Montreal, May 9, 2025 — Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) is urging the Prime Minister Carney to firmly reject dangerous plans by the United States and Israel to take over the humanitarian aid system in Gaza. All UN agencies and NGO partners have opposed US President Trump’s proposal to shut down the UN system and consolidate control over aid distribution, as it contradicts humanitarian principles and weaponizes aid. CJPME urges Prime Minister Carney to reject any requests from Trump or Netanyahu to fund this cynical aid scheme, and immediately impose long overdue sanctions on Israel’s leadership to halt its genocidal starvation and dispossession policies in Gaza.
“Trump’s new aid scheme for Gaza is nothing less than the US and Israel hijacking humanitarian aid and further repurposing it as a tool of war and genocide,” Michael Bueckert, Acting President of CJPME. “For over two months, Israel has been pushing the population of Gaza into starvation by preventing all food and aid from entering the territory. Now they intend to reintroduce aid while seizing control of distribution channels, restricting aid to certain locations in South Gaza, handpicking which individuals can receive it, and lowering the caloric count to be no more than the bare minimum necessary for survival. This is not about providing humanitarian aid, it is about taking full control of aid to use it as a weapon,” added Bueckert.
CJPME notes that this US-Israeli aid scheme is part of a deadly plan approved by Israel’s security cabinet to “conquer” and permanently occupy Gaza. Israeli Finance Minister Smotrich has openly declared the genocidal intentions behind this strategy, promising that “Gaza will be totally destroyed,” that the entire population of Gaza will soon be “concentrated” in a tiny area in the extreme south of Gaza, and that the Palestinians will “leave in great numbers to third countries.” In response, a statement issued by UN human rights experts warns that “states must act now to end the violence or bear witness to the annihilation of the Palestinian population in Gaza.”
“This is the beginning of the final act in Israel’s genocide, plain and simple. Carney must act swiftly and sanction Israel. He cannot claim to stand up to Trump and be different from Trudeau while still quietly going along with the same ethnic cleansing of Gaza. Carney has said he will have a principled foreign policy; the test of those principles is already here. Will he stand up for international law and human rights, or will he serve Trump?” added Bueckert.