European Parliament removed cameras from a hearing where a watchdog group presented findings concerning UNRWA ties to terrorism. What were they afraid that the public would find out?
“I have arrived in Brussels at the invitation of the European Parliament to present evidence tomorrow concerning UNRWA’s longstanding refusal to take seriously the widespread encouragement and promotion of terrorism by its school teachers, principals and other staff,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of the Geneva-based United Nations Watch, an independent non-governmental organization that monitors the world body.
“I was astonished to learn that members of the European Parliament representing the Left Group, the Greens/EFA and the Socialists and Democrats first tried to stop my testimony and the hearing, and when that failed, they have now initiated removal of cameras tomorrow to prevent my words from going public,” said Neuer.
“My understanding is that the removal of cameras is an extremely rare occurrence for this kind of hearing when the invited witness has not made the request, but rather the members of the working group of the foreign affairs committee.”
“Given that EU voters are paying more than 100 million Euro a year to UNRWA, one would think the taxpayers have a right to know how their funds are being used, and what they are funding. Forcing evidence to be hidden contradicts the basic democratic principles of transparency and accountability.”
You can read more about the play-by-play circus that was the last session of Parliament before a two-week March break, with a Liberal aide running in and distributing copies of amendments not five minutes before the vote was scheduled to take place (and which was likely to defeat the original motion). The NDP MP for Edmonton-Strathcona – dressed for the occasion – read in the amendments, some of which were hand-written, and the Liberal-NDP coalition forced a vote minutes later. The French version of the amendments, and thus of the motion, did not even exist at the time the vote was called, and the BQ was appropriately peeved.
This is our seat of power, the place of reasoned debate on behalf of all Canadians?
The vote is in and we have forced the Liberals to: – Stop selling arms to the Israeli govt, – Support the ICC and ICJ, – Place sanctions on extremist settlers, – and much more Every single Conservative MP and some Liberals tried to block it – they failed.— Jagmeet Singh (@theJagmeetSingh) March 19, 2024
Not clear what the implications are, as Canada has not been selling any arms to Israel (some non-lethal materiel notwithstanding); we don’t really make much of it, or of anything these days, but the symbolism of the first G7 country to make this shameful betrayal of a friend and ally nation in the time of its war with a terrorist organization is not lost on the world.
The motion’s main backer began her speech with a quote from a pro-terror antisemite: “Mr. Speaker, ‘If I must die, you must live to tell my story.’ Those are the words of Refaat Alareer, who was killed in an Israeli air strike in Gaza on December 6.” Which is true, except on October 8, when revelations surfaced of Israeli babies burned to death on Oct. 7, Alareer asked in a social media post if it was done “with or without baking powder.”
Kudos to Anthony Housefather, MP for Mount Royal, who broke ranks with his party (one of only three Liberals who dared):
I am a Canadian, I am a Jew and I am a Zionist, and I am not embarrassed or ashamed of being a Zionist. And Canadian Jews should not have to live what we’re living through, right now. […]
Hamas launched the deadliest attack on Israel, the deadliest pogrom against Jews since the Holocaust, and we are changing our foreign policy to reward Hamas and say ‘Good for you, terrorists!’
Brock Coalition Against Antisemitism 