A plastic bullet struck the side of my chest, which was protected by my life jacket, and then fragmented into pieces. The commandos firing would eventually restrain, blindfold and kidnap me and hundreds of other passengers from dozens of countries, including Canada, and illegally detain us incommunicado. They would do this after killing nine fellow civilians immediately and injuring dozens more, while a tenth wounded civilian would stay in a coma and die four years later.
On May 31st, the world commemorated the tenth anniversary of this Israeli attack (in international waters) on the humanitarian Gaza Freedom Flotilla. The Flotilla aimed to break the inhumane Israeli blockade imposed on the people of Gaza, described as collective punishment and therefore illegal according to international reports and scholars, including a UN panel of experts. Two other Canadians and myself were aboard the main ship attacked, the Mavi Marmara.
Ironically, on the day of the attack, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu was in Canada, meeting with former Canadian PM Harper and other governmental officials. Yet despite this, the Conservative government did not demand our release nor was there any condemnation of Israel’s piracy against Canadians and other internationals, as we explained to the public in an open letter to Stephen Harper at the time. To the contrary, the Canadian government implicitly justified Israeli actions against its own citizens. The timid visit I received by embassy representatives at the prison along with fellow Canadians, was punctuated by the fact that they had no response to my question of what the Canadian government will do about our illegal kidnapping and detainment. If it was not for immense Turkish political pressure on Israel, there is no doubt in my mind that our government would have left us in an Israeli prison indefinitely. This was further confirmed to me when I visited our embassy in Jordan a while after my release, when an embassy representative sadly defended Israeli actions even more vociferously than the Israelis themselves.
After the ascendance of the Liberals to power, I was hopeful that this foreign policy will change, and that our government would adopt an approach consistent with international law and human rights, particularly in relation to Palestine. In retrospect, I confess that I was quite naive.
In one of the first set of UN General Assembly sessions in the post-Conservative era, the Trudeau government voted against UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/71/98, a resolution that emphasizes “the right of all people in the region to the enjoyment of human rights as enshrined in the international human rights covenants”. The same resolution demands that Israel, as the occupying power “cease all practices and actions that violate the human rights of the Palestinian people”. Shamefully, this pattern of voting against the human rights of Palestinians and against upholding international law has continued ever since then, with Canada either voting against such resolutions or abstaining, thus isolating itself from the vast majority of the world.
A recent exception to this policy of blindly siding with Israel -at the expense of Palestinian human rights- took place in November, when Canada supported a UN resolution endorsing Palestinian self-determination. Yet PM Trudeau was quick to reassure pro-Israelis that this vote does not represent a shift from Canada’s support to Israel. This is why many critics have speculated that the only reason Canada voted with the majority in this instance, is to try and secure a seat on the UN Security Council. The UN ambassadors will soon select new members to the UN Security Council, and there are bids by Canada, Ireland and Norway for “a place at the table”.
Accordingly and for the reasons shown above, I have signed a letter to the UN Ambassadors and a petition against Canada joining the UNSC. Although the council is clearly deficient already in many ways, this does not negate the fact that in addition to this, our country has clearly not earned its stripes to gain ascension to it. In 2018, Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister stated that the country’s presence on the council can be “an asset for Israel”, while hypocritically stating in the same speech: “Nor can we stand idly by when human rights are violated, wherever that may be.” Well, unless they are Palestinian human rights of course.
Any doubt about Canada’s claim to being an honest broker in the Middle East, is laid to rest in Yves Engler’s “Canada and Israel : building apartheid”
https://fernwoodpublishing.ca/book/canada-and-israel.
The Trudeau government is only the latest, shamefully, supporting the cruel Israeli destruction of the Palestinians. Again and again, successive governments of Canada have shunned the Palestinians, ignored their suffering, siding with the Zionist thugs who murder, torture, and steal Palestine.
Canada does not deserve a “seat at the UNSC table”.
Perhaps when Canada proves its commitment to human rights and justice for everybody, including Palestinians, will its turn come in the inner sanctum.
A shocking must read from Canada:
It seems that despite the fact that repeated polling has confirmed that the majority of Canadians support the Palestinians, the Zionist lobby has Trudeau in its pocket.
https://yvesengler.com/2020/06/07/israel-lobby-in-canada/
“Israel lobby in Canada” by Yves Engler, June 7/20
EXCERPTS:
“The Trudeau government has been campaigning aggressively for a seat on the Security Council, but its bid to win a place on the UN’s most powerful decision-making body will be hampered by Canada’s decidedly anti-Palestinian voting record. Despite claiming to support the “international rules based order”, the Trudeau government has voted against more than 50 resolutions upholding Palestinian rights. The extent to which the Liberals have mimicked the Stephen Harper Conservative’s position regarding General Assembly resolutions, which are little more than symbolic acts of solidarity with the long-beleaguered Palestinians, highlights the power of the Israel lobby in Canada.”
“Since 2013 the chief fundraiser for the Trudeau Liberals has been Stephen Bronfman, scion of an arch Israeli nationalist family. Bronfman has millions invested in Israeli technology companies and over the years the Bronfman clan has secured arms for Israeli forces and supported its military in other ways.”
The article also discusses “Other notable Canadian moguls have long histories of ensuring ties between Israel and Canada.”
And now Canada is planning to sell more weapons to the Saudis, to use against civilians, when they haven’t even paid for the first shipment!
Trudeau, while very different in style and appearance, shares a fundamental character trait with Trump.
Trump, despite having embarrassingly proven himself lacking in the required skills and talents of a true leader, insists on being center stage.
It’s an extreme form of narcissism.
And just so, Trudeau. He has amply proved he does not have genuine leadership skills, yet he insists on being center stage, as with this temporary Security Council bid.
He has absolutely nothing to contribute to the Security Council. He is just an echo of Trump in world affairs, and the Security Council already has pathetic Britain and France.
Trudeau’s father, Pierre, was a giant, a leader with many great accomplishments.
Justin simply did not inherit the talent, as he proved over and over during his first term as PM. His government failed in almost everything it undertook. In the last election he was returned with the support of under one-third of voters
But he desperately wants that seat for prestige and to rebuild his image.
It should be given to someone worthy of the honor and capable of contributing to the Security Council.