Israel sinks in Canadians’ view

MOHAMMED AZHAR ALI KHAN

August 07, 2014
Israel sinks in Canadians’ view
Israel sinks in Canadians’ view

Mohammed Azhar Ali Khan

 


Mohammed Azhar Ali Khan


 


 


Canadians view Israel unfavorably because of its oppression of Palestinians, polls have shown. But on Gaza, they remain divided with the government, most politicians and the mainstream media asserting that Israel has the right to defend itself against rocket attacks and others saying that Israel is the occupying power and it is guilty of committing war crimes.



Jews and Church groups are in the forefront of opposition to the war supported by academics, labor and other civil society group but most Jews seem to back Israel.



Demonstrations took place in many areas, including at the Prime Minister’ House, Parliament, and the Embassy of Israel in Ottawa. Protests have been staged throughout Canada against Israel’s attacks and the Canadian government’s support for this.



“What is going on these days in Gaza is not war. It is a massacre of civilians, men, women and children,” said a statement by the National Coalition of Christian Organizations in Palestine and by Kairos Palestine. It declared: “We call upon all who care for human dignity and human life to act now without any further delay. We call upon the international community, governments, churches and civil society to exert pressure on Israel to abide by international law and to lift the siege on Gaza and put an end to its military occupation of the Palestinian Territories in accordance with UN resolutions.”



Independent Jewish Voices, which favors a just peace in Israel-Palestine conflict according to United Nations resolutions, has actively denounced the Israeli attacks. Though the media mostly project the Israeli viewpoint, Tyler Levitan, IJV spokesperson, asserted on TV that Israel, as the occupying power and one defying United Nations resolutions, bears the greatest responsibility for the killings and destruction. He demanded that Israel stop its attacks, withdraw from occupied Palestinian territories and seek peace that is fair to both sides. Sometimes, police have stationed themselves between anti-Israel and pro-Israel demonstrators to prevent clashes.



In the United States, Jewish Voices for Peace is similarly active. It too has pushed for an end to the war and for a just peace.



About 500 academics and community leaders have written to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and prominent politicians denouncing Israel’s attacks and Canadian support for that policy. They also wrote a letter expressing the same sentiments that the Globe and Mail published.



“While Hamas’ indiscriminate rocket attacks are illegal under international law, Israel is still bound by basic international humanitarian-law principles protecting civilians during times of war and prohibiting collective punishment. Indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks on civilian life and infrastructure in Gaza violate functional norms of international law,” they wrote. 



They noted that “multiple human rights groups have documented and condemned likely Israeli war crimes in Gaza”



“The disregard for international law conveyed by the government’s silence on such potentially grave violations committed by Israel discredits Canada domestically and internationally,” they stated.



“As a country claiming to champion universal human rights and dignity, Canada’s foreign policy must align with international law, and reflect the equal value of Palestinian and Israeli life. The callous devaluation of Palestinian life communicated by our political leaders does not represent us as Canadians.”



An IJV supporter wrote in part: “As a new grandmother to a beautiful 10-month-old, the thought of having him killed or wounded by a missile is beyond my worst nightmare. However, I am being told by the Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) — which falsely claims to represent Jewish Canadians — to pitch in to protect Jewish babies, while condoning the maiming and killing of Palestinian babies and children. This is the real nightmare that Jewish Canadians are asked to perpetuate.”



A citizens’ petition submitted by Avaaz said in part: “Palestinian extremists’ attack on innocent civilians must be condemned and ended but the root of the conflict lies elsewhere — in the dispossession of the Palestinian people. Israel currently occupies, colonizes, bombs, raids, and controls the water, trade and the borders of a legally free nation that has been recognized by the United Nations. In Gaza, Israel has created the largest open-air prison in the world, and then blockaded it. Now as bombs fall, the families, literally have no way to get out.  



“These are war crimes and we wouldn’t accept that anywhere else, why accept it in Palestine? Half a century ago Israel and its Arab neighbors went to war and Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza. Occupying territory after war happens all the time. But no military occupation should turn into a decades-long tyranny which only fuels and benefits extremists who use terror to target the innocent. To many, particularly in Europe and North America, calling for companies to withdraw investments from financing or taking part in Israel’s occupation of Palestine sounds completely biased.



But it’s not — this is the most potent non-violent strategy to end the ritual violence, ensure Israelis’ security and achieve Palestinian freedom. Israel’s power and wealth dwarf Palestine, and if it refuses to end its illegal occupation, the world must act to make the cost unbearable.”

 




— Mohammed Azhar Ali Khan is a retired Canadian journalist, civil servant and refugee judge.


August 07, 2014
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