Canada should back Norway’s ICJ request on Israel’s blockade of Gaza

December 17, 2024, Montreal: The Canadian government is being urged by Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) to support Norway’s resolution at the UNGA, which would ask the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to provide an urgent advisory opinion on Israel’s starvation policies in Gaza. The proposal, which will be put to a vote on Thursday, expressly asks the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to provide an opinion on Israel’s duties as a UN member and occupying power to allow humanitarian access in Gaza. The fact that Canada voted “Yes” on a preliminary motion to approve the ICJ’s budget at the UN Fifth Committee today is encouraging to CJPME, which hopes that this will logically transfer into support for the main resolution before the plenary.

One of the main tenets of Israel’s murderous strategy of hunger is its intention to abolish‌ UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. Canada needs to back NATO partner Norway’s request to the ICJ for definitive answers about Israel’s legal obligations as an occupying power. The international community would then be able to hold Israel’s homicidal state responsible for Gaza’s famine, according to CJPME Vice President Michael Bueckert. An opinion on “the obligations of Israel, as an occupying power and as a member of the United Nations, to ensure and facilitate the unhindered provision of urgently needed supplies essential to the survival of the Palestinian civilian population as well as of basic services and humanitarian and development assistance” would be sought by the ICJ in Norway’s resolution. Israel’s recent legislative actions that threaten to undermine UNRWA, which is sometimes referred to as the backbone of the humanitarian response in Gaza, have prompted the urgent resolution. 

Given that the Trudeau administration has resisted all prior attempts to take issues pertaining to Israel to the ICJ or ICC, CJPME is worried that Canada would decide not to endorse Norway’s resolution. The current resolution, however, is in line with other motions that Canada has backed this year, such as those that support UNRWA, according to CJPME. Additionally, Canada approved the budget for the ICJ advisory opinion today by voting “Yes” at the Fifth Committee, which should mean that it would support the main proposal on Thursday.

CJPME is happy to see that Canada has voted on UN resolutions on Palestine-Israel this year with a more justice-focused stance. Canada has been voting “No” on almost all resolutions pertaining to Palestinian human rights since 2011, but this year it has finally changed its stance by voting “Yes” on the bulk of pertinent resolutions. “Canada’s more values-based approach to defending Palestinian human rights at the UN is greatly appreciated after years of supporting Israel on the international scene. But the true test for this government will be Norway’s desire to go to the ICJ, as Trudeau will have to choose whether to back a motion that has real legal substance rather than merely symbolic significance, Bueckert continued.

As voting took place on November 5, Juliette Touma, the director of communications for the United Nations agency for Palestine refugees, told The New Humanitarian that the outcome of the US presidential election “is going to be a key factor in how the situation across the region is going to move forward, including implications on UNRWA.” There is yet much to consider regarding the wider ramifications of another Trump presidency for the Middle East, particularly with regard to the degree of US backing for Israel’s wars in Gaza and Lebanon, now that he has won a second term after a four-year break.

Since October 2023, the current US President Joe Biden administration has provided $17.9 billion in military funding to Israel. However, which has been dealing with an Israeli drive to dissolve the organization, will most likely face further difficulties under a second Trump administration. 5.9 million Palestinian refugees in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian lands, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon receive services, such as healthcare, education, development support, and emergency humanitarian help. Touma claims that it is also “the backbone of the humanitarian operation in Gaza,” where the 2.1 million residents of the territory rely almost entirely on the pitifully little amounts of aid that Israel permits to reach the border.

Since Israel claimed that a small percentage of the 13,000 staff members in Gaza had participated in the Hamas attacks on October 7th of last year, the US, which has historically been the agency’s largest donor, is the only donor nation that has not yet restored the money. 

Restoring US funding at this time seems unlikely. Trump, who has a history of repeating Israeli rhetoric toward the organization, stopped US funding for UNRWA in 2018. Biden restored it after assuming office in 2021.