The Need to Step Up Support for Palestinian Resistance Is Now!

Canada's Complicity with U.S./Zionist Genocide and Definition of Hamas As a Terrorist Organization

– Pauline Easton –


One year of resistance to genocide in Gaza. Parliament Hill, Ottawa, October 5, 2024

Canadian complicity with U.S./Zionist genocide did not start in the past year, following the Palestinian Resistance's Operation Al-Aqsa Flood. Canada has been an unapologetic member of the Anglo-American Cold War anti-communist offensive which established the state of Israel in the first place. The aim was to serve U.S. domination after World War II against the striving of the peoples of the world for peace, freedom and democracy.

Since then, Canada has played a shameful role by giving unqualified support to the aggressive U.S. military alliance NATO as well as Israeli crimes. Never once has it raised the fact that by creating an apartheid state Israel is in violation of its founding resolution. It has violated the premises of international rule of law and all UN Resolutions which condemn its actions and call on it to abide by these resolutions.

In December 2023, when South Africa filed an application instituting proceedings against Israel before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the basis that Israel is violating the UN Convention on Genocide and it asked for emergency measures to end the genocide, Canada did not abide by that either even though as a signatory it is duty-bound to do so.

Canada responded on January 12 in a statement by Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly which said: "Canada continues to strongly and unequivocally condemn Hamas' terrorist attack on Israel. Hamas is a listed terrorist entity that continues to explicitly call for the elimination of Jews and the destruction of the state of Israel. Israel has the right to exist and to defend itself from terrorist attacks in accordance with international law."

This is disingenuous indeed. When Canada claims "Hamas is a listed terrorist organization," an impression is created that the entire world condemns Hamas. In fact, the  number of countries which have "listed" Hamas as a terrorist organization is very small -- limited to the U.S. and its allies which comprise the G-7, the "Five Eyes" intelligence agencies, NATO and a few others which have been victims of U.S. "colour revolutions." On this list are the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and, of course, Israel. Australia, Japan, New Zealand, the European Union, the Organization of American States and Paraguay are also on this list. That's it, with the addition of countries where from time to time the U.S. manages to impose regimes which come under its control, as in the case of Argentina which designated Hamas a terrorist organization when the reactionary president Javier Milei came to power in December 2023.

The U.S. was the first to designate Hamas as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO),  the sole country to do so, in 1997. Canada listed Hamas as a terrorist entity under the Criminal Code in November 2002 after the U.S. unleashed its "War on Terror" in 2001. According to the Criminal Code, it is a criminal offense to knowingly participate in or contribute to any activity of Hamas.

Canada also listed the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades and other groups as terrorist organizations under Canadian legislation, which Joly claims is in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 1373 (2001). 

Citing the UN Security Council Resolution 1373 (2001) is also disingenuous. This resolution adopted unanimously on September 28, 2001, is a counter-terrorism measure passed following the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States. It does not list any organization but, among other things, obliged States to criminalize terrorism financing and to establish legal or administrative measures by which to freeze funds and assets of terrorist actors; to suppress the recruitment of members by terrorist groups; to eliminate the supply of weapons to terrorists; and to deny safe havens to terrorists.[1]

Nowhere does UN Security Council Resolution 1373 (2001) list Hamas as a terrorist organization. One could just as well list Canada as a terrorist state for supporting Israeli state terror against the Palestinian people against whom it is committing genocide. That is Canada's travesty of the facts because of the definition of terrorism contained in its Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) which became law in 2001 and which adheres to the U.S./Zionist definition of terrorism.

The Anti-Terrorism Act (2001) amended the Criminal Code to create new terrorism offences and to give police and intelligence agencies new powers to obtain electronic search warrants and to hold investigative hearings and impose recognizance with conditions.

There are two main things wrong with the definition of terrorism that this Act introduced. First, instead of strictly using the definition contained in several international conventions (that highlights the targeting of civilians as the essence of terrorism), the Canadian law expands the definition of "terrorist activity" to mean "an act or omission ... that is committed ... for a political, religious or ideological purpose, objective or cause," thus leaving the government free to define an act as "terrorist" according to its own partisan political interests and not the principles of humanity.

Second, the definition of "terrorist activity" in the Canadian law abolishes the notion of state terrorism, leaving the government free to endorse the worst atrocities against a people, such as the ongoing Zionist genocide. The law states that "terrorist activity" does not include "...an act or omission that is committed during an armed conflict and that ... is in accordance with ... the activities undertaken by military forces of a state in the exercise of their official duties ...." This leaves the Canadian government free to support military aggression by any state with impunity, regardless of whether it complies with the principles of humanity.

This definition is disinformation to commit historical fraud by saying that Israel, an occupying power which has violated even its founding resolution, has the right of defend itself but that those waging resistance to occupation are terrorists.

In 2018, with the exception of those under the dictate of the U.S., the members of the United Nations voted to defeat a motion to designate Hamas as a terrorist organization. This is hardly the unified international voice Mélanie Joly and her Canadian fellow officials pretend it to be.

On January 12, Global Affairs Canada issued a statement to justify Canada's non-compliance with the rulings of the ICJ. The statement said: "Canada's unwavering support for international law and the ICJ does not mean we accept the premise of the case brought by South Africa.... Under the UN's 1948 Genocide Convention, the crime of genocide requires the intention to destroy or partly destroy a group because of their nationality, ethnicity, race or religion. Meeting this high threshold requires compelling evidence."

Canada's definition of "evidence" is clearly not that of the ICJ and the majority of UN member states or of the UN itself.

Canada then abstained when the vote took place in the UN General Assembly on September 18 reaffirming the IJC's July 19 advisory opinion demanding an end to Israel's illegal presence in the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem within the next year. Canada's position was that: "Canada cannot support a resolution where one party, the state of Israel, is held solely responsible for the conflict. Canada supports Israel's right to live in peace with its neighbours within secure boundaries and recognizes Israel's right to assure its own security. There is no mention in the resolution of the need to end terrorism, for which Israel has serious and legitimate security concerns. Canada continues to support Israel's right to defend itself from terrorism."

Canada has opposed other UN Resolutions in support of the Palestinians. For example on December 7, 2023, Canada was one of seven countries that voted against the UN Resolution "Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and the occupied Syrian Golan," which passed with an overwhelming majority. 

The resolution "Reaffirms that the Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan are illegal and an obstacle to peace and economic and social development; ... Reiterates its demand for the immediate and complete cessation of all Israeli settlement activities in all of the Occupied Palestinian Territory...." On the resolution tabled on December 19, 2023 -- "Permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and of the Arab population in the occupied Syrian Golan over their natural resources" -- Canada was one of six countries that voted against the resolution which also passed with an overwhelming majority.

From 2019 to mid-2023 Canada contributed $66.5 million to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). In January 2024 it committed another $25 million, but then joined the U.S. and other countries in cutting off funding to the organization based on never-proven allegations by Israel that a dozen UNRWA staff had participated in Operation Al-Aqsa Flood. It was only after a huge public outcry denouncing this decision that Canada restored its funding in March 2024. 

Canada continues to provide military support for the Israeli genocide. Over the past year it exported weapons worth $30 million directly and indirectly to Israel.

Canada has strenuously opposed the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement. Meanwhile, it is silent about the investments of Canadian banks (including TD, Scotiabank and the Royal Bank) and pension funds (among them the Canada Pension Plan and the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan) in Israeli enterprises and arms manufacturers profiting from the Israeli occupation and genocide. Canadian realtors such as Keller Williams Realty have, with police protection, held events in Canada during the past year to market stolen Palestinian lands.

Canada also enables illegal donations to Israel averaging $250 million annually through some 200 Zionist "charities" operating in Canada which fund the Israeli military and other organizations.

The Israeli government is allowed to freely operate in Canada through agencies such as the Centre for Israeli and Jewish Affairs (CIJA). It can lobby Canadian politicians to champion Israel and call anyone who speaks out against its crimes anti-Semitic, a supporter of terrorism and the like. This foreign interference is not only allowed but encouraged.

State and Media Disinformation

Besides the disinformation of the state about what constitutes terrorism, major Canadian media outlets also play a role in disinforming the public. While suppressing pro-Palestinian voices, the major media outlets deny the war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide that the Zionist state is committing in Gaza and the West Bank and now in Lebanon. They do so by repeating endlessly that Hamas is a terrorist organization and the same about Hezbollah and Iran, among others, while the acts of terror of the U.S./Zionist forces are denied and legitimated.

They also peddle the criminal logic the U.S. used in its wars of destruction during the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia and then in Iraq -- that it is legitimate to kill civilians when the aim is to eliminate terrorists or terrorist infrastructure.

The crimes the U.S. committed in Iraq, and subsequently in other operations, were horrendous. The entire world rebelled against them, as well as against its torture, black ops and assassinations. Today the peoples of the world are working in concert to hold the U.S. and its accomplices and appeasers accountable for their declaration that all of this is "worth it." The aim of their terrorist actions is to achieve an objective the peoples of the world do not accept, which is to guarantee U.S. hegemony over the peoples of the world.

The exposure and isolation of the U.S. for its crimes of genocide in Gaza and further arming and backing Israel to unleash more has reached a critical point for the U.S. in terms of its strategic plan to dominate all the countries of West Asia and North Africa. The peoples' resistance is holding the U.S./Israeli crimes of genocide to account, and rejecting the support of U.S. yes-men like Canada. 

For one year since the U.S/Israeli genocide of Gaza began, many more than the officially identified 42,227 people have been killed and many tens of thousands injured. Canadians from all walks of life have not stopped organizing and standing with the Palestinian people. They are speaking out as one in support of the Resistance, standing on the side of humanity against the U.S./Israeli crimes, confident that it is the Resistance and the support of the peoples of the world which is decisive and that Palestine will be free in spite of the treachery of governments like Canada's.

Note

1. Obligations of Member States under Security Council resolutions:
1) As a prelude to the implementation of Security Council resolutions, it is imperative to address their legal status, or in other words why and to what extent are Member States of the United Nations bound by them. An understanding should be developed about the legal nature of the Charter of the United Nations and the powers entrusted to the Security Council within that document.
2) The Charter of the United Nations is an international treaty that lays the foundational framework of the United Nations. The Charter sets out the Organization's principles, purposes and functions of its principal organs. The Charter was open for signature on June 26, 1945 and came into force on October 24 of that year. As a treaty, the Charter is an instrument of international law that legally binds States parties, which consequently become Member States of the United Nations.
3) In its preamble, the Charter expresses the determination of Member States to establish conditions in which respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained. This determination extends to the obligations arising from the Charter itself. The supremacy of the Charter among international treaties is established under Article 103 of the Charter, which affirms that in the event of a conflict between the obligations of the Members of the United Nations under the Charter and their obligations under any other international agreement, their obligations under the Charter shall prevail.
4) According to the Charter, the Security Council is one of the principal organs of the United Nations and is the one given the primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. Under Article 24 of the Charter, Members of the United Nations confer upon the Security Council this primary responsibility and agree that, in carrying out its duties, the Security Council acts on behalf of the Members. Article 25 of the Charter gives the Security Council powers to adopt decisions, and affirms that Member States agree to accept and carry out these decisions. Security Council decisions are expressed within Security Council resolutions pertaining to issues of which the Council is seized.
5) Chapter VII of the Charter (Articles 39-51) covers actions that the Security Council is authorized to take when it determines the existence of any threats to the peace, breaches of the peace or acts of aggression. In Article 39, the Security Council is given the authority to make recommendations or take decisions. Recommendations and decisions are both expressed in the operative clauses of Security Council resolutions.
According to prevalent legal interpretations, only the Council's decisions are a subject of the commitment laid out in Article 25 of the Charter, and these are denoted by operative clauses that begin with "decides."
A violation by a Member State of a Security Council decision is therefore considered a violation of that Member State's treaty obligations under international law. Security Council decisions are binding even to Member States that are not members of the Security Council, and even to Member States that are in the Council but might have voted against the resolution.
(With files from Government of Canada, Labour for Palestine, United Nations, Just Peace Advocates, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East)


This article was published in
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Volume 54 Number 50 - October 14, 2024

Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2024/Articles/MS54501.HTM


    

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