Tonight (December 3), four Israeli leaders are speaking in Toronto as part of “The Munk Debates.” This includes Ehud Olmert, former Prime Minister of Israel; Tzipi Livni, former Vice Prime Minister; Michael Oren, Israeli Ambassador to the US; and Ayelet Shaked, former Israeli Minister of Justice. These four Israeli’s were invited to “debate” the “two-state solution.”
Because of this, the Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF), the Canadian Lawyers for International Human Rights (CLAIHR), and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) filed a complaint to the RCMP and the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Section of the Department of Justice today.
They are urging the RCMP to “open an investigation into their roles and issue a warrant for their arrest pursuant to Canada’s Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act, S.C. 2000, c. 24, and in compliance with Canada’s obligation under Article 146 of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 to “seek out and prosecute” those reasonably suspected of grave breaches who set foot in Canada.”
As the Press Release states:
“As Prime Minister of Israel from 2006 to 2009, Olmert exercised ultimate political and civilian authority over Israeli military operations in Gaza in the 2008-2009 War. Under his leadership, the Israeli military executed a massive military campaign that resulted in alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, including: targeted and indiscriminate attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, the use of white phosphorus munitions in densely populated areas, the destruction of homes, mosques, medical facilities, and UN schools sheltering displaced families, extrajudicial killings and shootings of civilians attempting to flee or waving white flags, torture of Palestinian detainees, denial of humanitarian access and obstruction of medical rescue operations, and the deliberate targeting of infrastructure essential to civilian survival.
As Israel’s foreign minister and a member of Olmert’s security cabinet, Livni played a key role in the decisions made before and during the 2008-2009 War. Livni was reported stating the following with respect to Operation Cast Lead: ‘Israel is not a country upon which you fire missiles and it does not respond. It is a country that when you fire on its citizens it responds by going wild – and that is a good thing’.”
Olmert and Livni have been subject to criminal complaints in Germany, the UK, Belgium, and Switzerland.
Tell the RCMP to open an investigation and issue arrest warrants for Olmert and Livni!
