Montreal, June 14, 2023 — A new report by Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) calls on the Canadian government to take immediate action to uphold the rights of Palestinian children in Israel’s military court system. Titled "Heartbreaking Disparity: Child Detainees in Canada vs. Israel," the report compares the treatment of Palestinian child detainees in the Israeli-occupied West Bank to both Jewish settler detainees that live in the same territory as well as child detainees in Canada. In doing so, the report exposes the disparity in the way that Palestinian children are treated, as part of Israel’s system of apartheid and state-sponsored violence against Palestinian children.

Montreal, June 12, 2023 — Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) is extremely concerned to learn that Canada sent more than $20 million in military exports to Israel last year, despite Israel’s 3-day bombing of the occupied Gaza Strip and heightened Israeli violence in the occupied West Bank. According to Canada’s newly released annual report on military exports, Canada exported $21,329,783.93 in military goods to Israel in 2022. Even when adjusted for inflation, this makes 2022 the third-highest year for Canadian military exports to Israel on record, after 2021 ($27,861,257) and 1987 ($28,716,528).* CJPME reiterates its call for Canada to immediately suspend all military trade with Israel.

Montreal, June 8, 2023 — Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) congratulates the Manitoba branch of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE Manitoba) for endorsing the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel. BDS is a Palestinian-led movement to put economic pressure on Israel until it complies with international law. A resolution unanimously adopted by delegates at the CUPE Manitoba Convention on May 17-19 resolved to “support the [BDS] movement to end Israeli Apartheid and the oppression of Palestinians.” CUPE Manitoba represents approximately 37,000 workers in Manitoba.

Montreal, May 15, 2023 - Below is a letter to Canada's Ambassador to the United Nations, Bob Rae, requesting an explanation for Canada’s decision to “boycott” the United Nation’s High-Level Special Committee Meeting on the 75th Commemoration of the Nakba, which was held today at the UN headquarters in New York. Canada’s boycott of the event was reported by the Times of Israel. "Canada’s decision to boycott this UN event commemorating the 75^th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba is offensive and unacceptable, and it demands an explanation."

Click here to download the letter as a PDF.

Montreal, May 15, 2023 — Today we mark the 75th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba (‘catastrophe’ in Arabic), the expulsion, destruction, and ethnic cleansing of Palestine associated with the creation of Israel in 1948. The Nakba is a process that has never ended. Today, CJPME stands in solidarity with the Palestinian people in Canada and around the world, and reaffirms its support for the fundamental and inalienable right of Palestinian refugees to return to the country that they were forced to leave behind.

Montreal, April 24, 2023 — Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) is calling on the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) to publicly denounce the provocative and anti-Palestinian remarks of their Israel Office Director, David M. Weinberg. As a frequent columnist in Israeli media, Mr. Weinberg has recently called on Israel to “retake control” of Al-Aqsa/Temple Mount, expel the family members of Palestinian “terrorists,” and compared the bombing of Gaza to “mowing your front lawn,” while likening Palestinians to “weeds” and “snakes.” CJPME insists that CIJA clarify that they reject and condemn their director’s extremist positions.

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, February 27, 2023 — Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) demands that the Canadian government hold Israeli officials responsible for acts of settler terrorism in the Palestinian town of Huwara and several other villages near Nablus in the occupied West Bank. Over a period of five hours last evening, more than 400 Israeli settlers attacked Huwara, Zaatara, Burin, and Asira al-Qibliya, killing at least 1 Palestinian and wounding at least 390, while torching at least 75 homes (35 of which were destroyed completely) and 100 vehicles. At least 9 families reportedly had to be rescued from their burning homes. Although a public announcement for the pogrom was widely circulated hours in advance, Israeli forces allowed settlers to enter the town freely and did not intervene until hours after the start of the violence; eyewitnesses say that soldiers protected settlers and were a “partner” in the attacks. CJPME argues that action from Canada and the rest of the international community is necessary to protect Palestinians from future atrocities committed by Israeli settler and state forces.

Montreal, February 22, 2023 — Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) demands that the Canadian government condemn Israel’s deadly military invasion of Nablus today in the occupied West Bank, which reportedly killed at least 10 Palestinians and injured more than 100. Today’s attack comes less than one month after a similar attack in Jenin which killed 10 Palestinians, including at least three civilians. CJPME argues that international condemnation and sanctions are necessary to hold Israeli officials accountable for these actions, which may amount to war crimes, and to prevent Israel from committing further aggressive acts.

Montreal, January 30, 2023 — Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) is urging the Canadian government to strongly condemn Israel’s plans for collective punishment against Palestinians, following a week of heightened violence sparked by Israeli aggression. Israel’s far-right government is preparing to punitively target the family members of a Palestinian attacker who killed 7 Israelis in an East Jerusalem settlement, which took place one day after a deadly Israeli military raid on the Jenin refugee camp which killed at least 10 Palestinians. CJPME warns that Israel’s plan for collective punishment is prohibited under international law, and that such oppressive measures will only inflame further violence.