On September 15, Palestinian human rights organization Al-Haq and the Canadian not-for-profit group Just Peace Advocates submitted a report to the recently appointed United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, calling for Montréal-based WSP Global Inc. (WSP) to be included in a UN database of businesses operating in illegal Israeli settlements.

The utter evil of the Holocaust is not debatable, but the lessons we learn from it are crucial. Is our memory to be used to empower the State of Israel and exempt it from ordinary norms, or is it to be used to urge universal respect for human rights and international law, with a fierce determination that such a calamity should never again be allowed to befall anybody?

In recent months, prominent human rights authorities and advocates have all concluded that Israel is guilty of the crime of apartheid. It is therefore incoherent for the NDP to echo these findings and simultaneously participate in a group promoting “co-operation” with Israel. It’s time for the party to formally disassociate from the Canada-Israel Interparliamentary Group.

The Trudeau government has ignored the Biden administration’s responsibility for the current devastation in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, Canadian laws are preventing food aid from reaching the country. Earlier this month, World Vision had to cancel a shipment of food that would have fed 1,800 children because of a federal law that bans Canadians who provide terrorist groups with property or finances.

A leading US-based rights group on Monday welcomed a federal judge’s conclusion that 9/11 families should not be allowed to claim billions of dollars from Afghanistan’s central bank to pay off legal judgments against the Taliban. US Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn’s Friday afternoon report “is a victory for Afghan civil society groups,” said the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR).

In response to appeals from many NDP supporters expressing concern about human rights for Palestinians, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh has sent an email including a strong statement of NDP demands, denouncing the Trudeau government for “failing to call out Israel for breaching international law and for violating the human rights of the Palestinian people.”

Across Latin America, the state of Israel’s best friends are, almost without fail, the most reactionary right-wing elements of the ruling classes. This seems to contradict the tolerant brand that Israel has been attempting to cultivate as of late, which seeks to elevate Israel to the status of an enlightened and democratic outlier amidst an archipelago of authoritarians.

In a series of alarming events over the past week, Israel has escalated its attacks on human rights defenders. After outlawing six leading Palestinian NGOs in October last year, on August 18, Israeli occupation forces led militarized raids against their offices in Ramallah, damaging property, confiscating files, and attempting to seal their doors shut permanently.

With the recent death of former Liberal Defence and Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham, has come a gush of praise for how he “resisted American arguments” and “stayed out” of the invasion of Iraq. This is a significant revision of history. The reality is that Canada was very much “involved” in the invasion of Iraq and the “War on Terror”—and Graham staunchly defended this role.

Asked if a Palestinian-Israeli who feels part of the Palestinian people can nevertheless be loyal to Israel, 63 percent of Palestinian-Israelis said ‘yes.’ Only 28 percent of Jewish Israelis agreed. If the solid majority in a society systematically views a minority as disloyal and doesn’t want them living in its neighbourhoods, that sounds an awful lot like apartheid.