Among the millions of new refugees displaced by the war in Syria are hundreds of thousands of existing refugees – Palestinians who have been stuck in camps in Syria and Lebanon since 1948. They depend on UNRWA, a UN organization, for the basics of survival. But in a recent letter, Liberal minister Marie Claude Bibeau seems to say that the Liberals are not in any hurry to reverse the Harper government’s decision to cut off UNRWA funding. Read more. (more…)
Month: July 2016
Canadian Mennonites call for economic sanctions against Israel
By a show of hands, the biennial Assembly of the Mennonite Church Canada meeting in Saskatoon in early July, voted overwhelmingly to call on the Canadian government to apply economic sanctions against Israel for its continued occupation of Palestinian territory. Read more. (more…)
World council of Social Democratic Parties “recognizes” non-violent boycott of Israel
Canada’s NDP is one of 153 social democratic parties around the world who are members of the “Socialist International” (or SI). At its semi-annual meeting at the United Nations in Geneva on July 1 -2, 2016, the SI council expressed for the first time support for the growing international movement to boycott Israel. Read more… (more…)
Trudeau pays emotional visit to Auschwitz
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland, accompanied by Foreign Minister Stephane Dion and several leading members of the Canadian Jewish Community. His emotional visit will clearly play a role in his government’s approach to the Israel/Palestine issue. Read more. (more…)
Elie Wiesel: Holocaust survivor, Israel advocate 1928 – 2016
Elie Wiesel somehow survived the horrors of the Nazi Holocaust. For twenty years, he wrote books and articles about his horrific experience, but was basically ignored by American public opinion. That changed in 1967. Read more. (more…)