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From funding BDS groups to hypocritical criticism of Israel, Trudeau helps fuel antisemitism
- 19 May 2022
- 12:07 am
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- 19 May 2022
- 12:07 am
Justin Trudeau courts the Jewish vote in Canada by promoting himself as a friend of Israel and the Jewish faith. The actions of his Liberal government contradict his assertions. (Photo: Twitter)
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Trudeau’s handling of the Palestinian-Israel conflict
Indifference to Hamas’ the environmental terrorism
Hamas’ war against Israel is not merely focused on the IDF and Israelis. The warfare is also an environmental one. Hence, Hamas
- uses rockets which contain toxic ingredients and pollutants for marine environments;
- burns tires whose thick smoke emits among other pollutants toxic gas particularly for human beings;
- uses incendiary balloons to set on fire forests and farmlands in southern Israel; which fires in turn pollute air, water and the soil and emit greenhouse gasses;
- causes bacteriological pollution of the Mediterranean as a result of the stoppage of the water purification plants due to lack of electricity-not caused by Israel which in fact provided such electricity at no charge, which forces the closure of many beaches in southern Israel; and
- dumps oil in the economically productive waters of Israel and this pollution impacts adversely and directly on marine fauna and flora.
Trudeau and his Ministers of Foreign Affairs on a number of occasions commented on Hamas when it began to use incendiary balloons to attack Israeli towns and forest and agricultural lands. Yet not once was Hamas publicly taken to task and condemned for its environmental terrorism.
The U.N. payments to BDS champions and terrorist linked Palestinian NGOs
Im Tirtzu is an Israeli non-profit organisation working to strengthen the values of Zionism in Israel as a Jewish and democratic state and whose mandate includes the observation of the actions of the U.N.
In 2021 it issued a report according to which from 2016 to 2020, the United Nations (UN) has funnelled at least $40 million to 19 Palestinian NGOs that have ties to Hamas and to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and nearly all of which NGOs promote the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
The report further noted that the U.N. is not entirely transparent in its reporting, as it “often omits the ‘implementing partners’ that receive the funding to carry out their programs. This creates a situation in which millions of dollars in funding are unaccounted for.
Erasing Israel from the map
At a ceremony honouring female Palestinian entrepreneurs hosted by the P.A. Ministry of Women’s Affairs, Jason Tulk, Head of Cooperation at the Representative Office of Canada in the P.A., together with the P.A. Minister of Women’s Affairs Dr. Amal Hamad handed out an honorary plaque in the shape of the P.A. map of Palestine which entirely erases the State of Israel.
It has been pointed out that “by agreeing to hand out this particular map, Tulk [and his employer Canada] implicitly legitimized the P.A. vision of a world with only Palestine, and the destruction of Israel.”
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Another unwarranted criticism of Israel on the illegal entry of Eritreans and Sudanese migrants
Trudeau’s criticisms of Israel have not been confined to the Palestinian-Israel conflict. Between 2015 and April 1, 2018, approximately 37,000 persons originating from Eritrea and Sudan fled their respective countries and after a very difficult trip managed to enter Israel illegally and sought refugee status.
Under Israel’s law governing this type of situation, the new arrivals were not considered to be refugees. Instead , they were issued temporary resident status and had to renew their visas every 2 or 3 months which they were allowed to do for around 13 years depending on the date of original entry. Finally, the Israeli government decided to expel only the single men to two third countries and towards this end provided them each with a plane ticket worth U.S. $4000.
This matter was highly divisive in the Israeli society and the case led to mass demonstrations in support of keeping the refugees in Israel. Canada expressed its displeasure about the proposed course of action of Israel on this issue.
Vivian Bercovici, former Canada Ambassador to Israel (2014-2016) summed up Canada’s position as follows:
“Speaking on behalf of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chrystia Freeland, her spokesperson, Adam Austen, commented rather boldly: “Canada does not support policies of mass deportations of asylum seekers. The rights of asylum seekers and refugees are laid out in the Geneva Convention on the Status of Refugees, of which Israel is a signatory.”
Hence, Mr. Austen accused Israel of breaching the Geneva Convention.
In response to a request to explain this position, the Department of Foreign Affairs provided irrelevant written blather about the importance of Israel ensuring “equal and non-discriminatory institutional access to health services to asylum seekers and minorities.”
“Speaking on background, a senior Israeli government official confirmed its position that, legally, its treatment of asylum seekers does not run afoul of the Geneva Convention. In fact , the Israeli Supreme Court [which is consistently well disposed to individuals on issues related to human rights] raised no such concerns when it considered matters related to the contemplated “deportations.”
Yet, Canada looked the other way and stayed quiet when in December 2015, Jordan expelled 800 Eritreans, men, women and children on the grounds that they sought refuge in Jordan solely for the purpose of receiving “medical treatment”. Many of the refugees were nabbed on the street and all of them were deported without due process, a proper hearing before a Court let alone to appeal against the decision of the Court.
Vivian Bercovici served as Canada’s Ambassador to Israel from 2014-2016. (Photo: Twitter)
Canada ‘s position concerning the U.N concerning its distribution of funds to BDS
What then has Canada, “a close friend and ally of Israel”, done about this state of affairs particularly since Trudeau devoted a good deal of time during the 2015 general election to fight against the BDS movement? He characterises it as antisemitic and his government voted – albeit while running on both sides of the mouth – in favour of an anti-BDS motion brought by the Conservative Party in 2016. What else has the Liberal government done?
The answer is: Absolutely nothing.
The Kairos and Wi’am case
In 2009, the Conservative government cut $7 million in funding to Kairos accusing the organization of “taking a leadership role in the boycott of Israel.
During the April 11, 2019 sitting of the Senate, Senator Linda Frum pointed out that in 2018, Global Affairs Canada made a grant of $4.4 million over five years to a project run by KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives, which promotes human rights around the world. The organization comprises a collection of 10 Christian denominations and religious groups and is administered by the United Church of Canada (UCC).The project in question is titled “Women of Courage”. The idea is to help heal female victims of war “while empowering them to be peace builders.”
$540,000 of this sum is go to Wi’am (Palestinian Conflict Transformation Centre), $405.000 of which would be from Global Affairs with Kairos contributing the difference between the two figures form the grant of $4.4 million.
According to Senator Frum, Wi’am is known for its active promotion of BDS.
The Kairos organizational development manager denied this and in any event pointed out that the agreement between his organization and Wi’am specifically restricts the use of the funds to the specific project activities described in the agreement and this is followed by audits.
Then again as Senator Frum pointed out: “When you contribute money to the overall budget of a BDS organization and then claim that the money Canada gave is not being used for those purposes-we are using other money for those purposes-I find that a nonsensical answer.”
Senator Linda Frum speaks at a reception hosted by the Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) and the Embassy of Canada to Israel to celebrate the honorary doctorate she received from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem in June, 2019. (Photo: Senate of Canada Facebook page)
In February 2019, the NGO Monitor published a 14 page report titled “Canadian Funding to BDS-Promoting Organization” which provides numerous examples of Wi’am’s support for BDS including signing the “Call for Worldwide Women’s Endorsement of BDS” in 2016.
For that matter, the same report names the UCC, the administrator of Kairos as one of the main proponents of BDS campaigns in Canada and reviews UCC’s involvement in the BDS movement and its other related activities
All of this prompted Senator Linda Frum to table a motion that calls on the government to
- scrutinise all grants provided by Global Affairs to non-governmental organisations, ensuring that Canadian aid is not provided to groups that promote hatred, racism, antisemitism and BDS campaigns;
- freeze $1 million in funding to the Palestinian organization ‘Wi:am-Peace and conflict transformation Center” a group that promotes BDS campaigns and anti-Semitic documents, and
- review the entirety of the $4.8 million “Women of Courage-Women, Peace and security’” project.
And judging from the evidence that will be addressed in the context of Trudeau’s phony fight against antisemitism on the domestic front – Senator Frum could and should have extended the scope of the motion to all grants and funding provided by the government of Canada and its various emanations to domestic entities.
At all events, the government certainly did not buy into the spirit and object of the motion.
Doğan D. Akman is an independent researcher and commentator. He holds a B.Sc. in sociology, an M.A. in sociology/criminology and an LL.B in law. He held academic appointments in sociology, criminology and social policy; served as a Judge of the Provincial Court of Newfoundland and Labrador, and occupied the positions of Crown Counsel in criminal prosecutions and in civil litigation at the Federal Department of Justice. His academic work is published in peer-reviewed professional journals, while his opinion pieces and other writings are to be found in various publications and in blogs.
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Thank you for choosing TheJ.Ca as your source for Canadian Jewish News.
We do news differently!
Our positioning as a Zionist News Media platform sets us apart from the rest. While other Canadian Jewish media are advocating increasingly biased progressive political and social agendas, TheJ.Ca is providing more and more readers with a welcome alternative and an ideological home.
We revealed the incursion of anti-Israel progressive elements such as IfNotNow into our communities. We have exposed the distorted hateful agenda of the “progressive” left political radicals who brought Linda Sarsour to our cities, and we were first to report on many disturbing incidents of Nazi-based hate towards Jews across Canada.
But we can’t do it alone. We need your HELP!
Our ability to thrive and grow in 2020 and beyond depends on the generosity of committed readers and supporters like you.
Monthly support is a great way to help us sustain our operations. We greatly appreciate any contributions you can make to support Jewish Journalism.
We thank you for your ongoing support.
Happy reading!
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