While many Canadians were enjoying a long weekend for Victoria Day, Canada’s new Liberal government issued what many observers feel is this country’s strongest criticism since Oct. 7, 2023, of how the Israeli government is carrying out its military operations in Gaza. Canada joined the leaders of the United Kingdom and France in issuing a joint statement on May 19 demanding Israel immediately stop its renewed assaults on Gaza and allow in significantly more humanitarian aid. If Israel fails to comply, the three Western allies say they will take “concrete action”, possibly imposing targeted sanctions, although they were not specific in the threat.
The communique deplores Israel’s “unacceptable” denial of aid to Palestinians in Gaza since March, when the Netanyahu government stopped allowing trucks in as a way to pressure Hamas to release the remaining 59 hostages, living and dead. The leaders also slammed some Israeli politicians who have been encouraging Palestinians to relocate from Gaza.
Israel says it allowed nine trucks to cross into Gaza on May 19, and 93 others went in the following day, carrying baby food, flour and medical supplies. But the United Nations says that amount is merely a drop in the bucket for what’s needed to help nearly two million Palestinians in the war-ravaged zone.
On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, we analyze what’s behind Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government’s first major diplomatic moves on the Middle East crisis. Iddo Moed, Israel’s ambassador to Canada, and Maytal Kowalski, executive director of JSpace Canada—an organization that is welcoming the strongly worded Canadian move—both weigh in with their perspectives.
Transcript
Anita Anand: We cannot allow the continued use of food as a political tool.The Prime Minister has been very clear about that. Over 50,000 people have died as a result of the aggression caused against the Palestinian and the Gazan people in Palestine.
Ellin Bessner: That was the voice of Canada’s new Foreign Minister, Anita Anand, speaking a few days ago as she headed into her first cabinet meeting after being appointed to the key post by Prime Minister Mark Carney. As you heard, Anand called out Israel for blocking humanitarian aid into Gaza for weeks and said Israel was the aggressor.
These remarks prompted plenty of heat in some Jewish quarters because Anand never mentioned Hamas or the hostages or October 7th, or Israel’s right to defend itself, which Canada often repeats. But her office later explained she was in a rush, she was surrounded by journalists, and had she had more time, she would have mentioned all that other stuff too.
But it now appears the Foreign Minister wasn’t misspeaking or apologizing. Indeed, she was actually parroting what her boss had already said just three days before the election. Carney tweeted that food must not be used as a political tool in Gaza and that Palestinians shouldn’t have to pay for Hamas’s terrorist crimes.
So on Monday, it was Victoria Day, a holiday in most of the country. But surprisingly, just hours after the Prime Minister wrapped up a weekend trip to Rome to attend the new Pope’s first Mass at the Vatican, the Prime Minister’s office issued a communique, a joint statement by Canada, the United Kingdom, and France, where they rebuke Israel for its renewed military campaign in Gaza, which they called, “wholly disproportionate” to defending itself from the “heinous” October 7th terrorist attacks. The three countries demanded massive more amounts of humanitarian aid be allowed into the Gaza Strip. And while they do demand the release of the hostages and a two-state solution and want Israel to let the UN help distribute this aid, the three countries also threatened to impose what they called “concrete actions” against Israel if it didn’t do what they want, up to and including sanctions.
There have been mixed reactions to Canada’s strong foreign policy statements. While some Jewish groups on the progressive side applaud it, a spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces, Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani told Canadian journalists in Tel Aviv this weekend that they have to make sure Hamas doesn’t steal all the aid and then use it to pull off another October 7th.
Nadav Shoshani: We do not believe that there’s a situation of starvation in Gaza. We have a team of experts monitoring the situation in Gaza, and our goal now is to make sure we can find a way for aid to go to people of Gaza not to come to Hamas.
Ellin Bessner: I’m Ellin Bessner, and this is what Jewish Canada sounds like for Wednesday, May 21, 2025. Welcome to The CJN Daily, a podcast of the Canadian and Jewish News made possible in part thanks to the generous support of the Ira Gluskin and Maxine Granovsky Gluskin Charitable Foundation.
About 100 UN trucks containing humanitarian aid, including flour and baby food and medical equipment and medicine, did get transferred through the Kerem Shalom crossing into the Gaza Strip in the last 24 hours. Israel says Israel has agreed to a recent plan to have an American team of contractors come in and set up food depots inside Gaza. But that likely won’t be ready till the end of the month, and there are still lots of unknowns about how it’ll work.
On today’s show, we’ll unpack the diplomatic developments with two guests. First, we’ll hear from Israel’s ambassador to Canada and later from JSpace Canada. Ambassador Iddo Moed joins me now from Ottawa. And just a note, he’s fighting off a cold. Good to speak to you again, Ambassador.
Iddo Moed: Good to be with you, Ellin. Thank you for having me.
Ellin Bessner: So let’s start with the statement from the leaders of Canada, Britain, and France threatening, quote, concrete actions against Israel if it doesn’t stop the renewed military offensive and lift aid restrictions. So what is the Israeli government’s response?
Iddo Moed: (Foreign) Minister Saar said this morning very clearly that Israel will not let anyone dictate how it defends itself. Israel is at a war of defending its civilians, its citizens, for almost two years against Hamas, against a terrorist organization that is out there to destroy the state of Israel. So when other countries threaten to impose actions against Israel during this kind of a defensive operation, we, of course, condemn that. We say we will do whatever it takes to get our hostages back. We’ll do whatever it takes to make sure that the threat that is out there from Hamas against Israel, that that threat will be dealt with and will be eliminated, as well as making sure that Hamas will be part of the future of Gaza., Where, of course, we also agree with, Canada agrees with Israel, there is no daylight between us on that.
But the issue really is that Hamas has been holding the population of Gaza hostage throughout the period since they came into power in Gaza, and nobody in the world really did anything to make sure that that murderous, genocidal organization be disabled so that the people in Gaza could live their lives as they would. Nobody really has done much to address the fact that Hamas has used whatever violence against its own population throughout this period where they were in power, shooting people. I mean, Yahya Sinwar actually was one who became so powerful because he was one of those secret police people who acted against Palestinians who he thought were collaborating with Israel. So let’s talk about what really is the essence of this discussion, and that is peace and security. Peace and security can only exist if there is no terrorism. And as long as we empower terrorism, we will not have peace. That’s very easy. That’s actually the equation here.
Ellin Bessner: So how does allowing international aid, how does Israel guarantee it’s not going to go to UNRWA or Hamas? Because that was the whole point of making sure that their own people got the food as opposed to the terrorists get it.
Iddo Moed: So as we mentioned several times in the past, Hamas has robbed the population of the humanitarian aid coming in and thus strengthened its position and maintained its position and control over Gaza. We do whatever we can and we invited also the international community to assist us in this to find alternatives. I may tell you a big secret here, but we proposed this also to Canada more than a year ago: look for alternatives for the current existent distribution method because it falls into the hand of Hamas.
So to come today and threaten with steps is a bit, you know, very. I don’t know, it’s not really sincere, I would say, when countries really had the time and were invited to come and look and see what other options exist. So for now, we have a proposal also on the table from the US. We want to try that out. We want to see how this works for the population. This is what we are doing. I must emphasize Israel is committed to making sure that humanitarian aid flows into Gaza, but at the same time doesn’t flow, doesn’t end up in the hands of murderous terror organization Hamas, which is of course also in Canada we recognize as a terrorist entity.
Ellin Bessner: While we’re talking about Hamas, this is not the first time that Hamas has now thanked the Canadian government. Under the previous prime minister, Canada was thanked by Hamas. Then they did it again over the weekend. What concerns does the Israeli government have on the new Carney government’s position on Israel and the war? And what does this signal? What worrisome things does this signal?
Iddo Moed: Well, what’s worrying us is, of course, the fact that there is an effort to find nuances in a black and white situation. There are terrorists that want to kill Israelis, to eliminate the state of Israel. And so, when those terrorists tell you that you did the right thing, this is a sign, a signal to understand that what you’re doing is not helpful to Israel, and is actually destructive to Israel in an indirect way. I think that this is exactly the message from Hamas to the government here. It’s not the first time; it’s the second time, and this time it is also accompanied by a threat of taking action. It should raise a red flag to the government in Canada whether that kind of choice of path is actually helpful for the situation, to resolve the situation, which is that Hamas lays down the weapons, releases the hostages, and disappears from Gaza, which is exactly what Canada has maintained throughout these years. So whether it is conducive to that position or not, and apparently if Hamas gives you a thumbs up, it’s not. I think the writing is on the wall, and it should be very clear.
Ellin Bessner: Prime Minister Carney just met with Israel’s president over the weekend in Rome, and they had a nice chat about stuff. Carney seemed to be very clear on releasing the hostages. Hamas has to leave. It was much more of a positive statement. And then this. It’s just a very strange dance, and I’m wondering about what you see.
Iddo Moed: Israel and Canada have very strong and good relations, very profound, broad relations based on mutual values that bind us and will continue to bind us for generations. There’s no doubt about that. But there is a perception right now that maybe some kind of diplomatic step can make a difference and change things on the ground there. I think this is a misperception. It’s a misconception that should be understood as such if we want to make a difference in the Middle East. It’s a different kind of language. Hamas doesn’t just stop when it is called to stop or to lay down its weapons. We’ve learned that the hard way. We’ve tried many things. We’ve tried enticing the population to work, to encourage it. We helped money flow in from around the world, donor money, and so on. It all built up the Hamas terror monster. So, in our case, we understand there are no nuances. Either you kill Hamas, or they kill you.
Whatever the government of Canada is trying to do, whatever approach they have, the difference on the ground is only made, and that’s what our responsibility is as the government of Israel to our citizens. The difference is only when we act on the ground vis-à-vis our adversaries.
The population of Gaza are not our adversaries. These are people with whom we want to live in peace and prosperity. When we’re speaking about Vivian Silver, for example, who was murdered on October 7, a Canadian Israeli who was a peace activist driving Palestinian children from Gaza to hospitals in Israel, we are talking about an atmosphere where we thought that working with the population would create some kind of solutions. It exploded in our faces on October 7. So now we are in a new phase, and there are no nuances. We want to make sure the population gets the humanitarian aid they need. The Israeli cabinet made that decision. But we will not stop until all the 58 hostages come back home, alive or dead, all of them. And we will not stop until Hamas is no longer in power in Gaza and no longer poses a threat to Israel, to Israel’s security. This must be very clearly understood everywhere, including here in Ottawa.
Ellin Bessner: When we read about the context of the week and a few days earlier, we read that Prime Minister Netanyahu kind of said, well, Trump wanted this, so we’re going to do it. {Israel seemed to] listen to a bit of pressure from Trump. What does Israel say about international pressure coming from Trump versus the Canadians, UK and France? in other words, where does it rank in the international scene?
Iddo Moed: For Israel, especially when it comes to the West, there is a very clear distinction between the US and the rest of the world. The United States was there for Israel on October 7 with whatever power they could bring together amass around Israel to make sure that it is protected. President Biden said, “Don’t.” [make war on Israel] Very clearly, they were there for us. And later, President Trump, even before he became president, already arranged the release of tens of Israeli hostages. So the US commitment to Israel’s security is beyond any kind of discussion. When there are differences, there are differences, and we iron them out. Sometimes it comes out in the public domain, and sometimes it’s not. But we see very closely eye to eye in the region, and there is no other country in the world that comes even close to that.
When France, the UK, and Canada have some reservations about what is going on in the Middle East, that’s fine. That’s their right. They voice it, they approach us, they tell us they will not agree. In this case, they’ll also condemn the idea of forcing Israel to stop a military operation that is defensive in nature to release the hostages and to eradicate Hamas. But it’s a different level than the US because, when we’re talking about the United Kingdom, France, and Canada, they’re strong allies, they’re very close allies of Israel, but in terms of the meaning, the essence of that relationship when it comes to Israel’s security, it’s completely different. As you know, the support we have from the United States, especially in this war, was existential. It was extremely important. It was very clear, and we’ve voiced that on several occasions. The United States has been there for Israel. Its commitment to Israel is beyond any kind of discussion, and we are very grateful for that.
Ellin Bessner: Finally, let’s talk about Anita Anand’s comments from her first cabinet scrum. What does Israel feel about this?
Iddo Moed: I also noticed that it was a rush, running into the first cabinet meeting, so I wouldn’t read too much into that. There is a long way ahead of us, and I think Minister Anand has an open mind to the Middle East and, in particular, the conflict. During the campaign, she was also pressed by some of her constituents to support an anti-Israel campaign. She did not. She came up with a very clear, balanced position. I wouldn’t say I agreed with all of it or part of it, but I think it was very balanced, and that caught my eye. So I wouldn’t read much into that hurried exchange with journalists. Let’s give her time to get into work, into a new position. We are very much looking forward to working together with her very closely. Minister Sa’ar congratulated her immediately after she was appointed, and she thanked him as well. I’m seeing a very good relationship developing, continuing between Canada and Israel, and developing personally between the two ministers.
Ellin Bessner: Anand’s department on the weekend, together with a group of other nations, came out and said we want the UN to be involved in the humanitarian food efforts in Gaza. Canada sanctioned UNRWA for a while and then it stopped. We’ve all been covering the story. You and I have talked about it I don’t know how many times. So they’re back trying to get the UN to be running things and not the international world. And, like you said, said the alternatives. Where does that sit now?
Iddo Moed: Well, we differ on this when it comes to UNRWA, of course. I don’t think that Canada mentioned UNRWA. Now in specific, there is nothing new in the fact that Canada wants the UN and other countries want the UN to play a role. In our perspective, it depends very much on the agency. So, it can be other organizations like the World Food Program, the World’s Central Kitchen, or any other organization out there actually working to support and alleviate the suffering of the population in Gaza.
The issue we have with the United Nations as an organization is, of course, the bias that has been there throughout the years, especially in UNRWA’s case, supporting the Palestinian narrative that Israel has no right to exist. UNRWA has always been an organization focused on eternalizing, from the word eternal, the refugee problem, so that people remain in the status of refugee, which has never existed anywhere else in the world. Supporting such organizations is a direct contradiction to any kind of peaceful solution between Israel and the Palestinians. Therefore, we have our reservations against the UN as a whole. We also think that under the current circumstances we should try another solution. The United States came up with another proposal. We are willing to consider that and will do whatever we can to make sure that it works and see how it develops. But we’ve seen so far that all the efforts made were futile, especially when it comes to Hamas robbing the humanitarian aid and actually remaining in power.
Ellin Bessner: Good to talk to you again, Ambassador.
Iddo Moed: Yes, thank you.
Ellin Bessner: In the meantime, Canada’s opposition Conservative leader, Pierre Poilievre, points out how bad it is that Hamas has now thanked Prime Minister Carney for what the terrorist group calls taking a significant step in the right direction. Poilievre says “threatening Israel with sanctions and further concrete actions, while a terrorist group on their borders holds their citizens hostage and refuses to stop attacking Israel, is wrong.”
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) says something similar, stating that it just gives Hamas an incentive to continue rejecting a negotiated agreement.
JSpace Canada is one of several progressive Jewish organizations welcoming Canada’s weekend communique. They worry that Israel’s got no plan for what to do after the fighting ends and has politicians calling for the actual displacement or removal of Gazans, whether it’s forced or they pick up and leave on their own. Maytal Kowalski is JSpace’s executive director. She thinks Canada’s new communiqué is an attempt to position itself ahead of a key UN conference in June, where recognition of a Palestinian state is on the table.
Maytal Kowalski joins me now from her office in Vancouver. Welcome to The CJN Daily. It’s good to have you for the first time.
Maytal Kowalski: Thank you, Ellin. Thank you so much for having me.
Ellin Bessner: Well, we wanted to get your important statement out as part of our coverage because the news broke over the long weekend, Canada issued a statement of rebuke against Israel and its renewed military campaign. Why did JSpace Canada think it was important to actually thank Prime Minister Mark Carney for his bold leadership, his stance?
Maytal Kowalski: Yeah, so I mean, I think the first thing is, this is the first statement we’ve seen that is this strong and unequivocal coming from Canada. I think it’s also very important that it was done along with our allies in the UK and France. I think that the situation right now, as we referenced in our email about this petition, is that Israeli military experts, Israeli hostage families, and the majority of the Israeli public are now saying that continuation of the war sacrifices the hostages and is hurting not only Palestinians in Gaza but also Israeli society. It is damaging to the soldiers that are continuously being called up into reserve duty, and it is sacrificing the hostages. We even heard the current IDF chief of staff say just a couple of weeks ago that expanding this military operation is actually going to lose us hostages. What Carney, I think, is doing right now, and what is being done with this statement that we really appreciated, is that it considers our relationship with Israel and our purported shared values with them. If we want to uphold them, we need to continue to hold Israel to the standard that is why we have a relationship with them in the first place.
Ellin Bessner: You said it was the strongest position that you’ve seen. You’re talking about since October 7th, I assume? The previous Trudeau administration?
Maytal Kowalski: Yes,
Ellin Bessner: Because Canada has been rebuking Israel before in small ways. They had some sanctions on four settlers in the West Bank. What is JSpace calling for in terms of concrete action or even quote, “sanctions”? What would you like to see? Because they haven’t mentioned what they want to do.
Maytal Kowalski: Yeah, so actually, they did mention potential things they could do. The two things they mentioned are things we also call for, such as continuing targeted sanctions, not just on individuals but on organizations that contribute to settlement expansion, and continuing de facto and de jure annexation of the West Bank. The second mentioned was the potential to recognize a Palestinian state for Canada, the UK, and France to recognize a Palestinian state. This is something that JSpace Canada has been calling for since this past February. It is something that I testified for at Canada’s Foreign Affairs Committee under the last Trudeau government. It is a position we feel would bring about a two-state solution through our existing stated foreign policy, which is two-state negotiations directly between Israel and the Palestinians. However, it is increasingly clear that this is not something the Netanyahu government, and in fact past Israeli governments, have wanted. So when Israel changes its foreign policy, either explicitly or implicitly, it is time for Canada to do the same.
Ellin Bessner: This is the statement coming out of Canada, not the donor statement but the Canadian one. “We affirm the importance of a two-state solution conference in June and building international consensus. We’re committed to recognizing a Palestinian state as a contribution to achieving this.”
Let me go back. You mentioned just earlier that the statement from Canada, UK, and France right at the bottom said that we, if I understand correctly, does it say Canada is going to recognize a Palestinian state first as a contribution to the two-state solution or as part of it at the same time? Because this might be a departure from what they voted on March 18th of 2024 when that was coming out in Parliament. Everyone was like, Whoa, no! Can’t do that! But France is going to do it, and other countries are going to do it. Where does this sit? Is this something we have to parse very carefully what it means?
Maytal Kowalski: Exactly right. We have to parse it very carefully. It’s its own sentence. So we should be looking at that, and we can understand it in two ways. The first way is that perhaps Canada, because of the UK and France, as you alluded to, have already signalled their intention to potentially recognize a Palestinian state unilaterally. This may be Canada saying, Hey, we’re going to if they’re doing it, we’re going to do it, too. By the way, that’s a position that JSpace Canada has been calling for about a year as well, that we do this in partnership with our allies.
There’s a second way of reading it, though, which is to say that Canada is saying we may do this at some point down the line. If you do not meet criteria A, B, and C as set out in the statement, it may actually be a way that Canada is maybe pulling France and the UK back a little bit and saying, Hey, we’ll sign on this statement if you don’t commit to recognizing this in June, and trying a few more tactics ahead of time. Now, of course, the Israeli government, who is against this, could stop this completely by offering an alternative to the unilateral recognition. They could commit to working towards a two-state solution, to working with the PA [Palestinian Authority in Ramallah] and therefore sidelining Hamas. They could commit to stopping settlement expansion, etc., etc. And I would encourage folks who want to stop unilateral recognition of the state of Palestine to instead encourage Israel to do it as a part of negotiations directly with the Palestinians.
Ellin Bessner: Well, that’s what one of your comments, I think, has been in the JSpace e-Blast, which we’ll link to, is that there is no “day-after” plan for now. And that’s what a lot of critics are saying. And we’ll end up on that. There’s still no “day after” plan. What is it going to look like, who we can talk to? This has been a criticism not just of JSpace Canada, but of many, many people.
Maytal Kowalski: Yeah.
Ellin Bessner: So that didn’t change after this. In fact, basically, Israel said to Canada, get lost. You can’t tell us what to do.
Maytal Kowalski: Yeah. And I think we’ll find that international pressure can tell Israel what to do. We would much prefer to see Israel take those steps towards peace and towards a “day-after” plan in accordance with international law. But if it has to be international pressure, then we should use our international pressure as Canadians, as Jews, and as Zionists to push for the State of Israel that we want to see.
Ellin Bessner: How important is this Canadian joint statement? Because we’re not on the same level in terms of superpowers as the U.S., and they pressured Netanyahu to let some [aid] in. The words that I read from Netanyahu himself, you may have heard them, were like, “Well, if they keep seeing terrible videos coming out of Palestinian territories with dead babies and we can’t allow you, we can’t support your renewed military campaign, so make that go away and then we can support you”. So then where does Canada’s kind of pile-on fit?
Maytal Kowalski: Yeah, so I mean, the first thing I think to note is that the issue is not pictures of dead children and dead women and elderly coming out of Gaza. It is the fact that those things exist in the first place. So kudos, I guess, to the U.S. for getting it half right. The second piece, you know, I think that actually Canada right now will have a more important role to play than maybe it did before this Trump administration because we see that Trump, and we saw this from his recent trip to the Middle East just last week, we see that Trump is very, you know, fickle. Trump cares about Trump. We wrote about this in an email just this past Shabbat. Trump doesn’t care about Israel, who doesn’t care about the Palestinians. And he doesn’t really care about Qatar or the UAE or anyone else. He cares about Trump. And so with such a kind of flimsy or ever-changing foreign policy from the U.S. and not really knowing exactly which direction they’re going to move in, it is actually up to not only Canada but to our allies in Europe, as well, to come together and take a strong stance.
Canada’s role as a peacemaker is one that we should actually be doubling down on and showing the importance of it now more than ever. So I think it was very smart of Canada not only to release this statement but to work in allyship with the UK and France because that signals something not just to Israel, but to the U.S. administration as well,
Ellin Bessner: Which is?
Maytal Kowalski: Which is to continue to continue to have a relationship between Canada and Israel, the shared values of that relationship have to be upheld.
Ellin Bessner: Okay, and then what do you guys make of what Anita Anand said going into cabinet, while I have you, last week? That food is being used as a weapon in the war, which then she kind of backed away from a little bit, saying, well, I was just rushing into cabinet and I’m sure there’s a more nuanced position. But what does J Space Canada feel about that term, in this news three days later? We have more strong statements talking about the humanitarian aid must go in. They called it “egregious”. They called it other really, really strong words.
Maytal Kowalski: Yeah, I mean, look, Anita Anand doesn’t have to say it because Israeli ministers that hold cabinet positions right now are saying it themselves. They are saying that they are going to use collective punishment and the withholding of aid. They say that they are doing it to pressure Hamas, though we have seen first of all that that has not worked in subsequent past negotiations and diplomatic efforts. Also, it is collective punishment is a war crime, and it is against international law. So, you know, the fact that Anita Anand is criticizing what has already been stated by those in Netanyahu’s government, I think is, you know, if anything, I think we should be seeing more from Canada, and we should move beyond words and rhetoric to actual action. We definitely agree with her statements. And, you know, we see this as a positive sign for this new foreign affairs minister moving forward.
Ellin Bessner: But it comes on the heels of a statement by Carney when he met with Israel’s president over the weekend in Rome, that they have to release the hostages. Hamas is a terrorist, they have to lay down their arms. So it’s kind of like a push me, pull you, or a good cop, bad cop thing, which I’ve seen before in the previous Trudeau administration where Trudeau would say, “Yes, I’m a Zionist in this. But then his, you know, Melanie Joly would come out and say bad things…Different audience. He would say the good and she would say the bad, or vice versa. He wouldn’t say it himself. So is this what you’re seeing here, or are they more united on these? On the same path now? Because we were all confused. It was confusing. And then you have this strong statement at the end of the long weekend, which made it even more confusing.
Maytal Kowalski: I mean, I think that the core of the issue remains the same. I think that oftentimes what ends up happening is it’s just a matter of how much time various ministers have to say the piece that they want to say. I think that ideally we would always love to hear the preamble and the points that need to be made that we also agree with of Hamas being a terrorist organization, that holding hostages is obviously against international law, that the hostages should be released, that Hamas should lay down their weapons, that they should leave Gaza. All of these things should happen. But the fact of the matter is that they don’t need to be said They are not qualifiers for one another. And what we should be definitely aware of is some of the more, you know, staunchly pro-Israel individuals will talk about needing to separate between and not equivocate between Israel and Hamas. And if that’s true, then the same can apply in this situation where we are talking specifically about Israel. The question to Minister Anand was specifically about Israel withholding the aid. And she answered it as she should, about Israel withholding aid.
Ellin Bessner: You mentioned Hamas, so I just want to quickly ask your opinion. Hamas said thank you to Canada. This is not the first time. When people hear that it makes people kind of really upset because it’s not what you want, a terrorist organization thanking you. What does JSpace feel about this?
Maytal Kowalski: So, I mean, the first thing is Hamas is playing a game. For folks that get up in arms about them saying that, they’re falling right into Hamas’s trap. And I would say that, you know, maybe they should stop being, to quote some of the wording that they often use, they should stop being such useful idiots for Hamas. Hamas knows exactly what they are doing.
This is the exact reaction that they wanted. It is their attempt to erode this liberal world order that we uphold and that we would also hope to see Israel uphold as well, to try to kind of create this tension or this divide. But the second piece of it that I would say is, so often with statements like this, both from Canada or anywhere else, you want to look at what’s not being said just as much as what’s being said. Hamas did not say thank you for calling for a two-state solution, thank you for agreeing to advance a two-state solution at the conference in the UN in June. Right? We know that. So we should look at what Hamas doesn’t want and what positions Canada is taking that Hamas does not support, which is a two-state solution, which is a strengthening of the Palestinian Authority and the weakening of Hamas, which should have been happening before October 7th as well. Instead of being their useful idiots and falling into their trap, we should read between the lines, see exactly what they’re not saying, and see how to use that to our advantage. And the advantage is to advance peace, to advance a two-state solution, which means a Jewish state of Israel alongside an independent Palestinian state.
Ellin Bessner: Thank you very much for coming on to The CJN Daily in this very fraught couple of days.
Maytal Kowalski: Thank you, Ellin.
And that’s what Jewish Canada sounds like for this episode of The CJN Daily, made possible i part thanks to the generous support of the Ira Gluskin and Maxine Granovsky Gluskin Charitable Foundation.
I’ve put links in the show notes so you can read the statements Canada issued on Israel.
We reached out to The Prime Minister’s Office for clarification, on what these so called concrete actions would look like and also we asked Global Affairs Canada’s team too. We also wanted to know more about why Canada and two dozen donor countries issued another statement, also on Monday, calling on Israel to allow the UN to run aid distribution in Gaza.We didn’t hear back.
Our show is indebted to these people who make it all possible.
Zachary Judah Kauffman and Andrea Varsany our producers
And Michael Fraiman the executive producer
Our music is by Dov Beck Levine..
Thanks for listening.
Show Notes
Related links
- Read Canada’s joint statement with France and the U.K. on May 19 rebuking Israel’s “egregious” military escalation in Gaza.
- Read what Carney told Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, about releasing the hostages, Hamas having no role in Gaza, and boosting humanitarian aid when the two men met at the Vatican on May 18, 2025.
- Why JSpace Canada launched a letter-writing campaign to thank Carney for his “principled leadership” after the rebuke of Israel.
Credits
- Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner)
- Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer)
- Music: Dov Beck-Levine
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