The International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued a historic ruling on July 19, 2024 that found multiple and serious international law violations by Israel towards Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including, for the first time, finding Israel responsible for apartheid.
Dear Globe and Mail editors,
I am writing on behalf of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) to express my concern regarding your article titled: “Carney’s foreign policy should focus less on pontificating and more on partnering with allies,” published on October 2, 2025.
While I appreciate that this opinion piece calls out Carney and the Liberal Party for their grandstanding and guileful foreign policy, I take issue with the way it frames the state of Israel.
In particular, I take issue with the following sentence:
“It is no coincidence that Israel remains the only democracy in the Middle East, albeit a “flawed” one according to The Economist’s criteria.”
Flawed democracies are countries where elections are fair and free and basic civil liberties are honoured, but may have issues (e.g. media freedom infringement and minor suppression of political opposition and critics).
Israel can only be considered a flawed democracy if you erase Palestinians, which they have stated is their ultimate goal also known as ethnic cleansing. Roughly 5.5 million Palestinian subjects live in the territories occupied by Israel in 1967: about 3.5 million in the West Bank (including roughly 350,000 in East Jerusalem) and some 2 million in the Gaza Strip. None of them are allowed to vote or run for Knesset, and they have no representation in the political institutions that dictate their lives.
According to B’Tselem, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, in the Gaza Strip, “Israel holds almost all powers pertaining to Gaza residents and determines what their daily lives look like, in no small part due to its near complete control over the movement of people and goods in and out of the Gaza Strip.” This has been used to limit the nutritional intake of people in Gaza for years and has now been intensified into a campaign of mass starvation.
Additionally, in the West Bank, B’Tselem says, “the Palestinian Authority can only govern very limited aspects of life in Palestinian urban centers, and usually requires Israel’s permission even for that, while Israel retains control over all major aspects of life – including the use of force, incarceration, the justice system, planning and building, freedom of movement (to and from Israel, Jordan and Gaza, as well as within the West Bank), resources, the population registry and many more. Regardless of whether elections for the Palestinian Authority are held – there have been none in many years – the true control remains in Israeli hands.”
To call Israel a democracy of any kind is a blatant falsehood and a deliberate detachment from reality. One regime governs the entire area with the goal of advancing and cementing the supremacy of Jews over Palestinians.
This is not democracy. This is apartheid.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued a historic ruling on July 19, 2024 that found multiple and serious international law violations by Israel towards Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including, for the first time, finding Israel responsible for apartheid.
I believe that the Globe and Mail should amend this article to remove the reference to Israel as a democracy. Perpetuating falsehoods that suit your narrative goes against all journalistic ethics and standards.
I await your response,
Nikki Mutch
Media Advocate
Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME)