Canada’s Motion: “In case of emergency blame and punish Israel“

By Dogan Akman

On Monday, March 18 inst. Parliament voted in favour of an amended anti-Israeli motion sponsored by Heather McPherson of the NDP (Vote no.658)

As to be expected from the NDP, the motion was full of anti-Israeli diatribe which was originally unacceptable to the Liberal government; rejected in its entirety by the Conservatives and, as to be expected, readily acceptable by The Bloc Quebecois.

In this kind of situation, the usual practice is to simply defeat the motion. But where a motion concerns the Hamas- Israel war, the Liberal government prefers instead to ignore the usual practice and save the motion.

As opinion writer Robyn Urback puts it:  “If the Liberal had any confidence in their convictions, they would have simply voted against the motion as it was originally presented… But the Liberals couldn’t simply vote against it as any principled government would do-not when all foreign policy is, first and foremost, domestic to this administration”. Thee NDP’s diluted motion on Palestine is a charade, Globe and Mail, March 20, 2024

Indeed, the reason for this departure from ordinary practice is due to the fact that the Liberal party, its government and Parliamentary members are badly divided on the Palestinian –Israeli conflict and needless to say on the Hamas-Israeli war but quite desperate to vote in support of the kind of motion that was ultimately framed.

Hence, the government 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 to do as it willed, save for three of its members who are of Jewish fate, triumphantly voted for the motion.

In the process, the government rewarded Hamas and earned the praise of the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM), with which the government maintains a close connection, the leading organization of the Canadian Muslim community, a vocal critic of Israel’s war and an advocate of Canada taking a hardliner line against the Jewish state and its leadership, said it was pleased by what it described as a “historic vote”. “The organisation said “Canada voted in favour of Palestine today, that is history”, John Paul Tasker, Government’s endorsement of amended Palestinian statehood motion wins praise, draws outrage”. CBC March 19, 2024, p.7

In the process, the government ignored t the outrage caused by the amended motion. Then again nothing surprising here. Do?an Akman, The Trudeau Government’s Fake Fight Against Antisemitism [and its treatment of Israel}, TheJ.ca.  Parts 1-48, May 5, 2022- June 22, 2023

Analysis

What then did the Parliament vote for?

The preamble   

That given that

(i ) the situation in the Middle East is devastating to many Canadians, particularly those with friends and family members in the region,

Q. What about the Israeli hostages taken and the Israeli victims of the genocide committed by Hamas?

(ii) 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 are puffed up. Abraham Weiner, 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),Israellyool, March 8,2024.

At all events, Hamas is the original and principal culprit of the injuries and deaths suffered by Gazan civilians by triggering the war.

(iii) 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 original number of hostages was about 300 .The figure 100 ignores the number of hostages who were killed or died from cruel treatment or allowed to die through the failure to provide medical assistance are ignored.  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 inhumane treatment of the hostages.

(iv) 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.                    

 A well- established fact is that Hamas, in breach of international humanitarian law and customs uses the residents of Gaza- including the children, as human shields to protect its members from enemy fire. In the process, it causes the death of the residents. Hence, Hamas is responsible for the death of those for whose safety it is responsible.

Furthermore, beyond the genocide of October 6, Hamas indiscriminately attacks civilians on the Israeli side of the border with a variety of explosive devices,

(v) 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 allegation and the specific the percentage claimed misrepresents the facts on the ground in a number of ways: 1. Members of Hamas live in buildings also occupied by civilians. 2. These buildings contain considerable amount of military equipment at the disposal of Hamas. 3. The evidence shows that the Israeli army has not bombed, destroyed or made mosques, schools and hospitals uninhabitable. Furthermore, Israel does not withhold water from Gazans.              Yet on the other hand as matter of fact Hamas has bombed at least one of its hospitals, used the others for its purposes and desecrated one mosque by making military use of it.  4. As a matter of fact   Israeli Army has found Hamas fighters in schools and in areas reserved for schools run by the UNRWA.

(vi) 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.

(vii) 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.

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 inevitable suffering on Gazans because of the way Hamas decided to fight the war. If Hamas is really concerned with the well-being of the Gazans, it would do what other governments, save for Adolph Hitler’s Nero solution” to punish the Germans for losing the war, namely, surrender.

(viii) 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 .It has been happening for decades, and will continue to be so long as Iran is permitted to incite and finance and arm Hezbollah, Hamas, the PIJ and currently the Houthis.

(ix) 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 and for quite a few decades since is Judea and Samaria. The communities in question live under constant threat of being subjected to terrorism and are indeed are so subjected to it under the Palestinian Authority’s pay for slay” program of financing this terrorism. The incontrovertible facts at hand demonstrate that the so-called extremist settler violence is provoked by Palestinian terrorists who threaten the settlers and regularly engage in murdering and injuring them.

(x) the casualties of the war on Gaza and the Hamas terrorist attack include Canadian citizens.

Correct. These citizens are dead, injured, raped or kidnapped and kept under inhuman conditions.  Unfortunately, Canada has done very little to assist those still alive.

(xi) Canadian citizens remain trapped in Gaza, blocked from leaving. This has nothing to do with Israel .Besides bureaucratic work, Canada has accomplished nothing to secure their return to Canada, while other countries have managed to retrieve their citizens also trapped in Gaza.

Nor can the government accomplish much. Ironically enough, on March 21, Globe and Mail reported that Immigration Minister Mark Miller opined that “the motion passed with Liberal support that calls for a freeze on arm exports to Israel could make it harder for Canadians with family members in the Gaza Strip to bring them home.” Marie Woolf, Arms freeze could hinder, Globe and Mail, March 21, 2024

(xii) Jewish, Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian Canadians have reported an increase in hate-motivated attacks and racism since October.

This statement is both misleading and presents an incomplete picture of the situation. 1. Save for the Jewish community, by dividing the non-Jewish victims into three groups the identity of their members overlap, it is impossible to determine both the number of victims that belong to specific group and whether or not the group has been and continue to be subject to an increase in their victimisation.  2. 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 of any of the groups. 3.  The incidence of  hate crimes racism against the Jewish community have increased very significantly, some using the term “astronomically” while there is no evidence this to be the case for other groups.

4. The true picture is incomplete as it does not provide any data as to the religion, ethnic identity of those who perpetrate these crimes. And members of the Jewish community do not engage in hate crimes and racism.(xiii) 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 which was rejected, to date, the Palestinians have been offered and have rejected numerous peace offers since 1967 and refused to make a single bona fides offer of their own. It is impossible for Israel to live in peace when Hamas’ Charter specifically prescribes the destruction of the State of Israel and the death of Israeli Jews. While the Palestinian Authority among negative patterns of behaviour against Israel, provides financial incentives for the maiming, killing of Jews and the destruction of property. In the circumstances, surely the Palestinians do not deserve to live in peace. As for human rights and democratic freedoms, surely Israel has nothing to do with that.

The culprits for Palestinians‘lack of enjoyment of their human rights and democratic freedoms are the Palestinian Authority and Hamas. Palestinians who are Israeli citizens; residents of Israel and those who come to Israel for work certainly enjoy human rights and democratic freedoms.

 The House call[s] on the Government to:

(a) demand an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages, and Hamas must lay down its arms.   

 Good. Israel has been amenable to temporary cease fire on reasonable terms. This has not happened solely due to the unreasonable conditions sought by Hamas who in fact has been intent to incite general Palestinian violence during the month of Ramadan.

As a matter of fact, Hamas must not only lay down its arms, but surrender unconditionally, and deliver its leaders both in and out of Gaza to Israel to be tried for war crimes including hostage taking.

 (b) 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

“Since 2015 the largest annual categories of shipments to Israel fall into three categories: bombs, torpedoes, missiles and other explosive devices; aircraft, drones, aero engines, aircraft equipment for the military use and spacecraft and components”. Marieke Walsh, Steven Chase, MP weight future with Liberals after vote on conflict in Gaza, Globe and Mail, March 20, 2024

 This is not the first   time Canada imposed such an embargo on Israel.

The first occurred in 1956 when Israel was struggling to find sources for the purchase of a jet fighter following Egypt’s growing strength. “Canada agreed to sell such planes but as the jets were coming off the production line, Canada “caved in into British pressure and cancelled the deal. The embargo comes at a time when Israeli weapons systems are now protecting Canadian pilots, fighters and naval combatants around the world. They are deployed to protect Canada’s borders and NATO countries bordering Russia similar to when Canadian troops were stationed in Afghanistan and in the war against the Taliban”…  Canada made these purchases after examining the performance, prices and delivery times compared to those of other Western companies”. Udi Etzion, Amid Canada’s ‘arms embargo’: Here are the Israeli weapons in use in Ottawa, Jerusalem Post, and March 20, 2024 pp.1-3

 Insofar as Canada’s arm exports to Israel is concerned, Minister of Foreign Affairs during the negotiations on the wording of the motion informed that Canada ceased to do that since January 2024, clearly on the quiet, without providing the reason(s) for it.  Globe and Mail,

NDP: Motion does not hold that Hamas is accountable for its attack, Conservatives say

The embargo comes at a time when Israeli weapons systems are now protecting Canadian pilots, fighters and naval combatants around the world. They are deployed to protect Canada’s borders and NATO countries bordering Russia similar to when Canadian troops were stationed in Afghanistan in the war against the Taliban .Udi Etzion, supra.

  To date, Israel has consistently complied with the terms of Canada’s arms export regime presumably to the satisfaction of the Minister. “Before backing the motion, the government also adjusted its section on military exports. It wouldn’t   go along with a call to “suspend all trade in military goods and technology with Israel but agreed to ‘cease the further authorization and transfer of arms exports to Israel”. John Paul Tasker, Government’s endorsement of amended Palestinian Statehood motion wins praise, draws outrage, CBC News, March 19, p.2

Joly further stated that “the Trudeau government will cease future arms exports to Israel even though the motion passed by the House of Commons that called for such an action is non- binding”. Tonda MacCharles, Trudeau government to stop sending arms to Israel once details are worked out, Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly says- “-…the minister said that the change is significant and not merely symbolic”. The Star, March 19, 2024

This is an absurd proposition. In  the absence of  any incontrovertible evidence of Israel’s 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 refuse to sell to it firearms and parts thereof  to it?

At all events it is the writer’s earnest hope that the drafting of the policy and regulations in this matter will take at least as long as it will take to legislate its highly criticised Proposed Bill C-63 to address Online Harms.

The proposition of increasing Canada’s efforts to stop the illegal trade of arms, including to Hamas is nonsense. Canada cannot do anything to stop Iran’s supply of arms to its terrorist agents.

 (c) 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 incontrovertible   negative facts  about UNRWA,  among others, are its a) its collaboration with Hamas to the benefit of Hamas ; b)the  practice of staffing  it’s schools with antisemite /anti-Israeli personnel; c) the brainwashing of the students to  hate Jews and Israelis; d) allowing its students to be recruited by Hamas as  child soldiers, and  e) 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, politically and morally  corrupt  organisation  is 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 intertwined with international politics and more specifically the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in all its dimensions. And needless to say the U.N has  been in the process of become an anti-Israeli institution.

(d) support the prosecution of all crimes and violations of international law committed in the region.

A vague blanket  proposition which is also unrealistic.

(e) support the work of the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court

Canada already does that  in the appropriate cases. Otherwise, this  is an unrealistic and unsafe blanket proposition.

(f) demand unimpeded humanitarian access to Gaza.

Good. However demanding is fine but hardly enough. to secure such access without neutralising Hamas.

(g) ensure Canadians trapped in Gaza can reach safety in Canada and expand access to the temporary resident visa program.                                                                                     

 Good , while at the same time the government committed itself to freeze the export of military equipment to Israel that could hinder  the evacuation process. Marie Woolf. supra

(h) sanction extremist settlers and maintain sanctions on Hamas leaders.                                 

First, Canada  has already declared Hamas to be a terrorist organisation. In the premises the Hamas leaders are already sanctioned accordingly. First, Canada cannot and must not sanction the so-called the extremist settlers unless it also effectively sanctions  a) the terrorists   who terrorise the settlers, kill and injure them and b) the Palestinian Authority  which provides them and/or their families with financial security for doing so.

While the provision refers to settler violence, it makes no mention of Palestinian terrorism  which commenced in earnest in fundamental breach of the Oslo Accords,  continued to present unabated  and will continue  into the foreseeable future.

At all events, Canada in keeping with international convention cannot and must not interfere  in the enforcement of the law and in the administration of justice in Israel which is recognised by the international courts for its integrity.

(i) 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.

See: MEMRI TV, Hamas Official: There are no Palestinian people- They are Egyptian and Syrians, Israpundit, March 23,2012.

The advocates of the same position  do not provide  the specific  provisions of the international law on which they rely because there are no such provisions relevant to the case  of the Palestinians. Antony Blinken ,the American Secretary of State , who cannot  resist invoking  his version of international law  and  towards this end did not resist  to reverse   the policy set by his predecessor Mike Pompeo under President Trump  asserted that the settlements are “inconsistent” with international law. Elad  Benari, Blinken: Settlements are inconsistent with international law, Israpundit, INN February 23,202423I. In the process, he has studiously avoided  to define  the  meaning of the term “inconsistent”  as distinct from   the terms “breach” or  “violation”  of  the. More importantly, he has avoided  identifying the particular provisions of international laws in question and explaining the manner in which the alleged inconsistency exists.

There is no legal or factual basis  for the proposition that the settlements are not illegal since the Palestinians as a people nor the Palestinian Authority established under the Oslo Accords ever owned the lands on which the settlements are established.

Furthermore, both as a matter of both fact and law  neither the Palestinians who until May 1967 were Jordanian citizens nor the Palestinian Authority or any other Palestinian group ever  owned any land over which it exercised  sovereign jurisdiction. Indeed  never  did or could  exercise  sovereign  jurisdiction over  any of  the lands or parts thereof  which are in issue. 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 crée pas l’Etat  de Palestine? C’est parce que la résolution 80 de sa Charte le lui interdit, initiale Publisher  on July 11,202224Michel Calvo, L’annexion des terres en Judée-Samarie n’est pas contraire au droit international, LPH, 29 frevrier, 2024: Bat Ye’or, International Law or Antisémitisme? Gatestone Institute, March 10,2024.

Accordingly, Canada cannot and must not  affirm or reaffirm the alleged facts and law:

(j) work with international partners to actively pursue the goal of a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East, including towards the establishment of the State of Palestine as part of a negotiated two-state solution, and maintain Canada’s position that Israel has a right to exist in peace and security with its neighbours.

Neither the Palestinian Authority nor Hamas and all the other Palestinian terrorist groups have shown the slightest interest in the two-state  solution. In the circumstances, Canada cannot affirm or reaffirm  the alleged facts and law. And for all the reasons set out above relevant to the foregoing goal, the work and the result which is sought is unrealistic  and will  remain so for the foreseeable future .

On this matter , Melanie Joly  stated that she believes Israelis and Palestinians are “closer than ever ” to a two-state solution and Canada won’t be drawn into picking sides. We have  to condemn both sides and we have to help both sides to get eventually to an understanding that Israelis and Palestinians will have to live together in peace.”  Does one to have more evidence to be convinced of the vacuoussness of Canada’s foreign policy  on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict?

The   adverse reactions to the motion

In a speech in the House of Commons, Liberal M.P Antony Housefather, who voted “no “along with former cabinet Minister Marco Mendocino,  a Manitoba Liberal MP Ben and an Independent MP stated that  “the motion “rewards Hamas because it creates “a false equivalency between the State of Israel and the terrorist organization Hamas…Canada should be standing with Israel. Canada should be defining the right of Israel to fight back against a terrorist organization .We should not be passing motions that make a terrorist organization equivalent to a democratic state.”  John Paul Tasker op. cit.,supra. p.7,; Marieke Walsh and Steven Chase, MP weighs future with Liberals after vote on conflict in Gaza, Marieke Walsh, Steven Chase The Globe and Mail, March 20,2024, p.A4 see also: John Paul Taser, op. cit, supra, pp 6-7

 

CIJA the Canadian national Jewish advocacy group  in a statement  issued following the vote stated  “ We are deeply disappointed that the Liberal government has chosen to effectively sub-contract  Canadian foreign policy to anti-Israel radicals within the NDP and the Bloc Quebecois”. John Paul Tasker, op cit. supra.

B’nai Brith Canada “expressed outrage after the House passed the motion,  calling it an ”unprecedented and appalling anti-Israel proposal”. David Granovsky, Director of the organization’s Director of Government relations issued a statement where he stated: “Canada must not stand in the way to neutralize terrorists who are preventing the implementation of a sustainable peace”.????

Melissa Lantzman , who is also a Conservative M.P and one of  the party’s deputy leaders , said that “Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly ‘s statements left Canadians with a muddled impression of the government’s position. She accused it of having none. They send a group of MPs into one community to say one thing, and another group pf MPs into another community to say another thing…they have no moral clarity” Lantsman  called recognition of Palestinian statehood a ‘” blind    sellout to the forces of evil at home and abroad.” and a “dead giveaway to a group literally defined as terrorist by Canadian law” .  Laura Osman, Stephanie Taylor and Dylan Roberts , MPs approve softened Israel –Gaza motion as Liberals dodge vote to recognize Palestine, The Canadian Press, March 19,2024

The writers also reported that The Prime Minister spoke to Benny Gantz, a member of the Knesset  and a member of Israel’s War Cabinet  to have written at an unspecified date on social media that he was grateful  for Trudeau’s commitment to Israeli security, Osman, Taylor and Roberts. I wonder if he would care to repeat this statement  in the light of the  steps taken by the government to implement  the  decision  to freeze the export of war materials to Israel on the grounds of Israeli breaches of human rights of the Gazans.

 Conclusion

Save for the rare instances where   the proposition is identified as correct, the foregoing analysis leads the writer  to conclude that the motion  is not worth the paper on which it is printed not to mention the substantial, otherwise avoidable, utterly wasteful  costs  incurred in getting it through. As Robyn Urback put it: “…the very process of negotiating an amendment to a non-binding motion is an admission that this was just a waste of time. op.cit . supra.

The writer does not belong to any particular Jewish denomination and practices only on High Holidays. He is simply a Jew proud of his people and its rich heritage and ready to defend Israel against its detractors, of which there seem to be no shortage of. He  raised his children as practicing Jews and passed on to them his  pride in the Jewish people.

 

 

 

---