Canada took ‘no actions’ to incriminate Israel over shooting Canadian journo: Group

A Canadian rights advocacy organization has revealed that the country’s government declined to hold to account the Israeli regime for the 2015 shooting of a Canadian journalist photographer in the occupied West Bank, denouncing Ottawa’s inaction as “shocking” and calling on the government to impose sanctions against Tel Aviv over the crime.

Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) made the revelation in a series of tweets late on Friday, saying that the government in Ottawa, as confirmed by Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, had taken “no actions” to protest the shooting of Rehab Nazzal by an Israeli sniper in December 2015.

The Canadian-Palestinian journalist was photographing a protest rally in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah at that time when she was shot in the leg by the Israeli sniper.

The rights organization said they had confirmation from Freeland that "no actions have been taken" by Canada "to protest this incident,” and added that, “This callous inaction is shocking and must be corrected.”

Canadian photographer Rehab Nazzal was shot by an Israeli sniper in 2015. We now have confirmation from @cafreeland that "no actions have been taken" by Canada "to protest this incident.” This callous inaction is shocking and must be corrected. #cdnpoli https://t.co/d9VL9m5M8w pic.twitter.com/rdMdTb77wl

— Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (@CJPME) March 12, 2021

Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East highlighted the official confirmation by attaching a letter from Freeland in response to Nazzal’s lawyer, Dimitri Lascaris, who had demanded that the Canadian government hold the Israeli sniper accountable.

“CJPME calls on the Canadian government to take immediate action to investigate the shooting of Rehab Nazzal, and to impose sanctions against the Israeli authorities responsible for this crime,” the advocacy organization said in one of its tweets.

“If Canada won’t even reprimand Israel when it shoots a Canadian citizen, how little value does Canada give to the lives of those under Israel’s occupation?” it added.

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Moreover, the rights organization included in another tweet a statement from Nazzal's daughter, Rana, who had censured as “racist” Canada’s response to her mother’s case.

“Six years ago, my mom was shot by an Israeli sniper. She photographed a soldier aiming at her, saw medics running and looked down to see blood,” Rana said. “Freeland’s callous response is in perfect line with Canada’s racist policy of pretending to not see Israeli violence, even as blood spills.”

The Canadian government has in some certain cases adopted a pro-Israeli approach to the issue of Palestine, which has been taken to task by rights groups and activists in the North American country.

In December last year, human rights activists in Canada called for an end to the recruitment of Canadian citizens by the Israeli military after reports indicated that hundreds of Canadian citizens had joined the occupying regime’s military in the recent years.

The activists maintained that the measure by the Israeli army is in violation of the Foreign Enlistment Act, which prohibits the recruitment of Canadian citizens by foreigners.

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In another controversial case in 2019, the Canadian government was forced under pressure from the country’s rights groups to revoke the charity status of a Jewish organization over funding Israeli military projects and settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Under Canadian law, registered charities are prohibited from donating funds to “foreign armed forces.”

About 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 illegal settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds.

Palestinians want the West Bank as part of a future independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem al-Quds as its capital.

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