We are close to halfway through this federal election, and Canadian political leaders have hit a new low in their pro-genocide politicking. Liberal leader Mark Carney and former foreign minister Melanie Joly are refusing to answer about the latest Canadian arms deal for Israel, despite their sham claim of halting arms exports; Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre is revisiting the old refrain of “I’ll move our embassy to Jerusalem”; Yves-Francois Blanchet of the Bloc Quebecois is praising arch-Zionist Irwin Cotler who is supporting one of the BQ’s candidates; and NDP leader Jagmeet Singh has dropped a PR person from his team because she dared (in past social media comments) to compare aspects of the Israeli genocide to Nazi fascism.
Not exactly stellar moments to rally around.
However, so far we have received the encouraging response from the Community Party of Canada to our questionnaire and you can find it below. We shall post others as we receive them.
Response from the Communist Party of Canada
Q- Would your party recognize Israel as an apartheid state that is committing war crimes and genocide against the Palestinian people? And would you call for severing relations with Israel on all levels including diplomatically, economically, politically and militarily?
Increasingly, governments, courts, and people’s movements around the world have begun to characterize Israel as an apartheid state which has committed war crimes as part of the genocidal Zionist project against the Palestinian people for decades. The Communist Party of Canada shares this view, which we have stated in many news releases and public statements. We have supported the BDS international campaign from the beginning, and we call to break all diplomatic, economic, political and military relations with Israel. All candidates of the Communist Party support this viewpoint, and intend to raise this issue at every possible opportunity in this federal election, challenging other parties to do likewise.
Q- Do you support laying charges in Canadian and international courts against all those who are complicit in the Israeli genocide including former Prime Minister Trudeau and his cabinet, Canadians who joined the IDF and participated in the genocide and Zionists who were advocating for and supporting this genocide? Also, would you support arresting Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant if they enter Canada and hand them over to the International Criminal Court (ICC)?
Absolutely, we believe that those in political office who are complicit in the genocidal Israeli regime’s actions against the Palestinian people are guilty of serious crimes against humanity. This also applies to Canadians who volunteered to join the IDF, and the Zionist supporters in this country who openly support genocide. Legal action should be taken against these individuals. Similarly, Netanyahu and Gallant should be banned from entering Canada; if they do enter this country, they should be arrested and turned over to the ICC to be tried on charges of committing war crimes and genocide.
Q- For violating the terms of its admittance to the UN, would you call and support the expulsion of Israel from the UN?
Yes. By breaking its promises to accept the obligations required by the UN Charter, and by denying exiled Palestinians the unfettered right of return to their orignal homes, Israel has repudiated its right to membership in the United Nations. Israel should be expelled from the UN, and if our Party was part of a Canadian goverment, we would advocate strongly to vote in support of such an expulsion.
Q- Would you recognize the Palestinian resistance organizations as a national liberation movement struggling against settler colonialism and occupation? Would you support scrapping the terror list due to its deep flaws? Would you condemn the listing of Samidoun as a politically motivated act, aimed at targeting all advocates of Palestinian human and national rights?
Yes, the various Palestinian resistance organizations lead a national liberation movement struggling to overcome settler colonialism and occupation imposed by imperialism. In principle, we have always opposed the very existence of the Canadian government’s so-called Terrorist List, which is a continuation of past policies, such as the labelling by previous Canadian governments of the African National Congress as so-called “terrorists.” This list of course does not include the worst terrorist state on the planet – the USA itself, which uses a vast array of military, espionage and terrorist bodies to deploy against countries and governments which speak out against the actions of US imperialism. The listing of Samidoun is part of this “list” is simply an attempt to intimate and silence critics of pro-Zionist Canadian and US foreign policies. The list must be abolished, and the attempts to suppress Samidoun must be ended immediately.
Q- Would you recognize Zionism as a supremacist settler colonialist movement, that can only survive with the support of western imperialist powers as proven by recent developments?
Yes, this is increasingly true. International public opinion has overwhelmingly turned against the Israeli apartheid regime, which has elevated Zionist settler supremacism to the status of official state ideology. The only basis of support for the Israeli regime comes from western imperialist powers such as Canada. This support must be opposed at every step, including in Parliament, where the racist ideology of hatred is rarely challenged.