Posted on 05/31/23
| News Source: Arutz-7
The legal representatives of several Canadian, Canadian-Palestinian, and Jewish organizations have filed a legal brief to bar former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett from Canada.
Bennett is set to address the Simon Wiesenthal Center's annual event in Toronto next month.
According to the representatives, Canada should bar entry from Bennett according to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. The complaint states, "The federal government has the domestic and international legal obligations to exclude perpetrators of atrocities."
The complaint explains that Bennett has been "deeply involved in the development of illegal Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank." It cites a Peace Now report according to which Bennett's government increased the development of "settlements on Palestinian land" and that his government supported the eviction of Arabs from eastern Jerusalem.
The representatives pointed out that Canada does not recognize Israel's control over Judea and Samaria. According to Canadian policy, the UN, and international law, Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria constitute a war crime.
The claim adds that the former Prime Minister allegedly was involved in the killing of 102 Lebanese citizens in Qana in 1996 and has called for extrajudicial killings of Arabs who confronted IDF forces.
According to the claim, when told by National Security Advisor Yaakov Amidror that it would be illegal, Bennett answered that he killed many Arabs and he did not see a problem with it.