Thank you, Mr. Chair and committee, for this opportunity to present before you today.

Independent Jewish Voices is a national organization with members and local chapters across Canada and Quebec. In our diversity, we come together as Jews to pursue a just, peaceful and dignified future for Palestinian and Israeli peoples and against all forms of racism, including anti-Semitism and anti-Palestinian racism.

While we gather today, it bears emphasizing that the Palestinian people are facing what has now been widely deemed a genocide in Gaza. The situation in northern Gaza was further described by the heads of prominent UN agencies just a few days ago as “nothing short of apocalyptic.” As Jews and Canadians, we are driven by the post-Holocaust edict of “never again”. To us, that unequivocally means never again for anyone.

We are likewise motivated by Jewish values, in particular the unyielding pursuit of justice. I personally lived among Palestinians in the occupied West Bank for several years and can attest to the grave injustices experienced there, and also to the warmth and kind-hearted nature of the Palestinian people.

Mr. Chair, we cannot allow the status quo to continue, and I say this for the benefit of all people in Palestine and Israel.

For far too long, successive Canadian governments have repeated Canada's foreign policy position of supporting a two-state solution while neglecting to take virtually any meaningful action to attain this objective. On the contrary, Canada has been deeply complicit, particularly with Israel's efforts to establish “facts on the ground” in the form of illegal Jewish Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza—and perhaps soon again in Gaza, which will serve to ultimately block the creation of a Palestinian state.

In direct contradiction of Canada's official discourse and Security Council resolution 2334, Canada has refused to differentiate among its trade dealings with Israel, allowing illegal settlements to benefit from privileged access to Canadian markets. It repeatedly voted against UN resolutions in support of fundamental Palestinian human rights, and continues to.

It has also allowed Canadians to receive tax benefits when supporting charities that act as conduits for often violent settler organizations involved in terrorizing Palestinians, confiscating their land and even blocking aid trucks to Gaza. This is real.

Mr. Chair, it's time for Canada to change course. We believe Canada's recognition of a Palestinian state would constitute an important step toward actualizing the right of Palestinians to self-determination, which Canada acknowledges and which we support.

Of course, it can't stop there. Recognizing Palestinian statehood alone, without taking steps to end our complicity and apply pressure on Israel, would render such a move virtually inconsequential. If Canada is truly serious about supporting a rules-based international order, it must take action now and accompany statehood recognition with concrete action to that end.

The following are our recommendations.

First, take immediate steps to end Canada's complicity in Israeli occupation and the settlement enterprise, as mandated by the recent ICJ decision. To do this, we recommend beginning with an audit of the various ways in which Canadian policy functions, either directly or indirectly, to make Palestinian self-determination and statehood less and less achievable every day, not to mention aiding and abetting the very war crimes Canada claims to oppose.

Second, impose sanctions on Israeli officials and institutions at the highest levels in relation to both the ongoing genocide and the military occupation and settlement project in the West Bank. Canada has begun to sanction a few low-level actors. That is a step forward, but one that is grossly insufficient, given the urgent nature of the situation right now.

Finally, we recommend that Canada retract its adoption of the anti-Palestinian IHRA definition of “antisemitism” included in the handbook released last week, both because of its absolute perversion of the important fight against anti-Semitism and because it has a role in chilling vital advocacy efforts for Palestinian human rights at this critical juncture.

Mr. Chair, the Canadian government has an important role to play in fostering the conditions for viable self-determination for the Palestinian people. We owe it to both Israelis and Palestinians to help create a future in which all peoples in the region can live in peace and freedom.

Thank you very much.