Canadian Jewish groups call on Trudeau to go back to ‘principled’ voting at UN

Top Jewish organizations call for a return to Canada’s policy of not voting in favor of the UN’s annual anti-Israel resolutions.

By Paul Shindman, World Israel News

Three leading Jewish organizations in Canada called on the Trudeau government Monday to return to Canada’s policy of not supporting biased United Nations votes against Israel.

B’nai Brith Canada, the Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) and Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) sent a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne, urging the Canadian government “to return to its principled and unequivocal opposition” to the annual UN vote on a basket of 16 resolutions titled “The Question of Palestine.”

The UN is set to vote again this week on the same anti-Israel resolutions. The groups are concerned after Canada voted twice last year in favor of the pro-Palestinian lobby.

“For nearly 20 years, successive Canadian governments have rejected such toxic and one-sided resolutions, declaring that they projected a distorted narrative of the conflict in the Middle East and were unhelpful in advancing peace,” said Michael Levitt, President and CEO of FSWC and a former Liberal member of parliament.

That policy changed last November when Canada voted in favor of a resolution last year that says Israel’s security barrier “impedes the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination,” failing to mention that the barrier was built to prevent Palestinian suicide bombers who had killed almost 1,200 Israeli civilians between 2000 and 2005. A month later Canada again voted in favor of an anti-Israel resolution.

“This annual exercise attacking Israel employs offensive language that does not promote peace and prejudges the outcome of negotiations,” said B’nai Brith Canada CEO Michael Mostyn. “Through unbalanced and prejudicial support for Palestinian self-determination, this resolution in particular denies the very same inherent right to the Jewish people. It impairs the legitimate goals and the effectiveness of the United Nations.”

CIJA head Shimon Koffler Fogel noted the unity among the diverse Jewish groups writing to Trudeau, saying it “underscores how deeply this issue resonates within Canada’s Jewish community.”

“We understand that Canada is looking for ways to re-affirm its support for a peaceful resolution that results in two states for two peoples,” Koffler Fogel said. “However, there are far more constructive opportunities for Canada to do so, especially given that support for this resolution perpetuates the distortion and abuse of the United Nations and its agencies.”