For Immediate Release
Montrealers to take the streets against the Canada Israel Free Trade Agreement in Trudeau’s riding
What: Demonstration against Israel’s annexation plan and the Canada Israel Free Trade Agreement
When: Sunday, August 9th, 2pm outside Jarry Metro
Contact: Mostafa Henaway Academics for Palestine, Université Concordia, 514-659-0106, mhenaway@gmail.com (English)
Aaron Lakoff, Independent Jewish Voices, 514-317-6288, aaron@ijvcanada.org (English/French)
Montreal, August 7, 2020 – Montrealers representing a broad coalition of community and labour groups will be holding a demonstration in Justin Trudeau’s riding this Sunday August 9th to demand that the Canadian government do more to stop Israel’s blatant disregard for international law. In January 2020, the Israeli state announced it would illegally annex 30% of the land inside the occupied West Bank beginning on July 1st. While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has delayed the annexation plan for now, this unprecedented threat to peace in the Middle East is still looming. This demonstration in Montreal will be calling on Justin Trudeau and the Canadian government to cancel the Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement (CIFTA) as a deterrent against annexation.
According to a recent EKOS poll, 74% of Canadians oppose Israel’s annexation plan, and 42% of Canadians want to impose economic and/or diplomatic sanctions against Israel should the annexation plan proceed.
“By continuing the CIFTA, the Canadian government gives cover for the Israeli state to continue to violate international law with impunity,” says community activist Mostafa Henaway, a PhD candidate from Academics for Palestine at Concordia University. “Canada is complicit in the annexation of Palestinian lands. Here in Québec and in Canada, due to our economic and diplomatic ties with the Israeli state, we have a deep responsibility to the Palestinian people, and that means we have a responsibility to campaign for the ending of the CIFTA until Palestinian rights and self-determination are respected”.
“Israel is a rogue state, and their annexation plan is criminal,” says Omar Ben Ali, a Palestinian Montrealer, originally from the Jordan Valley in the West Bank. “As Palestinians, we are calling on the powerful countries of the world such as France, the UK, and Canada, to stand up to Israel by imposing sanctions”.
“Annexation is a death knell to any prospect of a just peace in Israel-Palestine,” explains Aaron Lakoff of Independent Jewish Voices (IJV). “As Canadian Jews, we recognize the danger this plan represents for both Palestinians and Jews in the Middle East, and we find it shameful that our own government has done so little to stop it. Justin Trudeau has been all talk and no action when it comes to annexation, and it’s time he put his money where his mouth is by cancelling the CIFTA.”
Sunday’s demonstration will gather outside of Jarry metro for speeches, before heading to Justin Trudeau’s riding office on Cremazie.
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