Hon. Marc Garneau, Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, spoke to the UN on September 27th. When discussing the Israel/Palestine issue, he chose his words carefully, moving slightly away from Canada’s repeatedly stated commitment to the two state solution. Why? How significant is it, and what might lie behind it? Read more….

September 30th is “National Truth and Reconciliation Day” in Canada. OFIP Chair Peter Larson recently talked to Ottawa Centre MPP Joel Harden about the links he sees between settler colonialism in Canada and the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land. Watch the interview...

US President Joe Biden made a major foreign policy speech at the United Nations on Tuesday. He reiterated unequivocal US support for “an independent Jewish state”, but said a state for the Palestinians is a “long way” away. Why doesn’t the USA promote the liberal democratic ideals of tolerance, equality, democracy and human rights in Israel/Palestine as it claims to do elsewhere? Why does it reject this approach and insist on a separate Jewish State? Ottawa researcher and author Stephen Gowans thinks he knows why… Read more and see our interview…

Erin O’Toole’s Conservatives are hoping to draw support from both within and outside the Canadian Jewish community – from hardline “Israel-right-or-wrong” Zionists to liberal Zionists who support Israel but who feel some sympathy for the plight of the Palestinans. Their program tries to straddle the divide. Read more..

Movie watchers around the world (including Canadians) were thrilled when US GI Steve McQueen escaped from a German prison camp in the award winning 1964 movie “The Great Escape”. We admired the determination, patience and courage he and his fellow prisoners showed in digging an escape hole under the very noses of his hated Nazi captors. Palestinians are reacting the same way to the news this week that 6 political prisoners have escaped from a notorious Israeli jail. Read more.