“Zionism is an infinite ideal” proclaims a huge poster at Ben Gurion Airport in Israel. Perhaps that is true for some, but at what cost? After weeks of debate, the Israeli Knesset (parliament) approved a controversial piece of legislation which enshrines in law the superior status of Jews over others inside the State of Israel. Liberal democrats around the world, including progressive Canadian Jews who hold to the notion of equality, are expressing extreme discomfort. Read more…
A delegation of 18 Canadian parliamentarians, led by MP Marwan Tabbara (Lib. Kitchener South – Hespeler), spent 6 intensive days visiting Israel/Palestine in April 2018. The official report of their trip has just been released and makes for interesting reading. It seems they were quite disturbed by what they saw/heard. Read more.
In a public interview last April in Toronto, famed Israeli author David Grossman (r.) lamented to CBC’s Michael Enright: “Israel is a fortress, but not yet a home”. A Palestinian Canadian, whose parents were expelled from Mandate Palestine in 1948, suggests that Jews in Israel can only feel at “home” when Israel acknowledges the refugees’ tragedy it created in 1947/48 and accepts equality. Read more… (more…)
Ahmed Alnaouq (l.) is CTIP’s correspondent in Gaza. He and Rana Shubair (r.) are active in a small NGO which helps young Palestinians in Gaza to electronically “leap over” the punishing Israeli blockade to contact the outside world. Ahmed appeals to Canadians for help – both financial and editorial – so they can share their stories with you. Read his appeal…
In diplomacy, words matter. After saying for years that Canada was an “ally” of Israel, that terminology was quietly dropped last month. We now say Canada is a “friend of Israel, and a friend to the Palestinian people”. That sounds balanced. CTIP’s research department has discovered some of the ways Canada puts that apparently “balanced” statement into practice. Read more…
Canada Talks Israel/Palestine 