Speaking in a press conference room in the House of Commons in Ottawa, Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian Territories, said that 'Israel practises apartheid against the Palestinian people' and is maintaining an unlawful occupation of their land.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
A United Nations special rapporteur accused Israel of aiming “to erase the Palestinians” in a Parliament Hill press conference on Tuesday that drew a backlash, including from the Israeli ambassador.
Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian Territories, alleged that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza as a deliberate strategy.
Speaking on Tuesday in a press conference room in the House of Commons, Ms. Albanese said that “Israel practises apartheid against the Palestinian people” and is maintaining an unlawful occupation of their land.
“That is the vehicle to take the land, to expropriate the resources and to erase the Palestinians, and in order to enforce that plan, it’s now also committing a genocide,” she said. “The genocide is a means to an end.”
She called on Canada to review its free trade agreement with Israel and to cancel arms export licenses to that country.
Israel’s ambassador to Canada, Iddo Moed said he is “deeply disturbed” she received a platform in the House of Commons.
“Ms. Albanese is a habitual originator and disseminator of poisonous lies about Israel and its policies in the West Bank and Gaza, which which she has been condemned by Western governments and NGOs. The refusal of any Canadian government official to meet with her speaks for itself,” Mr. Moed said in a statement.
Ms. Albanese, who recently published a report accusing Israel of genocide, said Canadian officials had refused to meet her during her visit in Ottawa.
She blamed “pressure from pro-Israel lobby groups” for the cancelled meetings but said she is still meeting MPs.
Shimon Koffler Fogel, president of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, said he was not aware of cancelled meetings, but in a e-mailed statement said that “we are glad that our concerns were taken seriously, and that Albanese is not being given access to Canadian political leaders.”
He said CIJA had warned against government officials meeting her as “doing so would lend her credibility.”
“CIJA has long sounded the alarm about UN Rapporteur Albanese’s disturbing record of antisemitic remarks and overt anti-Israel bias,” he added, saying Canada should follow the lead of others and demand her “dismissal from the UN system.”
Ms. Albanese said “conservative figures indicate that the Israeli assault on Gaza has killed, injured and maimed or buried under the rubble, at least 155,000 Palestinians.”
“Gaza is now a wasteland of rubble, garbage and human remains, where survivors hold on to life amid widespread deprivation and disease,” she said.
Her remarks came just before the Commons foreign affairs committee heard testimony on whether the Canadian government should recognize a Palestinian state.
Corey Balsam, national co-ordinator of Independent Jewish Voices, called on Canada to recognize a Palestinian state straight away.
“It’s time for Canada to change course, and we believe that Canada’s recognition of a Palestinian state would constitute an important step toward actualizing the right of Palestinians to self determination,” Mr. Balsam said.
Mohammed Awad, co-ordinator of the Coalition of Canadian Palestinian Organizations, said “the more we wait, the more hope is lost in the region,” and among Palestinian Canadians.
Mr. Koffler Fogel, speaking at the committee, cautioned against “premature” recognition of a Palestinian state without establishing structures for “effective governance” first.
“This would not help Palestinians achieve a better, more stable future, but rather doom them to ongoing instability,” he said.
Henry Topas of Jewish organization B’Nai Brith said “the two state solution remains dangerously unrealistic.” He argued that “terrorist entities in the Palestinian territories” including Hamas, need to be be removed first.
But Maytal Kowalski, executive director of JSpace Canada, a pro-Israel, pro-Peace organization, told MPs that “a two state solution is the best way to defeat Hamas and other terror entities and we must act now.”
She called on Canada to recognize a Palestinian state alongside the state of Israel, “broadly based on 1967 borders.”
Ms. Kowalski, who has lived in Israel, was critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. She said MPs might hear reasons why recognizing a Palestinian state is risky: “There will always be inherent risk of working towards peace, but they will never outweigh the risks of living forever by the sword and being in a state of perpetual war.”