The United Jewish People’s Order (UJPO) issued a statement on May 30 condemning in the strongest possible terms the ongoing genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza and occupation and apartheid policies in the West Bank. These policies were summarized in a May 5 statement by the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem as “blocking the entry of food and humanitarian aid” that is “deliberately starving over two million people, including more than one million children.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told lawmakers on May 11 that Israel’s war on Gaza is intended to render large parts of the territory uninhabitable, forcing Palestinians to flee and to ensure they will have “nowhere to return to.” The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child said on May 25 that if the blockade against humanitarian aid to Gaza continues, “71,000 children under the age of five will suffer from acute malnutrition over the coming year.”
The UJPO statement cites a letter signed by 380 writers and organizations in Britain and Ireland calling for an immediate ceasefire: “The use of the words ‘genocide’ or ‘acts of genocide’ to describe what is happening in Gaza is no longer debated by international legal experts or human rights organizations. Just as it is true to call the atrocities committed by Hamas against innocent civilians on 7 October 2023 crimes of war and crimes against humanity, so today it is true to name the attack on the people of Gaza an atrocity of genocide.”
The Order also notes that, while these atrocities continue, people standing in solidarity with Palestinians faced increasing repression including charges of antisemitism. “Opponents of these horrific policies face a backlash described by the BC Civil Liberties Association (March 13, 2025), as a growing ‘widespread pattern of professional discipline, loss of educational and training opportunities, harassment, and the criminalization of individuals who have exercised their right to free political expression in calling Israel’s actions in Gaza a genocide and demanding those actions cease.…The repression of support for Palestine seems to flow in part from the broad application and acceptance of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of antisemitism [which] erroneously conflates criticism of actions of the state of Israel with antisemitism.’
“As Jewish Canadians, we reject the weaponization of the language of antisemitism to silence criticism of violence of the State of Israel. Many of us have personal histories deeply connected to the destruction of Jewish life in Eastern Europe before and during the Holocaust. And we are painfully aware that internationally and in Canada, far right ethno-nationalist forces, and real acts of antisemitism are on the rise. But it is precisely our understanding of this history, and our commitment to a longstanding Jewish tradition of social justice, that motivates us to condemn Israel’s actions against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.”
UJPO, along with several other solidarity and human rights organizations, has welcomed the long overdue statement from the governments of Canada, Britain and France on May 19, opposing “the expansion of Israel’s military operations in Gaza” and “permanent forced displacement” of Palestinians in Gaza. The statement declares that the three governments “will not hesitate to take further action, including targeted sanctions.”
In the face of both Israel’s continuing violence against Palestinians and the increasing repression and harassment of those who speak out against it, UJPO calls on Ottawa to make good on its words.
“Now is the time to take such further action. The government of Canada should follow through and undertake an arms embargo on Israel (as demanded by the NDP since April 2024), which would entail an end to the exporting of weapons, components, and military technology by Canadian companies to Israel (including via the US) and the purchase and permit of import of military technology from Israel.”
The United Jewish People’s Order, which celebrates its centenary this summer, stands with a growing international movement, in both the Jewish and general communities and including organizations in Israel such as Standing Together and Breaking the Silence, that advocate consistently for Palestinian rights.
[Photo: UJPO Winnipeg]
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