Israel, Palestine and Canada: The true measure of ‘friendship’?*
The Crisis
Once again agonizing violence – blatantly unlawful attacks and reprisals by both sides – spirals wildly and lethally out of control in Israel and Palestine. Terrifying accounts of devastating destruction, death and maiming – including, as always, of so many children – in Gaza. Reports of nights filled with fear, death and injury as rockets are launched from Gaza into Israeli towns and neighbourhoods. And once again, the degree to which the human rights of Palestinians are massively disregarded and systematically violated by Israeli law and policy, and police and military action, is made unescapably raw to the world, but largely overlooked in global corridors of power.
Over the past ten days the escalation has been rapid. The initial spark focused on an upcoming court hearing related to plans to forcibly evict Palestinians from the homes they have lived in for generations in Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood to make way for Jewish settlers. Next, Palestinian protests at the al-Aqsa Mosque were violently dispersed by Israeli police, including shooting tear gas and rubber bullets at worshippers forced into and trapped in the mosque. Then, Hamas and Palestinian armed groups unleashed a barrage of indiscriminate rocket attacks from Gaza into Israel. Close to 3,000 rockets have been fired into populated areas of Israel over the past week.
As always, that has provoked a massive and unrelenting Israeli military campaign of bombardment and shelling of Gaza’s crowded streets and neighbourhoods. There have been 1,000 military strikes against Gaza so far. Do not forget that Gaza is only 365 square kilometres and, with a population of around 2 million, is one of the most densely populated places on earth. Where to run? Where to hide? The number of Palestinians killed in these attacks has been rising rapidly. Entire apartment buildings have been destroyed in the blink of an eye. Buildings housing the offices of media outlets including Al-Jazeera and Associated Press have been flattened. On May 15th an “Israeli air raid on a densely populated refugee camp killed at least 10 Palestinians from an extended family, mostly children, the deadliest single strike of the current conflict.”
Meanwhile, in various communities in Israel, where Jewish and Arab neighbours have lived side by side, racist violence has erupted as individuals have been set upon and viciously beaten by both Jewish and Arab vigilante mobs.
The toll mounts. As of today, 181 Palestinians (including 52 children) and 10 Israelis have been killed.
The Response
Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz has ominously and chillingly vowed that the assault on Gaza will continue until there is “complete quiet”. And Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has assured the country’s notorious Border Police, who have apparently expressed unease about facing future commissions of inquiry or investigations into abuses, that they need have no such concern as “we will give you all the tools to protect yourself and the citizens of Israel. You have our full backing, do not be afraid.” If only there was that same concern for fear in Gaza.
There is some international mobilization underway. The UN Security Council has met twice behind closed doors this week and is now scheduled, after overcoming earlier US objections, to hold an emergency public session on May 16th. US President Biden has sent a special envoy to the region. President Biden has also spoken by phone with Prime Minister Netanyahu, “for a while”, during which he confirmed his “unwavering support” for Israel’s “right to defend itself”, as well as with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in which he "stressed the need for Hamas to cease firing rockets into Israel." Certainly no clear US insistence, which would of course carry influence with the Israeli government, that potential war crimes immediately stop.
More forceful has been UN Secretary General António Guterres, who has called for “all parties to immediately cease the fighting in Gaza and Israel”; UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, who has strong condemnation of and warnings for both Israeli and Palestinian leaders; and the International Criminal Court’s Prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, who has stressed that the investigation she already has underway into international crimes in Palestine could very well include what is happening now.
But none of that has caused the violence and repression to abate.
Underneath all of this of course is the toll of nearly 55 years of Israeli occupation of Palestinian Territory. Last month, in a comprehensive and meticulous new report, Human Rights Watch declared that what the Palestinian people have endured over those many decades amounts to the international crime against humanity of apartheid:
“… in most aspects of life, Israeli authorities methodically privilege Jewish Israelis and discriminate against Palestinians. Laws, policies, and statements by leading Israeli officials make plain that the objective of maintaining Jewish Israeli control over demographics, political power, and land has long guided government policy. In pursuit of this goal, authorities have dispossessed, confined, forcibly separated, and subjugated Palestinians by virtue of their identity to varying degrees of intensity. In certain areas, as described in this report, these deprivations are so severe that they amount to the crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution.” [emphasis added]
Canada’s response
And what of Canada?
On May 12th Minister of Foreign Affairs Marc Garneau issued a statement calling on “all parties to take immediate steps to end the violence, de-escalate tensions, protect civilians, and uphold international law.” The statement refers to Hamas rocket attacks, the violence at al-Aqsa, and “continued expansion of settlements, and … demolitions and evictions, including the ongoing cases in Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan.” There is no reference to Israeli attacks on Gaza, which had been underway for two days at that point, and already claimed many Palestinian deaths, including children. And there has been no official statement since, even as the nature of and terrible toll of Israeli military attack against Gaza have intensified dramatically.
Even more troubling was the statement released by Conservative Party leader Erin O’Toole a day earlier, on May 11th, strongly condemning the “frightening campaign of rocket attacks by Hamas” without one single word of reference to any of the other serious concerns, particularly about attacks against or repression of Palestinians.
Minister Garneau had made an earlier statement on May 8th, focused on the situation in East Jerusalem, indicating that “Canada is deeply concerned that recent decisions on settlements, and demolitions and evictions, including in Sheikh Jarrah, would negatively impact livelihoods and undermine the prospects for a two-state solution based on mutual respect for human rights and international law by all parties.”
That May 8th statement makes a point of highlighting that Canada is a “close friend and ally of Israel.” Liberal and Conservative governments have regularly spoken of that close friendship, often describing it as a “special” relationship.
The friendship
So what of that friendship? Has it been real friendship? Honest friendship? Supportive friendship? Friendship for Israelis and Palestinians, for Jewish and Arab communities, alike?
Not even close. And if ever there was a time for that to change; it is now.
There is a long history of Canada turning its back on the Palestinian people, such as when former Prime Minister Harper’s government cut Canadian funding for the UN agency that supports Palestinian refugees. The Trudeau government has fortunately since restored that funding for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees. Canada has also long been one of a very small handful of countries joining Israel and the United States in voting against various UN resolutions condemning human rights violations against Palestinians. The Trudeau government has also commendably partially turned that around, at least with respect to one resolution, voting in favour of "the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination" late last year.
Conservative and Liberal governments over the years have both refused to call out Israeli abuses for what they are, war crimes, crimes against humanity and a range of other very serious human rights violations. That is once again apparent in the recent Canadian statements which point to concerns about Israeli actions with respect to evictions and settlements as “negatively impacting livelihoods” and “undermining prospects for a two-state solution” but do not name those actions clearly as constituting unacceptable violations of international humanitarian and human rights legal obligations. No doubt that reluctance will continue in the face of a growing chorus of expert voices concluding that Israel is responsible for the crime against humanity of apartheid.
On the other hand Canadian Prime Ministers and Ministers have — as they most certainly should — clearly and unequivocally condemned abuses attributed to Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups, most notably the indiscriminate rocket attacks from Gaza. For instance, in his May 12th statement Minister Garneau notes that, “the indiscriminate barrage of rocket attacks fired by Hamas into populated areas of Israel is absolutely unacceptable and must cease immediately.” There is nothing even remotely approaching that level of specificity with respect to violations committed by Israeli forces.
Human rights betrayed
Those are words, what about action?
Canada continues to sell arms to Israel. Those sales totaled $13.7 million in 2019, the last year for which public figures are available. Over the years, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and many other human rights groups have repeatedly called on arms sales to Israel to be banned or significantly restricted and made subject to stringent conditions.
Canada professes to oppose unlawful Israeli settlements in Palestinian Occupied Territory, but the government has refused to exclude goods and services from those unlawful settlements from the economic benefits of the recently updated Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement. In fact, the Canadian government even opposes efforts to ensure that products originating from those unlawful settlements are properly labelled as such, rather than hiding behind the generic “Made in Israel”. That would at least offer Canadian consumers the ability to make purchasing decisions in full knowledge of where the goods come from. The Trudeau government is in fact actively opposing the challenge to that labelling policy that is presently in Federal Court.
Canada is a globally-respected champion of international justice and played a lead role in the establishment of the International Criminal Court, a historic breakthrough in the campaign to end impunity for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity around the world. And there is no doubt that deeply entrenched impunity lies behind the unending cycles of war crimes, crimes against humanity and other human rights abuses and violations in Israel and Palestine.
Yet Canada has adamantly objected to the International Criminal Court’s recent ruling that the Court has jurisdiction with respect to Palestine, by virtue of the Palestinian Authority’s ratification of the Rome Statute. On the basis of that ruling the Court’s Prosecutor has opened an investigation into allegations of crimes committed in Palestinian Territory by Israeli and Palestinian forces and armed groups. It is a tremendously important step forward in addressing the longstanding impunity that has haunted the region for decades. Yet Canada has opposed that vital breakthrough.
Time for a reset
So what should we expect and demand of the Canadian government now, right now, as death, carnage, fear, recriminations, war crimes and crimes against humanity mount? What is the true measure of friendship?
First, take strong public positions making it absolutely clear that Canada condemns war crimes, crimes against humanity and other human rights violations and breaches of humanitarian law by all sides to the fighting and insists that all such attacks – absolutely including the disproportionate and indiscriminate bombardment of Gaza – end immediately. In that vein, unequivocally endorse the growing global call for an immediate ceasefire.
Second, stop using affirmations of Canada’s friendship with Israel to shy away from explicitly criticizing Israel’s blatantly egregious record of massive violations of the human rights of Palestinians and breaches of international humanitarian law obligations as an occupying power, and instead demand that all such laws, policies, practices, and operations be immediately revoked, ended and dismantled. That means being specific, being clear and being adamant.
Third, on the basis of the above positions, work actively both bilaterally and multilaterally to ensure full respect for binding human rights and humanitarian law obligations is the guiding framework for ending conflict and establishing peace in the region.
Fourth, stop all arms sales to Israel at this time.
Fifth, take all steps possible to prohibit goods and services originating from unlawful Israeli settlements in Occupied Palestinian Territory from being sold or offered in Canada.
And sixth, become a justice champion by withdrawing Canada’s opposition and instead expressing full support for the International Criminal Court’s Palestine investigation. And by more widely actively working against the decades of impunity enjoyed by Israeli security forces and Palestinian armed groups.
Friendship should indeed be the foundation of Canada’s response to this devastating crisis.
Friendship with Israel and with Palestine. Friendship with Israelis and Palestinians. Friendship with Jews and Arabs. Friendship that is not one-sided.
Friendship that does not mask or ignore the truth.
Friendship that puts human rights, for all people, first.
*Photo credit, Ottawa Citizen.
