Besiege Foreign Affairs: CALL/FAX/EMAIL BLITZ OF MACKAY
EXPRESS YOUR OUTRAGE AT CANADA’S SUPPORT FOR ISRAELI WAR CRIMES
In Lebanon as in Gaza, hundreds of people have been killed; bridges, roads, buildings, power plants, petrol stations, ports, airports, vehicles have been destroyed. Israel is maintaining a land, sea and air blockade of the country, with devastating consequences. People are abandoning their homes and fleeing in the hundreds of thousands. Yet the Prime Minister of Canada, continues to frame the military assault as a matter of Israel’s legitimate right to self-defence and to characterize it as “measured”. Peter MacKay, the Minister of Foreign Affairs in a 12 July statement, condemned Hizballah for its actions against Israeli military targets but remained absolutely silent about Israel’s crimes against civilian populations.
Please CALL, FAX and EMAIL Foreign Affairs Minister Peter Mackay TODAY, as buses from Montreal travel to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Ottawa to bring the message that WE WILL NOT TOLERATE his support for war crimes.
CONTACTS:
Peter MacKay, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
Telephone: (613) 992-6022
Fax: (613) 992-2337
MacKay.P@parl.gc.ca
POINTS TO RAISE IN FAX/EMAIL AND CALLS TO GOVERNMENT:
* The destruction to lives, public infrastructure and private property in both Lebanon and Gaza has been appalling, even measured against the Israeli government’s habitual disregard for international law and human life. Israel has invaded a sovereign country, is bombarding civilian areas indiscriminately, has systematically destroyed land, sea and air routes out of the country and is holding all of the people of Lebanon under siege. Entire families have been murdered, buried under their houses, fleeing in cars, walking on the streets.
* Statements by Harper and MacKay on the current crisis in the Middle East have been entirely lacking in balance, in any measure of objectivity, in basic knowledge of the region’s history, in respect for international law, and in basic compassion for human suffering. Mr. Harper’s statements in London, England early last week, condoned the Israeli military assault on Lebanon and charaterized it as legitimate self-defense and “measured” – an extraordinary claim when measured against the reality of the destruction wreaked the country and the hundreds of civilian deaths on the pretext of the capture of three of its soldiers. Peter MacKay’s July 12 statement condemned Hizbollah and called on the governments of Lebanon, Syria and Iran to take measures to bring an end to the crisis. Not one word was directed at Israel. These statements are tantamount to condoning state crimes, state terror, the disregard of international law and conventions, and whatever geo-political aims lie behind the Israeli government’s appalling contempt for human life.
* Israel demands the implementation of UN Resolution 1559 from 2004, that among many things, calls for the disarmament of Hezbollah. Israel itself fails to respect the multiple resolutions adopted by the UN decades ago in favour of the rights of the Palestinian people; the international community fails to enforce them. The non-application of these resolutions – most importantly that of UN Resolution 242, that for close to 40 years has Called for the withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from the territories occupied in 1967 – is the context of the current conflict.
* The government’s stance on this issue – as well as that of the Prime Minister – has helped squander the precious political or moral capital Canadians have with people in the Middle East, and Arab and Muslim communities around the world. It has encouraged racism and exacerbated divisions between communities within Canada. It has undermined whatever could be taken from the fact that Canada did not publicly stand on the Same ground as the United States when it came to its dealings in the Middle East. This will not be easy to recover.
DEMANDS
* That Canada immediately and forcefully condemn Israeli war crimes and demand that Israel immediately cease its aggression towards and withdraw from Lebanon and Gaza.
* That Canada forcefully condemn Israeli contempt for international law and demand that Israel work towards peace by releasing all Palestinian and Lebanese political prisoners; dismantling the apartheid wall; withdrawing from occupied Palestine; and granting the right of return of all Palestinian refugees to their homes.
Dear Mr. Stephen Harper and Mr. Peter MacKay,
I am deeply distressed that Canada considers the massacres of Palestinians and Lebanese civilians a “measured” response by the Israeli forces. There is no justification for the bombing of civilians in their homes, in their shelters, in their cars as they flee targeted areas, in the ambulances where they lie bleeding; of their infrastructure, their water supplies, their fuel supplies, their roads, their clinics and hospitals; their airports, their economic infrastructure, their towns and villages. Collective punishment is a war crime that violates all human decency and international laws and conventions. Canada must condemn these horrific and brutal acts as any civilized human being would do.
I urge you to reflect the values of Canadians and immediately call for a cessation of these aggressive acts, by not doing so we become complicit in Israel’s war crimes. We must call for a peaceful and a just solution so that all peoples in the region can live securely and have full entitlement and implementation to the scores of UN resolutions that have been in place since 1948.
Sincerely,
Elisabeth Sterken
London, Ontario
Attached are some horrific images of war crimes perpetrated against the Lebanese and the Palestinians.
Comment by Elisabeth Sterken — July 20th, 2006 @ 9:00 AMWhy does the National Post find Clifford Olson’s murder of Canadian
Comment by john shafer — July 21st, 2006 @ 4:47 AMkids the despicable acts of a psychopathic killer and find Israel’s
murder of the Canadian children in Lebanon acts of self defence?
Perhaps when Israel decides to stop killing the bodies of the dead
innocents can be counted and only then, as our PM said, will Irael’s
response have been “measured”. Get this man out of office ASAP!
Je demande a Monsieur MacKay de revoir la position du Canada dans le conflit ou le massacre perpétrait par Israël au Liban et en Palestine, car le Canada a toujours était juste dans ces décision en appuyant les peuples démunis qui subissaient des agressions par des forces d’occupation. Si cette position n’est pas revue, je doute que les générations futur pardonneront les responsables d’avoir conduit leurs pays à être complice dans des crimes contre l’humanité.
Comment by karim — July 27th, 2006 @ 12:51 PMLettre à harper, sans lettre majuscule
harper, comme tu peux le constater j’ai volontairement retiré le titre de monsieur devant ton nom. Tu ne le mérites pas !!! Un monsieur c’est une personne élégante, une personne qui à du tact, qui mesure ses paroles.. Surtout lorsqu’il dit me représenter en tant que citoyen du Canada. Saches que tu n’auras jamais ma permission de me représenter et de parler en mon nom!! Tu n’es et ne sera jamais mon représentant. Je préfère mourir que d’être associé d’une manière ou d’une autre à tes orientations morales et politiques. Tu salis mon nom devant la communauté international, avec tes orientations axées sur l’American way. Tu mets l’avenir de l’humanité en péril. Tu mets de l’huile sur le feu au Proche-Orient, tu ignores tes citoyens qui se font assassiner par un gouvernement que tu supportes les yeux fermés, on est loin d’une épopée des plus brillants exploits. NON, tu ne parles pas en mon nom, tu dis tout le contraire de ce que je pense. Tu renies Kyoto, tu t’engages en Afghanistan sans même être capable de te rendre où que ce soit sans une escorte, tes ennemis te traquent, t’es en train de devenir fou, paranoïaque, «les terroristes sont partout» dis-tu. Ton ami Bush et toi, c’est vous les terroristes!!! Tu mets ma vie et celle de mes enfants en péril avec tes décisions. Tu tentes de limiter les pouvoirs de la presse, on se croirait dans un mauvais film facho. Tu signes des ententes économiques à rabais avec les américains. En fait tu n’es là que pour ton simple intérêt et ta vanité – Ha !! Oui tu es un homme de pouvoir, un homme corrompu, un idéologiste de droite, conservateur religieux. En fait tu es tout ce que j’exècre chez l’être humain. Non tu ne me représenteras jamais, Je ne porte pas non plus de monsieur devant mon nom, car comme toi je n’ai pas d’élégance ni de tact, normal je suis un chien. Un chien enragé et je mords !!! Tous les soirs avant de coucher mes bébés je leur raconte ce que tu fais de tes journées et un jour ils mordront à leur tour !!
Husky
Le Chien
Réponds-moi quand tu veux, à moins que tu sois trop pissou et que tu m’envois tes nouveaux bœufs bien équipés
Comment by Husky — July 27th, 2006 @ 5:36 PM