Montreal, October 1, 2024 — With a regional war unfolding in the Middle East, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) decries the Trudeau government’s failed approach to Israeli belligerency over the past year. CJPME believes that there’s a clear line between Israel’s horrific collective punishment against Palestinians following last year’s Oct. 7 attack by Hamas – considered a genocide by many – and the outbreak of regional war today. Just hours ago, Iran launched a massive missile attack on Israel, citing Israel’s assassination of Hezbollah and Hamas leaders. Israel’s subsequent vow of widespread retaliation will only plunge the region into greater misery and despair.
“Canada’s strategy of acting in lockstep with the US on Middle East policy this past year has been a total failure,” declared Thomas Woodley, President of CJPME. The US, for example, blocked a UN Security Council resolution for a ceasefire in Lebanon last week. “The failure is not theoretical. The lives of millions of people will be devastated as a result of Canada’s indifference to Israel’s brutal violence,” added Woodley. CJPME notes that the lives of millions of Palestinians, Lebanese and Israelis have already been disrupted by the violence, yet Canada has failed to publicly pressure the US or Israel to curb the violence. Worse, Canada has been equivocal about whether it will even support international efforts at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and International Criminal Court (ICC) to hold the actors in these conflicts accountable.
“At each major juncture over the past twelve months, the Trudeau government has avoided holding Israel accountable,” continued Woodley. “Canada has failed to publicly condemn the genocidal comportment of the Netanyahu government. It has failed to condemn Israel’s reckless and illegal violence in Lebanon. It has failed to take decisive action to withhold arms from Israel. It has failed to support international resolutions and action at the UN, the ICJ and the ICC. It has failed to review and cancel key bilateral agreements with Israel.” CJPME points out that just yesterday, given Israel’s violence in Lebanon, Belgium called for EU sanctions on imports from Israeli settlements.
Yesterday, CJPME sought to shed light on Israel’s ongoing carnage in Palestine, and its bombing of much of Lebanon, which has caused hundreds of thousands of Lebanese to flee their homes. CJPME noted how the massive airstrikes in residential parts of Beirut are particularly horrific and inhumane. Canada announced a paltry $10 million in aid to Lebanon over the weekend, but CJPME considers this mere tokenism as long as Canada refuses to use its military and economic relationship with Israel to end that country’s violence. CJPME considers that today’s counter-attack by Iran was an inevitable result of countries like Canada remaining silent.
“Canada’s reluctance to immediately implement an arms embargo to end Israel violence in Lebanon is absolutely disgraceful,” asserted Thomas Woodley, President of CJPME. “This government’s most meaningful contribution to a ceasefire would be to stop arming Israel’s war machine.” CJPME’s call for an arms embargo on Israel is based on Canada’s Special Economic Measures Act (SEMA). SEMA was created to enable Canada to take economic measures against states which commit grave breaches of international peace, and/or gross and systematic human rights violations. Both of these conditions are met by Israel’s genocidal incursions into Gaza and its bombardment of Lebanon. Since January, Canada claims to have paused the approval of all new arms export permits to Israel, and has suspended about 30 existing permits. However, as of August, nearly $95m of military goods had been approved to ship to Israel by the end of 2025. CJPME urges Canada to implement a full two-way arms embargo to ensure that Canada ends its relationship with Israel’s military industrial complex as it carries out gross violations of international law in Yemen, Lebanon, and Palestine.
About CJPME – Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) is a non-profit and secular organization bringing together men and women of all backgrounds who labour to see justice and peace take root again in the Middle East. Its mission is to empower decision-makers to view all sides with fairness and to promote the equitable and sustainable development of the region.
For more information, please contact: Michael Bueckert, VP CJPME: 613-315-7947 or [email protected].
Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East www.cjpme.org
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