Canadian Boat to Gaza organizers call for Baird to resign

November 7, 2011
Source:Canadian Boat to Gaza

With several Canadians still languishing in an Israeli prison, organizers of the Canadian Boat to Gaza are demanding Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird step down for failing to do his job.

“Our friends have been assaulted, tasered, beaten, kidnapped, robbed, and imprisoned and we have now learned that the Department Foreign Affairs is telling them they have to pay for their deportation flight,” says Wendy Goldsmith, an organizer with the Canadian Boat to Gaza.

“If Minister Baird wants to put the interests of a far-right Israeli government before Canadians, he should apply for the job of Israel’s ambassador,” adds Goldsmith. “Otherwise he should demand the immediate release of the Canadian political prisoners in Israel and an immediate end to Israel’s illegal blockade of Gaza. Unfortunately, when it comes to Israel, Baird is soft on crime.”

The Canadian Boat to Gaza organizers say the Minister has failed to seek the immediate release of the Canadians and internationals who have been political prisoners of Israel since Friday. Instead, they say, the Minister has been spreading misinformation in an attempt to justify Israel’s illegal actions.

“Canadians are still imprisoned by Israel because they refuse to sign documents that falsely claim they entered Israel ‘voluntarily’ and ‘illegally’,” says Dylan Penner, an organizer with the Canadian Boat to Gaza.

“The fact is they were kidnapped and taken there against their will,” says Penner. “But Minister Baird is trying to create the impression that international waters are Israeli waters. He should really look at a map and stop misleading Canadians about international law.”

Two tweets from the Department of Foreign Affairs last week advised Canadians to “"avoid all travel" to regions of #Israel surrounding the #Gaza Strip”. However, there are no Israeli waters “surrounding” Gaza. There are Gaza’s coastal waters beyond which are international waters. The Israeli Navy captured the boat in international waters (approximately 50 nautical miles from the coast of Gaza), not Israeli waters. This is a violation of international law.

Baird has publicly discouraged Canadians from participating in flotillas aimed at breaking the illegal blockade of Gaza. The Canadian Boat to Gaza campaign views Minister Baird’s statement as an attempt to abdicate the Canadian Government's obligation to ensure the safety of the Canadians and to justify any crimes Israel may commit against peaceful unarmed civilians from Canada and all over the world.

Canadian Boat to Gaza organizers say it is also an attempt to enable the Harper government to maintain its complicity in Israel’s illegal blockade of Gaza by providing political cover.

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Twitter (@CanadaBoatGaza and #freedomwaves), Facebook.com/CanadaBoatGaza, www.tahrir.ca , www.ustogaza.org , www.freegazaoz.org , and www.irishshiptogaza.org .