‘Concern’ is somewhat less than the prime minister’s administration expresses over Russia’s continued annexation of Crimea, writes Robert Fis
@indyvoices
18 hours ago
Upon taking office, Justin Trudeau swiftly put a stop to all Canadian military air operations in the region ( AP )
The brave and pioneering Independent Jewish Voices was the first to cry “Whoa, boy!” at Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau’s pusillanimous response to Israel’s projected annexation of much of the occupied West Bank. “Given Trudeau’s frankly disappointing record on the Israeli-Palestinian file,” IJV said cynically, “we are relieved to some extent that he even went so far as hinting at concerns over the annexation plan.” But it wasn’t much of a hint.
Maybe Trudeau, the liberal dream, the clean new voice of Canada which followed the long and dark years of Conservative rule under Stephen Harper – who equated even criticism of Israel with antisemitism – is worried about Donald Trump. Or too deep in the toils of Covid-19. But all he’s done since the Benjamin Netanyahu-Benny Gantz revolving-chair premiership in Israel, which promises to gobble up even greater tracts of Arab land for colonisation, is to congratulate the happy pair on their political marriage. And waffle a bit about – ahem – “the rules-based international order” to which Canada is supposedly committed in the Middle East.
International Jewish Voices-Canada – whose courageous defence of human rights in what was Palestine is second to none – has stated quite baldly that Netanyahu’s annexation plan is an attempt to see how far Israel “can push its immunity on the world stage”. Given the EU’s pitiful reaction to the colonial ambitions of Netanyahu and Gantz – much huffing and puffing about labelling products from Jewish settlements and the possibility of cuts in scientific funding – it’s therefore a relief to find that IJV is not alone.