June 6, 2018 — Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) is disappointed by the Conservatives’ attempt to divide and mislead with today’s opposition motion to condemn Hamas.  The motion makes a number of assertions about the current Gaza situation and Hamas which don’t stand up to scrutiny.  The statement also ignores the broader context of the Israel-Palestine conflict, one where Israel is the belligerent occupier of Palestinian territory.  CJPME believes the motion is intended to score cheap political points in Canada on the backs of dispossessed and oppressed Palestinians. 

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.    

Montreal, May 15, 2018 —Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) condemns Israel’s shooting of London, ON based doctor Tarek Loubani, shot while attending the wounded in Gaza.  Despite being clearly identified as a first responder, Loubani sustained a moderate injury to his left leg, and a minor injury to his right leg.  A friend and colleague of Loubani’s, paramedic Musa Abuhassanin was killed, along with at least 54 other Palestinians in Gaza yesterday.   

CJPME Factsheet, published January 28, 2018: This factsheet addresses the detention of Ahed Tamimi, a Palestinian child jailed in December, 2017 for slapping an Israeli soldier.  This factsheet offers arguments as to why Tamimi’s detention is illegal according to international law. This factsheet also explains why her detention is inappropriate and how Tamimi’s case is reflective of the situation that Palestinian children encounter in Israel.

CJPME Factsheet 137, published September, 2011: This factsheet provides a summary analysis of the Palmer Report, a commission appointed by UN Secretary General Ban Ki‐moon to hold an inquiry over Israel’s attack on the Gaza Aid Flotilla in 2010.

CJPME Factsheet 100, published October, 2010: This factsheet looks at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) report on the 2010 Israeli attack on the Gaza aid flotilla. This factsheet provides an overview of the members behind the UNHRC fact-finding mission, their methodology, their key findings, the possible follow-up to the mission’s report, as well as Canada’s response to it.

CJPME Factsheet 81, published June, 2010: This factsheet looks into Israel’s attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla at the end of May, 2010. Since 2007 Israel enforced a blockade on the Gaza Strip that has since triggered humanitarian and economic hardship.  Israel’s violent attack against the humanitarian boat convoy resulted in the death of nine activist (eight Turks and one American). The Israeli commandos’ bloody attack sparked an outcry across the world and provoked an unprecedented wave of protests against the Gaza blockade.

CJPME Factsheet 88, published June, 2010: From June, 2007, until June 2010, Israel and Egypt imposed an extremely harsh blockade on Gaza after Hamas, an Islamist political party with an armed wing, took control of Gaza in June, 2007. Following Israel’s attack on a Gaza aid flotilla on May 31, 2010, and the international condemnation that resulted, Israel started to take steps to loosen the blockade. This factsheet looks at the justifications offered by Egypt and Israel for blockading Gaza, how they enforce it, what products are allowed and not allowed into the strip, and what are the most salient social and health impacts of the blockade.

CJPME Factsheet 49, published January 2009: This factsheet looks at the causes and consequences of Israel’s 2008 war on Gaza. With nearly 1300 Gazans killed (including hundreds of women and children), 13 dead Israelis and none of the Israeli stated objectives for the war accomplished, we can ask ourselves if this war changed anything. 

CJPME Factsheet 35, published January, 2009: Since 2001, Palestinian militants have been launching small rockets – typically referred to as “Qassam Rockets” – from Gaza toward nearby Israeli population centers, notably Sderot and Ashkelon.  Israel often tries to justify its violence in Gaza as an attempt to stop the rash of rocket attacks.  Sadly, the reporting of such attacks, Palestinian and Israeli, does little to illuminate the context to such attacks.