MONTREAL, Independent Jewish Voices Canada has called on the Canadian government to condemn the Israeli raids on the offices of seven civil society organizations in Palestine last week. The raids come ten months after Israeli occupation designated six of these organizations as ‘terrorist’ groups, although it has failed to provide any substantial evidence to support its claims.
“Israel’s crackdown on these organizations is a blatant anti-democratic attempt to delegitimize and ultimately silence Palestinian civil society,” said IJV Communications and Media spokesperson Rowan Gaudet. “This motive is made especially clear by the attack on Defense for Children International–Palestine which is investigating the killings of some 37 Palestinian children this year alone.”
In July, the foreign ministries of Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden jointly investigated Israel’s designation of these organizations as terrorist groups and came to the conclusion that the charges were unsubstantiated. The decision has also been protested by more than twenty Israeli human rights groups and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, among others.
In December 2021, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said she was in contact with Yair Lapid, then foreign minister, who she claimed to have asked for “clarity” on the situation.
“The government has had ample time to seek clarity” continued Gaudet. “It’s time for Canada to take action. We call on the government to immediately condemn Israel’s attempted shut down of Palestinian groups who are exposing and opposing its well-documented system of apartheid.”
“Just this past June, Justin Trudeau reiterated that Canada and Israel ‘are close friends bound together by shared democratic values’,” said Gaudet. “Does this mean we can expect Canada to shutter the offices of Canadian human rights and Indigenous groups and seize documents they’re using to investigate our government? Or will Canada finally condemn these actions and join with its European allies in rejecting Israel’s claims?”
Source: Palestine News & Info Agency