September 20, 2023
Dear Mr Mendicino,
I am writing to ask why your Liberal government continues to give millions of Canadian dollars to the Palestinian Authority under Mahmoud Abbas who was recently filmed spouting, as he has for 40 years, lies and distortions about the Holocaust and Jews living in Israel and the Diaspora. His speech was so disgraceful that even the mayor of Paris, France, felt obligated to take away a medal that had been given to Abbas several years ago.
This brings up, again, many important questions such as:
How is this man and the organization and people he represents going to make peace with Israel when they say over and over in Arabic that their goal is not a Palestinian state side by side with Israel but a state “from the river (Jordan) to the sea (Mediterranean)? That is, an Arab/Moslem state with NO Israel and ideally with no Jews (as stated in their charter that has never been rescinded). We know this also because he (in 2008) and his predecessor (Yasser Arafat in 2000) turned down Israeli proposals of giving the PA over 95% of the “West Bank”. We know this also because, under UNRWA (to which Canada contributes), books still in circulation are anti -Jewish and camps still teach children how to kill Jews – seemingly inspired by Mr. Abbas as shown in his recent speech.
Where have all the BILLIONS of dollars given the PA over the years by Canada, the United States, and the European countries gone? We know that a good part of it goes to the “Pay to Slay” programme where individuals or their families get money based on how many Israelis they kill in senseless terrorist attacks. Why has it not gone to dismantling refugee camps in the “West Bank” and Gaza (of which there are at least 10 including Jenin where Israeli troops are portrayed as aggressors when they are forced to enter to capture terrorist-killing Israelis). Using the money for houses would be better than for guns and tunnels to kill Israelis.
Why are there still refugee camps in numerous Arab states? Is it because a) so many of the Arab states who purport to be their friends deny them citizenship and access to so many jobs (as they do) and b) is it good anti -Israel propaganda to keep them in terrible conditions?
Why do Canada and so many other Western countries ignore history? a) over 800,000 Jewish people were forced out of Arab lands when Israel was founded in 1948 – but they were taken in by Israel and other Western countries, not left to suffer in refugee camps and b) there still could have been a Palestinian state (for the first time ) if the land divided by the UN in 1948 for the Arabs was not invaded by other Arab countries (Egypt annexed the Sinai and Jordan annexed the “West Bank”) c) of the area called Palestine under the Romans then the Ottomans, 2/3 went to make the new country of TransJordan (now Jordan) in 1922 – so really Israel in 1948 was made up of only 1/6 of the area called Palestine – but that was still too much for the Arab world.
Why does the Western press (including Canada) have to constantly be reminded, by Honest Reporting Canada and the like, that the majority of the Palestinians who are unfortunately killed by Israeli troops are, by their own admission (with photos of them with guns) terrorists who have just killed or are planning on killing Israelis – and are not innocent civilians, no matter how young?
I could go on and on – I just ask you, as my MP, to remind our government to see the whole picture and not pay lip service to fighting antisemitism and then supporting the worst antisemite of them all.
Thank you for reading this.
Sincerely,
Michael Pascoe, Toronto