At a pro-Palestinian event held at the CMHR on March 16, 2024 there was a table where postcards were being handed out for people to sign and send to Foreign Minister Melanie Joly. The postcard made it clear that the sponsors of the event were advocating for the right of return en mass of 1948 Palestinian refugees and all their descendants (now numbering close to 6 million people) to pre-1967 Israel. This would mean for all practical purposes that the State of Israel, a member state of the United Nations, would be destroyed/dismantled as a state in the region. It would nullify the right of the  Jewish people, like all other people, the right to self-determination in their ancestral homeland,  

At no time during the three hour event, entitled "Gaza, Stories of Resilience and Hope" attended by some 500 people and sponsored by the Canadian Palestinian Association of Manitoba and Independent Jewish Voices, did any of the many speakers promote or endorse a two state solution, which is the stated position of the United States and other Western countries, including, of course, Canada. 

The pre-stamped postcard in question made it clear that the Palestinians are not interested in a state living side by side with Israel, but are interested in a Palestinian State replacing Israel. The postcard stated:

Dear Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly,

Palestinians all over the globe, including in Canada, hold true to the hope of returning to their homelands from which their families fled in the face of violent terrorist militias (including the Haganah and Irgun) which committed hundreds of massacres in an ethnic cleansing campaign to claim  Palestine (The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, Ilan Pappe, 2006)

International law, under UN Resolution 3236, reaffirms the rights of Palestinians to return home. Canada is proud to proclaim itself a champion of justice according to international law all over the glove, and yet has done precious little to honour the right of Palestinians to return home: even voting against resolutions to protect the rightful property of Palestinians, as with UN Resolution A/C.4/78/L.12.

Canada must lead the path for the return of Palestinians to their homes and join the growing international and domestic call for the end to Israel's ongoing, violent settler colonial project and displacement of Palestinians since its inception in 1948 (emphasis added). Canada must acknowledge and demand that Palestinians have a right to safely return to their native lands, and encourage the international community to do the same, including but not limited to, voting affirmatively to protect Palestinian land rights at the UN.

I call on Canada to uphold the internationally recognised right of return for Palestinians to Palestine.

Signed

Print Full Name:

City &Province:

OR Postal Code.

Proponents of a two state solution have always said that Palestinians who were displaced in 1948 could be compensated for this, and any right of return would be to a future state in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. (Note that the 2000 Clinton Parameters called for a variety of realistic options including settlement of Palestinian refugees in a separate Palestinian state, as part of a two state solution)It's clear that the above postcard is not talking about this at all, and that those behind it do not accept the right of the Jewish people to self-determination in a State of Israel, no matter how small. By seeking to flood pre-67 Israel will Palestinian refugees, the proponents of this postcard are in reality calling for the elimination of the State of Israel.  Was the Executive Director of the CMHR Isha Khan aware of the contents of this postcard when she gave her welcoming remarks, which reasonably could be seen as implicitly endorsing the political actions of one side in a conflict--political actions designed to undermine the existence of a member state of the UN? Why was such a view welcomed into the CMHR?

In a letter of January 16, 2024 to a Parliamentary Committee made up by a number of Liberal MP's, including MP Anthony housefather and MP Ben Carr, University Presidents were asked questions relating to antisemitism. In his response to the committee University of Manitoba President Dr. Michael Benarroch stated, "The call for the elimination of the State of Israel, or any other state, can reasonably be interpreted as a call for violence against the people within that state and as such would constitute a violation of our policies."

I would suggest that the fine folks at the CMHR consider Benarroch's above words, especially since the Executive Director of the CMHR Isha Khan thanked the crowd at the event for holding their event at the CMHR.  Isn't a call for the return en masse of Palestinian refugees (numbering around 750,000 in 1948, very few of whom are still alive) and all of the descendants of these refugees to homes in villages that no longer exist for all practical purposes a call for violence against the people currently living within the State of Israel ? Are Israelis expected to peacefully give up their State? To the best of my knowledge, the CMHR has not ever suggested or been seen to suggest that any other UN member state be dismantled or otherwise destroyed in such a fashion.

Isha Khan, Executive Director of the CMHR, delivered the land acknowledgement at the event, but she certainly was not suggesting that Canada as a state be dismantled and "returned" to the indigenous people of this country. (By the way, Jews, by virtue of their over 3000 years continuous presence in the land of Israel, as evidenced by historical, archaeological, and DNA evidence are undoubtedly indigenous to the HolyLand, which is their ancestral homeland).

Harold Shuster, of Independent Jewish Voices, an anti-Zionist who is a marginal voice within the Jewish community, in his speech at the event, advocated for Boycott Divestment and Sanctions, and referred to the Palestinian "Nakba" in 1947. He, of course, did not mention that the extremist, uncompromising Palestinian leader, Haj Amin Al  Husseini, the Mufti of Jerusalem, refused to countenance a Jewish homeland in Palestine (no matter how small), and  allied himself with Hitler with a view to finish off the Jews if he'd had the chance. Rather than accept the 1947 UN Partition Plan, the Palestinians and their Arab allies in 1948 made a concerted effort to annihilate the nascent state of Israel, and to kill or expel all its Jewish inhabitants. The Arab rejection of the existence of Israel and the accompanying armed attempt to destroy  is abiding cause of the Palestinian refugee problem. 

In a recent article, former US Ambassador Dennis Ross, stated that for a two state solution to be relevant, the Palestinian leadership "must accept two states for two peoples. Palestinian leaders have never acknowledged that the Jews are a people entitled to self-determination, meaning that they have never accepted the legitimacy of Israel; they have simply acknowledged Israel’s existence as a fact."

I certainly hope and expect that in the future the CMHR is going to be very careful not to undermine or be seen to undermine Israel's very existence. Also, there are pro-Palestinian protesters in the streets of Canada who have cheered on Iran’s most recent missile attacks on Israel. I certainly hope that those views would not be allowed in the CMHR.