First the bad news.
At the recent vote for an upgrade to the status of the Palestinians (to non-member observer state) at the UN General Assembly, Canada went out of its way to demonstrate that it is as strong (if not stronger) a supporter of Israel and the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories as is the United States. It also made it clear to the world that the Canadian government could not care less about the morality or legality of the occupation, world public opinion, or Canada’s reputation as a good global citizen. Following the lop-sided vote, in which Canada sided with the US, Israel and six other smaller countries against the position of an overwhelming 138 countries around the world, John Baird, Canadian’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, declared not that the result was fair, principled, decisive, or democratic but rather that it was “utterly regrettable.”
Derrick O’Keefe nicely summarized the sad state of Canada’s foreign policy with an article entitled “One small step for Palestine, another giant embarrassment for Canada.” For a fuller account of Canadian policy toward Israel past and present and what’s driving it, see this interview with Yves Engler, author of The Ugly Canadian (that would be Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper).
Now for the good news.
The Canadian government does not represent all Canadians. One Canadian organization that does good work in raising awareness about Canada’s skewed policy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East. The following is a brief video on the organization itself and the work it does.
And this is a brief, informative, and educational video made by CJPME on Operation Cast Lead in 2008.
