The Senate's rejection of Senator @YuenPauWoo's motion is a missed opportunity to examine the government's obligations under intl law at a time when the ICJ, the ICC & the UN continue documenting severe Israeli violations in Gaza & across the occupied Palestinian territories.
In the debate, opposing senators framed this motion as an accusation against Canada, instead of a credible request for examination and reporting. However, this motion never condemned Canada, nor accuse it of being complicit in genocide. Rather, it called on the govt to merely examine the risk of complicity, and to publicly report its findings.
To those senators who voted against: prioritizing a country's reputation cannot substitute for examining whether its conduct is consistent with intl law during ongoing genocide!
After our civil society lobby day prior to this vote, thank you to those Senators who heard us, and voted on behalf of Palestinian human rights:
@SenatorAlZaibak@michelaudette@SenatorClement@SenMaryCoyle@TonyDean_TO@amigerba
Senator Marilou McPhedran
Sen Tracy Muggli
Sen Manuelle Oudar
Sen Kim Pate
@CPetitclerc
President Ahmad Al-Shar’a highlights how “terrorism” is often politicized, noting that true terror is killing innocents-from Gaza’s 60,000 victims to the millions displaced in Syria & the countless civilians lost in Iraq & Afghanistan. People now know who the real terrorists are.
GRETA THUNBERG FULL SPEECH IN GREECE AFTER BEING ABDUCTED BY ISRAEL
“Thank you to all of you who are keeping an eye on the flotilla & sharing our content”
$7000 per post: Israel paying undisclosed US influencers amid Gaza backlash
The Israeli government is paying US content producers up to $7000 per post as part of a major increase in budget for global influence campaigns. “We have to fight with the weapons that apply to the battlefields in which we engage, and the most important ones are on social media,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a group of US-based Jewish influencers in New York this week.
A September 2025 filing by Bridges partners LLC on behalf of 'Government of Israel through Havas Media Group' under the US Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) details “Initial payments for production and influencers. Concept development with each influencer. Begin matching with Israeli content partners and writing initial post,” among other line items. More than half the $900,000 total appears to be allocated to the recruitment and training of a cohort of more than a dozen US-based online influencers expected to post pro-Israel content.
The campaign is part of a larger influence push by Israeli authorities amid a collapse of public support in the US and elsewhere as the Gaza genocide draws into its third year. In late 2024, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar negotiated a 20-fold increase in the foreign influence budget, securing USD$150 million. Among other initiatives, Israel is now paying $1.5 million a month to President Donald Trump's former digital campaign strategist Brad Parscale to produce “strategic communications,” using AI tools to generate thousands of variants on pro-Israel messaging. Parscale is is now registered as a foreign agent.
“We have to fight back. How do we fight back? Our influencers,” Netanyahu told the gathering in New York in September.
🇺🇸🇮🇱 NEW: WikiLeaks exposes secret Israeli influence campaign in the U.S.
Leaked FARA filings show that Bridges Partners LLC, acting for Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has been distributing over $900,000 to recruit, train, and pay U.S. influencers to flood American social media with pro-Israel content.
➡️ Influencers are reportedly receiving up to $7,000 per post, coordinated with Israeli partners under campaigns like the “Esther Project.”
➡️ Payments are itemized for “concept development” and “content creation,” with 25–30 U.S. influencers onboarded this summer alone.
➡️ Funding comes directly from Israel’s $150M foreign influence budget, approved last year to counter collapsing U.S. public support.
This is terrible
Carney is endorsing a “peace plan” privately hatched by Trump and Netanyahu with no input from Palestinians or the UN that would make Trump chair of a control board over Gaza
It’s a plan with zero legitimacy and endorsing it is a new low for Carney
BREAKING: The Global Sumud Flotilla organisers have declared a state of emergency on board, as they prepare for the expected Israeli interception of their mission to break the blockade of Gaza.
🔴 LIVE updates: https://t.co/U0GXWJgua2
Finnish President Stubb on the UN:
No single state should have a veto power.
If a Security Council member violates the U.N Charter, its voting rights should be suspended.
“There is no superior race.”
“There is no ‘chosen people of God’.”
“It is neither the United States nor Israel.”
“The ‘chosen people of God’ is all of humanity.”
—President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro
Microsoft announced it is blocking Israel’s access to technology which allowed the mass surveillance of Palestinian civilians, following an investigation we wrote. The first time that a major US tech company sanctions the Israeli military for violating Palestinian rights >
مع قرار مايكروسوفت بحجب بعض الخدمات البرمجية عن الاستخبارات العسكرية الإسرائيلية، نتذكر المبرمجة المغربية ابتهال أبو السعد عندما نبهت العالم لتواطئ الشركة مع جيش الاحتلال.
لم تكن وقفتها عبثية بل أدت لسلسلة احتجاجات داخل وخارج الشركة، وقرار الشركة اليوم محاولة لاحتوائها.
لا تستهينوا بأي عمل تقومون به فالانتصارات الكبيرة تبدأ بأفعال بسيطة.
🚨 Misinformation
These are not Christian villages; they are villages belonging to Syrians of all sects and religions.
I am in the area, and these are random wildfires just like in many other countries around the world. Please stop spreading lies while you are thousands of kilometers away from Syria.
The Syrian Civil Defense, under the Ministry of Disasters and Emergencies, is working around the clock to contain the fires. However, remnants of war and landmines greatly hinder their efforts, while the dry and shifting winds contribute to the spread of the flames.
Key points from Sharaa's speech at UNGA:
"The Syrian story is one that stirs emotions, blending pain with hope. I come to you from Damascus, the capital of history and the cradle of civilizations. For 60 years, Syria has been under an unjust and oppressive regime.
The previous regime tore our country apart from east to west and destroyed some of its most significant historical landmarks. The previous regime killed about one million people, tortured hundreds of thousands, displaced around 14 million people, and demolished approximately two million homes over the heads of their inhabitants in Syria. The previous regime targeted the vulnerable population with chemical weapons in over 200 documented attacks.
The previous regime used the worst forms of torture, killed nearly a million people, employed explosive barrels, committed the most heinous massacres against Syrians, ended any political solution, and caused the displacement of thousands of Syrians. We have triumphed in the battle for the oppressed, the tortured, and the forcibly disappeared. We have triumphed for the mothers of the martyrs and the missing, and for the future of our children and yours.
We pledge to bring everyone whose hands are stained with the blood of Syrians to justice. Since the fall of the defunct regime, we have established a policy with clear objectives Through intensive diplomatic activity, Syria has today regained its international partnerships.
Syria is rebuilding itself through a new state. The pain that Syria has experienced, we wish it upon no one, and we call for stopping the war in Gaza. We thank Turkey, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and everyone who stood by Syria's side."
CJPME statement on Canada’s recognition of the State of Palestine:
Today’s announcement is a real policy victory, and the result of sustained pressure from civil society. It is evidence that Canadian policy towards Israel and Palestine, which for so long appeared to be impermeable to the realities on the ground, is capable of being reshaped in the direction of justice.
If there is little enthusiasm for this victory, however, it is easy to see why. Recognizing Palestinian statehood is the very least that Canada could do, and it can easily feel like a distraction from the gravity of the moment. It does nothing to avert the catastrophic policies of genocide and dispossession that Israel is pursuing throughout occupied Palestine.
While we are aware of the limitations of recognition, we also believe that recognition has real benefits for the ability of Palestinians to seek justice -- including through institutions such as the International Criminal Court. That is why CJPME has been actively mobilizing in support of Canada’s recognition of Palestine for over fifteen years, including in our testimony to Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committeewhen they studied the question last year.
But as we told the Foreign Affairs Committee, the act of recognition is not enough. It will not automatically end Israel’s unlawful occupation of Palestine. To accomplish that, recognition must be backed by meaningful economic pressure against Israel, including sanctions. So far, we have not seen any indication that Canada is contemplating this type of necessary action. We need to maintain the pressure and push Canada to take real action: from sanctions, to an arms embargo, to the cancellation of the Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement.
Unfortunately, Carney has also predicated Canada’s recognition of statehood on Palestinians agreeing to certain conditions, which are unfair and would undermine their sovereignty. Of particular concern, Canada wants to dictate which parties are allowed to run in future elections, anddemands that a future Palestinian state must be demilitarized-- demanding that one state unilaterally put down its weapons without making the same demands of the state that is illegally occupying and committing genocide against it. This is a discriminatory double standard and a death sentence, telling Palestine that it alone does not have the right to defend itself.
At a more fundamental level, the ICJ’s advisory opinion of last year made it clear: the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination is inalienable and cannot be conditioned on the demands of the occupier. This right cannot be bargained or negotiated away. Canada is right to recognize Palestine, but cannot hold it to unfair conditions that would violate this right. Instead, Canada should work to realize the right of self-determination by doing whatever it can to bring an end to Israel’s illegal presence in occupied Palestine.