In August 2024, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) revoked the charitable status of the Jewish National Fund of Canada (JNF). This is significant because the JNF is central to the Zionist movement, historically acquiring land in Palestine for exclusive Jewish settlement. It has also supported Israeli military projects and illegal settlements in occupied Palestine.

Here to talk about the efforts to achieve this revocation and the implications of this decision is Corey Balsam from Independent Jewish Voices and Nicholas Pope, a lawyer following the issue.

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Thank you for listening to the ‘Palestine Debrief’ podcast. This podcast is produced by Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) and hosted by Wissam El Cheikh Hassan.

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On January 9th, 2024, IRCC started accepting applications for a Temporary Residence Visa Program for Gazans with Canadian Family Ties that was called "Crisis in Gaza: Special Measure for Extended Family". Not long after it became clear that the program was not designed to accept refugees. Nothing about the program was urgent and in comparison to past programs the “special measures” seem to highly indicate racism towards Palestinians.

We have Safinaz El-Solh from Gazan Canadian Community Group who were directly affected by the crisis with family Gaza who organized together to focus on the program.

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Thank you for listening to the ‘Palestine Debrief’ podcast. This podcast is produced by Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) and hosted by Wissam El Cheikh Hassan.

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worldbeyondwar.org/canadastoparmingisrael

Earlier in August the US government announced that General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems Inc. a Quebec-based company is the principal contractor in the sale of 50,000 high explosive mortar cartridges and related equipment to the Israeli military, which is worth $61 million US (or about $83 million in Canadian dollars). This is part of a total of $20 billion US weapon export announced and approved by the US to Israel.

This catches Canada is several lies they have made since October. The lie of sending only “non-lethal” weapons. The lie that the Trudeau government stopped all arms exports to Israel earlier this year. As it turns out they do not need export permits nor approvals to send weapons to the US, which in turn sends them to the Israeli military.

Here to talk to us more is Rachel Small from World Beyond War who has been monitoring and supporting grassroots resistance to the Canada-Israel arms trade.

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Check out their map of the companies across Canada arming Israel here.

Thank you for listening to the ‘Palestine Debrief’ podcast. This podcast is produced by Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) and hosted by Wissam El Cheikh Hassan.

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Canada is adamant on their support to Israel, despite when it is becoming extensively clear that Israel is driving the whole world to the brink of a third world war.

With the attack that happened last Friday night in a school in Gaza that killed 100 people gathering for morning prayers, it is imperative to understand why Canada refuses to change its stance on Israel.

Here to help us make sense of all this, is Professor of Sociology at Mount Royal University and author of 2 books, and writer of serval political articles on racism, decolonisation, in several news outlets Muhannad Ayyash.

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Thank you for listening to the ‘Palestine Debrief’ podcast. This podcast is produced by Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) and hosted by Wissam El Cheikh Hassan.

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On July 19th 2024 the ICJ court released its decision regarding Israel’s illegal occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. It concluded in its ruling that Israel’s continued presence in the occupied territory is illegal and must end as soon as possible. It included Israel’s prolonged occupation, it’s settlement expansion, continuous annexation of the territory, its apartheid policies, as well as providing full reparations, restitution and compensation including the return of all the land and the evacuation of its settlements. Additionally, the ruling said that all states, including Canada, are under obligation to cooperate with the UN in bringing an end to the occupation, and are not to render any assistance in maintaining the situation created by Israel’s illegal presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Here to give us clarity on the ICJ ruling, its importance and significance, what to expect in how Canada would react, is Canadian legal academic, and associate professor at University of Western Ontario, professor Michael Lynk. He was the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the 1967 occupied Palestinian Territories.

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Thank you for listening to the ‘Palestine Debrief’ podcast. This podcast is produced by Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) and hosted by Wissam El Cheikh Hassan.

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On April 2nd, pro-Palestinian student groups in Montreal started an encampment on the McGill campus, demanding that the university divest its finances from companies complicit in Israel's genocide in Gaza, like weapons companies BAE Systems and Lockheed Martin.

Early this morning, on the 10th of July, it was dismantled. McGill hired a private security firm to shut down the encampment, after the university failed to have it disbanded by the police and following 2 injunctions which were rejected by Quebec courts.

I want to share a conversation that I recorded last week with SPHR McGill, which is one of the key organizations behind the encampment. Although it was recorded prior to the dismantling of the camp, it remains extensively relevant to what has happened today and beyond. We discuss very important elements related to the cause of demonstrating Israel’s atrocities and the complicity of North American universities in genocide, through research and financial means. We also talk about the encampment’s mission and demands, McGill’s investments in weapons manufacturing, and about previous anti-war and anti-aparthied encampments on McGill.

Thank you for listening to the ‘Palestine Debrief’ podcast. This podcast is produced by Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) and hosted by Wissam El Cheikh Hassan.

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Our guest for this episode is Dr. Yipeng Ge - follow him on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

Within the first 36 hours of Israel’s attack on Gaza after Oct. 7, Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahia, Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Al Quds Hospital in Gaza City, amongst other, have been attacked. And it didn’t stop there. For the past 8 months Israel has intentionally and aggressively targetting, attacking and bombing hospitals - to an extent that they are not hiding it anymore, and in many cases boasting about it.

Within 2 months after Oct. 7 90% of Gaza’s hospital in the North were damaged or destroyed. As of Feb 13, only 10 hospitals in all of Gaza are partially functioning. 374 health workers killed, 120 ambulances completely destroyed.

Hospitals was the last refuge for the displaced and injured, it was the first thing Israel bombed.

Thank you for listening to the ‘Palestine Debrief’ podcast. This podcast is produced by Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) and hosted by Wissam El Cheikh Hassan.

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On October 16, 2023, the Canadian government appointed Deborah Lyons, former Ambassador of Canada to Israel (2016-2020), as the new Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combating Antisemitism. The Special Envoy Lyon's office is a joint unit of both Canadian Heritage and Global Affairs Canada, bringing her role into the realm of international relations (whereas the Special Representative on Combating Islamophobia is singularly located in Canadian Heritage). Additionally, her mandate comes directly from the Prime Minister, and it involves promoting the controversial and anti-Palestinian International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism (IHRA). It also includes the creation of an IHRA handbook, purportedly to help civil servants, politicians, and police departments to apply it to real-world situations.

Critics have long warned that IHRA conflates legitimate criticism of Israel and Zionism with antisemitism. For that reason it has long been understood as a threat to the full exercise of Canadians' Charter Rights, as it targets political expression including criticism of Israeli policies and activism for Palestinian rights. CJPME argues that IHRA is an instrument intended to suppress Palestinian perspectives, as well as the discussion of topics such as apartheid. IHRA should therefore be understood as a form of state-sponsored anti-Palestinian racism.

Thank you for listening to the ‘Palestine Debrief’ podcast. This podcast is produced by Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) and hosted by Wissam El Cheikh Hassan.

Click here to support the work of CJPME. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, or Tiktok.

Click here to leave us your comments, or email us at info@cjpme.org.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions of our guests are their own and do not necessarily represent the positions of CJPME.

Resources:
- CJPME report, "Defaming the Pro-Palestine Movement"
- Canada’s Special Envoy must be replaced after spreading misinformation to defame the pro-Palestine movement: CJPME

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