NDP statement on Canada’s response to the genocide in Palestine

NDP MP Heather McPherson (Edmonton Strathcona) issued the following statement:

“Mark Carney must immediately suspend the Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement and Impose Sanctions on Netanyahu.

For nineteen months, millions of Canadians have advocated for an end to Netanyahu’s horrific genocide of the Palestinian people and the return of all hostages. Throughout this time New Democrats have consistently called on Canada’s Liberals to put into place an arms embargo on Israel, impose sanctions on Netanyahu and his cabinet, and recognize the State of Palestine as a step towards a two-state solution where Palestinians and Israelis can live in peace and security. The Liberals have refused our calls at every turn.

The current humanitarian blockade and forced starvation of Palestinians in Gaza violates every moral code and relevant international legal norms. Bombings, shootings, starvation, dehumanization – Netanyahu and his cabinet are war criminals who must be brought to justice.

As Israeli peace advocates march in the streets of Tel Aviv, as Palestinians look to world leaders for help, and as people everywhere demand an end to this brutality, Canada has shamefully refused to uphold our obligations as a state party to the Genocide Convention.

Earlier this week Mark Carney and the Liberals joined the UK and France in threatening action. But their threats ring hollow as thousands more Palestinians are slaughtered indiscriminately and thousands more risk starving to death.

Statements mean nothing now.

The EU and the UK are now revisiting their trade relationships with Israel.

Canada must do the same and suspend the Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement. We must ban products from settlements in occupied territories. We must impose a comprehensive two-way arms embargo that includes all materials that go through the United States and on to Israel.

And Mark Carney must sanction Netanyahu and his fellow war criminals in the same way Canada has sanctioned Hamas. Canada must no longer pick and choose whose crimes we tolerate and whose we condemn.

Palestinians, like all people, deserve life. They deserve to thrive in their homeland without fear of genocide, annexation, and starvation.

The Palestinian people are not responsible for the crimes of Hamas, just as Israelis are not responsible for the crimes of Netanyahu and his government.

Today is the day for Mark Carney to announce real action to ensure Canada is no longer complicit in this genocide. Not next week, not next month: Today.”