Countries traditionally aligned with Israel are warning its right-wing government against contemplating a displacement of people who live in the Gaza Strip, as Israeli officials repeatedly suggest Canada could take in Palestinians.
This week, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said his country should “encourage migration” of Palestinians from Gaza and re-establish Israeli settlements there, echoing similar comments from National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.
U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller condemned remarks from both politicians as “inflammatory and irresponsible.”
French President Emmanuel Macron called the comments “unacceptable,” while the German foreign ministry rejected the comments “in the strongest terms,” with a spokesperson calling them unhelpful for peace.
Last month, members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party reportedly discussed countries willing to accept Palestinians in Gaza as refugees.
The report by the Israel Hayom newspaper cited unnamed sources as saying a member of the Knesset had pointed to Canada, mentioning its new program offering limited visas to relatives of Canadian citizens who are seeking passage out of Gaza.
The report has not been independently verified by The Canadian Press or CBC News.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister Marc Miller said last week that he has never discussed the transfer of Gazans out of the Hamas-controlled Palestinian territory. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)
Immigration Minister Marc Miller said in a social media post last week that he has never discussed the transfer of Gazans out of the Hamas-controlled Palestinian territory, and his office did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.
“It’s obscene that I’d have to say this, but at no time have I discussed with any member of the Israeli government the so called ‘voluntary transfer’ of Gazans out of Gaza,” Miller posted online on Dec. 29.
“Anyone pretending otherwise is full of it.”
Next week, Canada is expected to launch a temporary immigration program for the extended family members of Canadians who are trapped in the besieged Gaza Strip.
The program would offer three-year visas to up to 1,000 Palestinians whose family members are willing to support them while they are in Canada.
About 705 Canadians, permanent residents and their eligible family members have crossed from Gaza into Egypt through the Rafah border crossing, Global Affairs Canada told CBC News on Wednesday.
People show their documents on the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt in the southern Gaza Strip on November 13, 2023, before crossing to the Egyptian side. (Mohammed Abed/AFP/Getty Images)
During the first month of the latest Israel-Hamas war, an Israeli government ministry drafted a proposal to transfer all 2.3 million Palestinians living in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip into Egypt and have them resettled in other countries.
The memo specifically noted that Canada’s “lenient” immigration practices could make the country a target for resettlement. Israeli officials have confirmed the document’s veracity but said the proposal is not government policy.
In November, Ram Ben Barak, former deputy director of the intelligence agency Mossad, told Israeli television that for Palestinians, “it’s better to be a refugee in Canada” than to live in Gaza.
University of Ottawa professor Thomas Juneau said the recent statements by Smotrich and Ben Gvir amount to “openly advocating for ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.”
Canada caps expanded Gaza program at 1,000 applications
Canada is widening a temporary residency program for Gazans with Canadian links but has capped it at 1,000 applications — a tiny fraction of what was offered to Ukrainians when Russia invaded.
Last month, the United Nations special rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, Paula Gaviria Betancur, warned that Israel appears to be seeking to permanently alter the composition of Gaza’s population.
“As evacuation orders and military operations continue to expand and civilians are subjected to relentless attacks on a daily basis, the only logical conclusion is that Israel’s military operation in Gaza aims to deport the majority of the civilian population en masse,” Gaviria Betancur wrote in a Dec. 22 statement.
Israel’s government spokesman Eylon Levy responded by saying that his country asked Palestinians to move to a humanitarian zone within the Gaza Strip, from which Hamas then launched rockets.
“We want civilians to be protected in areas where Hamas is not already using them as human shields,” Levy said on social media on Dec. 26.
“The only people encouraging the mass displacement of Gazans are those who falsely label most of them ‘refugees’ and indulge their dreams of relocating into Israel through violent struggle, instead of living in peace alongside us.”
The war began after Hamas militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing an estimated 1,200 people and taking about 240 hostages.
Gaza has been under almost constant bombardment since then, with local officials saying Israel’s military response has killed more than 22,300 people.
The Palestinian ambassador to Canada, Mona Abuamara, has said repeatedly that her people fear Israel wants to evacuate the Gaza Strip and take it over.
“You are seeing these ministers who come out and talk about wiping out cities (or) throwing a nuclear bomb on the Palestinian people,” Abuamara, who represents the Palestinian General Delegation to Canada, said in an interview last month.
In November, Netanyahu suspended his heritage minister, Amichai Eliyahu, after he said in an interview that dropping a nuclear bomb on Gaza was an option.
In March, Smotrich called for the West Bank village of Huwara to be “erased” following violence between Israeli settlers and Palestinians.
“Israel wants to — and you hear it every day — to send all the Gazans out. That’s a solution that they think would bring the calm that they want,” Abuamara said, adding that she believes many Israelis disagree with what their country’s government is doing.
“The Palestinian people don’t want to leave their land.”
As It Happens6:55Feds will offer visas to 1,000 Gazans with family in Canada. This lawyer says that’s not enough
The federal government says it will bring 1,000 people from Gaza to Canada under its new extended family program. Immigration lawyer Yameena Ansari advocated for the policy, but says it falls short. She told As It Happens guest host Megan Williams putting a cap on visas will leave “hundreds, if not thousands of Palestinian Canadian families out in the dust.”
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A linebacker at Division II West Virginia State was fatally shot during what the university said Thursday is being investigated by police as a home invasion.
The body of Jyilek Zyiare Harrington, 21, of Charlotte, North Carolina, was found inside an apartment Wednesday night in Charleston, police Lt. Tony Hazelett said in a statement.
Hazelett said several gunshots were fired during a disturbance in a hallway and inside the apartment. The statement said Harrington had multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said they had no information on a possible suspect.
West Virginia State said counselors were available to students and faculty on campus.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with Jyilek’s family as they mourn the loss of this incredible young man,” West Virginia State President Ericke S. Cage said in a letter to students and faculty.
Harrington, a senior, had eight total tackles, including a sack, in a 27-24 win at Barton College last week.
“Jyilek truly embodied what it means to be a student-athlete and was a leader not only on campus but in the community,” West Virginia State Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics Nate Burton said. “Jyilek was a young man that, during Christmas, would create a GoFundMe to help less fortunate families.”
Burton said donations to a fund established by the athletic department in Harrington’s memory will be distributed to an organization in Charlotte to continue his charity work.
West Virginia State’s home opener against Carson-Newman, originally scheduled for Thursday night, has been rescheduled to Friday, and a private vigil involving both teams was set for Thursday night. Harrington previously attended Carson-Newman, where he made seven tackles in six games last season. He began his college career at Division II Erskine College.
“Carson-Newman joins West Virginia State in mourning the untimely passing of former student-athlete Jyilek Harrington,” Carson-Newman Vice President of Athletics Matt Pope said in a statement. “The Harrington family and the Yellow Jackets’ campus community is in our prayers. News like this is sad to hear anytime, but today it feels worse with two teams who knew him coming together to play.”
DETROIT (AP) — Joe Schmidt, the Hall of Fame linebacker who helped the Detroit Lions win NFL championships in 1953 and 1957 and later coached the team, has died. He was 92.
The Lions said family informed the team Schmidt died Wednesday. A cause of death was not provided.
One of pro football’s first great middle linebackers, Schmidt played his entire NFL career with the Lions from 1953-65. An eight-time All-Pro, he was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1973 and the college football version in 2000.
“Joe likes to say that at one point in his career, he was 6-3, but he had tackled so many fullbacks that it drove his neck into his shoulders and now he is 6-foot,” said the late Lions owner William Clay Ford, Schmidt’s presenter at his Hall of Fame induction in 1973. “At any rate, he was listed at 6-feet and as I say was marginal for that position. There are, however, qualities that certainly scouts or anybody who is drafting a ballplayer cannot measure.”
Born in Pittsburgh, Schmidt played college football in his hometown at Pitt, beginning his stint there as a fullback and guard before coach Len Casanova switched him to linebacker.
“Pitt provided me with the opportunity to do what I’ve wanted to do, and further myself through my athletic abilities,” Schmidt said. “Everything I have stemmed from that opportunity.”
Schmidt dealt with injuries throughout his college career and was drafted by the Lions in the seventh round in 1953. As defenses evolved in that era, Schmidt’s speed, savvy and tackling ability made him a valuable part of some of the franchise’s greatest teams.
Schmidt was elected to the Pro Bowl 10 straight years from 1955-64, and after his arrival, the Lions won the last two of their three NFL titles in the 1950s.
In a 1957 playoff game at San Francisco, the Lions trailed 27-7 in the third quarter before rallying to win 31-27. That was the NFL’s largest comeback in postseason history until Buffalo rallied from a 32-point deficit to beat Houston in 1993.
“We just decided to go after them, blitz them almost every down,” Schmidt recalled. “We had nothing to lose. When you’re up against it, you let both barrels fly.”
Schmidt became an assistant coach after wrapping up his career as a player. He was Detroit’s head coach from 1967-72, going 43-35-7.
Schmidt was part of the NFL’s All-Time Team revealed in 2019 to celebrate the league’s centennial season. Of course, he’d gone into the Hall of Fame 46 years earlier.
Not bad for an undersized seventh-round draft pick.
“It was a dream of mine to play football,” Schmidt told the Detroit Free Press in 2017. “I had so many people tell me that I was too small. That I couldn’t play. I had so many negative people say negative things about me … that it makes you feel good inside. I said, ‘OK, I’ll prove it to you.’”
VICTORIA – British Columbia’s Environment Assessment Office has fined Coastal GasLink Pipeline Ltd. $590,000 for “deficiencies” in the construction of its pipeline crossing the province.
The office says in a statement that 10 administrative penalties have been levied against the company for non-compliance with requirements of its environmental assessment certificate.
It says the fines come after problems with erosion and sediment control measures were identified by enforcement officers along the pipeline route across northern B.C. in April and May 2023.
The office says that the latest financial penalties reflect its escalation of enforcement due to repeated non-compliance of its requirements.
Four previous penalties have been issued for failing to control erosion and sediment valued at almost $800,000, while a fifth fine of $6,000 was handed out for providing false or misleading information.
The office says it prioritized its inspections along the 670-kilometre route by air and ground as a result of the continued concerns, leading to 59 warnings and 13 stop-work orders along the pipeline that has now been completed.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
