As solidarity organizations with the Palestinian people, we condemn in the strongest terms the brutal Israeli attack on Palestinian worshippers at the al-Aqsa mosque on April 5, 2023. We hold the Canadian government and its Western allies, headed by the US, responsible for this atrocity committed by Apartheid Israel. Their unconditional support for Israeli war crimes and their denial of the racist and apartheid nature of the Israeli regime only encourages Israel to continue with its ethnic cleansing and genocide against the Palestinian people; such support also shields Israel from any accountability.
We are certain that all those who are complicit in Israeli war crimes will be held to account, and justice will prevail. We renew our commitment to support the Palestinian people in their struggle for liberation, self-determination, freedom and return.
Canada Palestine Association International League of Peoples’ Struggle, Canada Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement (Masar Badil) Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
The import and sale of Israeli wines in provincial liquor stores across Canada is a microcosm of how apartheid maintains “business as usual”, despite changing political conditions. The war crimes profiteering from the sale of Israeli products has been tracked for many years in BC by #BoycottIsraeliWine campaigners.
Much of the focus has been on the illegal Israeli settlements, be they in the occupied West Bank or annexed Golan, and on the successive provincial and federal governments complicit in legitimizing this plunder of stolen Palestinian natural resources. However, there is also corporate complicity involving the wine distributors that bring the fruits of colonization to local liquor store shelves.
Most Israeli wine distributed to all of Canada’s four western provinces comes through one Vancouver-based company, International Cellars Inc. They promote wines from the Golan Heights Winery and its joint venture, Galil Mountain Winery, as well as the Teperberg 1870 Winery (which openly shows its vineyards in occupied Palestinian territory on its website). In 2007, they launched several Israeli wines in BC government liquor stores under the condition that there would be a separate “Israeli” section; principal director, Norman Gladstone, stated at the time that the BC Liquor Distribution Board (BCLDB) approached him about the project and were very “supportive”. “Normally, it is up to a company like International Cellars to go into each and every liquor store to get them to sell their wines, but, because the BCLDB is so supportive of this venture, ‘the liquor board is doing an initial introduction to 23 stores and our [International Cellars’] sales staff are going out to get it into more stores as well,’ said Gladstone.”
A look at International Cellars wines from other countries brought forth this gem: one of their partner Chilean wineries is owned by the founder of the Golan Heights Winery, Shimshon Welner. Welner Wines website in its “our story” section, proudly shows photos of Welner with former Israeli leaders including Ariel Sharon, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin.
(Shimshon Welner with Ariel Sharon)
After seeing the hypocrisy of the BC NDP government last year in rushing to pull Russian liquor products off store shelves in just 2 days, while refusing for 14 years to deal with Israeli apartheid wines, it is clear the BC government always was, and is, a full partner in this travesty. A travesty that spans multiple provincial governments, from the Liberals in 2007 to the Horgan NDP government to the current one under Premier David Eby, all promoting the same policy of enabling Israeli war crimes. And anyone who thought that the NDP would take a different stance once in power was sorely disappointed, even though their official party policy is now committed to end “all trade and economic cooperation with illegal settlements in Israel-Palestine”.
Palestinian activists will continue to highlight and hold accountable all those involved in this infamous chain of war crimes profiteering, who play a part in the dispossession and usurpation of Palestine, its natural resources, and its people. Palestinian blood is on all their hands.
Ontario Minister of Colleges and Universities Jill Dunlop visited Israel because its a “powerhouse when it comes to innovation”. Along with her visits to tech companies and universities, she had a “lovely chat” with Irwin Cotler and claims to have tasted “authentic Israeli falafel”. Israeli officials noted there should be “concrete steps…to strengthen our tech…collaboration”, further enhancing the Ontario-Israel Memorandum of Understanding MOU launched back in 2005.
Israel is recognized as a powerhouse when it comes to innovation.?? I was grateful for the opportunity to meet with Shlomi Kofman at the Israel Innovation Authority, & discuss how Ontario can maintain & expand collaborations while at the same time growing it’s own agency, IPON. pic.twitter.com/70TinlsJW0
Also included was an obligatory visit to AWZ Ventures (based in Toronto and Tel Aviv), which has Stephen Harper as a partner and an advisory board full of former spies. AWZ brags on its website of its “unique partnership” with the Israeli Defense Ministry and manages over $300 million investing in “multi-purpose, defensive technologies with the greatest commercial potential”.
Canada Palestine Association had another busy year of activism in 2022, as the Palestinian solidarity movement in diaspora reflected the new spirit of the Unity Intifada. Here is a list of most of our campaign highlights, along with statements and interviews done throughout the year. We are moved and grateful for all the committed and dedicated activists who show that we will always #StandWithPalestine; solid grassroots organizing is the best answer to the Zionist lobby smear attacks.
UPDATE: Richmond City Council has listened to the many community voices saying #NoIHRA; the motion to adopt the IHRA was withdrawn prior to their Dec. 19 meeting. This is a victory for Palestinian rights and free speech. Great effort by all those who worked to achieve this outcome.
Following is the text of a letter sent by CPA Chair on December 16, 2022.
Dear Mayor and Richmond City Councillors:
My name is Hanna Kawas, and I am writing to you as a Canadian Palestinian and the chairperson of Canada Palestine Association.
I’m urging you to oppose motion GP-57 to adopt the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism, currently before Richmond City Council. Although the motion insists that the IHRA definition is “non-legally binding”, its illustrative examples clearly aim to intimidate and silence criticism of Israel and tells Palestinians our voices are not valued.
You may have been led to believe that this motion will aid in the struggle against anti-Semitism (although there are authoritative voices disputing the IHRA’s efficacy in that regard). What you may not know, however, is that this motion will end up contributing to another form of racism, anti-Palestinian racism. It is flawed to claim that you are fighting against one form of racism by reinforcing another one; we must unite to fight against all forms of racism.
This motion if passed will tell me that I am not allowed to criticize the very ideology, Zionism, that resulted in the dispossession of my family and my nation. We know our lived experience, and we know the racism we have endured both in our homeland and in diaspora. Seven out of the eleven IHRA illustrative examples mention Israel by name; as such, the IHRA seems to have more to do with covering up for Israeli war crimes than dealing with hatred against the Jewish people. We will continue to speak out forcefully and reject the concept that our narrative must be constricted and restrained. Or are we to be treated differently?
As Palestinians, most of us are not here by choice; we have been dispossessed from our ancestral homeland and forced to find refuge wherever we could. I am a Palestinian Christian refugee from Bethlehem who can’t return to my hometown due to Israeli apartheid policies; my own extended family has members in multiple countries. It is not enough that Israel limits our ability to celebrate Christmas (and all religious holidays) in our homeland; your council has chosen this time of year to consider adopting a motion that further censors the Palestinian narrative and our stories.
It isn’t just polemics for Palestinian Canadians to reject the IHRA and to say that our peoples’ voices cannot and must not be erased. It is a matter of inalienable national rights and survival. Just a week ago, on December 11, a 15-year-old Palestinian girl was shot dead on the roof of her home by an Israeli sniper in Jenin in the occupied West Bank. And earlier this year, the Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was also murdered in Jenin by Israeli military forces.
We join with our progressive allies in the Jewish community, the indigenous community, and other B.C. human rights organizations in opposing adoption of the IHRA definition. Allow me to leave you with one message: if you pass this motion, you are institutionalizing anti-Palestinian racism. Regretfully, you would show that Richmond is not representing the diverse nature of its many inhabitants and is failing to combat all forms of racism.
