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Summing up Canada’s relationship with Israel

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“Any advice offered by Canada to Abbas in connection with elections in the PA is surely one that goes straight directly from Garneau’s lips to the verbal garbage bin of Abbas,” suggests Dogan Akman. “The very idea of visiting President Abbas, a terrorist and a long time bitter political rival of Hamas, to urge him to lower the temperature by holding “as soon as possible” the long overdue general elections is yet another piece of counter-productive nonsense.”  (Photo: Palestinian President Office)

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Summing up Canada’s relationship with Israel illustrated by the visit of Marc Garneau, Minister of Global Affairs to Israel, the P.A. and Jordan

In June of 2021 , a little over a month after the conclusion of the Gaza war, Marc Garneau, Minister of Global Affairs decided to visit these three places as he put it “to advance Canada’s support towards the goal of a comprehensive, just and  lasting peace in the region and a two-state solution”. The CJN Staff, Marc Garneau to visit Israel, West Bank to further peace, June 23,2021

Canada having already expressed repeatedly such support without taking any constructive initiatives, Garneau did not explain just  how he would advance Canada’s support both to the P.A. and to Israel and assist them in advancing towards their realisation? 

Besides encouraging Jordan to get involved in the peace process, what exactly did he propose to offer to Israel and to the P.A that would be in their mutual interest?

Then, during the conference call from Jerusalem with the Canadian Press, Garneau stated that “the point of the trip was to “strengthen cooperation” with “ [unidentified] key  partners” in the region and “ to re-affirm Canada’s continued commitment to playing a constructive role toward peace and security in the Middle-East”.

Upon his return home, Garneau provided yet three other priorities for the trip.

Third, “getting humanitarian aid to Gaza and his advice to Israel”. Garneau did not elaborate whether or not the phrase “advice to Israel” concerned the issue of humanitarian aid or referred to a separate priority.  

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At all events, Garneau need not have worried about Israel’s role in providing humanitarian aid as the IDF has an unblemished record of cooperation with the U.N task force charged with arranging the delivery of this aid which at one point remonstrated against Hamas for interfering with Israel’s delivery of the aid. Needless to say, Israel refused to deliver materials used by Hamas to wage war on Israel.

Fourth, based on his and his Department’s further statements related to the trip, which it is clear that his “advice to Israel” turned out to be one of the two key objects of his trip. 

With respect to his advice to Israel, he expressed three concerns: 

  1. The first is the building of settlements in Judea and Samaria which is predicated on his government’s   real or feigned ignorance of the international law governing the matter 
  2. The second,  is the so-called  “eviction threats”,  presumably referring to the property  dispute in  Sheik  Jarrah neighbourhood  decided by  the Supreme Court of  Israel in favour of the plaintiffs but not acted upon by the government. Again this concern is based on his government’s actual or feigned ignorance of the legal history and matrix of the dispute.
  3. The third is the policy of destroying the dwellings inhabited by Palestinian terrorists killed or captured in the course of committing crimes of terror; a policy whose legal validity has been upheld by Israel’s Supreme Court which is known for its sympathy towards Arab litigants.

These are the very same issues of concern raised by Garneau during the Gaza war and I addressed them in Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 and Part 9.

The importance of the foregoing three issues to Canada’s Muslim communities was confirmed in a news release issued by Global Affairs on July 4, 2021 upon the return of the Minister to Canada, where the Minister repeated to the Israeli leaders “Canada’s long-standing position and concerns that the continued expansion of settlements, demolitions and evictions constitute a serious obstacle to achieving peace” and called on Israel to cease such activities.”

As Garneau put it, this priority was “to lower the temperature” and have “cooler heads” prevailed in the wake of the Gaza war. Ron Csillag, Lowering ‘temperature‘ was priority for Foreign Minister Garneau’s Mideast  trip; urged the P.A. to conduct elections, The CJN, July 5,2021

Surely, this priority is pure unadulterated nonsense: How do you lower the temperature and have coolers heads prevail when you are dealing with two terrorist entities; Hamas and the PA not to mention Palestinian Islamic Jihad?

And judging by the intensity of the sustained terrorism instigated by Hamas and the PA since the beginning of 2022, nonsense proved to be the case.

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The sixth priority was urge the PA to hold the very long overdue elections. Upon his return to Canada, Garneau indicated that he urged the PA to hold these elections. Ron Csillag, Lowering ‘temperature  ‘ was priority for Foreign Minister Garneau’s Mideast  trip; urged the P.A. to conduct elections,  The CJN, July 5,2021. 

Any advice proffered by Canada to Abbas in connection with elections in the PA is surely one that goes straight directly from Garneau’s lips to the verbal garbage bin of Abbas. 

The very idea of visiting President Abbas, a terrorist and a long time bitter political rival of Hamas, to urge him to lower the temperature by holding “as soon as possible” the long overdue general elections is yet another piece of counter-productive nonsense for no other reason that based on a variety of surveys, these elections will inevitably result in the demise of Abbas and the victory of Hamas, as it happened in the last election. 

Such an electoral outcome would surely result not merely in raising the temperature but trigger a short civil war inevitably resulting in a Hamas victory. Worse, these outcomes will also lead to an ongoing bloody state of war between Hamas and confederates and the IDF. 

Interestingly enough Garneau did not bother to urge Abbas to cease in engaging in provocative behaviour against Israel by, among other things, 

a. discontinuing it’s “pay for slay” program;

b. breaching the provisions of the Oslo Accords which set aside  ”Area C”  for the exclusive use and occupation  of Israel while criticising Israel’s legitimate settlement program; 

c. intervening in and high- jacking simple, straight forward private landlord-tenant disputes in the Sheik Jarrah neighbourhood between the original Jewish owners of the buildings who were summarily dispossessed of them by Jordan during its illegal occupation of the West Bank between 1949 and 1967 and its current tenants, who but for the intervention of the PA were in the process of working out a reasonable settlement. 

At the end of the day, clearly the foregoing six priorities were for domestic consumption and identity politics, and as to be expected they produced nothing useful or constructive.

While the first six priorities of Minister Marc Garneau with Israel were whiffs, the seventh- increasing trade and enhancing the Canada-Israel Agreement on Bilateral Cooperation in Industrial Research and Development – has been a solid hit. That gives him a .143 batting average. (Photo: CPAC)

Seventh key priority

But then again there was a seventh one which was not disclosed until Garneau met with the Israeli leaders. It is and continues to be the most productive beneficial one for Canada.  

According to the News Release issued by Global Affairs, during his meetings in Israel, Garneau highlighted the long history of cooperation between Canada and Israel and underscored his commitment to continue strengthening the bilateral relationship and advance shared priorities through trade; collaboration on science, technology, innovation and education. 

Garneau also announced Canada’s intention to deepen already strong co-operation in science, research and innovation by tripling its annual contribution to the Canada-Israel Agreement on Bilateral Cooperation in Industrial Research and Development to $3 million a year.

He further agreed with the Israeli Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology to launch negotiations to modernize and expand the scope of the agreement and to establish new mechanism to lead and promote their R& D collaboration as well as expand scientific collaboration between Canadian and Israeli researchers.

And going by the Press Release issued by Global Affairs, upon his return to Canada, advice to Israel and free trade negotiations turned out to be his only priorities: The first to impress his Muslim constituencies and the second to impress the science, technology and business sector and to enrich the Canadian treasury.

The final touch

At the end of it all, Garneau did try to make the point to the Israelis that Canada cares to promote a peaceful solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. He did that by contributing $700,000 to Siach Shalom (Talking Peace) a project supported by Mishkenot Sha’ananim to sustain Israeli-Palestinian Dialogue, to facilitate discussions between both peoples, and to increase the inclusion of communities and women’s participation in peace building efforts. 

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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