CMPAC strongly demands the Canadian government to take immediate and decisive action in response to Israel’s Prime Minister – Benjamin Netanyahu’s August 7, 2025 announcement of his plan for the full military occupation and permanent control of Gaza. A senior official close to Netanyahu has been quoted as stating, “The die is cast — we’re going for full occupation of the Gaza Strip”, dismissing objections from Israel’s own military leadership. By August 8, Israel’s security cabinet approved the first phase of this plan, beginning with the military seizure of Gaza City, home to more than 650,000 civilians. This plan is being advanced alongside an alarming escalation in targeted attacks on journalists. Most recently, on August 10th, 28-year-old Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif was killed along with four colleagues in an Israeli airstrike outside Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. These deliberate attacks on journalists are intended to suppress independent reporting and limit international visibility into events in Gaza, paving the way for Netanyahu’s announced invasion and permanent rule without oversight, documentation, or accountability.
Netanyahu’s plan is unfolding in the midst of an ongoing genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people in Gaza. Starvation, deliberate deprivation of humanitarian aid, and mass killing are continuing, with Palestinian deaths exceeding 60,000 and UN agencies warning of “catastrophic consequences” should Israel proceed with Netanyahu’s plan. The declaration makes explicit his intent to deepen and prolong the unlawful occupation, in flagrant violation of the Genocide Convention, the Geneva Conventions, binding provisional measures of the International Court of Justice, the UN Charter, and fundamental principles of international humanitarian and criminal law.
Canada’s legal and moral obligations are clear: to prevent genocide, to prohibit assistance to unlawful acts, and to investigate and prosecute those responsible for grave breaches of international law. Given Israel’s ongoing and deliberate engagement in genocide and war crimes, Canada must urgently move towards severing all diplomatic, military, and economic ties with the Israeli government to uphold international law and human rights. CMPAC calls on the Government of Canada to act immediately and decisively by:
- Suspending and terminating the Canada–Israel Free Trade Agreement (CIFTA) to prevent any economic or material benefit to Israel while it commits genocide and maintains unlawful occupation. Immediately halt all preferential trade treatment, bar goods from illegal Israeli settlements or occupied Palestinian territories.
- Imposing targeted sanctions on Israeli political, military, and corporate actors responsible for genocide and other serious violations, including arms manufacturers, drone and surveillance technology companies, and any entity complicit in the occupation.
- Fully complying with the ICJ’s binding provisional measures by ending all diplomatic, military, and economic support or cooperation with Israel that could enable genocide, and direct all federal departments to review and immediately cease any policy or activity that risks making Canada complicit in these crimes.
Netanyahu’s ethnic cleansing and genocide plan is being pursued while Palestinians in Gaza endure famine, relentless bombardment, and systematic destruction of civilian life. The Canadian government must take a clear, unequivocal stand and act decisively, grounded in law, human rights, and justice, to end these atrocities, end Canada’s complicity, and prevent further crimes against humanity.
