Montreal, May 16, 2024 - CJPME has sent a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urging that Canada end its involvement in Israeli settlements in Occupied Palestinian Territory. 

Click here to download the full letter as a PDF, or click here for CJPME's position paper with recommendations.

Earlier this year, a real estate tour called the “Great Israeli Real Estate Event” was held in Montreal and Toronto that included the sale of properties within settlements in the occupied West Bank, including Neve Daniel, Ma'aleh Adumim and Efrat. This amounts to the illegal and open sale of properties in the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT), in clear violation of international law, the Canadian Criminal Code, UN resolutions and international human rights and humanitarian law. However, the issue of Canadian trade with Israeli settlements goes much deeper than one event. It is time that Canada stopped ignoring these crimes. Israeli settlements are war crimes under Canadian law. To address this broader problem, CJPME urges a whole-of-government approach to ending Canadian involvement in Israel’s colonial war crimes through the below series of coordinated measures, which falls under the jurisdiction of various ministerial portfolios.

CJPME Factsheet 246, published July 2024: This factsheet explores the case for recognizing Palestinian statehood, detailing Palestine’s international recognition and its rights at the UN. The factsheet also focuses on the recent wave of recognition by European states, Canada’s position and how recognition impacts Palestinian statehood and self-determination.

Montreal, July 6, 2023 — Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) is calling on Canada to implement a series of concrete measures in response to Israel’s devastating and vindictive acts of collective punishment against the Jenin refugee camp earlier this week. Scenes from the camp following Israel’s violent invasion and siege suggest that Israel’s intent was to destroy the civilian public infrastructure of the camp on a colossal scale. CJPME warns that Israel’s withdrawal from the camp therefore does not signify the end of the crisis for residents, as a humanitarian catastrophe remains. CJPME notes that under the Rome Statute, “extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly,” is a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention, and thus amounts to a war crime. 

Montreal, June 20, 2023 — Below is a letter from Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) to Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly urging action in response to Israeli actions which amount to the attempted annexation of the occupied West Bank.

Montreal, March 9, 2023 — Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) has sent a letter to Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly urging the imposition of sanctions against Israeli officials in response to their attempted annexation of the occupied West Bank. In recent weeks, Israel has intensified its illegal colonization of the occupied Palestinian territories (OPT), dramatically expanding illegal settlements and moving to restructure its governance over the West Bank in a way that experts say amounts to de jure annexation. CJPME argues that these Israeli actions have crossed a red line, and urges Canada to impose sanctions on the Israeli officials who are responsible, including Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Minister Smotrich.

Montreal, March 1, 2023 — Earlier today, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) sent an urgent letter to Canada’s Senate Speaker George Furey and Senators Plett and Laboucane-Benson raising troubling human rights concerns over their recent delegation to Israel. For several days this week, the Senators met with far-right Israeli lawmakers and other Israeli institutions to discuss strengthening Canada’s bilateral relationship with the country. CJPME warned the Senators that their visit is problematic in the context of Israel’s far-right government, escalating Israeli violence against Palestinians, its actions to annex the West Bank, and the growing recognition that Israel’s practices amount to the crime of apartheid under international law.

Montreal, January 11, 2023 - Below is a letter to Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly requesting an explanation for Canada's vote against a UN resolution to seek an ICJ opinion on the legality of Israel's occupation. "In this critical moment, the UN General Assembly vote provided Canada with a missed opportunity to stand up for its stated principles of international law. By voting instead with Israel and against the resolution for an ICJ opinion, Canada stood by the brutal occupying power – now led by fanatical pro-settler extremists and annexationists – to protect its actions from legal scrutiny." Click here to download the letter as a PDF. 

Montreal, December 21, 2022 — With the announcement of the formation of Israel’s 37th government, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) is calling on the Canadian government to expel the Israeli ambassador to demonstrate that it is distancing itself from Israel’s new far-right regime. CJPME notes that the coalition led by Prime Minister-elect Benjamin Netanyahu, who enshrined Israel’s deeply racist Nation-State Law and whose plans to annex significant portions of the occupied West Bank remain “on the table,” is propped up by even more extreme, far-right elements. The Religious Zionism party (including Jewish Power), whose leaders have promoted vigilante violence, racial segregation, the annexation of the West Bank and the deportation of “disloyal” Israelis and Palestinians alike, is the third largest party in the Knesset and a major coalition partner. Expelling the Israeli ambassador would send a clear and unambiguous signal that the new government’s stated intentions to violate human rights and international law are completely unacceptable.

Montreal, Dec. 8, 2022 — In observance of International Human Rights Day, celebrated annually on December 10th, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) is calling on the Canadian government to defend the human rights of the Palestinian people.  CJPME points out that the human rights violations committed against the Palestinians by the Israeli government are particularly long-standing, deeply entrenched, and well-documented, and deserve immediate international attention. Unfortunately, despite the urgency required to address Israel’s abuses, CJPME notes that Canada has repeatedly chosen to ignore them