The Israeli military just murdered a Canadian citizen in cold blood. What is Trudeau going to do?
The Israeli military just murdered a Canadian citizen in cold blood. What is Trudeau going to do?
Over 200 aid workers killed by the IDF, and now seven more.
On April 1st, 2024, seven aid workers with World Central Kitchen were targeted and murdered by the Israeli military over the course of three successive drone strikes. Their names were Saifeddin Issam Ayad Abutaha, Lalzawmi (Zomi) Frankcom, Damian Soból, John Chapman, James (Jim) Henderson, James Kirby, and Canadian citizen Jacob Flickinger, born and raised in Quebec.
World Central Kitchen has been essential to the effort to even partially fill in the gap in humanitarian aid in Northern Gaza, now that Israel has blocked UNRWA from the region. They couldn’t possibly hope to replace UNRWA, but until this act of brutality, they made a valiant effort.
After World Central Kitchen and the United Arab Emirates sent a pilot shipment of aid in March, their next delivery of about 400 tons of food arrived from Cyprus through the American sea corridor, just three hours before the drone strikes began. Only 100 tons of aid were unloaded before the threat of violence forced the ships to turn back to Cyprus, 75% of their intended aid remaining aboard.
Not only did WCK cease their operations in Gaza as a result of these drone strikes, aid group Anera paused it’s own operations, cutting off 150,000 meals per day. Humanitarian groups that provide aid have universally taken this as a signal that the Israeli military will target them as well if they continue to operate. To be quite frank, it is impossible to interpret this chain of events in any other fashion.
After all, WCK founder José Andrés directly accused the Israeli military of targeting his people “systematically, car by car.” Andrés made it perfectly clear that the aid convoy’s members and route were communicated in advance with the IDF, that they were wearing clothing identifying them as WCK workers, and that the vehicles were clearly marked with the logo of WCK, large enough for any drone camera to see in clear detail.
And what does Benjamin Netanyahu, Kahanist warmonger, have to say about this obviously intentional act of violence against innocent aid workers? “This happens in wartime.”
Of course, Prime Minister Trudeau professed his anger at Netanyahu. “No, it doesn’t just happen [in wartime]”, Trudeau replied during an event in Winnipeg earlier this week. The Prime Minister called for an investigation, but left it up in the air whether the suspect should investigate their own crime.
To put it bluntly, the State of Israel just used their military drones to kill a Canadian citizen, and six of his colleagues, in cold blood. By the IDF’s own admission, they confirmed that WCK coordinated fully with them, and still killed them anyways.
They claimed that they saw one of the aid workers holding a bag and “mistakenly” believed it was a gun, and blamed it on “misclassification”. But at least IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi has fired and reprimanded the designated scapegoats! And don’t worry, the IDF will have hired new scapegoats just in time for their next war crime.
Will any of those scapegoats actually face criminal charges for their savagery? Most likely not. After all, there were no charges after the Israeli military murdered five-year old Hind Rajab, her family, and the two Red Crescent ambulance driver trying to save her.
And after Israeli military “apologized” for shooting Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in the head? There were no criminal charges for those involved either. It is truly an amazing feat for the State of Israel, to somehow take responsibility without ever actually taking responsibility.
Prime Minister Trudeau and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly demand a “full investigation”, they demand “very clear answers as to how this happened.” Give me a goddamn break. They know the answers already! They know damn well why this happened!
The Israeli military murdered seven aid workers, including a Canadian citizen, for the same reason they’ve murdered 224 aid workers in total by the UN’s count. For the same reason that, if Israel does not face consequences for these crimes, even more aid workers will be murdered by the IDF.
These brave human beings, murdered far before their time, for the crime of having a conscience. Murdered for the crime of witnessing human suffering and daring to try and stop it. Murder for the crime of embracing their humanity in a time where so many choose to reject it.
We know what the Israeli military has done, to Palestinians and Canadians and aid workers around the world. We know the consequences for not only the safety of Canadian citizens, but the safety of all human beings if we refuse to act now against these war criminals.
There is only one question left to ask the Prime Minister. There is only one thing that Prime Minister Trudeau can do to bring true justice, to ensure those responsible for this war crime face that justice at the only place it can be delivered.
What will Prime Minister Trudeau do to drag these murderous war criminals to the Hague, to be tried in the International Criminal Court, and to face the collective judgement of the entire world? What will Prime Minister Trudeau do, to ensure justice is served?
We’re waiting for an answer.