Canadians Oppose Government Support for Israeli War Crimes
Close to 200 people answered the call of
Palestinian youth to rally before the Human Rights
Monument in Ottawa on June 28, to oppose the
illegal annexation of the West Bank Palestine.
Similar actions took place across the country.
Two organizers made brief statements at the
beginning of the rally and asked that everyone
respect social distancing as they marched up Elgin
Street to demonstrate in front of the Prime
Minister's Office. The speakers pointed out that
the illegal annexation of the West Bank, which was
scheduled to begin July 1, is a global crisis and
a catastrophic human rights violation. The rally
is the first of a campaign of actions and events
to build national opposition to the illegal
militarized seizure of lands in Palestine and
further displacement of Palestinians. The youth
affirmed that the struggle of the Palestinian
people is one with that of the Indigenous peoples
in Canada as well as that of the struggle of
African Americans and that they are all part of
the same struggle for justice. A group of Native
youth sang songs of support in front of the Prime
Minister's Office.
The speakers denounced two fields of close
cooperation between the Canadian government and
Israel -- that of policing and that of the
Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement, as well as the
support Canada offered Israel before the
International Criminal Court in February (see
below).
Collaboration on Policing
The links between Canada and Israel in terms of
policing are numerous. The March 2008 signing of
the "Declaration of Intent Between the Department
of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness of
Canada and the Ministry of Public Security of the
Government of the State of Israel" is an example
of the collaboration between Canadian and Israeli
security establishments. This includes, but not
exclusively, aerospace, maritime and land-based
security and surveillance technologies,
counter-terrorism technology development,
perimeter security, surveillance technology,
cyberspace and communications, as well as
emergency-preparedness and riot-control.
Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement
The Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement (CIFTA)
went into force on January 1, 1997, eliminating
tariffs on all industrial products manufactured in
Canada and Israel. On May 2, 2018,
François-Philippe Champagne, then-Minister of
International Trade, and Eli Cohen, Israel's
Minister of the Economy and Trade, met in
Montreal, Quebec, to sign the Protocol Amending
the Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement.
On a Government of Canada website, in a "country
profile" of Israel that explains "why Israel
matters," it is said that Canada's top merchandise
export to Israel (2016-2018 average) is aircraft
and parts ($90.7 million). It is pointed out that
Israel is home to one of the ten largest arms
manufacturing industries in the world, supported
by an annual budget of U.S.$18 billion. Education
is raised as an important part of Canada-Israel
relations, as well as information and
communications technologies which represent one of
the most important sectors for sales, technology
partnerships and investment between Canada and
Israel. Other common fields include health and
life sciences, where partnership opportunities
exist for Canadian firms in a variety of areas,
including digital health (including artificial
intelligence), neuroscience, and complementing
medical device technology.
International Criminal Court
As recently as February, the Canadian government
sided with Israel when the International Criminal
Court had concluded that war crimes "have been or
are being committed" in the West Bank, including
east Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. The Canadian
government, rather than deal with the issue of the
crimes being committed against the Palestinian
people by Israel, cowardly hid behind a
"long-standing position" that it does not
recognize a Palestinian state and therefore does
not recognize the "accession of such a state to
international treaties."
This article was published in
Volume 50 Number 24 - July 4, 2020
Article Link:
Canadians Oppose Government Support for Israeli War Crimes
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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