{"id":52165,"date":"2025-03-20T06:21:37","date_gmt":"2025-03-20T14:21:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/?p=52165"},"modified":"2025-03-21T00:39:47","modified_gmt":"2025-03-21T08:39:47","slug":"list-of-canadian-idf-soldiers-should-be-starting-point-of-prosecutions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/2025\/03\/20\/list-of-canadian-idf-soldiers-should-be-starting-point-of-prosecutions\/","title":{"rendered":"List of Canadian IDF Soldiers Should Be Starting Point of Prosecutions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reprinted from Yves Engler\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Find IDF Soldiers<\/a> has elicited a significant backlash. But there\u2019s been little discussion of the website\u2019s indictment of the legal exceptionalism given to Israel in Canadian political culture.<\/p>\n

Find IDF Soldiers lists 85 Canadians who have fought in the Israeli military. It has been covered<\/a> by The <\/em>Jerusalem Post<\/em>, Ynet, Jewish Onliner, Jewish Press, Israel Hayom, i24, The J, National Post<\/em>, Jewish Breaking News, Jewish News Syndicate, Jew In The City, Vernon Morning Star, Haaretz<\/em> and others. A Canadian Jewish News article headlined \u201cCanadian veterans of the IDF profiled by an anti-Israel website are considering a class-action lawsuit\u201d quotes the father of one of those listed who is campaigning to shutter the site. Author of The Wake Up Call: Global Jihad and the Rise of Antisemitism in a World Gone MAD<\/em>, Israel Ellis told Canadian Jewish News, \u201c\u2018How do we get this thing shut down as quickly as possible?\u2019 That took me on a bit of a journey,\u201d he said, and was soon contacting \u2018every politician I know\u2019\u2014and law enforcement officials, too. \u2018Many people were talking, and by the morning the site was shut down.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The reaction to the site, which is back up, is another example of the authoritarian tendency of Zionism. If it bothers their genocidal, supremacist, sensibilities it must be illegal and shuttered.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s a far stronger legal case to be made against those named on Find IDF Soldiers and those who induce Canadians to join the Israeli military. Canada\u2019s Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act states, \u201cEvery person<\/a> who, either before or after the coming into force of this section, commits outside Canada (a) genocide, (b) a crime against humanity, or (c) a war crime,<\/em> is guilty of an indictable offense and may be prosecuted for that offense.\u201d<\/p>\n

Every Canadian who has fought in Gaza over the past 16 months should be charged. Many of those who fought in Israel\u2019s occupation force in previous years should also be investigated for possible participation in war crimes.<\/p>\n

Part of why Find IDF Soldiers has elicited such a reaction is that it was launched as the Hind Rajab Foundation pursues Israeli<\/a> soldiers in Brazil, Belgium and elsewhere. The foundation has also filed complaints<\/a> against 1,000 IDF members and officers to the International Criminal Court.<\/p>\n

Find IDF Soldiers also highlights the failure of Canadian officials to enforce the Foreign Enlistment Act, which states<\/a> that \u201cany person who, within Canada, recruits or otherwise induces any person or body of persons to enlist or to accept any commission or engagement in the armed forces of any foreign state or other armed forces operating in that state is guilty of an offense.\u201d Various schools, community institutions and wealthy individuals induce Canadians to join the Israeli military. In 2020 a formal legal complaint<\/a> and public letter signed by numerous prominent individuals were released calling on the federal government to investigate individuals for violating the Foreign Enlistment Act by inducing Canadians to join the Israeli military. The Trudeau government effectively ignored the public letter and legal complaint even though it was published on the front page of Le Devoir<\/em>. Then Justice Minister David Lametti responded by simply saying it was up to the police to investigate. For their part, the police refused to seriously investigate.<\/p>\n

More evidence<\/a> has come to light recently. The Canadian Jewish News<\/em> quoted a parent saying \u201ca quarter of the class\u201d at Toronto\u2019s Bnei Akiva high school join the Israeli military. The school encourages<\/a> students to make the move in a series of ways.<\/p>\n

Partly in response to the police\u2019s unwillingness to take violations of the Foreign Enlistment Act seriously, Palestinian Canadian artist Rehab Nazzal and Rabbi David Mivasair commenced<\/a> the first ever prosecution related to Israeli recruitment in Canada. In 2022 they launched a private prosecution against Sar-El Canada, which brings about<\/a> 150 Canadians to volunteer on Israeli army bases each year. They maintain the facilities, stock shelves and clean guns. According to Sar-El, the volunteers are responsible for \u201croutine logistical support tasks normally assigned to active-duty soldiers and reservists.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Justice of the Peace agreed<\/a> the evidence against Sar-El warranted a hearing. But, in a legal slight of hand the \u201cPublic Prosecution<\/a> Service of Canada intervened, took over the case, and terminated the prosecution.\u201d They clearly didn\u2019t want a court to adjudicate the matter.<\/p>\n

This week, the Court of Appeal for Ontario denied Nazzal and Mivasair\u2019s appeal challenging the Crown\u2019s abuse of process. While the Court of Appeal agreed with part of their challenge, the court found that they had not shown there was an improper exercise of prosecutorial discretion by the Crown. In their statement responding to the decision Nazzal and Mivasair complained that the \u201cwritten judgment did not meaningfully engage with affidavit evidence that the Crown\u2019s actions were not an anomaly, but were part of a consistent pattern of refusing to uphold Canadian law where the Israeli armed forces are concerned.\u201d Nazzal and Mivasair\u2019s release further explained, \u201cNo one should be above the law. Section 11 of the Foreign Enlistment Act makes it an offense for anyone within Canada to recruit or otherwise induce another to enlist or to accept any commission or engagement in the armed forces of any foreign state. The recruitment of volunteers for the Israeli military is particularly a cause for concern given the alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity by the Israeli armed forces that are being investigated by the International Criminal Court. The egregious abuses by the Israeli military make it all the more important to challenge Canada\u2019s complicity with Israeli military recruitment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The police should take seriously their responsibilities vis-\u00e0-vis Sar-El\u2019s promotion of Canadians to assist the Israeli military. Several Jewish schools and other institutions should be investigated for potentially violating Canada\u2019s Foreign Enlistment Act. At the same time Canadians who\u2019ve participated in Israel\u2019s war crimes and genocide should be investigated under Canada\u2019s Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act.<\/p>\n

As Nazzal and Mivasair concluded, \u201cCanada\u2019s practice of Israeli legal exceptionalism, and its complicity in Israel\u2019s crimes, must continue to be challenged on every front.\u201d<\/p>\n

Please take a minute to email<\/a> Canada\u2019s Attorney General and RCMP to investigate those\u00a0<\/em>who\u2019ve potentially violated Canada\u2019s Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act and Foreign Enlistment Act.<\/em><\/p>\n

Support Yves\u2019 work. Donate Now.<\/a><\/p>\n

Yves Engler is the author of <\/em>Stand on Guard<\/a> for Whom? A People\u2019s History of the Canadian Military and twelve other books<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reprinted from Yves Engler\u2019s website. Find IDF Soldiers has elicited a significant backlash. But there\u2019s been little discussion of the website\u2019s indictment of the legal exceptionalism given to Israel in Canadian political culture. Find IDF Soldiers lists 85 Canadians who have fought in the Israeli military. It has been covered by The Jerusalem Post, Ynet, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":244,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1315],"class_list":["post-52165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"meta_box":{"disable_donate_message":"","custom_donate_message":"","subtitle":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/244"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52165"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52198,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52165\/revisions\/52198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52165"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=52165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}