Late last year, Minister of International Cooperation Bev Oda cut Canada's 30 years of association with non-profit advocacy group, KAIROS, without explanation. When pressed, Oda said that the program didn't meet CIDA's current priorities. Another less pragmatic reason surfaced later when Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Jason Kenney explained to the audience at the Global Forum for Combating Anti-Semitism in Jerusalem: "We have articulated and implemented a zero tolerance approach to anti-semitism. What does this mean?

Is the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Antisemitism (CPCCA) playing a dangerous game? According to its website, the CPCCA's mission is "to confront and combat the global resurgence of anti-semitism," which includes "the new fears [that] have arisen especially for those who support the State of Israel.... on some university campuses, Jewish students are being threatened and intimidated to the point that they are not able to express pro-Israel sentiments freely...." The irony is that by conflating anti-semitic prejudice and cogent political opinion, the CPCCA risks removing defences against anti-semitism.

Established 60 years ago, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) is now more relevant than ever, both as the purveyor of essential education, health and relief services and as a reminder to the international community of unfulfilled Palestinian rights that others take for granted. Unfortunately, while the agency's work has increased, so has its funding gap.

“There can be no peace without justice, no justice without law and no meaningful law without a Court to decide what is just and lawful under any given circumstance.”  -Benjamin B. Ferencz, Chief Prosecutor for the United States at the Nuremberg war crimes trial.

The announced press conference that Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon and Israel’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Avigdor Lieberman were to have on Monday June 22, 2009 at 12 pm was cancelled in the morning, without explanation.

Instead, following his meeting with Lieberman, Cannon issued a release (Meeting of Foreign Ministers Strengthens Canada-Israel Partnership) stating that “a range of bilateral issues that support the continuing partnership between Canada and Israel, and matters of mutual concern in the Middle East” was discussed.

All eyes were on Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu this past weekend. Would he rise up to President Obama’s level and accept a Palestinian state, or would he pander to his right-wing settler allies and reject a just peace? Unfortunately, he has chosen the latter.
 
Netanyahu, however, bought himself some time and cover when he uttered for the first time the phrase ‘Palestinian state.’  This ‘acceptance,’ as touted by friendly journalists, is deeply misleading.  Netanyahu’s idea of a Palestinian state is a misnomer. It is the one outlined by the Likud platform, to be located as he said in "Judea and Samaria," terms that carry specific meaning for the settlers.