Image from the Notice of Intent to Prosecute sent out by Hameed Law.

Written by: Marthad Umucyaba

The Canada Files obtained documents from The Legal Centre for Palestine (LCP) and has discovered that they and Hameed Law (HL) are investigating the actions of Canadian special forces in occupied Palestine. This comes as a Notice of Intent to Prosecute has been issued against Canada by HL for aiding and abetting war crimes and crimes against humanity in Palestine, particularly in Gaza.

The Legal Centre for Palestine is supporting HL’s notice of Intent to Prosecute and ongoing investigation, to see if Canada’s actions may amount to aiding and abetting war crimes and crimes against humanity up to and including genocide.

The Canada Files contacted a Board Director of The Legal Centre for Palestine (LCP), who did not want to disclose said identity, out of fear of reprisal by multiple law firms, including the Board Director’s own employer, and the government. The Board Director detailed the subjects of the investigation by the law firm, including Canada’s statements of support for Israel’s bombing campaign, Canada’s tacit approval of Canada Armed Forces (CAF) and regular citizens joining the IDF as de-facto mercenaries, Canada’s intervention in Operation Prosperity Guardian, and even JTF-2 special forces involvement in operations in Gaza.

Canada’s laws against Genocide

Canada is a signatory to the 1948 Genocide Convention. This convention is mentioned in providing the definition to genocide in the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act of 2000. According to the 1948 Genocide Convention, there is no distinction between the enabling/supporting of the genocide and actually participating in it (pages 2-3). They’re both treated as the same crime.

That definition is codified in the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act of 2000. According to the LCP Board Director, the joint LCP and HL legal team, acting on behalf of families that have suffered under the Gaza genocide, including a client who lost all 76 members of his extended family, will be investigating whether Canada is complicit in crimes against humanity in supporting Israel. The most serious crime being investigated, of course, will be genocide.

The full extent of the hypocrisy of the “rules based” white supremacist order is being tested by the institutions that NATO has set up. These institutions are now being used against them. What’s significant is that Canada is now on the cusp of being exposed. After causing a genocide in Rwanda and Yugoslavia, and spuriously convicting the victims, Canada’s role in supporting the genocide against the Palestinians could be exposed over the following years, either through its own domestic laws or international law.

Canadian Military Involvement in the Genocide

Canada is being investigated by the LCP and HL for two operations that the Canadian Armed Forces are currently engaged in. The first military operation is the JTF-2 Special Forces operation in Gaza. The second one is Operation Prosperity Guardian, which serves as a punitive mission against Yemen, in retaliation for launching an embargo on Israel through the Red Sea. Canada is also being investigated for failing to prosecute IDF soldiers residing in Canada who might have violated the Foreign Enlistment Act.

What’s interesting is that the JTF-2 operation was coined as a way to “safely evacuate” Canadian Citizens in Gaza. However, LCP and HL are also investigating the failure to evacuate Canadian Citizens in Gaza. This raises serious questions concerning JTF-2’s real mission in Gaza. If they’re not evacuating Canadian Citizens effectively, what are they really doing?

The official story is that JTF-2 are ’liaising’ with the IDF. The IDF has reportedly engaged in summary executions during their operations in Gaza. The Global News article notes that when deployed, Canada’s special operations forces often assist with intelligence gathering, among other tasks. Thus, LCP and HL will also be investigating possible participation of JTF-2’s role in the conflict and their culpability, including possible participation in summary executions, as supporting evidence for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Operation Prosperity Guardian

Canada’s participation in Operation Prosperity Guardian (OPG) will also be investigated, according to the LCP Board Director. While spuriously denounced for their actions in blockading Israel at the UN by a US-led resolution, Yemen can actually be said to be fulfilling an international obligation to prevent genocide, according to the Board Director. This means obstructing Yemen’s blockade by participating in OPG could also be construed as aiding and abetting the Israeli genocide against Gaza, which, according to Canada’s own laws and endorsements of international conventions, amounts to the same crime as genocide itself.

Canada is responsible for managing logistics and supplies for that mission, including coordinating ship movements from the Combined Task Force base in Bahrain, another OPG participant. The US and the UK have repeatedly engaged in punitive bombing raids on Yemen in recent days. The Board Director said this part of the investigation would be more complex, but pursued as well.

A historic moment in anti-colonial history

“When you think about Palestinian organisations trying to free Palestinians from occupation and colonialism, most of them...are considered terrorist organisations by one country or another. So it seems that Palestinians…are…deprived of their right to resist foreign occupation which is a right enshrined in international law…An accumulation of decisions from the ICJ, the ICC on other Western countries regarding war crimes, crimes against humanity, and potentially genocidal attacks by Israel in Gaza could trigger a political process allowing these countries or states to reconsider their political positions but this is something…of a longer term kind of perspective, yes?”

- Board of Director, Legal Centre for Palestine

At the time of this writing, the International Court of Justice made an interim decision to allow six of the eight provisional measures requested by South Africa to be accepted, other than the noted ceasefire request. They also required a report from Israel within one month demonstrating compliance.

While awaiting the results of this report, and awaiting the final judgement, the world has witnessed the “hypocrisy trap” emerge. If the International Court of Justice proves to be ineffective, it will mean that the only way for countries to effectively protect themselves against NATO supported genocide and ethnic cleansing is to use force against NATO’s proxies, and if necessary, NATO itself. Even so-called “neutral” countries that condemned armed resistance to Israel will be pressured by their own populations to shift away from that hypocritical stance.

Some states may even arm the resistance openly, if they are not doing so already. Some may even increase the military support they are already providing, paving the way for a much wider war and direct conflict with NATO, bound to end in a disaster for the colonial alliance.

If the ICJ acts impartially and convicts Israel, then most, if not all, major members of NATO will be legally complicit in genocide, and therefore guilty of genocide themselves. The US, incidentally, has a contingency plan for a conviction against NATO members, called the American Service-Members’ Protection Act, also colloquially known as The US Hague Invasion Act. With this in mind, NATO may choose to wage war against the Netherlands and The Hague itself to protect its criminal leaders and prevent UN based sanctions. The “moral” and practical authority of NATO and the “rules-based” white supremacist order, in either case, will evaporate completely.

If the LCP and HL’s efforts fail domestically, then Canada will still be on trial, in total infamy, on the international stage. This will occur regardless of whether South Africa and Indonesia’s ICJ claims are successful against Israel or not. Canada’s role in the Israeli genocide in Gaza is rooted in its own colonialism, and the need to protect the colonial basis for its existence, the system of capitalist exploitation in its highest form: imperialism. It is a dangerous time for the ruling class in NATO, especially the settler colonies of the United States of America and Canada. The world is seeing, through Israel’s genocide, a live example of what settler-colonialism and imperialism actually entails.

Documents

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Marthad Shingiro Umucyaba (formerly referred to as Christian Shingiro) is a Rwandan-born naturalized Canadian expat. He is known for his participation in Communist/anti-imperialist national and international politics and is the radio show host of The Socially Radical Guitarist.

He is also a freelance web developer in Hong Kong, China, striving to provide “Socially Radical Web Design at a socially reasonable price”.

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