Canada supports UN motion criticizing Israel amid rampant antisemitism
The UN passed a motion 157 to 8 to condemn Israeli settlements in solidarity with Palestinians. It called out ‘terror against civilians on all sides’ but did not name Hamas.
Canada has abandoned its years-long policy of supporting Israel in a UN vote recognizing the “two-state solution.” Dozens of Israeli hostages remain in Gaza, following the October 7 terrorist attack that killed 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals.
“The dynamics in the broader region show very clearly that conflict management, as opposed to genuine conflict resolution, is not in fact a sustainable path to peace, security and prosperity,” Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations, Bob Rae, told a UN plenary Tuesday.
UN member states passed a motion 157 to 8 to condemn Israeli settlements in solidarity with Palestinians. It called out “terror against civilians on all sides” but did not name Hamas.
PM Trudeau says Canada will comply with an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for Israeli PM Netanyahu if he enters the country.
— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) November 21, 2024
"We will abide by all the regulations and rulings of the international courts," he says.https://t.co/vD78U4ZuZQ pic.twitter.com/aumtQFJmIc
For years, Canada backed Israel in votes at the international body, but federal policy has rapidly changed over the past year.
“We voted in favour of this resolution, like many, many others [did] to signal our firm commitment to the two-state solution,” Rae said.
Conservative foreign affairs critic Michael Chong decried the vote, pledging a Poilievre government would renew support “with our closest democratic allies.”
Poilievre says Trudeau's support for enforcing an ICC arrest warrant on Canadian soil of Israeli PM Netanyahu is shows he's "radical" and "woke."
— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) November 22, 2024
"He wants to lock up the leaders of democratically elected countries, it's no wonder (he's) seen as a joke on the world stage."… pic.twitter.com/7WA9LKAzz7
Amid the radical departure, the Trudeau government recently threatened to arrest Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, after the International Criminal Court (ICC), of which Canada holds membership, issued warrants for his arrest.
Trudeau has long championed a ceasefire and the release of all hostages, including in a “long and detailed” December 12 conversation with Netanyahu. At the time, he outlined support for “an enduring two-state solution.”
On September 23, Liberal MPs passed a motion to review potential pathways for Palestinian statehood. A non-binding opposition motion also passed on March 18 by a 204-118 vote.
Foreign Affairs Minister, Mélanie Joly, claimed that Liberal policy would not change. “There are issues with the motion that is presented by the NDP, and we can't change foreign policy based on an opposition motion,” she said then.
WATCH: NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is pressed on his party's motion to officially recognize the government in Gaza.
— Rebel News Canada (@RebelNews_CA) March 18, 2024
The NDP motion, however, makes no mention of Hamas, the terrorist group that governs Gaza.https://t.co/9Wj3bkgXB4 pic.twitter.com/cN89VivepA
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, meanwhile, says the Liberals, who have voted against similar UN motions for almost a decade, have concerned Jewish Canadians with the yes vote.
Recent testimony by the Israeli advocates found Canada’s Jewish community was increasingly at odds with Muslims and Arabs, who they say are responsible for “a crisis of Jew hatred in this country.”
“There is a crisis of Jew hatred in this country, the anti-Semitism emanating from the extreme right, the radical left and, to be truthful, from segments of the Muslim and Arab communities,” testified Simon Fogel, CEO of the Centre, at the Senate human rights committee.
'The human tragedy that is unfolding in Gaza is heart-wrenching, especially the suffering we see in and around the Al Shifa Hospital,' Trudeau said.
— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) November 15, 2023
MORE: https://t.co/VUIytBE7M0 pic.twitter.com/lr7jKC8Wtb
According to Statistics Canada, Jews last year were the leading targets of police-reported hate crimes in the country despite accounting for less than one percent of the national population. Only 335,000 Jews live in Canada, in contrast to 1.8 million Muslims and 694,000 Arab Canadians.
“We’re the low hanging fruit, the proverbial canary in the coal mine,” Fogel said.
Shooting up Jewish schools and firebombing of synagogues became commonplace after the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas terrorists, reported Blacklock’s. Among the 1,200 casualties included eight Canadians.
Rae renewed condemnation Tuesday of the terror attacks against Israel, and called for the repatriation of Judih Weinstein Haggai, a Canadian citizen and hostage.
However, he maintains that “all Palestinians deserve to be led by a legitimate and representative government without … Hamas,” Rae told the UN plenary.
Alex Dhaliwal
Calgary Based Journalist
Alex Dhaliwal is a Political Science graduate from the University of Calgary. He has actively written on relevant Canadian issues with several prominent interviews under his belt.
COMMENTS
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Bruce Atchison commented 2024-12-04 19:45:28 -0500Will Canadians learn anything from the Trudeau years? I’m afraid the next generation will fall for the same sort of foppish leader. Everything Trudeau has done is a disaster for us. Let’s hope parents teach their children the virtues of free market economies and the failure of Trudeau’s internationalism.
