News Release

For Immediate Release 

Ottawa, July 26, 2006 – The National Council on Canada-Arab Relations (NCCAR) is deeply concerned by comments made by Prime Minister Stephen Harper following the death of a Canadian United Nations observer in southern Lebanon. 

“Instead of calling on Israel to utilise restraint to prevent civilian deaths and halt any further attacks on clearly marked UN posts, Prime Minister Harper questionned why UN observers were located there in the first place—criticising the victim rather than the aggressor,” said NCCAR Executive Director Mazen Chouaib. “This is yet another indication that the Prime Minister is prepared to give Israel carte blanche despite its obvious violations of international law and the deaths of Canadians,” he added.

The latest killings come in the wake of the death of eight members of Montreal's Al-Akhras family, which elicited condolences from Prime Minister Stephen Harper, but no demands that Israel halt its offensive nor call for a ceasefire.

“The killing of the four UN observers, whose job was to keep a record of activity in the area, by precision–guided munitions despite repeated pleas from the UN is further evidence of Israel's grossly disproportionate use of force in Lebanon,” added Mr. Chouaib. “China has strongly condemned the attack, the UN's Secretary-General Kofi Annan called it an ‘apparently deliberate hit,' the EU has called it unacceptable and Finland said there is no justification for the attack. Israel has offered an apology as it did when the Al-Akhras family was killed. But how many more apologies can Canada take before calling on all parties involved in illegal actions to halt their fire to prevent the killing of innocent civilians?” Mr. Chouaib asked.

Prior to the latest Israeli assault, Louise Arbour, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, reminded Israel and Hezbollah that those perpetrating the killing of civilians could be held criminally responsible in what amount to war crimes. Under international law, all states, including Canada, have the obligation to do what they can to stop war crimes and the right to prosecute their perpetrators.

“The killing of Montreal's Al-Akhras family members as well as the deaths of hundreds of other innocent civilians should have been proof enough that Canada needed to take a principled stance rooted in international law to reign in Israel's disproportionate actions against civilians, humanitarian workers and, now, UN observers,” said Mr. Chouaib. “Mr. Harper has failed to do that and his continued blanket support for all of Israel's actions is deeply disturbing.”

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