A call for the NDP to withdraw from the Canada-Israel Interparliamentary Group
by The Undersigned
June 20, 2018
The statement’s signers include the English musician Roger Waters; prominent U.S. academics Noam Chomsky and Richard Falk; Maher Arar, a Time Magazine most influential person; Amir Khadir, a member of the Quebec National Assembly; Jim Manly, the former NDP member of parliament; journalist and author Linda McQuaig; and Mike Palecek, President of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers.
The Interparliamentary Group promotes “greater friendship” between Canadian MPs and members of the Israeli Knesset.
NDP justice critic Murray Rankin and NDP defence critic Randall Garrison are on its executive committee. NDP MPs Peter Julian and Gord Johns also belong.
“We are concerned that members of parliament would seek to strengthen relations with a country systematically violating Palestinian rights,” the statement reads.
“It is wholly inconsistent with the avowed principles of the NDP for the party to be working for ‘greater friendship’ with a country that is killing and maiming thousands of overwhelmingly non-violent protestors, many of them children, while systematically violating international law and human rights standards with regard to all Palestinians.”
The statement calls on NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, MPs Garrison, Rankin, Julian, and Johns, and the parliamentary caucus to immediately disassociate from the Canada-Israel Interparliamentary Group.
Full text of the statement and list of signers:
The undersigned are appalled by the recent deaths in Gaza. At least 110 Palestinians have been killed and thousands injured by sniper fire and noxious gas used by the Israeli military.
The recent violence takes place alongside ongoing land theft, destruction of olive groves, construction of Jewish-only roads, imprisonment without due process and a blockade of Gaza.
During its 70-year history Israel has been as unjust towards Palestinians as the white-ruled apartheid state was to Black South Africans.
We are concerned that members of parliament would seek to strengthen relations with a country systematically violating Palestinian rights.
In particular, we are dismayed that NDP justice critic Murray Rankin and NDP defence critic Randall Garrison serve as executive members of the Canada-Israel Interparliamentary Group. NDP MPs Peter Julian and Gord Johns are also members of that organization.
The Canada-Israel Interparliamentary Group promotes “greater friendship” between Canadian MPs and members of the Israeli Knesset and has organized events with other pro-Israel lobby organizations.
It is wholly inconsistent with the avowed principles of the NDP for the party to be working for “greater friendship” with a country that is killing and maiming thousands of overwhelmingly non-violent protestors, many of them children, as well as journalists and doctors, while systematically violating international law and human rights standards with regard to all Palestinians.
Accordingly, we call on NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, MPs Garrison, Rankin, Julian, and Johns, and the parliamentary caucus to immediately disassociate themselves from the Canada-Israel Interparliamentary Group.
List of individuals and groups endorsing statement:
Yves Engler, author, NDP memberRoger Waters, co-founder Pink Floyd
Chris Cook, Managing Editor/Broadcaster - Pacific Free Press/Gorilla Radio
Noam Chomsky, professor
Linda McQuaig, author, NDP candidate
Maher Arar, 2007 Time Magazine 100 most influential people in the world
Amir Khadir, Québec Solidaire, member National Assembly of Quebec
Sid Ryan, former president of the Ontario Federation of Labour, NDP member since 1981
Mike Palecek, President Canadian Union of Postal Workers
Chris Hedges, author
Steve Ashton, long-serving NDP member of the Manitoba legislature and cabinet minister
Monia Mazigh, academic, author and former NDP candidate
Jim Manly, former NDP MP 1980-88
Richard Falk, Professor of International Law, Emeritus, Princeton University
Norman Finkelstein, author
Antonia Zerbisias, CBC-TV and Toronto Star veteran journalist, NDP member
Medea Benjamin, co-founder CodePink
El Jones, activist, educator, journalist and poet
Gordon Laxer, Professor Emeritus University of Alberta, NDP member since 1963
Jean Swanson, author, Vancouver housing and poverty activist, NDP member
Murray Dobbin, journalist, broadcaster and author
Azeezah Kanji, (JD, LLM) legal analyst and writer
Stephen von Sychowski, President, Vancouver & District Labour Council
Mike Bocking, former Unifor Local 2000 president and federal NDP candidate in 2004, 2006 and 2008
Sheelah McLean, Co-founder of Idle No More, NDP member
Alain Deneault, author, Directeur de programme, Collège international de philosophie
Ramzy Baroud, editor Palestine Chronicle, author My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza's Untold Story
Sana Hassainia, former NDP MP
Will Prosper, filmmaker and civil rights activist
Charles Demers, writer/comedian, NDP member
Rob Lyons, Former NDP Member of Saskatchewan Legislature (Regina Rosemont)
Saron Gebresellassi, Human Rights Lawyer and Activist
Clayton Thomas-Müller Stop-it-at-the-Source Campaigner - 350.org, NDP member Manitoba
Leon Rosselson, Songwriter & children’s author
Cy Gonick, former Manitoba NDP MLA and founding editor of Canadian Dimension
Propagandhi: Jord Samolesky, Chris Hannah, Todd Kowalski and Sulynn Hago
Andrea Harden, climate justice organizer and NDP member
Sam Gindin, Retired, Unifor Research Director and Retired, Packer Chair in Social Justice, York
Trevor Herriot, author and naturalist
Harsha Walia, activist and writer
Sandy Hudson, activist and writer
Ellen Woodsworth, writer, organizer and former Vancouver City councillor
Judi Rever, author
Candace Savage, author of two-dozen books, NDP member
Aziz Fall, president Centre Internationaliste Ryerson Fondation Aubin
Corey Balsam, National Coordinator, Independent Jewish Voices Canada
Gary Porter, FCPA, FCGA, CA, executive member Saanich Gulf Islands, NDP EDA
Sibel Epi Ataoğul, Labour and human rights lawyer and lecturer at the University of Montreal, founding member of the Association des juristes progressistes, former NDP member
Terry Engler, President I.L.W.U. Local 400
Hossein Fazeli, writter and film director, winner of 37 awards
Martin Duckworth, documentary film-maker, winner of le Prix du Québec 2015
Dara Culhane, Professor of Anthropology at Simon Fraser University, winner 2018 Weaver Tremblay award of the Canadian Association of Anthropology
Gary Kinsman, gay liberation and social justice activist, co-author of The Canadian War on Queers
Ernest Tate, former vice-president of CUPE, Local One
Jess MacKenzie, long time NDP activist
Herman Rosenfeld, retired Canadian Auto Workers national staff person, former NDP member
Mohammad Fadel, Associate Professor of Law University of Toronto Faculty of Law
Chris Huxley, Professor Emeritus, Trent University, long-time NDP member
Charlene Gannage, Associate Professor Emerita, University of Windsor, long-time NDP member
Samir Gandesha, Associate Prof and Director of the Institute for the Humanities, SFU
Reem Bahdi, Associate Professor of Law
Faisal Kutty, Lawyer and Professor of Law
Natalie Zemon Davis, Professor of History
Tyler Shipley, Professor of Culture, Society and Commerce, Humber College
Joseph G. Debanné, former Chair of the Middle East Discussion Group
Yavar Hameed, Human Rights Lawyer, Former NDP Member
Robert Massoud, Beit Zatoun
Faisal Bhabha, Associate Professor Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, NDP Member
Emily Carasco, Professor Emeritus
Martin Lukacs, writer
Jason Woods, Vice-President I.L.W.U. Local 400
Leslie Miller, retired Sociology professor at the University of Calgary, NDP supporter
Suzanne Weiss, Palestinian rights activist and Holocaust survivor
John Riddell, author and editor, NDP member
John Orrett, President Thornhill NDP Federal Riding Association
Richard Fidler, writer, translator, Ontario Bar
Maria Páez Victor Chair, Canadian, Latin American and Caribbean Policy Centre
Marion Pollack, retired Canadian Union of Postal Workers representative, NDP donor
Marv Gandall, former journalist and trade unionist
Art Young, Palestine solidarity activist, Canadian political prisoner, Quebec 1970
Andrea Glickman, NDP member, Vancouver
Nick Fillmore, news editor and producer with the CBC for more than 20 years
Conrad Alexandrowicz, theatre artist, scholar, instructor at University of Victoria, NDP member
Nadia Abu-Zahra, Associate Professor, University of Ottawa, NDP donor and long-time member
David Rifat, Professor Emeritus, University of Toronto
Tim McCaskell, author, Queer Progress
Larry Hannant, writer, historian and NDP donor
Richard Sanders, researcher, writer, antiwar activist
Cara-Lee Malange, peace activist
Larry Wartels, born Jewish, NDP Member Victoria BC
Randy Janzen, College Instructor: Peace and Justice Studies
Fred Jones, former president Dawson Teachers’ Union, NDP member
Ali Mallah, Federal NDP Candidate Election 2000, Former Vice President Ontario NDP
Grahame Russell, director Rights Action
Peter Eglin, Professor Emeritus of Sociology, Wilfrid Laurier University, long-time NDP member
Michael A. Lebowitz, Professor Emeritus of Economics, Simon Fraser University
Hassan Husseini, labour negotiator and activist, Member of Unifor and Labour for Palestine
John Price, Professor of History, University of Victoria, longtime NDP supporter
Greg AlboDepartment of Politics, York University, Centre for Social Justice
William S. Geimer, Professor of Law Emeritus, member of Vancouver Island Peace and Disarmament Network
Anthony Fenton, researcher PhD Candidate at York U
Arnold August, author
Steve Heeren, Professor, Convener, Palestine Study Group
Katherine Nastovski, Associate - Institute on Globalization and the Human Condition, McMaster University and Labour for Palestine
Evert Hoogers, Labour researcher, retired CUPW National Union Representative
David Bernans, union leader, NDP candidate and current NDP member
Eva Manly, retired filmmaker, activist, lifelong NDP, now Green
Robert Mahood, Family Physician, member of NDP Socialist Caucus
Kevin Neish, Mavi Marmara massacre survivor
Sid Shniad, Research Director, Telecommunications Workers Union (retired), Member, national steering committee, Independent Jewish Voices Canada
Ken Hiebert, Palestine solidarity activist and retired trade unionist
Howard Breen, Executive Director Urgent Climate and Ocean Rapid Response, Unifor 433
Tareq Ismael, professor
Kimball Cariou, editor of People's Voice newspaper
Debbie Hubbard, Member of Amnesty International Kelowna, Palestine Study Group Vernon, NDP member
Mark Golden, professor emeritus of Classics, University of Winnipeg, longtime NDP donor and campaign worker
Kevin Skerrett, trade union researcher
Randy Caravaggio, Sculptor
Al Engler, retired trade unionist and long-time NDP member
Tsiporah Grignon, awakened citizen, Gabriola Island, BC
Mazin Qumsiyeh, director of the Palestine Museum of Natural History at the Palestine Institute of Biodiversity and Sustainability at Bethlehem University
Lia Tarachansky, Israeli-Canadian journalist and documentary filmmaker
Charlotte Kates, International Coordinator, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
Walid Chahal, Continuing Lecturer, Lakehead University; co-chair Diversity Thunder Bay, former NDP member
Phil Little, retired teacher from Ontario Ladysmith, B.C.
Taina Maki Chahal, Contract Lecturer, Lakehead University, former NDP member
Karen Rodman, Reverend, NDP member
Morgan McGuigan, ESL Teacher
Jean Rands, retired trade unionist and long-time NDP member
Joan Russow, Global Compliance Research Project
Laura Westra, Professor Emerita (Philosophy)
Jason Kunin, Toronto teacher and writer
Henry Evans-Tenbrinke, Human Rights, Labour and Pro Palestine activist
Julius Arscott Executive Board Member of OPSEU and member of NDP Socialist Caucus
Ken Stone, Hamilton Mountain NDP member for 35 years
Ian Angus, editor Climate & Capitalism
Erika Shaker, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives director of the Education Project, NDP member
Amy Miller, documentary filmmaker, NDP member
Alroy Fonseca, Federal NDP member
Bob Chandler, COPE 343 member, Toronto Danforth NDP member
Paul Tetrault, Cupe Staff Lawyer (retired), longtime NDP member
Eva Bartlett, activist and independent journalist who lived three years in Gaza
DimitriLascaris,lawyer, journalist and activist, NDP member
Kevin MacKay, author, professor at Mohawk College of Applied Arts and Technology, labour and co-op activist
Reuben Roth, Associate Professor, Labour Studies Program Laurentian University, NDP activist in Oshawa riding since 1984
Aminah Sheikh, union organizer, worked on numerous NDP campaigns
Eric Martin, professor of philosophy, Edouard-Montpetit CEGEP
Byron Rempel-Burkholder, member of Mennonite Church Manitoba working group on Palestine and Israel
Krishna Lalbiharie, Member Canada-Palestine Support Network, President St. Johns NDP Constituency (Manitoba)
Michael J. Carpenter, Postdoctoral fellow, University of Victoria
Mark Etkin, MD FRCPC
Ed Lehman, NDP member, Cupar, Saskatchewan
Bianca Mugyenyi, activist and author
Rana Bose, Engineer, author and playwright, NDP member NDG borough
Norman Nawrocki, Author, musician, actor, part-time faculty Concordia
Rachel Engler-Stringer, Associate Professor, Community Health and Epidemiology, University of Saskatchewan, NDP member
Joe Emersberger, Unifor member, writer
David Weller, retired teacher and IJV member
Eric Shragge, retired professor
Gary Engler retired union officer with Unifor Local 2000 in Vancouver, NDP member
Monira kitmitto, Canadian Palestinian activist and NDP member
David Kattenburg, science educator, web publisher and social activist
Stephen Ellis, lawyer and activist
Barry Weisleder, Chairperson NDP Socialist Caucus, delegate to most NDP federal and provincial conventions since 1971
David Heap,Associate Professor, UWO, human rights & peace advocate, NDP member
Avrum Rosner, Retired union president, son of Holocaust survivors, joined Manitoba NDP in 1969
Diane Field, PhD Candidate at University of Calgary
David Lethbridge, professor of psychology, retired
Ray Zimmermann mariner captain
Sharon Hazelwood: political musician, long-time NDP activist
Chris Black, lawyer, former NDP member
Hani A. Faris, Ph.D. Professor of Political science
Freda Knott, Raging Granny, NDP member, Independent Jewish Voices Victoria
Cory Greenlees, Victoria Peace Coalition
SL Rifat, Neuroepidemiologist
Geneviève Nevin, organizer Independent Jewish Voices Canada-Victoria, NDP activist and member
Gavin Fridell, Canada Research Chair in International Development, NDP member
Justin Podur, Associate Professor, York University
Rana Abdulla, CPA Palestinian Activist and fights for what's right Human Rights Award Recipient 2014
Georgina Kirkman, member of Independent Jewish Voicesand Amnesty International, Victoria
Mostafa Henaway,organizer at Immigrant Workers Centre
Bruce Katz, organizer Palestinian and Jewish Unity, former NDP member
Malcolm Guy, filmmaker, Montréal
Jooneed Khan, writer, journalist, Human rights activist, former NDP member
Annette Lengyel, Human rights and social justice advocate, NDP member Calgary Nose Hill
Theresa Wolfwood, Barnard-Boecker Centre Foundation
Dan Freeman-Maloy, postdoctoral fellow, Université du Québec à Montréal
Sheryl Nestel, PhD, NDP member
Alan Sears, Professor, Ryerson University
David Camfield, labour activist and educator
Freda Guttman, Artist/Activist, member of Tadamon
Virginia Daniel, Victoria Raging Granny, CAIA member, NDP member
Judith Deutsch, psychoanalyst
Ron Dart, Department of Political Science/Philosophy/Religious Studies University of the Fraser Valley
Susan Clarke, non-partisan peace activist, Sooke BC
Kevin MacKay, former Campaigns Officer at Ontario Public Service Employees Union
Dru Oja Jay, co-founder of the Media Co-op, Friends of Public Services and Courage
Edwin E. Daniel, WWII veteran, scientist and peace activist
Antonio Artuso, activist, translator and interpreter - Communist Reconstruction Canada
Derrick O'Keefe, Vancouver-based organizer and editor with Ricochet Media
Henry Veltmeyer, professor Emeritus of Development Studies at Saint Mary's University
Jerome Klassen, UMASS Boston, author of several books on Canadian foreign policy
Suha Jarrar, Policy Researcher at Al-Haq human rights organization in Ramallah, Palestine
Ismail Zayid M.D. President, Canada Palestine Association
William K. Carroll, Professor and Co-director of the Corporate Mapping Project Sociology Department University of Victoria
Mohammad Ali, the Socialist Vocalist, Artist
Yazan Khader, former member of Nova Scotia NDP Provincial Council
Andrew Mitrovica, writer and former executive assistant to NDP MPs Pauline Jewett and Simon de Jong
Groups:
Independent Jewish Voices Canada
Canada Palestine Support Network (CanPalNet)
Victoria Peace CoalitionNDP Socialist Caucus
Canadian BDS Coalition
Palestinian and Jewish Unity
Toronto BDS Action
United for Palestine Toronto/GTA
People For Peace London, Ontario
Socialist Action / Ligue pour l'Action socialiste
Palestine Solidarity Network - Edmonton
Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid Victoria
Mid-Islanders for Justice and Peace in the Middle East
Barnard-Boecker Centre Foundation
Canada Palestine Association
Canadian Peace Congress
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