada and Israel.

In January, Prime Minister Harper took time out of his Israeli trade tour to become the first Canadian PM to address the Knesset. On the same trip, Harper was accompanied by a variety of private business types looking for opportunities in Israel.

The Canadians are also buying from the Israelis. Just recently, the Canadian Press reported, the Canadians were looking to outfit their executive planes carrying Harper on trips abroad, with anti-missile radar systems provided by Elbit systems (Israel’s top defence contractor).

Israeli officials were also present at CANSEC in late May, Canada’s premier defence trade show, purveying Canadian made military hardware, ostensibly, to potentially buy gear.

Ultimately, whether you agree with the Canadian military exports to Israel or not, there’s one undeniable truth: One country, or regional political organization not on the Foreign Affairs report, was the Palestinian Authority.

An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified Stephen Harper as the first foreign leader to address the Knesset, when he was really the first Canadian PM to do so.

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Gaza: There can be no peace without justice. Former NDP MP Jim Manly makes the case for boycott and sanctions against Israel

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After weeks of the Israeli assault on Gaza, people in Canada and around the world have been shocked into a state of awareness. They have seen images of mutilated children, a father carrying parts of his son’s body in a plastic bag, whole neighbourhoods reduced to rubble and hospitals and schools used as UN refugee centres being bombed.
Protests against this war are a global phenomenon. In the UK, a government minister has even resigned to protest British complicity and called for a ban on weapons exports to Israel. The world is crying out: This carnage must stop. Everyone is holding their breath now, in the midst of a 72-hour ceasefire.
Many people also find it deeply distressing that in spite of the slaughter and mayhem, most people in Gaza support the Hamas position that there can be no permanent ceasefire until Israel ends its blockade; they are upset to learn that support for Hamas is growing, rather than diminishing, as the death toll mounts. Hamas has been consistently dismissed by Western leaders as nothing but a terrorist organization. These leaders and their followers should consider the claim of Jimmy Carter, former US president, and Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland and United Nations high commissioner for human rights, that they should recognize the legitimacy of Hamas “as a political actor—one that represents a substantial portion of the Palestinian people.”
The conscience of the world would be greatly eased by a truce, any kind of somewhat permanent truce, so that people could forget this tragic business and move on. However, Palestinians in Gaza say, in a voice of quiet desperation, We cannot agree to any ceasefire that abandons us to the slow but sure strangulation of the blockade. There can be no ceasefire and no peace until the blockade is lifted.
In other words, there can be no peace without justice.

Making Gaza unlivable

The Palestinians realize that the eight-year blockade of Gaza and the present military assault are simply different aspects of the same struggle, as were the military offensives of 2008-09 and 2012. Netanyahu and his government also know this, even if many people in Israel don’t know or don’t care. Netanyahu is probably just as happy to keep his people in ignorance, and he would like nothing more than for the rest of us to remain unaware as well.
Even before the blockade, Israel consistently imposed serious restrictions that made it difficult for the Palestinian people of Gaza to carry on with business as usual. Since the blockade began in 2007 they have found that what used to be difficult is now almost impossible. Israel has been shown to count the calories they allow into the territory “to put the Palestinians on a diet”, and classified cables recently released by Wikileaks show that the Israeli government has been pursuing a deliberate policy of economic sabotage, designed to keep the Palestinian economy on the perpetual verge of collapse, since at least the 1980s.
In August 2012, the UN Country Team in Occupied Palestinian Territory issued a publication called Gaza in 2020: A Liveable Place? based on a wide-ranging series of reports by the UN and other organizations. It points out that Gaza, already one of the most densely populated areas of the world, will by 2020 have increased its population by another half-million people to a total of 2.1 million in an area of 365 km2. Already high food insecurity among 60 per cent of the population will become even worse: “In a densely populated, largely urban territory, food self-sufficiency is not an option. Such a territory will always depend on trade, services, and worker movement, all of which remain limited as a result of the closure.”
An unemployment rate of 29 per cent (47 per cent for women and 58 per cent for youth between 20 and 24 years) will also worsen because the blockade prevents normal exporting business; fishing has been confined to a three-mile limit, and 35 per cent of Gaza's agricultural land cannot be accessed because of the "buffer zone" separating Gaza from Israel. Because of the blockade, “Gaza’s economy is largely dependent on external aid, the tunnel economy . . . and remittances.”
In 2012 the coastal aquifer that Gaza relies upon for its water was already overtaxed; due to salinization from the ocean and nitrates from uncontrolled sewage, only 10 per cent of the water was safe for drinking. By 2016 the aquifer may become totally unusable, and by 2020 the damage could become irreversible.
The lack of adequate electricity and frequent interruptions also has a strong negative impact on all aspects of life in Gaza.
Two hundred and fifty new schools were needed in 2012, and with the increased population this need will increase to 440 new schools by 2020. An urgent need for safe and adequate medical services will also require an increase in the number of doctors, nurses, medical equipment and hospital beds by 2020.
As the report’s conclusion states,
“[Without] sustained and effective remedial action and an enabling political environment . . . the daily lives of Gazans in 2020 will be worse than they are now. There will be virtually no reliable access to sources of safe drinking water, standards of healthcare and education will have continued to decline . . . and the vision of affordable and reliable electricity for all will have become a distant memory. . . . The already high number of poor, marginalized and food-insecure people depending on assistance will not have changed and in all likelihood will have increased. . .
It is essential that the inhabitants of Gaza are able to exercise and enjoy the full range of fundamental human rights to which they are entitled. They must be able to live safe and secure lives free from the various forms of violence which afflict them at present . . . and have ready access to the world beyond Gaza for religious, educational, medical, cultural, commercial and other purposes.”
The report makes clear that the people of Gaza need the blockade to end and in its place have long-term sustainable help to overcome the damage. Instead they have been subjected to a ruthless process of ethnic cleansing using methods that vary from restrictive regulations, to blockade, to violence by a dehumanized military force against an unarmed civilian population.
As the death toll spirals towards 2,000, the deputy speaker of the Knesset, Moshe Feiglin, has called for "the conquest of the entire Gaza strip, and annihilation of all fighting forces and their supporters." In a letter to Netanyahu he outlines an elaborate plan to ship survivors to tent encampments in the Sinai until arrangements can be made for them to emigrate to other parts of the world. His objective is to rebuild Gaza and its suburbs "as true Israeli touristic and commercial cities."
It becomes obvious that as long as the blockade of Gaza continues, the Palestinian people of Gaza will not be free from this sadistic Israeli dream of ethnic cleansing.

What we can do

Now is the time when the people of the world must stand with the people of Gaza and demand an end to the blockade, an end to all oppression and an end to military aggression.
People around the world must show support for Palestine financially and politically. We can stand with the Palestinians of Gaza by supporting the proposal for a new international Flotilla for Peace, which will send peaceful boats to Gaza with crews from all over the world. The Flotilla will once more use the power of non-violence against the violence of the blockade.
Another non-violent method for putting pressure on Israel, one in which we can all be active participants, is the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. This movement consists of refusing to buy Israeli goods, divesting investments in companies that support the Israeli occupation of Palestine, and pushing government to impose sanctions.
We must stand with the Palestinian people of Gaza and call for an end to the blockade. Only then can there be peace. Peace with justice.

About the author

Jim Manly was born 1932 in Saskatchewan, and moved with his family to Nanaimo in 1943. Ordained by the United Church in 1957, Jim served as minister in northern B.C., Vancouver Island, Ottawa and Vancouver before retiring in 1997. From 1980 to 1988 Jim Manly was the NDP Member of Parliament for Cowichan-Malahat-the Islands. He was NDP critic for Indian Affairs, Fisheries and Oceans, and International Development. Jim and his wife Eva continue to be active in their community with a focus on First Nations issues, the environment and Palestine/Israel with Mid-Islanders for Justice & Peace in the Middle East and United Network for Justice & Peace in Palestine/Israel.
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NDP youth speak out on Gaza: 'It's time to call a spade a spade'

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BY 
NEW DEMOCRATIC YOUTH OF CANADA

An ocean away from Palestine, Canadians have watched on in absolute horror as the death toll continues to mount. In three short weeks, hundreds of people in Gaza, a majority of them civilians, have been wiped out at the discretion of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).
Anger, disbelief, outrage -- we've felt these emotions before. We watched in horror as the U.S. dropped thousands of bombs on Iraq, we marched in the streets to protest NATO's brutal occupation of Afghanistan and we've reacted with vile disgust at Russia's cruel and bloody invasion of Ukraine. That is because as a nation we feel the pain of global conflict first hand: through the sacrifice of our own young women and men abroad, and through the incredible resilience of the many refugees fleeing these very conflicts, coming to Canada to seek a more just life.
If we are to live up to the standards of peace and tolerance that we've set for ourselves domestically, on a global scale, it is our responsibility to call for restraint and seek mediation whenever war rears it's ugly head. In our short lifetime we've witnessed the same violent scene repeated time and time again, so we ask: how is this situation any different?
As the next generation, we are destined to inherit incredible political, environmental and logistical challenges. For us, the past 21 days have been deeply disheartening, as we now see that we are also destined to inherit a more violent world. And it isn't only because Stephen Harper has proven himself (yet again) to be incompetent at representing Canada on the world stage but rather, also due to the hesitation from our Official Opposition when it comes to standing up for New Democratic values on this issue.
With respect to the current situation in Gaza, there can be no question: the NDP has been open about its desire to see hostilities cease from both sides in this conflict. Hamas must stop firing rockets indiscriminately at civilians, and so must the IDF.
But on the question of Palestine, let's be clear:
Section 4.1 (f) of the 2013 NDP Policy Book states that the NDP supports "working with partners for peace in Israel and Palestine, respecting UN resolutions and international law, supporting peaceful co­existence in viable, independent states with agreed­upon borders, an end to Israeli occupation of Palestinian land, and an end to violence targeting civilians."
 These resolutions include those that call for the withdrawal from occupied territories during the 1967 war [1], the legitimacy of the struggle for liberation from foreign domination by all available means [2], condemnation of governments that don't recognize the right to self determination and independence of peoples under foreign domination[3], and more recently, the upgrade of Palestine to a nonmember state of the United Nations [4].
We demand a fair approach be taken with the situation in Gaza, one that adheres to the above mentioned United Nations resolutions, among many others. As citizens of the world we owe it to each other to admit that no state can ever achieve security through force of arms. If terror groups are to be rendered irrelevant, and the growth of extremism stemmed, then we must address the root cause of the violence, not its symptoms.
It is time for Canadians to know where the NDP stands on this issue: as the only party that seeks a comprehensive and viable solution on agreed upon borders, that guarantees the security of both Israeli and Palestinian citizens to co-­exist in peace.
That is why New Democrats should never shy away from condemning the slaughter of civilians, no matter where it happens, or who perpetrates the act. That is why we agree with independent groups like Jewish Voices for Peace, who have called for an end to the bombing of Gaza, and for Israel to be held accountable for its actions [5].
We must further acknowledge that in the almost 20 years since the Oslo Peace Accords, the situation on the ground in Palestine has deteriorated so badly that it is nearly impossible to imagine a contiguous two­state solution based on the 1967 borders­ at least without serious land concessions from existing settlements.
Our government's inaction and paralysis on the world stage is our shame to wear. By providing unflinching political cover for the Israeli state, we enable a situation where it is likely that much of the West Bank [6] will be annexed, and the erosion of Palestinian lands that started so many years ago will be complete.
That is, unless we finally elect a government that believes that upholding human rights and working to create lasting peace should be primary goals of a just foreign policy.

Sources:
[1] United Nations Security Council Resolution S/RES/242 22 Nov 1967
[2] United Nations General Assembly Resolution A/RES/3246 (XXIX) 29 Nov 1974
[3] United Nations General Assembly Resolution A/RES/33/24 29 Nov 1978
[4] United Nations General Assembly Resolution A/RES/67/19 4 Dec 2012
[5] Jewish Voices for Peace: End the Bombing. Hold Israel Accountable July 2014
[6] The West Bank was divided into areas A, B, and C during the Oslo II accords. Area C has been under Israeli civil and military control. It accounts for a majority of the territory of the West Bank Map of Area C, Retrieved from NPR.org "Palestinians fear new Israeli moves in West Bank" 30 Jul 2012
photo credit: Mohammed Saber/EPA
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American media faking a series of ragegasms for Israel to prove their love is real

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By TBogg
Normally you have to turn to Fox News if you want your daily dose of outrage delivered hot and fresh to your door with a side-order of egregious bias. Nothing quite sells a story like watching a credulous Fox mouth-hole reciting a list of talking points like it was The Road Not Taken. But this summer’s blockbuster, Gaza!: Shit Blowing Up Everywhere, has convinced all the other media outlets that “the water is fine, everyone into the propaganda pool!”
MSNBC kicked things off by giving correspondent Rula Jebreal the Walt/Mearsheimer treatment, marginalizing her as “Palestinian Journalist,” and, Jeebus knows, you can’t trustthose people. She was then shuffled off to the sidelines because she was harshing everyone’s Bibi buzz.
Israel was kind enough to use one of their blood-letting war overly-caffeinated conflict resolution time-outs so that bestest pal Wolf Blitzer from CNN could come over for a playdate; going on a ride-along with the IDF through the Hamas Tunnels O’ Terror, where Wolf put on his serious face and touched the concrete walls like they were the face of God (see below). We’ll give Wolf the benefit of the doubt and say that the IDF tricked him, saying they had found the missing airliner which, for Wolf,  is like telling a kid to hop in your van and you’ll take him to see some puppies.
Over at MSNBC, soon-to-be-out-the-door-but-not-soon-enough David Gregory displayed the fine art of being a really fucking horrible journalist by sandbagging a guest. Gregory told UN Relief & Works Agency spokesperson Chris Gunness that he had a film of rockets being launched out of UN schools and asked him to comment on it:
“The Israeli government has released videotape within the past hour, it was posted on YouTube, NBC News hasn’t independently verified,” Gregory explained to Gunness. “The Israelis say — and I realize that you cannot see this video, our audience can, and I’m going to describe it to you — that purports to show rockets being fired from a UN school.”
The video, it turns out, was complete bullshit, a fact relayed by Gregory at the end of the same episode, noting that the UN had “confirmed that the video does not show rockets being fired from a UN-administrated school in Gaza.”
And, here comes the apology: “So this is a back and forth that we are not able to settle at this point.”
That’s not even a “Whoopsie-doodle! My bad. Sorry, dude. But it’s really your fault because you trusted me so, actually, you’re the one who fucked up. Aren’t you embarrassed? You totally should be.”
To his credit, Gregory didn’t ask Gunness when he stopped luring kids into his van to go see puppies. Because Gregory has journalistic ethics. Or something.
Not to be left out, Senior Editor at the Atlantic, David Frum, — most notable for getting shit-canned by the Bush administration after his nitwit wife bragged to her gal pals that her husband helped start a fake war by penning “axis of evil”  — Twitter-accused the New York Times, Reuters, and AP of publishing  pictures of bloodied Palestinians  that he thought were fake. Sample tweet:


Time-lapse photography is the new kerning.
Having gotten fakery ‘out there,’ as they say in Cokierobertsland, Frum then backtracked:
On review, I agree that Shaw is right and that I was wrong. These images do appear authentic, and I should not have cast doubt on them. I apologize especially to Sergey Ponomarev of The New York Times, whose work I impugned.
Wait for it…..
Yet I also think it important to explain my skepticism when presented with such images.
No. No no no no no. You either fucked up or you did it on purpose. You’re supposed to be a professional  journalist which means it’s your job to get it right the first time and not come back a few days later and go, “Eh, I had my reasons. Whaddya gonna do?” That makes you only slightly better than Jim Hoft, the stupidest man on the Internet.
The simple fact of that matter is that the American media is largely in the tank for Israel and people are afraid to point out that America is Israel’s best and only friend for a reason, and when Israel wants to barf up bombs all over the Palestinians, America will be standing there ready to hold Israel’s hair back so that it doesn’t get any on itself.
And no one is immune to the lovesong of Israel, with Congress — which has failed to do much on anything for Americans this past year — shoving though a $225 million aid package  before they head off on a five-week vacation.
That just goes to show you, those vacation trips allowing legislators to wet their willies in the Red Sea can result in some pretty sweet payoffs.
Watch Wolf tumble down the Hamas hole below:
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Toronto Canada's most racist, militarist pro-Israel movement

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From a left-wing community once at the forefront of struggles against racism, unconditional support for Israel has turned a significant proportion of Toronto Jews into promoters of hatred against "Arabs" and into allies of right wing, bigoted, homophobic Christian Bible literalists.
During 15 years of activism in Montréal, Ottawa and Vancouver I haven't seen anything equivalent to the racist, militarist pro-Israel movement experienced recently in Toronto. And sadly the quasi-fascistic organization driving the charge seems increasingly enmeshed within a community that once led the fight against racism and fascism in the city.
On Saturday at Queen's Park (the grounds of the Ontario legislature) I was shoved, spat on, had my bike damaged and lock stolen by members of the Jewish Defense League (JDL), a hate group that is banned in the U.S. and Israel. My offence was to chant "kill more Palestinian children" as hundreds of JDL and B'nai B'rith supporters rallied to applaud the onslaught on Gaza in a counter demonstration to those opposed to Israel’s massacres.
The following day, also at Queen's Park, a JDL member knocked a pro-Palestinian counter demonstrator to the ground and kicked him in the face. Half an hour after this happened, a JDL member walked some 50 metres around a barricade to where I was standing alone chanting at the pro-war rally and spat on me three times. Both incidents were caught on tape by major media outlets.
New to pro-Palestinian activism in Toronto, I was unaware of just how aggressive and organized the JDL had become. It's reached the point where some Palestinian solidarity groups avoid publicizing pickets out of fear they might disrupt them.
In the U.S., the JDL has been outlawed since 2001. Its members have been convicted in a series of acts of terror, including the killing of the regional director of the American Arab Anti-discrimination Committee and a plot to assassinate a Congressman. A member of the JDL's sister organization in Israel killed 29 Palestinian Muslim worshipers in the Cave of the Patriarchs Massacre 20 years ago. In 2011 the RCMP launched an investigation against a number of JDL members who were thought to be plotting to bomb Palestine House in Mississauga.
Despite the group's links to terrorism, the JDL appears to find support from much of the organized Jewish community and even in Ottawa. In a significant boost to the group, Stephen Harper included a member in his official delegation on a recent trip to Israel; recent Canadian Jewish News coverage of the group has been sympathetic; rabbis attended the JDL/B'nai B'rith sponsored counterdemonstration Saturday; on Sunday the group provided "security" for the Canadians for Israel rally. Rather than being an isolated fringe group the Jewish mainstream tries to ostracize, the JDL seems to be gaining influence.

The growth of Canada's JDL parallels the increasingly extreme violence of the Israeli government and the resulting worldwide outrage over that country's aggressive expansionism. The mainstream Jewish community is marching in lockstep with the Israeli state and Harper's Conservatives have not only accepted it, they have promoted it.
Over the past three weeks Israel has killed over 1,300 Palestinians in Gaza, displaced more than a tenth of the population and destroyed most of the area's electricity and water supply. Yet, the Israeli government still receives unequivocal support from the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, B'nai B'rith and other leading Canadian Jewish organizations. As part of its support for the recent killings in Gaza the United Jewish Appeal Federation of Greater Toronto, the community's main philanthropic arm, has added $2.25 million to its annual aid to Israel.
While the JDL would likely back the complete incineration of Gaza, one wonders just how far the more mainstream groups are willing to go in cheering on Israel's current onslaught, its third large-scale assault on Gaza in five years. Will the Jewish establishment withdraw support if 2,000 Palestinian are killed? Or is the breakpoint 5,000? Or maybe B'nai B'rith and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs would back the Israeli military all the way to 50,000 dead?
While one might want to believe that the warmongering promoted by dominant Jewish organizations is not widely shared by the community they claim to represent, I've seen too many sizable pro-war rallies and witnessed too many outbursts of anti-Arab racism over the past three weeks in Toronto to be hopeful in this regard. Wide swaths of Toronto's Jewish community seem to be mimicking the Israeli public's racist militarism. (Google stories about Israelis chanting "death to the Arabs," celebrating military blasts on Gaza from hilltops nearby or beating peace activists.)
On Bloor Street two weeks ago a middle-aged man walking with his partner crumbled a leaflet I handed him, pointed at two older Arab looking men who responded, and yelled "barbarians." In a similarly bizarre racist outburst, a man who was biking past the Saturday demonstration stopped to engage and soon after he was pointing at a young Arab looking child close by and telling me that I was indoctrinating him to kill. And then on Sunday an older woman interrupted a phone conversation I was having about Israel’s destruction of Gaza and yelled she hoped Israel kills "10,000 more."
The idea that Toronto's Jewish community in 2014 would be front-and-centre in backing racist militarism is profoundly depressing and quite the historic reversal. Seven decades ago righteous Jewish youth fought back against fascist thugs terrorizing non-Anglo-Saxons in the 1933 Christie Pits Riot. Two decades after that the Canadian Jewish Congress helped win the famous Noble v. Alley Supreme Court case, which prompted Ontario to pass a law voiding racist land covenants, a major victory in the battle for racial equality.
But, while six decades ago Jewish organizations fought racist land restrictions, today there is no other community that so strongly and openly backs racist supremacy in land use. Six months ago some 4,500 people packed the Toronto Convention Centre to honour Stephen Harper at a Jewish National Fund fundraiser. Owner of 13 per cent of Israel's land, the Jewish National Fund excludes Palestinian citizens of Israel and other non-Jews from its properties.
In 2014 "respectable" members of the pro-Zionist Jewish community fundraise for an organization with racist land covenants, work together with Christian fundamentalists and defend Israel's slaughter of civilians in Gaza, while the harder edge youth attend JDL demonstrations or enlist as "lone soldiers" with a murderous foreign army.
Shame.
Yves Engler who wrote the above has been described as "Canada's version of Noam Chomsky" (Georgia Straight), “one of the most important voices on the Canadian Left today” (Briarpatch), “in the mould of I. F. Stone” (Globe and Mail), "ever-insightful" (rabble.ca) and a "Leftist gadfly" (Ottawa Citizen). His latest book isThe Ugly Canadian: Stephen Harper's foreign policy.
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