Montreal, February 8, 2023 - Below is a letter to Minister of Small Business, Export Promotion and International Trade of Canada, Mary Ng, requesting an explanation for her meeting with Ofir Akunis, a minister in Israel's far-right government. "This meeting raises troubling human rights concerns given the Israeli government’s espousal of supremacist views, its intentions to illegally annex the occupied West Bank, and the growing recognition that Israel’s practices amount to the crime of apartheid under international law." Click here to download the letter as a PDF.

May 22, 2018 — At least 16,000 Canadians have emailed support for Prime Minister Trudeau’s comments last Wednesday condemning Israel’s use of live ammunition on Palestinian protesters.  These thousands of emails were sent to Trudeau, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, and other Parliamentary leaders and critics via a platform set up by Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME.)  The local MPs of each person who used the platform were also copied on the emails sent.  This number does not include the many individuals who expressed support via other means.    

February 27, 2018 — Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) stands opposed to Conservative Party Leader Andrew Scheer’s promise to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital if elected in 2019. Over the weekend, the Conservative Party website encouraged Canadians to sign up if they agree with Scheer that “Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.” CJPME laments the Scheer’s disregard for international law and indifference to Israel’s human rights violations.

Last year, US President Donald Trump announced he was moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem, breaking decades of diplomatic neutrality regarding competing Israeli and Palestinian claims to the city. 

This year, on May 8th, Conservative leader Andrew Scheer promised that if elected, a Canadian government under his leadership would recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital and move the Canadian embassy to Jerusalem. This is offensive, appalling, illegal, and wrong.

This position paper discusses how Canada could incite justice in the Israel-Palestinian conflict. 

Montreal, Dec. 17, 2015 – Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) joins with other Canadians to protest the wanton shooting of Canadian Rehab Nazzal by an Israeli Army soldier in Bethlehem last Friday.  Nazzal, currently a Ph.D. student at the University of Western Ontario was shot while doing research in Bethlehem to investigate the impact of robotic and unconventional Israeli surveillance and crowd control techniques on Palestinian civilians.  Shot in the leg, Nazzal is expected to recover fully.

Montreal, February 4, 2015  — During his visit to the Middle East last month, Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird signed a number of agreements with the State of Israel, among them a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) regarding diplomatic cooperation. While the memorandum covers a variety of topics, including advocating the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the document also touches on limiting criticism of Israel, which it identifies as “the new face of anti-Semitism.” While the MOU is vague, it has the potential of being interpreted very broadly.  As such, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) criticizes the MOU as having the potential to dangerously curtail public debate. 

Montreal, January 21, 2015 – Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird’s visit to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories this week demonstrated just how badly Canada’s image has been tarnished in the Middle East. Upon arriving in the West Bank, Baird’s convoy was pelted with eggs and shoes by Palestinians dissatisfied with the Canadian government’s stance on the situation in the region. While Canada managed to remain somewhat neutral with regard to the Arab-Israeli conflict under previous governments, recent remarks by Baird illustrate just how far Canada has come in its fawning support for Israel and its disregard for legitimate Palestinian concerns.

Montreal, January 21, 2014  — CJPME laments that in his address to the Knesset yesterday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper misrepresented the reasons for international criticism of Israel’s conduct. “Harper attributed criticism of Israel’s conduct to anti-Semitism.  In reality, the criticisms – including those from various European governments whose commitment to Israel’s survival is unstinting—are of Israel’s ongoing illegal land grab in the West Bank, its harsh military occupation, the longest in modern history, and its brutal blockade of Gaza,” says CJPME President Thomas Woodley.  CJPME notes that although Harper alleges that critics of Israel’s conduct are “singling Israel out” for criticism, in fact most of the organizations and governments criticising Israel’s conduct also frequently criticise other countries’ actions. “In effect, through such accusations, Harper has thrown Palestinians under the bus of Israeli territorial ambitions,” adds Woodley. 

Montreal, July 24, 2014 — Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) believes that the leaders of Canada’s major political parties have betrayed Canadian values in their response to the violence between Israel and Gaza. “The statements by political leaders of recent weeks demonstrate no nuance of understanding of the broader situation between Israel, Gaza and the Palestinians,” asserts CJPME President Thomas Woodley. “In its own way, each political party has declared unquestioning support for Israel, and unexamined condemnation of the Palestinians. This is not principled, nor does it respect the precepts of international law in the broader context.”