Montreal, June 10, 2025 — Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) welcomes Canada’s targeted sanctions against far-right Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, which were announced today in a joint statement with the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Norway. Foreign Minister Anand says that the sanctions are in response to “inciting violence against Palestinians” and rhetoric calling for Palestinians to be “driven from their homes.” The specific measures include asset freezes and bans on entering the country. CJPME urges Canada not to focus on a few extremist individuals, but to broaden its sanctions to include additional Israeli political and military leaders who are responsible for crimes against humanity and genocide.

CJPME is pleased to publish the next of a 15 part election series analyzing the positions of Canada’s political parties. CJPME hopes that, by revealing what parties have said and done on key Middle East issues, Canadians will be better informed voters in the upcoming elections. Our next analysis studies each party’s position on the Palestine-Israel conflict and the negotiation process.

CJPME Factsheet 29, published May, 2007: The end of the Destruction of Lebanon – the 34-day assault by Israel in July and August of 2006 – was marked by the passage of UN Security Council Resolution 1701.  Later in 2006, the Security Council requested quarterly reports from the UN Secretary-General on the implementation of the resolution.Following the Secretary-General’s third such report on March 14^th, 2007, it is apparent that neither Israel nor Hezbollah are fully respecting the post-cease-fire requirements of 1701.