On Monday, March 18th, the Canadian Parliament voted in favour of a motion sponsored by Heather McPherson of the NDP.
As to be expected, the motion was full of anti-Israeli diatribe which was wholly unacceptable to the Conservative Party of Canada and, as to be expected, readily acceptable to the Green and The Bloc Quebecois.
The Liberal Party, on the other hand, badly divided on the Hamas-Israeli conflict but desperate to vote in support of the kind of motion that was ultimately framed, engaged in furious negotiations with the NDP to get rid of or modify the clauses it could not stomach. Having managed to convince the NDP to get rid of the objectionable clauses, save for three of its members, triumphantly voted for it.
Question
What then did the Parliament actually vote in favour of?
The preamble of the motion reads
That given that
the situation in the Middle East is devastating to many Canadians, particularly those with friends and family members in the region What about the Jewish community which supports Israel and which who mourns the unprovoked genocide of Israelis perpetrated by Hamas and the over 240 hostages it took into Gaza?
the death toll In Gaza has surpassed 30,000, with 70% of the victims being women and children. These statistics have yet to be verified. At all events there exists sufficient evidence by experts in statistics to conclude that the figures and all such figures are puffed up. See: Abraham Wyner, How the Gaza Ministry of Health Fakes Casualty Numbers-The evidence is in their own poorly fabricated figures,Tablet Magazine, March 6, 2024; David Lange, Gaza Ministry of Health Fakes Casualty Numbers(Duh)
Hamas is a listed terrorist organization in Canada whose attacks on October 7, 2023, killed nearly 1,200 Israelis and that over 100 hostages remain in Hamas captivity. The total original number of hostages was over 200 .The number of hostages who were killed or died from cruel treatment or were allowed to die through the failure to provide medical assistance are not provided. According to the International Convention Against the Taking of Hostages(1979) the taking is a criminal offence., not to mention the criminal offences committed by Hamas in the inhuman treatment of the hostages.
1.7 million of residents of Gaza are displaced and at risk of starvation, death, and disease, and Gaza is currently the most dangerous place in the world to be a child, It is a well-established fact that Hamas uses the residents including the children as human shields to protect its members against enemy fire, and to encourage the death of civilians for which it can garner international sympathy. And Hence, Hamas is responsible for the death of those for whose safety it is responsible. Curiously, beyond the genocide of October 6, it is an incontrovertible fact that Hamas attacks regularly with drones and missiles, attacking civilians on the Israeli side of the border of Gaza,
the United Nations reports over 70 per cent of civilian infrastructure in Gaza, including homes, schools, water and sanitation facilities, have been destroyed or severely damaged by Israeli military attacks, This report and the percentage claimed, misrepresents the facts in a number of ways. First, members of Hamas live in buildings also occupied by civilians. Second, these buildings in turn contain considerable military equipment at the disposal of Hamas. Third, the evidence shows that the Israeli army has not bombed, destroyed or made uninhabitable mosques, schools and hospitals. Quite to the contrary, Hamas has bombed at least one hospital, and desecrated one mosque by making military use of it. Fourth, as a matter of fact, the Israeli Army has found Hamas fighters in schools and in areas reserved for schools run by the UNRWA .A number of employees of UNRWA are Hamas fighters and the agency’s administration allowed Hamas to build tunnels and underground military installations below its headquarters in Gaza.
on January 26, 2024, the International Court of Justice ordered six provisional measures, including for Israel to refrain from acts under the Genocide convention, prevent and punish the direct and public incitement to genocide, and take immediate and effective measures to ensure the provision of humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza. The International Court did not order six provisional measures on evidence that Israel had breached them but as cautionary measures. As a matter of fact, the evidence to date shows that Israel has done its best to ensure the provision of this assistance. The evidence to date shows that the problem is caused by Hamas’ theft of the assistance and black marketing of stolen food and other items at unaffordable prices for the civilian population.
all states, including Israel have a right to defend themselves and in defending itself, Israel must respect international humanitarian law and the price of defeating Hamas cannot be the continuous suffering of all Palestinian civilians. We are not dealing with all Palestinians but with those residing in Gaza. The continuing suffering of the civilians of Gaza is the result of Hamas commencing an unprovoked war, an urban war, knowing full well that such a war will inevitably cause a great deal of suffering, most of which will be inflicted by the way Hamas decided to fight the war. If Hamas leaders were really concerned with the well-being of the Gazans, it would do, what other governments which for all intents and purposes consider the war lost, save for Hitler, it would surrender. (I am not sure about this claim. Which countries surrendered, besides Japan and Germany?)
Israelis are still at risk of attacks by Iran-backed terrorist groups including Hamas and Hezbollah, It is not a risk, It is a certainty and it has been happening for decades, for all intents and purposes since after the War of Independence. Hamas and other terrorist entities have been attacking inside and outside Israel since its establishment in 1948, and will continue to do so as long as Iran is permitted to incite, finance, and arm Hezbollah, Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Houthis. Surely this is a matter to be dealt with by Israelis themselves.
the increase in extremist settler violence against Palestinians and reports of Palestinian communities being forcibly removed from their lands in the West Bank. The proper historical name of the area accepted by all and referred to as such since well before 1949 is Judea and Samaria. The communities in question live under constant threat of being subjected to terrorism and indeed are so subjected to it under the Palestinian Authority’s pay for slay” program of financing this terrorism. The statement does not provide the titles, names of the authors and publishers, date of publication of the alleged reports, but nothing done by any resident of Judea and Samaria, comes close to be a terrorist attack resulting in murder nor a call for genocide. The acts of violence have been exaggerated and the fact these are provoked, or in response to attacks by neighboring Arabs never gets mentioned.
the casualties of the war on Gaza and the Hamas terrorist attack include Canadian citizens. These citizens are dead,,injured,,raped or kidnapped and kept under inhuman conditions. .And Canada has done very little to assist them. ( I think all the Canadians are confirmed dead but there are still Americans being held)
Canadian citizens remain trapped in Gaza, blocked from leaving. And besides bureaucratic work, Canada has accomplished nothing to secure their return to Canada, while other countries managed to retrieve their citizens trapped in Gaza. This has nothing to do with Israel. ( is this verifiable/ What countries have retrieved citizens?)
Jewish, Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian Canadians have reported an increase in hate-motivated attacks and racism since October. This statement is misleading. First, by dividing the non-Jewish victims into three groups which overlap, it is not possible to determine the number of victims that belong to a specific group and whether or not the group has been and continues to be subject to an increase in their victimization. Second, the number of reported cases where the Jewish community has been subjected to hate crimes and racism has been and continues to be significantly greater than that inflicted on any other groups. Third, the increase in hate crimes and racism have increased very significantly, some using the term “astronomically” while there is no evidence this to be the case for other groups.
Palestinians and Israelis both deserve to live in peace, with full enjoyment of their human rights and democratic freedoms, Since the 1947 U.N partition plan to date the “so-called” Palestinians have been offered and have rejected all the land deals for statehood which they have been offered and failed to make a single offer of their own. It is impossible for Israel to live in peace when Hamas’ Charter specifically proscribes the destruction of the State of Israel and the death of Israeli Jews. While the Palestinian Authority provides financial incentives for the maiming, killing of Jews and the destruction of property.
The NDP Resolution calls on the Government to:
demand an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages, and Hamas must lay down its arms;. Israel has been amenable to a reasonable temporary cease fire. It has not happened solely due to the unreasonable conditions sought by Hamas. Hamas must not only lay down its arms, but surrender unconditionally, release all hostages, and allow its leaders both in and out of Gaza to be held accountable for the unprovoked war and the massacre on October 7th, 2023.
cease the further authorization and transfer of arms exports to Israel to ensure compliance with Canada’s arms export regime and increase efforts to stop the illegal trade of arms, including to Hamas Insofar as Canada’s arm exports to Israel is concerned, Minister of Foreign Affairs Melanie Joly, noted that she did cease arms sales since January 2014, (This isn’t quite accuarate. She wasn’t the minister in 2014 I believe) clearly on the quiet , without providing the reason(s) for it . Prior to that date, Israel complied with Canada’s arms export regime presumably to the satisfaction of the Minister. In the absence of incontrovertible evidence of breach of the rules of Canada’s arm export regime, how can Canada on the one hand advocate the principle that Israel has the right to defend itself while on the other hand refusing to sell its firearms to it? Insofar, as increasing Canada’s efforts to stop the illegal trade of arms, including to Hamas is concerned this is nonsense. Canada cannot do anything to stop Iran’s illegal trade of arms to its terrorist agents. ( think this needs a rewrite as Canada only sold parts to Israel and I think vehicles.)
ensure continued funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) to meet the dire humanitarian need, engage with the United Nations internal investigation and independent review process, and ensure implementation of necessary long-term governance reforms and accountability measures; The documented and frequently reported facts about UNRWA conclusively show that UNRWA works in collaboration with Hamas to the benefit of Hamas; staffing it’s schools with antisemitic /anti-Israeli personnel; indoctrinating the students to hate Jews and Israelis, and endangering the students’ safety by allowing Hamas to build tunnels under or near the schools. In the circumstances the notion of funding such a politically ideologically, and morally corrupt organisation is baffling not to say egregious. The fact of the matter is that based on the history of U.N, to date, the U.N has never shown any interest and in fact resisted to engage in or to be subjected to any of the foregoing processes because these are closely intertwine with international politics and more specifically the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in all its dimensions.
support the prosecution of all crimes and violations of international law committed in the region. What does this mean?
support the work of the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court; Canada already does that.
demand unimpeded humanitarian access to Gaza. Demanding is fine but hardly enough. To secure such access it is imperative to neutralise Hamas.
ensure Canadians trapped in Gaza can reach safety in Canada and expand access to the temporary resident visa program.
sanction extremist settlers and maintain sanctions on Hamas leaders. First, Canada cannot and must not sanction the so-called the extremist settlers unless it also effectively sanctions the terrorists who terrorise the settlers; interfere in their lawful activities while the Palestinian Authority builds illegally on their or on public lands. Second, Canada cannot and ought not sanction any person, group or organisation living abroad who are alleged to be terrorist, without due process. (I don’t think we can agree to this as we want Canada to sanction all members of the IRGC while knowing we have 700 members living here.)
reaffirm that settlements are illegal under international law and that settlements and settler violence are serious obstacles to a negotiated two-state solution, and advocate for an end to the decades long occupation of Palestinian territories. As a matter of both fact and law, the Palestinians or the Palestinian Authority have never lawfully exercised and internationally recognised exclusive sovereign jurisdiction over any lands or parts thereof whichare in issue. See: Ted Belman,;International Law and the State of Israel, Israpundit, July 2018 ; Since when did the Palestinians become entitled to a State ,Israpundit, 2017; Can the UN impose a solution on Israel,Israpundit,2009; Jean-Patrick Grumberg, Savez- vous pourquoi l’ONU ne cree pas l’Etat de Palestine? C’est parceque la resolution 80 de sa Charte le lui interdit, initially published on July 11,202224Michel Calvo, L’annexion des terres en Judee-Samarie n’est pas contraire au droit international, LPH, 29 frevrier, 2024: Bat Ye’or , International Law or Antisemitism? Gatestone Institute, March 10, 2024. Further, while the provision refers to settler violence, it makes no mention of Palestinian terrorism which commenced in earnest and in fundamental breach of the Oslo Accords, continued to present unabated and will continue into the foreseeable future. Based on the history of the conflict and the facts on the ground, the very notion of a negotiated two-state solution is pure fiction not to say absurd. In the circumstances, Canada cannot affirm or reaffirm the alleged facts and law.
For all the reasons set out above, relevant to the foregoing goal, the work of establishing a Palestinian state at this time, and the result which is sought, is unrealistic and will remain so for the foreseeable future.
Written by Dogan Akman, edited by Andria Spindel
April 11, 2024
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