Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada. File photo.
By Yves Engler – Jul 31, 2025
Mark Carney has taken a positive step in recognizing Palestine. But Canada’s neocolonial position includes odious and contradictory conditions suggesting the prime minister seeks a “Zionist Palestinian state” as he admitted in June.
At its best Canada formally recognizing Palestine is an endorsement of Palestinians right under international law to self-determination. It’s Ottawa’s fulfillment of a 1974 UN general assembly resolution to that effect.
But Carney’s recognition is conditional. It’s officially dependent on the Palestinian Authority holding elections (under brutal Israeli occupation) that exclude a major Palestinian political faction, namely Hamas. Who is Canada to decide who can run in Palestinian elections? It’s contradictory to call for governance or democratic reform and then say you must exclude one of the most popular Palestinian political parties from those elections.
Canadian interference of this sort helped spur a cycle of isolation and violence that’s led to Israel’s holocaust in Gaza.After Hamas won legislative elections in 2006, Canada was the first country to impose sanctions against the Palestinians. Ottawa’s aid cut-off and refusal to recognize a Palestinian unity government was designed to sow division within Palestinian society. It helped spur fighting between Hamas and Fatah. When Hamas took control of Gaza, Israel used that to justify its brutal siege of the coastal territory, which has intensified to an appalling level in recent weeks.
It’s also disingenuous to suggest this is only about Hamas’ participation in elections. Canada’s terrorism list criminalizes most of Palestinian political life, including secular leftist organizations such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). And at the urging of Zionist groups Colonial Carney is considering bolstering the power of the terror list. His government is looking to criminalize symbols related to designated terror groups, meaning it would be okay for Canadians to wear T-shirts glorifying the Israeli military but illegal to carry PFLP flags.
As part of my bid to lead the NDP I’ve been asking activists across the country to circulate a leaflet calling for the “abolishment of Canada’s anti-Palestinian terror list”.
Another condition Colonial Carney has imposed on Palestinians is “to demilitarize the Palestinian state.” As Quebec Green party leader Alex Tyrell correctly noted, “Mark Carney says Canada will recognize a ‘demilitarized’ Palestinian State. If Gaza is demilitarized who will defend it against Israeli aggression?”
Interestingly, Carney demanded demilitarization in a statement that included funding for a Canadian military training program. His statement refers to “$10 million to support the Palestinian Authority’s role in stabilizing and governing the West Bank.” That will almost certainly (at least in part) go to Operation Proteus, which is an effort to build a Palestinian Authority Security Force (PASF) to administer Israel’s illegal occupation of the West Bank. About 30 Canadian troops and police are part of Operation Proteus, which trains the PASF as part of a mission led by the Office of the United States Security Coordinator. Over the past two decades Canada has spent hundreds of millions of dollars training, equipping and supporting a Palestinian force vetted by Israel’s Shin Bet intelligence agency. Long a tool of Israel’s occupation, the PASF has recently turned its guns aggressively against those resisting Israeli violence in Jenin and elsewhere in the occupied West bank. His statements prove Carney only wants those Palestinians demilitarized who resist Israel. As per my NDP leadership leaflet, “End Operation Proteus”.
Canada’s conditions on recognizing Palestine may simply be designed to placate Washington and the Israel lobby. In practice the recognition cat may be out of the bag or as Professor Heidi Mathews noted, “practically speaking, once the recognition horse is out of the gate it’s a near impossible step to retract.”
But the stated conditions are odious and Canada’s failure to uphold its own laws vis-a-vis a country committing a holocaust is outrageous. In violation of the Export and Import Act, Canada is still selling Israel bullets. Ottawa is also allowing registered charities to contravene Canada Revenue Agency rules by assisting the Israeli military, racist organizations and West Bank colonies. Canada also refuses to enforce its Foreign Enlistment Act against Canadians joining the Israel Occupation Force or apply the War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity Act to those who’ve fought in Gaza.
At the end of the day Mark Carney was admitting the truth when claiming he wants a “Zionist Palestine state”. This has been the Liberal Party modus operandi for the past century: Pretend to be “progressive” while maintaining the status quo.
Yves Engler
Yves Engler is Montreal-based writer and political activist. In addition to ten published books, Engler's writings have appeared in the alternative press and in mainstream publications such as The Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, Ottawa Citizen, and Ecologist.
