One of the seven aid workers killed by an Israeli strike in Gaza was 33-year-old Jacob Flickinger, a former member of the Canadian Armed Forces who grew up in Quebec’s Beauce region and was the father of an 18-month-old boy.
Flickinger, a dual Canadian and United States citizen, had been in Gaza volunteering for World Central Kitchen since early March, his family said in an interview Wednesday.
Aid workers have been racing to distribute food as famine looms in Gaza, six months after Israel’s invasion.
But delivering aid has proven deadly. More than 196 humanitarian workers, many of them Palestinians working for UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency), have been killed since the invasion’s start in October, according to Aid Worker Security Database, a U.S.-funded group recording major incidents of violence against aid personnel.
Flickinger’s parents, Sylvie Labrecque and John Flickinger, say the attack on Flickinger and six of his colleagues was a clear targeted attack by Israel Defence Forces (IDF) because of how obviously marked the World Central Kitchen convoy was. It was also travelling on a well-used humanitarian route and the group had co-ordinated its movements in advance with the IDF, they said.
“In my mind, this was a targeted killing of aid workers who happened to be foreign,” Flickinger’s father said in an interview with CBC News Wednesday afternoon.
“Most of the aid workers killed to date have been from Gaza. And it’s part of an attempt to — I don’t know whether what they’re thinking of starving the population in Palestine, I don’t know. Punishment, revenge and war. This war is senseless. All wars are senseless,” Flickinger said, sitting alongside his ex-wife, Labrecque, in her home in Saint-Georges, about 200 kilometres northeast of Montreal.
WATCH | Jacob Flickinger’s parents believe the attack on aid workers was deliberate:
Father of Canadian aid worker killed in Gaza says IDF strike was ‘deliberate’
3 hours ago
Duration 1:42
Jacob Flickinger, a former member of the Canadian Armed Forces who grew up in Quebec, was one of seven World Central Kitchen workers killed in a strike Israel has called unintentional. ‘Their convoy was marked, clearly marked, and they are on a well-used humanitarian route. So in my opinion, it was a targeted kill,’ his father, John Flickinger, told CBC News.
Flickinger and six other World Central Kitchen workers had been travelling back to their base Monday after unloading 90 tonnes of food aid at the Deir al-Balah warehouse, the group said in a statement.
The workers were travelling in a deconflicted zone in two armoured cars branded with the WCK logo and a “soft skin vehicle.” They were struck despite having co-ordinated their movements with the IDF, the group said.
The six other workers were British, Polish, Australian and Palestinian, according to WCK, which released their names, photos and ages on Tuesday.
Israel’s military chief, Lt.-Gen. Herzi Halevi, said Wednesday that a preliminary investigation following the attack revealed it was “a mistake that followed a misidentification.”
“At night, during a war in very complex conditions. It shouldn’t have happened,” he said. Halevi gave no further details.
He said an independent body would conduct a “thorough investigation” that would be completed in the coming days.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had earlier acknowledged the “unintended strike … on innocent people” and said officials would work to ensure it did not happen again.
Flickinger’s parents called for a ceasefire in Gaza and the return of hostages to Israel.
“It’s not only our son who’s gone. All these families are affected, so I’m just hoping that they’re not gone for nothing,” Labrecque said. “This hatred just seems to have no end,” Flickinger said.
World Central Kitchen, a non-profit organization delivering food in Gaza, identified seven aid workers who were killed by Israeli airstrikes on April 1, 2024. Clockwise from top left: Damian Soból, Jacob Flickinger, Lalzawmi (Zomi) Frankcom, James Kirby, James (Jim) Henderson, John Chapman and Saifeddin Issam Ayad Abutaha. (Instagram/World Central Kitchen, Facebook/Free Place Foundation)
11 years of military service
Jacob Flickinger, who spent 11 years in the Canadian Armed Forces and had spent eight months in Afghanistan, had recently settled with his wife, Sandy Leclerc, and their 18-month-old son in Costa Rica, his parents said.
“They were a happy little family. Together, they were extremely happy and they loved each other desperately. And they had great projects for the future, for themselves and the child,” said Labrecque. The baby was Jacob’s “greatest joy,” his father said, tearing up. Flickinger’s family has preferred not to share his young son’s identity.
“Now, things have changed drastically.”
Leclerc, who is from the Quebec City area, has remained in Costa Rica to grieve, where her father flew from Quebec to join her, Labrecque said.
In the months before travelling to Gaza for World Central Kitchen, Flickinger had completed a contract for the charity in Acapulco, Mexico, following a hurricane there. As he did in Gaza, Flickinger helped with security and logistics in delivering food aid.
Jacob Flickinger’s father, John Flickinger, said his son’s baby had been his ‘greatest joy.’ (Submitted by Sylvie Labrecque and John Flickinger)
Labrecque said the work was ideal for Flickinger, putting his military training and skills to good use. “He was doing what he loved, which was helping people,” she said.
She and John Flickinger said they have been flooded with messages from people around the world who knew their son, either from his work with the military or for various organizations.
“He was the best, most loyal friend you could ask for,” his father said. “He touched many people.”
Cendrine White, who met Flickinger at a conference in 2019 where he had been holding a workshop on outdoor survival, was one of those people. She recalled how Flickinger could command the attention in a room, saying “all stares would all just like go right at him.” She said her friend “was invincible” in her mind.
Quebecer killed in Israeli strike while delivering aid in Gaza ‘was really inspiring,’ friend says
2 hours ago
Duration 0:42
Cendrine White says she was shocked when she learned her friend, Jacob Flickinger, was one of seven World Central Kitchen workers killed in a strike that Israel has called unintentional. ‘I just could not believe it because he was invincible in my mind,’ she told CBC News.
“He was a man that did not compromise. He was being the best version of himself and he didn’t only say it, he acted on it. He was just trying to become the inspiration for people around him,” White said.
Flickinger was born in Saint-Georges, where his mother still lives, but the family soon moved to Miami, where his father is from and currently lives. Labrecque and John Flickinger separated when Jacob was five and he and his mother moved back to the Beauce region, where he grew up after that, Labrecque explained.
John Flickinger received the call from World Central Kitchen Monday evening explaining that his son had been killed. He flew to Quebec to deliver the news to his ex-wife in person.
World leaders have condemned the attack on the aid convoy. U.S. President Joe Biden issued an unusually blunt criticism of his country’s close ally, suggesting that the deaths demonstrated Israel was not doing enough to protect civilians.
“Israel has not done enough to protect aid workers trying to deliver desperately needed help to civilians,” he said, adding he was “outraged and heartbroken” by their killings. “Incidents like yesterday’s simply should not happen.”
Jacob Flickinger, left, was the Canadian-United States citizen killed in a strike on aid workers in Gaza Monday. Flickinger grew up in Quebec and had recently settled in Costa Rica with his wife, Sandy Leclerc, and their 18-month-old. (Submitted by Sylvie Labrecque and John Flickinger)
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the attack on aid workers was “absolutely unacceptable.”
“The world needs clear answers as to how this happened,” Trudeau said. “We need to again continue to push for more humanitarian aid and a ceasefire that will bring that kind of support to the people throughout Gaza.”
Israel’s invasion of Gaza follow an unprecedented attack by Hamas that killed 1,139 people in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Fighters took 253 hostages, 130 of whom remain in captivity and at least 34 are presumed dead.
Since then, 32,975 people have been killed in Gaza, the Hamas-run health ministry there said this week.
PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona voters have approved a constitutional amendment guaranteeing abortion access up to fetal viability, typically after 21 weeks — a major win for advocates of the measure in the presidential battleground state who have been seeking to expand access beyond the current 15-week limit.
Arizona was one of nine states with abortion on the ballot. Democrats have centered abortion rights in their campaigns since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Abortion-rights supporters prevailed in all seven abortion ballot questions in 2022 and 2023, including in conservative-leaning states.
Arizona for Abortion Access, the coalition leading the state campaign, gathered well over the 383,923 signatures required to put it on the ballot, and the secretary of state’s office verified that enough were valid. The coalition far outpaced the opposition campaign, It Goes Too Far, in fundraising. The opposing campaign argued the measure was too far-reaching and cited its own polling in saying a majority of Arizonans support the 15-week limit. The measure allows post-viability abortions if they are necessary to protect the life or physical or mental health of the mother.
Access to abortion has been a cloudy issue in Arizona. In April, the state Supreme Court cleared the way for the enforcement of a long-dormant 1864 law banning nearly all abortions. The state Legislature swiftly repealed it.
Voters in Arizona are divided on abortion. Maddy Pennell, a junior at Arizona State University, said the possibility of a near-total abortion ban made her “depressed” and strengthened her desire to vote for the abortion ballot measure.
“I feel very strongly about having access to abortion,” she said.
Kyle Lee, an independent Arizona voter, does not support the abortion ballot measure.
“All abortion is pretty much, in my opinion, murder from beginning to end,” Lee said.
The Civil War-era ban also shaped the contours of tight legislative races. State Sen. Shawnna Bolick and state Rep. Matt Gress are among the handful of vulnerable Republican incumbents in competitive districts who crossed party lines to give the repeal vote the final push — a vote that will be tested as both parties vie for control of the narrowly GOP-held state Legislature.
Both of the Phoenix-area lawmakers were rebuked by some of their Republican colleagues for siding with Democrats. Gress made a motion on the House floor to initiate the repeal of the 1864 law. Bolick, explaining her repeal vote to her Senate colleagues, gave a 20-minute floor speech describing her three difficult pregnancies.
While Gress was first elected to his seat in 2022, Bolick is facing voters for the first time. She was appointed by the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors to fill a seat vacancy in 2023. She has not emphasized her role in the repeal vote as she has campaigned, instead playing up traditional conservative issues — one of her signs reads “Bolick Backs the Blue.”
Voters rejected a measure to eliminate retention elections for state Superior Court judges and Supreme Court justices.
The measure was put on the ballot by Republican legislators hoping to protect two conservative justices up for a routine retention vote who favored allowing the Civil War-era ban to be enforced — Shawnna Bolick’s husband, Supreme Court Justice Clint Bolick, and Justice Kathryn Hackett King. Since the measure did not pass, both are still vulnerable to voter ouster, though those races hadn’t been decided by early Wednesday morning.
Under the existing system, voters decide every four to six years whether judges and justices should remain on the bench. The proposed measure would have allowed the judges and justices to stay on the bench without a popular vote unless one is triggered by felony convictions, crimes involving fraud and dishonesty, personal bankruptcy or mortgage foreclosure.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska voters supported a measure Tuesday that enshrines the state’s current ban on abortions after the 12th week of pregnancy in the state constitution, and they rejected a competing measure that sought to expand abortion rights. Nebraska was the first state to have competing abortion amendments on the same ballot since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, ending the nationwide right to abortion and allowing states to decide for themselves. The dueling measures were among a record number of petition-initiated measures on Nebraska’s ballot Tuesday.
What were the competing abortion measures?
A majority of voters supported a measure enshrining the state’s current ban on abortion after the first 12 weeks of pregnancy in the state constitution. The measure will also allow for further restrictions. Last year, the Legislature passed the 12-week ban, which includes exceptions for cases of rape and incest and to protect the life of the pregnant woman.
Voters rejected the other abortion measure. If they had passed it by a larger number of “for” votes than the 12-week measure, it would have amended the constitution to guarantee the right to have an abortion until viability — the standard under Roe that is the point at which a fetus might survive outside the womb. Some babies can survive with medical help after 21 weeks of gestation.
Abortion was on the ballot in several other states, as well. Coming into the election, voters in all seven states that had decided on abortion-related ballot measures since the reversal of Roe had favored abortion rights, including in some conservative states.
Who is behind the Nebraska abortion measures?
The 12-week ban measure was bankrolled by some of Nebraska’s wealthiest people, including Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts, who previously served as governor and donated more than $1.1 million. His mother, Marlene Ricketts, gave $4 million to the cause. Members of the Peed family, which owns publishing company Sandhills Global, also gave $1 million.
The effort was organized under the name Protect Women and Children and was heavily backed by religious organizations, including the Nebraska Catholic Conference, a lobbying group that has organized rallies, phone banks and community townhalls to drum up support for the measure.
The effort to enshrine viability as the standard was called Protect Our Rights Nebraska and had the backing of several medical, advocacy and social justice groups. Planned Parenthood donated nearly $1 million to the cause, with the American Civil Liberties Union, I Be Black Girl, Nebraska Appleseed and the Women’s Fund of Omaha also contributing significantly to the roughly $3.7 million raised by Protect Our Rights.
What other initiatives were on Nebraska’s ballot?
Nebraska voters approved two measures Tuesday that will create a system for the use and manufacture of medical marijuana, if the measures survive an ongoing legal challenge.
The measures legalize the possession and use of medical marijuana, and allow for the manufacture, distribution and delivery of the drug. One would let patients and caregivers possess up to 5 ounces (142 grams) of marijuana if recommended by a doctor. The other would create the Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission, which would oversee the private groups that would manufacture and dispense the drug.
Those initiatives were challenged over allegations that the petition campaign that put them on the ballot broke election rules. Nebraska’s attorney general said supporters of the measures may have submitted several thousand invalid signatures, and one man has been charged in connection with 164 allegedly fraudulent signatures. That means a judge could still invalidate the measures.
Voters also opted Tuesday to repeal a new conservative-backed law that allocates millions of dollars in taxpayer money to fund private school tuition.
Finally, they approved a measure that will require all Nebraska employers to provide at least 40 hours of paid sick leave to their employees.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Voters in Missouri cleared the way to undo one of the nation’s most restrictive abortion bans in one of seven victories for abortion rights advocates, while Florida, Nebraska and South Dakota defeated similar constitutional amendments, leaving bans in place.
Abortion rights amendments also passed in Arizona, Colorado, Maryland and Montana. Nevada voters also approved an amendment, but they’ll need to pass it again it 2026 for it to take effect. Another that bans discrimination on the basis of “pregnancy outcomes” prevailed in New York.
The results include firsts for the abortion landscape, which underwent a seismic shift in 2022 when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, a ruling that ended a nationwide right to abortion and cleared the way for bans to take effect in most Republican-controlled states.
They also came in the same election that Republican Donald Trump won the presidency. Among his inconsistent positions on abortion has been an insistence that it’s an issue best left to the states. Still, the president can have a major impact on abortion policy through executive action.
In the meantime, Missouri is positioned to be the first state where a vote will undo a ban on abortion at all stages of pregnancy, with an amendment that would allow lawmakers to restrict abortions only past the point of a fetus’ viability — usually considered after 21 weeks, although there’s no exact defined time frame.
But the ban, and other restrictive laws, are not automatically repealed. Advocates now have to ask courts to overturn laws to square with the new amendment.
“Today, Missourians made history and sent a clear message: decisions around pregnancy, including abortion, birth control, and miscarriage care are personal and private and should be left up to patients and their families, not politicians,” Rachel Sweet, campaign manager of Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, said in a statement.
Roughly half of Missouri’s voters said abortion should be legal in all or most cases, according to AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 2,200 of the state’s voters. But only about 1 in 10 said abortion should be illegal in all cases; nearly 4 in 10 said abortion should be illegal in most cases.
Bans remain in place in three states after votes
Florida, Nebraska and South Dakota became the first states since Roe was overturned where abortion opponents prevailed on a ballot measure. Most voters supported the Florida measure, but it fell short of the required 60% to pass constitutional amendments in the state. Most states require a simple majority.
The result was a political win for Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican with a national profile, who had steered state GOP funds to the cause. His administration has weighed in, too, with a campaign against the measure, investigators questioning people who signed petitions to add it to the ballot and threats to TV stations that aired one commercial supporting it.
Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the national anti-abortion group SBA Pro-Life America, said in a statement that the result is “a momentous victory for life in Florida and for our entire country,” praising DeSantis for leading the charge against the measure.
The defeat makes permanent a shift in the Southern abortion landscape that began when the state’s six-week ban took effect in May. That removed Florida as a destination for abortion for many women from nearby states with deeper bans and also led to far more women from the state traveling to obtain abortion. The nearest states with looser restrictions are North Carolina and Virginia — hundreds of miles away.
“The reality is because of Florida’s constitution a minority of Florida voters have decided Amendment 4 will not be adopted,” said Lauren Brenzel, campaign director for the Yes on 4 Campaign said while wiping away tears. “The reality is a majority of Floridians just voted to end Florida’s abortion ban.”
In South Dakota, another state with a ban on abortion throughout pregnancy with some exceptions, the defeat of an abortion measure was more decisive. It would have allowed some regulations related to the health of the woman after 12 weeks. Because of that wrinkle, most national abortion-rights groups did not support it.
Voters in Nebraska adopted a measure that allows more abortion restrictions and enshrines the state’s current 12-week ban and rejected a competing measure that would have ensured abortion rights.
Other states guaranteed abortion rights
Arizona’s amendment will mean replacing the current law that bans abortion after the first 15 weeks of pregnancy. The new measure ensures abortion access until viability. A ballot measure there gained momentum after a state Supreme Court ruling in April found that the state could enforce a strict abortion ban adopted in 1864. Some GOP lawmakers joined with Democrats to repeal the law before it could be enforced.
In Maryland, the abortion rights amendment is a legal change that won’t make an immediate difference to abortion access in a state that already allows it.
It’s a similar situation in Montana, where abortion is already legal until viability.
The Colorado measure exceeded the 55% of support required to pass. Besides enshrining access, it also undoes an earlier amendment that barred using state and local government funding for abortion, opening the possibility of state Medicaid and government employee insurance plans covering care.
A New York equal rights law that abortion rights group say will bolster abortion rights also passed. It doesn’t contain the word “abortion” but rather bans discrimination on the basis of “pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive healthcare and autonomy.” Sasha Ahuja, campaign director of New Yorkers for Equal Rights, called the result “a monumental victory for all New Yorkers” and a vote against opponents who she says used misleading parental rights and anti-trans messages to thwart the measure.
The results end a win streak for abortion-rights advocates
Until Tuesday, abortion rights advocates had prevailed on all seven measures that have appeared on statewide ballots since the fall of Roe.
The abortion rights campaigns have a big fundraising advantage this year. Their opponents’ efforts are focused on portraying the amendments as too extreme rather than abortion as immoral.
Currently, 13 states are enforcing bans at all stages of pregnancy, with some exceptions. Four more bar abortion in most cases after about six weeks of pregnancy — before women often realize they’re pregnant. Despite the bans, the number of monthly abortions in the U.S. has risen slightly, because of the growing use of abortion pills and organized efforts to help women travel for abortion. Still, advocates say the bans have reduced access, especially for lower-income and minority residents of the states with bans.
The issue is resonating with voters. About one-fourth said abortion policy was the single most important factor for their vote, according to AP VoteCast, a sweeping survey of more than 110,000 voters nationwide. Close to half said it was an important factor, but not the most important. Just over 1 in 10 said it was a minor factor.
The outcomes of ballot initiatives that sought to overturn strict abortion bans in Florida and Missouri were very important to a majority of voters in the states. More than half of Florida voters identified the result of the amendment as very important, while roughly 6 in 10 of Missouri’s voters said the same, the survey found.
___
Associated Press reporters Hannah Fingerhut and Amanda Seitz contributed to this article.
___
This article has been corrected to reflect in the ‘other states’ section that Montana, not Missouri, currently allows abortion until viability.
