When Canadian human rights lawyer Michael Lynk ended his term as the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian territories on May 1 he left a series of reports and statements laying out the realities of Israeli apartheid. Now in an extended interview with Mondoweiss, Lynk describes the process that led to his apartheid declarations, and what steps the international community can take to force Israel to abandon its “fever-dream of settler-colonialism.”
The conclusions the UN Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination reaches may have huge consequences for Israel as it tries to weather the apartheid storm, and for Palestinians seeking justice.
In July 2014, six members of Ismail Ziada’s family were killed in an airstrike during Israeli’s 51-day assault on Gaza. On Tuesday, a judge in The Hague told him he has no right to seek justice from the two Israeli military officers most directly responsible for the horrific death of his family — Benny Gantz and Amir Eshel.
Israel has long had a policy of undermining Palestinian institutions of higher education, and this has had a profound impact on scientific research. “What is easy in Palestine?” asks Yousef Najajreh, an Associate Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at Al-Quds University. “Driving on the road is not easy. Going to the supermarket is not easy. No, doing science in Palestine is something like a miracle, if you manage to do science.”
Yesterday, a Canadian Federal Court of Appeal dismissed the Trudeau government’s appeal of a ruling that ‘Product of Israel’ labels on Israeli settlement wines are “false, misleading and deceptive.” The case now goes back to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency for “reconsideration and redetermination,” and Israeli war crimes will be on the docket.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford has adopted the IHRA’s Working Definition of Antisemitism which puts Jews at risk by implicating them in Israel’s assault on human rights.
CBC Radio host Duncan McCue issued an on-air apology for using the word “Palestine” in an interview on the Public Broadcaster’s flagship current affairs show.
A CBC Radio report covers Palestinians escaping the West Bank to visit the beach in Jaffa as a cheery coexistence story rather than a result of the Israeli occupation.
Justin Trudeau has floundered in Canada’s response to Israeli plans to annex parts of the West Bank. Perhaps it’s because he wants a seat on the security council.
David Kattenburg reports on the testimony of Yakov Berg, the CEO of Psagot Winery in the occupied West Bank, in a case pending before Canada’s Federal Court regarding the labeling of products made in the occupied territories. Berg says labeling his wine as anything other than a ‘Product of Israel’ would be discriminatory and antisemitic.