"My organization has also pointed out that Canada’s Minister of Small Business, Export Promotion and International Trade of Canada, Mary Ng met recently with Ofir Akunis, a minister in Israel's far-right government. In addition to serving in Israel’s most right-wing government ever, Minister Akunis is himself an anti-Palestinian extremist and a supremacist. While the international community (and all of Canada’s federal parties) support an independent state for Palestinians, Akunis supports Israel’s full annexation of the Palestinian West Bank, stating, 'I will never agree to the establishment of a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria [the occupied West Bank] and I will continue to promote, with all my might, the application of sovereignty [annexation], which is an historical process that cannot be prevented.' In 2017, he claimed that 'Israel in its entirety is the country of the Jewish People, and the right to it belongs only to the Jewish People.'"
March 7, 2023
To:
Dylan Robertson, Canadian Press
Dear Mr. Robertson,
I’m writing to you on behalf of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME, https://www.cjpme.org) to express my appreciation of your recent article (“Advocacy group criticizes 3 senators for meeting with right-wing politician in Israel”) on the three Canadian senators’ recent meeting with right-wing politician Amir Ohana. In the context of spreading right-wing extremism and post-truth political polarization in Canada, it is important that the public be made aware of such nefarious connections.
Nevertheless, I would have liked to have seen mention of other controversial meetings between Canadian politicians and extreme right-wing figures from Israel. Late in 2022, for example, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and his deputy leader Melissa Lantsman met with Chaim Silberstein, a far-right Israeli figure who has said Israeli settlers should be free to “shoot to kill” rock-wielding Palestinians. Among Silberstein’s other reprehensible comments:
- “There never was a Palestinian history. This land never belonged to them, never… They never had a state, they never had any rights to their country.”
- In response to Palestinian population growth in East Jerusalem, Silberstein wrote, “There never was a Palestinian history. This land never belonged to them, never… They never had a state, they never had any rights to their country.”
This was not the first time Silberstein has met with Canadian politicians. A Ricochet article points out that he met with both Conservative and Liberal MPs, including former Liberal justice minister Irwin Cotler and the leadership of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs.
My organization has also pointed out that Canada’s Minister of Small Business, Export Promotion and International Trade of Canada, Mary Ng met recently with Ofir Akunis, a minister in Israel's far-right government. In addition to serving in Israel’s most right-wing government ever, Minister Akunis is himself an anti-Palestinian extremist and a supremacist. While the international community (and all of Canada’s federal parties) support an independent state for Palestinians, Akunis supports Israel’s full annexation of the Palestinian West Bank, stating, “I will never agree to the establishment of a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria [the occupied West Bank] and I will continue to promote, with all my might, the application of sovereignty [annexation], which is an historical process that cannot be prevented.” In 2017, he claimed that “Israel in its entirety is the country of the Jewish People, and the right to it belongs only to the Jewish People.”
We appreciate your vigilance to such inappropriate and alarming meetings between Canadian politicians and right-wing figures from other countries. The rights that we enjoy in our multicultural Canadian society are undermined when our elected leaders give legitimacy to leaders in other countries who express racist and intolerant views.
Should you wish, feel free to contact me at 438-380-5410 for any reason.
Sincerely,
Thomas Woodley, MPA
President, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East