Month: December 2021

The world loses a passionate voice for human rights around the world- including the rights of Palestinians
Archbishop Desmond Tutu is best known for his principled stand for equality in South Africa, facing down the racist apartheid regime. In their rush to eulogise Tutu, many Canadian politicians, starting with Prime Minister Trudeau, remember his struggle against South Africa’s apartheid regime, while carefully avoiding mention of his vocal and repeated criticisms of Israel’s own apartheid regime. Read more…
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Canadian research team exposes Israeli firm spying on Palestinians and international human rights organizations

The Citizen Lab is an interdisciplinary digital research laboratory based at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto. In July 2021, it “outed” NSO, an Israeli digital spy organization which has been involved in spying on Palestinians and on international human rights organizations like Amnesty International. Former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has also been involved in another Israeli company selling similar spy technology. Read more…

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“Balanced or not balanced?” Public debate lays bare awkward contradictions in Canadian policy toward Israel/Palestine

The Israel/Palestine issue is a contentious foreign policy issue, but Canada’s position rarely gets debated in open forum. I was delighted that the Canadian International Council organized a public debate on the topic: “Is it now time for Canada to recognize the State of Palestine?” and invited me and Dr. David Matas, Senior counsel to Bnai Brith Canada to participate. Read more and watch the video....

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Dear Mayor Bevilacqua – Is “twinning” your municipality with the Israeli city of Ramla a good way to fight anti-Semitism?

Fighting anti-Semitism deserves to be on the agenda of every Canadian city. And for Mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua of Vaughan, (centre) signing a memorandum of understanding with the mayor of a city in Israel, might appear to be a good way to do so. But the Israeli city of Ramla has a dark past, and a troubling racist present. Is “twinning” with Ramla a good way to fight anti-Semitism? Read more….

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