Over three hundred parliamentary candidates have endorsed a pro-Palestinian platform for a two-way arms embargo against Israel, the recognition of Palestinian statehood, and a boycott of all Israeli settlements in disputed territories.
By Rachel Avraham
The Jerusalem Post reported that ahead of the April 28 Canadian federal election, over three hundred parliamentary candidates have endorsed a pro-Palestinian platform for a two-way arms embargo against Israel, the recognition of Palestinian statehood, and a boycott of all Israeli settlements in disputed territories, according to the Vote Palestine campaign website, which lists the backing of 20 Liberal Party candidates, 200 New Democratic Party candidates, and 104 Green Party candidates.
According to the report in the Jerusalem Post, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh and Green co-leaders Elizabeth May and Jonathan Pedneault were listed as supporters of the platform, with other incumbent parliament members alongside them. Although 20 Liberal Party candidates have supported the platform, it is important to emphasize that the only Canadian political parties to endorse the platform as a party are the Green Party, the New Democrats, the Communist Party of Canada, the Marxist Leninist Party of Canada, and the Centrist Party of Canada. Neither the Liberal Party as a whole nor the Conservative Party, who are the two most prominent political parties in Canada, have endorsed the platform. Nevertheless, the level of support for the platform should greatly trouble the Jewish community.
The Vote Palestine website has five key points. The first one proclaims, “Arms dealers in Canada export weapons (including parts and components) as well as military and security technology to Israel, both directly and via the United States. The Canadian military and defense industry also purchases Israeli weapons and parts, thus directly funding Israel’s war efforts and economy. The Canadian government must impose a full and immediate two-way arms embargo on Israel that includes ending military trade with Israel through the US or any other third party state.”
Since less than one percent of Israel’s arm trade is with Canada and Canada already announced an arms embargo on Israel under the Liberal government, this item if implemented will not be a significant blow to Israel’s economy but does have propaganda value for the Palestinians and will work to strengthen the BDS Movement globally. On April 8, in response to a protester shouting, “There’s a genocide happening in Gaza,” Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he was “aware; that’s why we have an arms embargo.” According to the Jerusalem Post, Carney later retracted his acknowledgment of a supposed genocide in Gaza, but still stands behind a Canadian arms embargo.
The pro-Palestine platform for the 2025 Canadian Federal Elections also calls for passing legislation that would “ban all engagement with illegal Israeli settlements, including financial investments, trade in goods or services, and cultural and academic exchanges; revoking the charitable status of Canadian charities found to support Israeli settlements; and prohibiting the ownership, sale, or rental of properties located in illegal Israeli settlements by anyone in Canada.”
A report co-authored by Independent Jewish Voices Canada revealed that between 2018 and 2022, over $1 billion in Canadian charitable donations—which are tax-deductible—were sent to recipients in Israel. If this second part of the platform comes to pass, it could effectively block Canadians from donating to many charities in Israel and significantly hinder the activities of many Jewish charities in Canada, in addition to barring any kind of academic exchanges with or Canadian participation in conferences at Ariel University and bar members of the Canadian Jewish community from owning or renting any kind of property in Judea and Samaria.
Aside from these two points, the pro-Palestine platform also intends to protect BDS supporters and other pro-Palestinian demonstrators from being targeted because of their antisemitic views. The pro-Palestine platform also calls for Canada to recognize Palestinian statehood in the absence of a peace agreement with Israel and to help replace the funds that US President Donald Trump withdrew from UNRWA. In contrast, the Jerusalem Post noted that Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre called for the cutting of Canada’s financial support to UNRWA in a recent debate.
According to the Jerusalem Post, initiating endorsers of the platform included the Palestinian Youth Movement and Independent Jewish Voices, which have led significant protests against Israel in Canada since the October 7 massacre. NGO Monitor claims that the Palestinian Youth Movement is linked to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and should be banned from operating in Canada. On October 7, 2023, the Palestinian Youth Movement published a statement: “Palestine lives! The resistance is alive!….the resistance in Gaza stormed the illegitimate border fence, reentering 1948 Palestine for the first time in many of our lives…We continue to stand by our people in Gaza and throughout occupied Palestine in their legitimate resistance against the occupiers. In the name of our shaheeds [martyrs], the struggle for freedom and return continues”
As for Independent Jewish Voices, NGO Monitor claimed that they are not transparent about their funding and that they co-hosted a protest in Vancouver where a speaker proclaimed: “Beautiful, brave and heroic resistance of the Palestinian people, which did not begin on October 7, which has continued for over 75 years, which has continued over 120 years.” On October 8th, 2023 Independent Jewish Voices released a statement claiming that “Israel needs to be held accountable for its decades of crimes against humanity, crimes that have put Palestinians in a position where violent retribution and death feels like justice.” They also protested in front of a Montreal synagogue. According to news reports, protesters “repeatedly called for the destruction of the state of Israel and the expulsion of Israelis.”
According to the Jerusalem Post, another primary endorser was the Canadian Muslim Public Affairs Council, which also used the Vote Palestine platform as a credential to endorse candidates under its own MuslimsVote initiative. According to their website, the Canadian Muslim Public Affairs Council (CMPAC) firmly rejects the Canadian government’s release of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Handbook on Antisemitism. They stand behind a policy paper titled “Combating Anti-Palestinian Racism and Antisemitism: Intersectionality within Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy,” which provides the ideological framework that the Palestine platform seeks to utilize to protect BDS and pro-Palestine supporters from facing consequences for holding antisemitic positions.
Photo from Matt Hrkac: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaza_war_protests#/media/File:Palestine_Rally_End_The_Siege,_Stop_the_War_on_Gaza_(53264633371).jpg
