Dressed in a keffiyeh, this square of fabric that has become a symbol of the Palestinian cause, solidarity MP Ruba Ghazal once again asked the government on Wednesday to refrain from opening a new diplomatic representation in Israel, given the conflict raging in the Middle East. East.
“The International Criminal Court wants to issue arrest warrants against [le premier ministre israélien] Benjamin Netanyahu for war crimes. At the same time, the Quebec government opened an office in Israel. […] What will our grandchildren remember from the sad episode of the opening of a Quebec office in Israel? », asked Ms. Ghazal during question period.
“The Palestinians suffer from an incurable disease called hope.” It is this hope that brings me back again today with my request: please, Mr. Prime Minister, close the Quebec office in Israel,” she asked, quoting the writer Palestinian Mahmoud Darwish.
The Minister of International Relations, Martine Biron, being absent, her colleague Minister of the French Language answered the question at the Salon bleu. “The government of Quebec is wholeheartedly with the people who may suffer from war,” he declared, recalling that the government had supported a United Nations resolution on the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza. and demanded an immediate ceasefire, as well as the release of Israeli hostages. “But to link what is happening at the moment with Quebec’s international relations, […] I think it’s a dubious mix-up,” he added.
Recognition of the Palestinian state
In November, Minister Biron herself linked the postponement of the opening of the Quebec office in Tel Aviv to the current conflict, saying she wanted to wait “until peace returns.” She now asserts that “the decision to open an office in Tel Aviv is not linked to the government in place.”
Taking over from his colleague Ghazal, MP Guillaume Cliche-Rivard pointed out that Israel recalled its ambassadors to Spain, Norway and Ireland on Wednesday after the three countries decided to recognize the State of Palestine. “What message are we projecting when, in contrast, we open ours and open a new Quebec office? “, he asked. He criticized Quebec for “associating itself” with “people who are wanted by the International Criminal Court.”
Here again, Minister Roberge suggested to his colleague to “avoid confusion”. He recalled that “everyone” wants international law to be respected and civilians to be spared. “Quebec had been planning for years […] to continue its expansion with offices in Quebec,” he also recalled. The Quebec Office in Tel Aviv had indeed been under study since 2017.
In the morning, Québec solidaire asked Quebec to take the lead and recognize the Palestinian state, as Spain, Norway and Ireland did on Wednesday. Quebec has so far said it remains “faithful to its position of balance with regard to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”, advocating “the essential place of negotiation and support of the international community to achieve a lasting settlement of the conflict, in compliance with international law”
Keffiyeh banned in the House at Queen’s Park
Ontario’s legislature, Queen’s Park, banned the wearing of keffiyehs in the House in April. “Clothing or other outfits intended to make an explicit political statement” are not authorized, ruled the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, Ted Arnott, in an email cited by Radio-Canada. Coincidentally, Mr. Arnott was in the stands of the Salon bleu on Wednesday, since a delegation of Ontario parliamentarians had been invited to the National Assembly.
Mr. Arnott notably ruled that wearing the keffiyeh constituted a political statement. He recalled that Queen’s Park “has established practice that MPs must not use any accessories or signs which are intended to express a political message or which are likely to cause disorder”, and that “this rule applies also to the clothing of deputies.
In Ottawa, wearing this traditional scarf remains authorized. The federal Minister of Justice, Arif Virani, believes that it is “an important cultural symbol which should be welcomed in all Canadian institutions”. Wearing a keffiyeh is also permitted in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament.