Montreal, July 24, 2026 — Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) is urging the Canadian government to respond to the urgent warnings from Palestinian and Israeli human rights organizations who are calling for intervention to stop the escalating Israeli violence in the occupied West Bank, which appears designed to spiral out of control.
Israel has ordered an imminent “large-scale” offensive in the Northern West Bank and imposed the closure of Nablus, attacking the Nablus hospital. Meanwhile, Israeli settler death squads are reportedly engaged in widespread and coordinated pogroms against Palestinian villages, opening live fire on residents, destroying property, setting fire to fields and homes, uprooting olive trees, and attacking ambulances.
“This is state-backed Israeli terrorism against an occupied population,” said Michael Bueckert, Vice President of CJPME. “The purpose is to push Palestinians off their land and take their place. Canada must immediately impose sanctions on Israel and do everything in its power to protect the Palestinian people from this unceasing aggression.”
The current escalation of violence follows a deadly confrontation early today when Palestinians in the village of Tal defended themselves from armed Israeli settlers who had entered their village. Two Israelis were killed after a Palestinian grabbed one of their weapons in self-defence, resulting in the executions of four Palestinians by Israelis.
CJPME warns that Israel is using this incident as an opportunity to escalate its plans for collective punishment and ethnic cleansing. Prime Minister Netanyahu has instructed the establishment of new illegal settlements and ordered the demolition of Palestinian homes, while the Israeli military has ordered the seizure of Palestinian land, and Israeli settlers have set up new colonial encampments. Earlier this year, Israel undertook significant steps towards the official annexation of the West Bank, and Israel’s Finance Minister Smotrich said he wants to “encourage [the] migration” of Palestinians out of both Gaza and the West Bank.
Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem has documented the forcible displacement of at least 64 entire Palestinian communities in the West Bank since October 2023, and argues that “settler violence is a form of government policy, aided and abetted by official state authorities with their active participation.” For that reason, CJPME has long argued that Israeli settler violence must be recognized as a form of state-sponsored terrorism, which requires sanctions against all of those who are responsible for supporting and enabling these crimes.