Canada and its political leaders will be held accountable for complicity in the genocide of Palestinians by Israel

It is time to hold all Canadian leaders accountable – political, corporate, academic or otherwise – who have tried to silence and erase Palestinian voices, before another year passes and thousands more innocents are murdered in a genocide that is the most transparent in history.

By Fareed Khan

As the year 2025 begins, the phrase “Happy New Year” rings hollow for millions around the world, especially for the Palestinian people enduring the horrors of genocide in Gaza.  The scale of the atrocities committed by Israel against Palestinians — recognized as genocide by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the University Network for Human Rights (a global consortium of university human rights centres) and the UN Special Committee to investigate Israel’s war in Gaza (among others) — is horrific.

Over 54,000 Palestinians have been reported killed since the genocide began in October 2023 according to Geneva-based Euromed Human Rights Monitor.  Among the dead are 17,627 children and 10,892 women.  In addition, 113,220 have been injured, well over 90% of the population has been displaced, more than 90% of the hospitals and health care facilities have been destroyed, over 77% all the buildings in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged, and the enclave has been transformed into a post-apocalyptic hellscape.  However, a report released by the British medical journal Lancet in June 2024 estimates the actual Palestinian death toll could be as high as 186,000 or even higher — that’s roughly 8% of Gaza’s population.

Yet, despite the overwhelming evidence that has been revealed to the world of Israel’s crimes Canada continues to stand with the US and other Western nations in support of the terrorist state, and has turned a blind eye to the immense suffering that has been inflicted on an innocent people without an army, navy or air force to defend themselves against one of the most powerful military forces in the world.

The complicity of Canada in the ongoing genocide is not merely a matter of indifference, it is an active endorsement through Canada’s continued military support and trade relations with Israel.  When Russia invaded Ukraine Canada took quick and decisive action against the Russian government and key officials by suspending trade and imposing sanctions.  No such action has been taken against Israel despite the fact that the evidence of Israeli crimes is far greater than the evidence that had been presented against Russia during the early stages of the invasion of Ukraine.

Canadian-made weapons have contributed directly to the violence inflicted upon Palestinian civilians — violence that has been institutionalized and perpetuated at an astonishing rate.  What more must transpire for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Opposition leader Pierre Poilievre and other Canadian politicians to recognize that Canada is not a neutral observer of Israeli crimes but rather an enabler of the genocide of Palestinians?

The Nuremberg Trials after World War 2 defined the crimes that the Nazis had committed as the ultimate crime against humanity.  So, for Canada and its leaders to support a nation that commits such acts, whether through words or actions, makes them just as culpable in the crimes committed.  

Leaders like Trudeau and Poilievre exemplify a political establishment at every level in Canada steeped in this complicity.  Despite the outcry from hundreds of thousands of Canadian via emails and weekly pro-Palestinian demonstrations in different locations across the country, and public sentiment that increasingly opposes Canada’s support for Israel, both leaders and their parties continue to voice support for the racist Apartheid state and its so-called right to defend itself, perpetuating a narrative that denies recognition of the lived experiences and suffering of Palestinians.

The polls also tell a disturbing story with a majority of Canadians opposing the government’s tacit and explicit support for Israel, expressing a collective awareness of the genocide being perpetrated.  There is a growing recognition among Canadians that we are faced with a moral crisis at the highest levels of politics in this country which requires us as ordinary citizens to respond and stand up for the humanity and dignity of a brutally oppressed people when our leaders choose to sideline humanity for political expediency.  While the voices of justice for the Palestinian cause find amplification on social media platforms, a question persists – if we do not demand that our government cease its complicity in genocide now, what will we say when history asks us what we did while a modern genocide unfolded every day before our eyes?

It is crucial to understand that the political complicity of Trudeau, Poilievre, their parties, and others transcends mere rhetoric. These leaders have made conscious choices to sustain policies and relationships that embolden the oppressive, racist regime in Israel, benefiting from a geopolitical stance that echoes colonial values while providing Israel with the means to continue its catastrophic assault on Palestinians.  The failure to act against such policies is a fundamental betrayal of the humanitarian principles that Canada professes to uphold.

Any reasonable person must question the moral fabric that underpins a government’s decision to foster international relationships with states that engage in actions that fit the legal definition of “genocide.”  The course that the Canadian government has taken reflects an insensitive and heatless approach that can only stem from deeply entrenched and systemic anti-Palestinian racism and a disregard for the value of Palestinian lives.  The pervasive anti-Palestinian sentiment that permeates Canada’s political ecosystem indicates a willingness to be silent and do nothing when deadly violence is committed against defenceless people, when it aligns with domestic political concerns, which in this case means maintaining support among certain segments of Jewish Canadian voters who support Israel’s racist, Zionist ideology and its goals of erasing Palestinians from the lands controlled by Israel.

Moreover, the absence of accountability for these actions is deeply disturbing.  Trudeau’s and Poilievre’s insistence on narratives that disproportionately favor Israel stands as a testament to Canada’s political double standards when you compare this country’s response to crimes committed by Russia against Ukraine and Israeli crimes against Palestinians.  How can we reconcile this difference in response to Israel in the face of irrefutable evidence of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, compared to Canada’s actions against Russia?  How can we overlook the responsibility that leaders hold when their words and actions enable the perpetuation of brutal and sustained violence?  The case for charging politicians like Trudeau and Poilievre with complicity in these crimes is not without precedent.  It is a demand for accountability rooted in the law and a commitment to justice. 

As evidence mounts and global condemnation rises, Canadians must no longer accept the perpetuation of complicity in genocide through their political leadership. It is a moral imperative to demand immediate policy changes, renouncing military support for Israel and advocating for Palestinian rights unequivocally.  Silence, in this case, only furthers complicity, becoming an extension of the violence that is inflicted upon countless individuals in Gaza, as well as against Palestinian voices in Canada fighting for justice and freedom for their people.

To quote Ha’aretz columnist B. Michael from a column he wrote in May of this year, “What did we learn from the Holocaust?  Nothing.”  By supporting Israel as it commits genocide, selling it weapons used to commit genocidal crimes, and refusing to condemn its criminal acts, Canada’s leaders are not only flouting the international laws, conventions and treaties this nation claims to uphold, they are also demonstrating that all the lessons of the Holocaust have been forgotten or (more likely) are being wilfully ignored for the sake of domestic political considerations, thereby enabling horrific crimes.

Everyday that passes where innocent lives continue to be extinguished is a painful reminder of our governments’ failures.  The discourse must shift from complicity to accountability.  Canadians must mobilize more than they already have — raising voices, lobbying for change, and striving to elect and support leaders who value humanity over politics.  The human suffering and misery that has unfolded in Gaza since October 2023 requires nothing less than a resolute demand for justice and political reprisals against those did nothing to help stop the carnage, or worse yet supported the criminal regime committing the crimes.

As 2025 begins, we cannot let it simply be the start of another year of indifference.  Instead, let it be the beginning of a year when Canadians compel their leaders to find their humanity, when we stand in solidarity with the oppressed and brutalized, and when we demand that our leaders be charged and tried for their criminal complicity in the genocide Israel is committing against the Palestinian people.  The call for justice is loud and long overdue.  Let it echo through the halls of power and pierce the complacency, indifference and prejudice that enables Israel’s atrocities in Gaza.  It is time to hold all Canadian leaders accountable – political, corporate, academic or otherwise – who have tried to silence and erase Palestinian voices, before another year passes and thousands more innocents are murdered in a genocide that is the most transparent in history.

 

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