The people of Gaza had been under bombardment for nearly 20 months, experiencing terror, displacement, maiming and death without end. Their means of survival were wiped out. Because of the blockade, there was a critical risk of famine. It was at this point that, on May 18, Israel launched a ground invasion with the stated aim of corralling the population into just 20 percent of the territory and completing the destruction of the remaining civilian infrastructure, leaving Palestinians “nowhere to return to.” On May 21, Benjamin Netanyahu added the implementation of the “Trump plan” to his demands: the expulsion of the Palestinians and US control of the Gaza Strip.

Canada must stop being complicit in Israel’s genocide

On May 19, Canada issued a joint statement with France and the UK in which it took a much stronger tone towards Israel, demanding that Israel allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza and end its latest offensive, and threatening “further concrete actions” and “targeted sanctions.” But these are just words. The time for words is long past: it is time to act.

There is now an acute emergency, but the issue isn’t Israel allowing aid to enter at this time or halting its current offensive. As some 40 UN special rapporteurs and experts stated on May 8, the nations of the world stand before a fateful choice: “end the unfolding genocide or watch it end life in Gaza.”

Canada must support Palestinian self-determination as an overriding principle

For over 30 years, Canada has supported the “peace process” that Israel has used as a cover to openly and with impunity escalate its violence and pursue the dispossession of the Palestinian people, culminating in the current genocide in Gaza. Since October 2023, we have been witnessing not a “wholly disproportionate” escalation in response to the Hamas attack, as the joint statement says, but the implementation, already well advanced, of Israel’s plan to seize the moment and forever eliminate any prospect of a state for the Palestinian people on its land.

Canada, France and the UK again stated that they would “continue to work with the Palestinian Authority, regional partners, Israel and the United States to finalize consensus on arrangements for Gaza’s future.” Continuing along this path is, in fact, a denial of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination, for it unilaterally designates its representatives and makes its right to self-determination contingent on finding a consensus with a genocidal state and the superpower that has supported and armed it to this day. Unless we break with this vision and end all forms of collaboration with this reprehensible project, Canada will remain complicit in Israel’s crimes.

Canada must act decisively

Canada must honour its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, as well as the opinion issued by the International Court of Justice on July 19, 2024 that the Israeli occupation and colonization of Gaza and the West Bank are unlawful and must end “as rapidly as possible.” The UN General Assembly has set a deadline of September 17, 2025.

Only strong action can make Israel back down. If it does not want to remain complicit in Israel’s crimes, Canada must immediately apply all means of political and economic pressure at its disposal. There are many things it could do, including immediately recognizing the State of Palestine, applying a real two-way embargo on military equipment, joining in actions before the international courts, terminating economic and military agreements, imposing sanctions and breaking off diplomatic relations.

Canada should also urge all its allies do likewise and work to maintain real international pressure until there is not only an immediate and permanent lifting of the Israeli blockade and an immediate and permanent ceasefire, but also full, non-negotiable respect for international law by Israel and the rapid and unconditional exercise of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination.

To view the list of signatories, click here.

The Coalition du Québec Urgence Palestine is a pro-Palestinian organization established in 2024 to express Québec civil society’s outrage at the genocide being perpetrated by Israel in Gaza, and to support the Palestinian struggle against Israeli occupation and colonization. It includes 50 unions, community organizations and civic groups from across Québec.