On Monday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. On Tuesday, he spoke by phone with Israeli “alternate” Prime Minister Benny Gantz.
Israel has two prime ministers who loathe each other because that arrangement was the only way to form a halfway-functioning government in a polarized country that staged three elections in 12 months without producing a clear result.
The two PMs have agreed not so much to share power as to operate two parallel administrations at the same time. Many Israeli political observers expect the two men to continue their in-fighting on a different plane.
But there is one long-term project of Netanyahu’s that Gantz has promised not to oppose after July 1: the formal annexation by Israel of part of the West Bank, occupied by Israel since 1967 but never recognized as part of Israel by any government.
Trudeau has had separate conversations with both Israeli PMs. But if the Canadian government’s anodyne readouts of the calls are accurate, he had exactly the same conversation with both men.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz, centrist Blue and White leader and Netanyahu’s partner in his new unity government, wear face masks as they talk during a swearing-in ceremony for the new government at the Knesset in Jerusalem on May 17, 2020. (Adina Valman/Knesset Spokesperson’s Office via Reuters)
Canada won’t recognize the annexation
The words “annexation”, “West Bank” and “occupied territories” do not appear anywhere in the readouts. Although government officials who spoke to CBC News pointed to a passing reference to the “two-state solution”, they were unable to say that the prime minister had warned his Israeli counterpart not to proceed with the annexation.
Two officials did tell CBC News there is no chance that Canada will recognize the annexation.
Global Affairs spokesman Adam Austen told CBC News that “Canada is very concerned that Israel moving forward with unilateral annexation would be damaging to peace negotiations and contrary to international law. This could lead to further insecurity for Israelis and Palestinians at a critical time for peace and stability in the region.”
But the Trudeau government, which has largely continued the UN voting pattern of the Harper government rather than those of the Chrétien and Martin governments, does not appear keen on challenging Israel.
In fact, the readout says Canada is seeking closer ties: “Prime Minister Trudeau expressed Canada’s continued support for Israel as a friend and ally, and the two leaders discussed ways to continue strengthening their bilateral relationship …”
No support for annexation in Ottawa
No major Canadian federal party appears to support recognition of annexation. Conservative foreign affairs critic Leona Alleslev told CBC News that “Conservatives continue to believe in the two-state solution, as part of a negotiated settlement to this conflict, as well as the right of Israel to defend itself and secure its borders.”
The NDP’s Jack Harris pointed out that “other nations, including the U.K., Norway, Ireland and France, have made strong declarations” against annexation.
“Now that the incoming government of Israel has committed to a plan to annex lands in the occupied territories, Canada must speak out and condemn such action,” he said in a statement. “It would be a clear violation of international law and the Geneva Convention to which Canada is party.”
The Green Party caucus sent a letter to Trudeau earlier this month asking him to apply the same standards to Israel’s proposed annexation that his government applied to Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.
“The attempt by the Netanyahu government to take this action while the world is busy dealing with an unprecedented global public health crisis is reprehensible,” said the letter.
Hawks against hawks
The annexation plan has split opinion in Israel. The Israeli peace camp rejects it as the last nail in the coffin of the Oslo Accords, but the plan is also opposed by a large part of Israel’s hawkish security establishment.
A group of former Israel Defence Forces generals recently warned that “unilateral annexation has the potential to ignite a serious conflagration” and “any partial annexation is likely to set in motion a chain reaction over which Israel will have no control.”
But the proposal is popular with the Trump administration, which has encouraged Netanyahu to move forward. In fact the annexation map is being drawn up by a joint U.S.-Israeli “mapping team” that includes U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, his adviser Aryeh Lightstone and C. Scott Leith, a senior adviser on the U.S. National Security Council.
Palestinian demonstrators run away from tear gas fired by Israeli forces during a protest against Israeli settlements and U.S. President Donald Trump’s Mideast initiative in the West Bank village of Beita on Feb. 28, 2020. (Majdi Mohammed/The Associated Press)
Israel’s supporters unconvinced
Some Israeli observers have argued President Trump, rather than PM Netanyahu, is driving the annexation schedule in order to have something to show his evangelical supporters in time for the presidential election in November.
But the move may be more popular with American evangelicals than with American Jews.
“We cannot overstate the long-term damage such a move would have on the U.S.-Israel alliance,” Mark Mellman, a longtime strategist for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), warned in letters sent to both of Israel’s new prime ministers.
‘No fuss being made’
The doubts over the wisdom of annexation being felt in Israel and the U.S. may be mirrored in the pro-Israel community in Canada, which hasn’t greeted the proposal with any real enthusiasm. CBC News asked the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs for its take on the issue, but it declined to comment.
From the other side of the debate, though, the group Independent Jewish Voices, which opposes the occupation of the West Bank, called the plan “a test to countries like Canada which claim to stand for a rules-based international order, but in reality only do so selectively, whenever it is politically expedient.”
IJV’s Corey Balsam said merely withholding recognition isn’t a good enough response from a government that claims to be a guardian of international law.
“If there’s no fuss being made, then Israel will continue annexing land,” he told CBC News. “At this point, what Israel requires is punitive measures where it’s being deterred. That’s where the conversation is globally, especially in Europe, where allies like Ireland and France are exploring avenues to deter Israel. Not just staying silent and refusing to recognize annexation.”
Free trade with annexed territory?
Balsam notes that Canada imports dates from Jewish settlements in the Jordan Valley that are on the list of lands to be annexed. “The government may say that they won’t recognize annexation, but will they modify the Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement (CIFTA) to exclude those territories from privileged trade status?” he asked. “I highly doubt that”.
CBC News asked officials in Global Affairs and the Prime Minister’s Office about that issue but was told that they had no comment on the matter.
Canada currently allows products from illegal West Bank settlements to enter the country duty-free under CIFTA, arguing that Israel and the West Bank are part of a customs union agreed to mutually by Israel and the Palestinian Authority. That agreement would no longer exist following annexation.
A farmer harvests wheat near the West Bank city of Jenin on April 24, 2014. (Mohammed Ballas/The Associated Press)
Balsam criticized the statement issued after Trudeau’s call to Netanyahu for its talk of “increasing ties, improving relations, adding to trade and collaboration.”
“You’d think that if Canada’s trying to send a strong message that they’re not happy with the direction Israel is going, they would perhaps suggest that type of collaboration is based upon Israel not annexing territory,” he said.
Double standard
Michael Lynk, the UN’s Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Territories (who also teaches law at the University of Western Ontario), said the Trudeau government’s mild reaction to Israeli annexation plans stand in stark contrast to its response to Russia’s unilateral annexation of Crimea in 2014.
That provoked a flood of retaliatory measures that have only escalated since.
When she was Canada’s foreign affairs minister, Chrystia Freeland repeatedly spoke about the need to defend what she has called “the vital international norm” established after the Second World War that no country should be allowed to alter its borders by force.
“Today’s sanctions demonstrate that Canada and the international community are ready to impose costs on Russia when it ignores international law and the rules-based international order,” she said last year on the fifth anniversary of the Crimean annexation, as she announced that Canada had increased the number of Russian individuals and organizations facing sanctions for that act to more than 400.
A flag bearing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s face waves over a Moscow crowd during the Vesna (Spring) festival commemorating the annexation of Crimea on March 18, 2017. (Ivan Sekretarev/Associated Press)
Lynk said the Trudeau government appears to be much less interested in upholding international law and the rules-based system when it comes to Israel.
“Russia was expelled from the G8. There was an import and export ban imposed on the goods manufactured in Crimea,” he said. “There were a range of sanctions against Russia and individual asset freezes and travel bans were imposed on Russia as well.
“There is no daylight between the Russian annexation of Crimea, and the Israeli annexation of any of the territory it conquered in 1967. For Canada to remain silent … tells me that Canada is applying different standards to situations that are essentially the same.
“It’s surprising to me that Canada has lost its voice on this, given its commitment to a rules-based international order.”
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
