Alternatives to Western Policies Divorced From International Law

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A Conversation with CJPME VP Michael Bueckert

Last week, fifty UN member states and a handful of international organizations called on the Israeli government to let humanitarian aid enter Gaza.

Now in the grip of brutal winter storms, atrocious flooding, and vast human misery, Gaza’s calvary is never-ending. Israel-USA’s genocidal campaign is remorseless, fully backed by most Western states. The official death toll approaches 75,000, almost a quarter million injured.

Well over a hundred thousand Gazans have likely been killed by US, Canadian and European bombs and bullets, and by hunger and disease engineered by their cherished apartheid state.

On November 12, the UK’s Permanent Representative delivered a “Statement on health and humanitarian access into Gaza” to the UN on behalf of the UK and 48 other UN member states. Canada – a devoted friend of Israel — was among these.

Citing UN Security Council resolution 2803 (the so-called “Comprehensive Peace Plan” cooked up by Donald Trump, creating a “Board of Peace”), the statement bemoans Israel’s relentless aid blockade.

“[As] winter sets in,” the statement reads, “far too many people in Gaza are still without adequate shelter, and risk exposure to hypothermia, respiratory infections, waterborne diseases and other preventable illnesses.”

The UK’s statement “calls on” Israel’s incoming government (purportedly liberal Gadi Eisenkot, author of the murderous Daiyeh Doctrine) to let humanitarian aid enter Gaza, including supposedly “dual use” items Israel routinely blocks. It also calls on Apartheid Israel (not naming it thus, of course) to protect healthcare workers and facilities, to open transparent criminal investigations into attacks against humanitarian workers, and to allow government delegations and journalists to access Gaza.

Fat chance of that. Western states like the UK, France and Canada can “call on” Israel to do these things, as it must under international law; Israel can say it already does, or simply say no. Consequences will not be imposed.

Last Spring, the leaders of the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, Norway, the Netherlands, Spain, Belgium and Canada declared Israeli policies and practices in the occupied West Bank to be illegal, and an impediment to a “two-state solution.”

The May 22 statement “called on” Israel to end settlement expansion, ensure accountability for settler violence, and investigate allegations against Israeli soldiers and police, cautioning their own businesses not to bid for construction tenders on settlement construction.

Businesses “should be aware of legal and reputational consequences of participating in settlement construction including the risk of involving themselves in serious breaches of international law,” the May 22 statement read.

Western calls for justice in Palestine follow a familiar pattern. Calls of the highest-minded sort are totally ignored. Then, Israel’s allies do nothing of any significance. The last thing the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Greece and Canada will do is sanction the genocidal apartheid state.

The GPM spoke with Michael Bueckert about all this. Michael is the Vice President of CJPME, Canadians for Justice & Peace in the Middle East. Listen to and watch our conversation with Michael Bueckert. Click on the play button above, or go here.

Back in July 2024, the International Court of Justice, in The Hague, issued a historic Advisory Opinion. Israel’s ‘prolonged occupation’ of the Palestinian territories is illegal, the ICJ opined. To bring itself in line with international law, Israel needs to evacuate all its settlements, and bring its belligerent occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza to an end.

In September 2024, by a vote of 124-14, the UN General Assembly adopted the ICJ’s Advisory Opinion, and called on Israel to end its occupation within a year. Canada abstained in that vote, along with 42 other friends of Israel across Europe, Africa and Latin America.

Of course, Israel ignored the ruling.

Listen to Riyad Mansour, Palestine’s Ambassador to the United Nations, delivering his thoughts to the ICJ back in February 2024, further to the court’s decision to issue that Advisory Opinion. Click on the play button above, or go here.

Riyad Mansour