45 Ways Ottawa Could Push Peace, Justice for Palestinians

Justin Trudeau’s Liberals now say they oppose Israel’s onslaught on Rafah, want a ceasefire in Gaza and that they are no longer offering permits for new arms shipments to Israel. But this rhetorical shift doesn’t reflect a commitment to peace and justice for Palestinians. If the Trudeau government truly believed in international law and fair treatment of Palestinians, here’s 45 easy moves Ottawa could make to stop enabling Israel’s holocaust in Gaza:

Use the word “slaughter”, “crime”, “massacre”, “butchery”, “carnage”, “ecocide”, “genocide” or “holocaust” to describe Israel’s operations in Gaza.
Announce that Ottawa will enforce its obligations as party to the International Criminal Court by arresting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence minister Yaov Gallant if a warrant is issued.
Task the Department of Justice and RCMP Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Program to investigate Canadians currently fighting in the Israeli military. Considering the wanton destruction in Gaza, it’s hard to imagine that someone fighting there hasn’t committed war crimes.
Issue a notice to exporters declarating that arm permits for Israel are paused.
Follow the recent recommendation of UN experts and over 140 countries — including Spain, Ireland, Slovenia and Norway recently — recognizing Palestine.
Mention the 9,000 Palestinians Israel’s taken hostages since October 7.
Add Israel to the list of countries investigated in the ongoing Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Federal Electoral Processes and Democratic Institutions.
Stop providing millions of dollars in grants to Canada’s Jewish federations, which have formal ties to the para-statal Jewish Agency for Israel and sponsor the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs.
Direct the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) to investigate registered Canadian charities that may be contravening CRA regulations by supporting illegal West Bank settlements.
Announce that Canada won’t buy any arms “field tested” on Palestinians.
Pause all direct arm sales to Israel irrespective if the permits were requested before January.
Denounce Israel’s killing of 140 journalists over the past eight months.
Restrict Canadian firms that sell components or full weapons systems to the US from subsequently being sent on to the Israeli military.
Pause any CSIS spying on Palestinians for Israel.
End government grants for bilateral industrial-military research
Announce that the Israeli military is no longer welcome to train in Cold Lake Alberta or elsewhere in Canada.
Criticize any US vetoing of UN Security Council resolutions defending Palestians.
Denounce Israel’s poisoning of the air and water in Gaza.
End the Department of National Defence’s Defence Research and Development Canada financing and collaboration with Israeli partners and initiatives.
Direct the CRA to investigate registered charities contravening the CRA rule against “supporting the armed forces of another country” by assisting Israel’s military.
Join Spain, Ireland, Mexico, Chile, Egypt, Turkey and other countries that have announced that they will participate in South Africa’s International Court of Justice case against Israel’s genocide.
End the military’s Operation Proteus training and assistance initiative of the Palestinian force overseeing Israel’s occupation of the West Bank.
Pause Canadian military intelligence sharing with Israel.
Ask the CRA to conduct enhanced reviews of all foreign income for property or businesses owned in Israel and its occupied territories.
End any border security arrangement Ottawa has with Israel.
Announce a finance committee hearing into taxpayers subsidizing over a quarter billion dollars a year in donations to Israel. Is it right for all Canadians to pay a share of some individuals’ donations to a country with a GDP equal to Canada’s?
Bar Israeli military suppliers from Canadian military testing exercises.
Pause any Communications Security Establishment spying on Palestinians for Israel.
Impose sanctions on Israel’s settlement economy through Canada’s Special Economic Measures Act, particularly on individuals and entities involved in Israel’s illegal occupation of East Jerusalem, Gaza and the West Bank.
Instruct the Canadian Border Services Agency to deny entry to any foreign national owning property in an illegal Israeli settlement or outpost.
Direct the CRA to investigate registered Canadian charities that may be contravening existing CRA regulations by supporting explicitly racist Israeli organizations.
Mention Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and B’tselem conclusion that Israel has long committed the crime of apartheid.
Remove the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine from Canada’s list of terrorist entities.
Denounce Israel’s destruction of nearly half of Gaza’s agricultural land and tree crops.
Remove from the terrorist list the Canadian-based International Relief Fund for the Afflicted and Needy, which was listed because it supported orphans and a hospital in Gaza through official (Hamas controlled) channels.
Launch a review of Canada’s criminalization of Palestinian political life, particularly why over 10 percent of Canada’s terrorism list is made up of organizations headquartered in a long-occupied land representing one-tenth of one percent of the world’s population.
Denounce Israel’s killing of 190 UN workers over the past eight months.
Apologize to Palestinians for Canada’s sizeable contribution to the unjust UN Partition Plan, which called for the division of Palestine into ethnically segregated states and gave most of the land to the newly arrived minority. As Global Affairs officials warned privately in 1947, the Canadian-shaped roadmap would lead to decades of conflict.
Cancel the Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement or, at minimum, exclude products from the occupied West Bank.
Rescind adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, which is designed to undermine free speech and legitimate expressions of opposition to Israeli colonial violence.
Apologize for supporting the colonial Balfour Declaration and sending Canadians to help the British conquer Palestine.
Allow the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to accurately label wines produced in the occupied West Bank.
Eliminate the Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism, which was created to deflect criticism from Israeli apartheid and is acting as a tool to promote genocide.
State publicly that any inducement or recruitment for the Israeli military in Canada contravenes the Foreign Enlistment Act and must be investigated.
Support all UN resolutions backed by most nations that uphold Palestinian rights.

Most of the above demands are not radical. They aren’t, for instance, as bold as Türkiye’s recent ban on trade with Israel, Colombia cutting off coal exports or the Maldives blocking Israeli passport holders from entering their country. In many cases it’s simply a matter of upholding Canadian and international law.

The post 45 Ways Ottawa Could Push Peace, Justice for Palestinians first appeared on Dissident Voice.

This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by Yves Engler.

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