National

Canada abstains from UN motion calling on Israel to end occupation of Gaza, West Bank

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 18 Sep, 2024 04:07 PM

Canada abstained today from a high-profile United Nations vote demanding that Israel end its "unlawful presence" in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank within a year.

Canada's ambassador to the United Nations, Bob Rae, told the assembly the motion was too one-sided to support, though he said Ottawa agrees that Israel is illegally occupying Palestinian territories.

This morning's non-binding vote passed 124-14, and Canada was among 43 abstentions.

The State of Palestine brought the motion to the UN General Assembly, and Israel says the vote amounts to "diplomatic terrorism."

The resolution is based on a July ruling by the International Court of Justice, which condemned Israel’s rule over lands it captured in 1967 by force, saying this violates international laws.

Last December, Canada stopped its decade-long policy of backing Israel in almost any United Nations vote over concerns about the lack of progress toward a humanitarian ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas.

Prev Next

MORE National ARTICLES

Talks on today over HandyDART strike affecting vulnerable people in Metro Vancouver

No timeline has been set for the length of the negotiations, but Joe McCann, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1724, says they are willing to stay there as long as it takes, even if talks drag on all night.

Talks on today over HandyDART strike affecting vulnerable people in Metro Vancouver

2 in hospital in double stabbing in Surrey

Surrey R-C-M-P say they are investigating a double stabbing that sent two men to hospital. R-C-M-P say officers responded to a report of a fight on September 10th at an intersection where they found two man being stabbed.

2 in hospital in double stabbing in Surrey

Kelowna coin collection theft

The Kelowna R-C-M-P says it is looking for the rightful owner of a rare coin collection that was recovered during a traffic stop. They say the collection holds several collector's coins from over the years and police are certain someone in the community is missing them.

Kelowna coin collection theft

Mounties say there's no evidence Lytton wildfire was arson, cause unknown

Mounties in British Columbia say there's no evidence that the devastating fire that swept through the community of Lytton more than three years ago was arson. Police have concluded their investigation into the June 2021 wildfire, saying they can't pinpoint the cause of the blaze that killed two people and wiped out much of the village and part of the First Nation, a day after a Canadian temperature record of 49.6 C was set in Lytton.

Mounties say there's no evidence Lytton wildfire was arson, cause unknown

Man hiking near Fairy Creek, B.C., wrongfully arrested by Mounties, review finds

The commission released a review of a complaint made by a man who had been hiking a forest service road with a group in September 2021 on Vancouver Island near Fairy Creek, where logging activity ignited protests against forestry firm Teal Cedar Products.

Man hiking near Fairy Creek, B.C., wrongfully arrested by Mounties, review finds

'Concerning' number of impaired drivers arrested in roads in Saanich, B.C.: police

Police on southern Vancouver Island say they’ve arrested almost as many impaired drivers in the first eight months of this year than they did in 2023 in a concerning trend of people getting behind the wheel while drunk or on drugs. Statistics released by Saanich police show that officers stopped 464 impaired drivers up until the end of August compared with 468 arrests for the same problem in all 12 months of last year.