June 3, 2021 - Below is a statement from CJPME in support of Javier Davila, a Toronto anti-oppression educator who is being disciplined and investigated for sharing information on Palestine. Download a PDF version of the statement here. Continue reading

June 3, 2021 - Below is a statement from CJPME in response to attacks on Green MPs from a senior advisor to Green Party leader Annamie Paul. CJPME calls on Paul to defend her MPs, stand up for the right of Greens to criticize Israel, and to release a new statement which clearly condemns Israeli violations of Palestinian human rights. Download a PDF version of the statement here. Continue reading

Amid an escalation of violence in Palestine-Israel, legislators from Europe and North America came together earlier today to talk about how to elevate the issue of Palestinian human rights in the global public discussion.  The meeting was the first for the multi-partisan “Inter-Parliamentary Task Force to Promote Palestinian Human Rights,” which is composed of 23 legislators from 10 countries, including the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Italy, Finland, Belgium and several other European countries. 13 representatives came together for the first meeting, including MPs Niki Ashton and Paul Manly (Canada), MP Tommy Sheppard (UK), MP Veronika Honkasalo (Finland), the Podemos International Secretariat (Spain) and the Offices of Representative Betty McCollum (US) and MP Fotini Bakadima (Greece). Continue reading

May 18, 2021 - Below is CJPME's statement on anti-Palestinian violence in Toronto. A false story was distributed by pro-Israel groups, the press, and condemned by journalists, depicting a peaceful Palestinian protest as hateful, while portraying a hate group member as a victim. CJPME calls on officials to apologize to the pro-Palestinian community for their false and demeaning statements.  Download a PDF version of the statement here. Continue reading

** UPDATE MAY 17: Today we learned that Green MP Paul Manly made two attempts to call for an emergency debate in Parliament last week. We greatly appreciate these efforts, and hope that the Bloc will join the Greens and NDP in their call for a debate. We continue to urge the party leadership of both the Greens and Bloc to endorse an arms embargo on Israel ** Montreal, May 17, 2021  — Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) is urging the leadership of the Bloc Québécois (BQ) and Green Party of Canada (GPC) to match the recent commitments of the New Democratic Party (NDP) by endorsing an arms embargo on Israel, and by calling for an emergency Parliamentary debate on Israeli violence. While individual BQ and GPC MPs have made positive statements in support of Palestinian human rights, CJPME notes that the party leadership must do more to push the government for concrete action. Continue reading

Montreal, May 13, 2021  — Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) welcomes the recent call from the leadership of the New Democratic Party (NDP) in support of a ban on weapons sales to Israel. Yesterday NDP leader Jagmeet Singh asked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to respond to an escalation in violence in the Middle East by banning arms sales to Israel, and NDP foreign affairs critic Jack Harris said in a statement today that this ban should be maintained “until the end of the illegal occupation.” CJPME congratulates the NDP for putting forward concrete proposals to end Israeli violence and oppression against the Palestinians, and urges all members of parliament and political party leaders to join in the call for an arms embargo. Continue reading

Montreal, May 11, 2021  — Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) is urging Members of Parliament to call for an emergency debate on the imminent forced evictions and escalating violence in Jerusalem. Israel’s insistence on carrying out racist mass evictions against Palestinians in Jerusalem, its violent response to Palestinian protests over the evictions, and its repeated raids on the Al Aqsa mosque during Ramadan have escalated tensions and triggered international indignation and outrage. In the absence of a clear plan from the Canadian government to address Israel’s violations, CJPME urges Parliament to show leadership and debate Canada’s response to this human rights emergency. Continue reading

Montreal, May 7, 2021  — Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) is urging the Canadian government to condemn the imminent mass evictions of Palestinian families from their homes in the neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah in occupied East Jerusalem, and to take concrete action to prevent their expulsion by Israel. As soon as next week, four Palestinian families consisting of thirty adults and ten children may be removed from their homes in Sheikh Jarrah to be replaced with Israeli settlers, and more than one hundred other families face a similar eviction process. The “forcible transfer” of an occupied civilian population is strictly prohibited by the Fourth Geneva Convention, and CJPME considers the mass expulsion of Palestinian families to be a practice of ethnic cleansing. Continue reading

Montreal, April 27, 2021 — Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) is calling for action following the release of a ground-breaking report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) which concludes that Israeli authorities are committing the crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution. CJPME demands that Canada’s political leaders take concrete measures to censure Israel for its Apartheid practices, as recommended by HRW. These include imposing individual sanctions on officials responsible for committing the crime of apartheid, conditioning arms sales to Israel on authorities taking action to end these crimes, and vetting bi-lateral agreements to prevent directly contributing to these crimes. Continue reading

On 22 April 2021, representatives of 28 Palestinian families constituting approximately 500 Palestinians from Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in occupied East Jerusalem, and 191 endorsing organisations (including Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East), sent a letter to the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), calling to urgently include the imminent forced displacement of Palestinians from Sheikh Jarrah as part of the open investigation within the Situation in the State of Palestine. Specifically, the families called on her Office to include as part of the investigation the related war crimes and crimes against humanity, including forcible transfer, appropriation of property, persecution, apartheid, and other inhumane acts causing great suffering or serious injury to inter alia mental health arising from their forced evictions. Continue reading