Robert Fox

Canada can do better. And we must. (he/him)

Take action on Gaza @OxfamCanada

[Kasper B.R.Bjørkskov @KBRH87]

The science on wealth taxes is settled.

People opposing it are either protecting their own wealth or letting ideology override evidence.

Here is what the research actually says. 🧵👇

[UN Human Rights @UNHumanRights]

#Israel’s suspension of multiple aid agencies from #Gaza is outrageous. The pattern of unlawful restrictions on humanitarian access & these arbitrary suspensions make an already intolerable situation worse for the people of Gaza.

States must take urgent steps & insist that Israel allows aid to get into Gaza unhindered.

➡️ https://t.co/2tpIhyqQBv

[Mark Kersten || @markkersten.bsky.social @MarkKersten]

#FactsMatter

Given how often the IDF targets humanitarian workers, killing almost 600 in Gaza alone, it's no surprise that humanitarian NGOs won't submit a list of their local employees.

There is a massive risk that Israel will simply claim they are terrorists and kill them.

[Philippe Lazzarini @UNLazzarini]

Despite Israel’s obligations, these legislative steps have been accompanied by unilateral actions on the ground that show a repeated disregard for international law.

Earlier this month, Israeli officials stormed UNRWA’s compound in East Jerusalem – which is a UN premises – and tore down the UN flag, replacing it with an Israeli flag. And in May, they forced the closure of UNRWA’s schools in East Jerusalem, depriving hundreds of Palestine Refugee children of their right to education.

Israel’s unilateral actions are having a direct operational and legal impact on UNRWA’s services in the occupied Palestinian territory, including in Gaza, where the Agency is the backbone of the international humanitarian operation. As Gaza, the West Bank, and the wider region continue to face conflict and turmoil, UNRWA – more than ever – is irreplaceable.  

Legislation against UNRWA is also a further setback to efforts to reach a just and lasting diplomatic solution to the decades’ long Israeli-Palestinian conflict.   Pending such a solution, UNRWA is mandated to provide services, especially health and education, to Palestine Refugees. 

The rights of Palestine Refugees exist separate to UNRWA, under international human rights law, international humanitarian law, and UN General Assembly resolutions, including Resolution 194, adopted in 1948, a year before UNRWA was created in Resolution 302. Even if UNRWA no longer existed, these rights would endure.

The current and earlier legislation passed by the Israeli parliament also rejects the principal obligation of UN Member States to respect the UN’s independence and its privileges and immunities. It creates a grave precedent for other conflict situations where governments may wish to eliminate an inconvenient UN presence.

It therefore targets not just UNRWA, but any individual or entity calling for compliance with international law and a peaceful political solution. Failing to push back against attempts to intimidate and undermine the UN in the occupied Palestinian territory will eventually compromise humanitarian and human rights work worldwide.

🧵2/2

[Philippe Lazzarini @UNLazzarini]

Yesterday’s vote by the Israeli parliament passing new legislation against UNRWA is outrageous. It is a direct affront to the mandate granted to the Agency by the UN General Assembly and contrary to findings of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which oblige Israel to fulfil its responsibilities as a UN Member State to UNRWA and the broader UN system.

The legislation cuts off water, electricity, fuel, and communications from UNRWA and grants the government of Israel authority to expropriate UN properties in East Jerusalem, including UNRWA’s headquarters and its main vocational training centre.

Furthermore, the bill explicitly excludes UNRWA from Israeli law enacting Israel’s obligations under the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations. This stands in clear violation of the State of Israel’s obligations under international law.

This latest move extends the laws passed last year and implemented since January 2025 that banned UNRWA’s operations in occupied East Jerusalem and halted all contact between Israeli officials and UNRWA.

The new legislation is a further blow to the multilateral system. It is part of an ongoing, systematic campaign to discredit UNRWA and thereby obstruct the core role that the Agency plays in providing human-development assistance and services to Palestine Refugees. Services which the ICJ has ruled are essential for delivering on the UN’s commitment to the rights of the Palestinian people, including their right to self-determination.

In October, the ICJ restated that the State of Israel is obliged under international law to facilitate UNRWA’s operations, not hinder or prevent them. This new legislation is an unacceptable rejection of the ICJ’s findings.

Israel is obliged to act within the UN framework and not take unilateral action contrary to its obligations under the UN Charter. Should Israel dispute the actions of UNRWA, it must refer the issue to the UN’s deliberative bodies and seek a decisive ruling from the ICJ. A failure to do so disrespects the procedures critical to the operation of the UN system.

🧵1/2

[Canadian Muslim Public Affairs Council @CMPAConline]

CMPAC, Independent Jewish Voices @IndJewishVoices, Public Service Alliance of Canada @psac_afpc, International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group @ICLMG, Legal Support Committee, United Church @UnitedChurchCda are united against Bill C-9: this bill threatens religious freedom, free expression, and civil rights. Canadians must be aware, Parliament must act.

@SeanFraserMP @MarkJCarney #StopBillC9 #ProtectRights #CMPAC

[Canadian Civil Liberties Association @cancivlib]

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association strongly opposes Bill C-16 announced today by the Minister of Justice. The legislation would overturn nearly 40 years of Supreme Court precedent holding that a stay of proceedings is the remedy for unconstitutional trial delay, removing the strongest constraint requiring the justice system to run on time.

“The federal government’s proposal to gut the s. 11(b) Charter right to be tried in a reasonable time is unconstitutional and punts the hard work of resolving delay,” said Shakir Rahim, Director of the Criminal Justice Program. “Governments have been on notice of the Jordan decision for a decade. Yet they have failed to ensure the justice system is properly funded and run to ensure timely trials. The solution to that is not to water down our Charter rights, but for governments to step up and do their job.”

“Bill C-16 would keep the accused, complainants, and communities in legal limbo for even longer. Under Jordan, the state already has 18 months in provincial court or 30 months in superior court to complete a prosecution. The government is trying to legalize proceedings routinely running over two and a half years in length,” added Rahim. “Even a person who will be ultimately acquitted of their charges could spend years of their life behind bars with no end in sight.”

“This bill is part of a troubling broader picture. Governments are increasingly turning to legislating their way out of compliance with the Charter instead of addressing the underlying causes of serious public policy problems. Every person in Canada should be alarmed by this cavalier approach toward their constitutional rights,” added CCLA Executive Director, Howard Sapers.

[Alex Neve @AlexNeve24]

Bill C-233, @JennyKwanBC's private member's legislation, which seeks to close down the blatant loophole in our arms control regime that exempts from scrutiny those arms, weapons, parts & components that are sold & transferred first to the United States, before further transfer to other countries, could not be more timely. This is something that Amnesty International and many other groups and advocates decried when Canada became a party to the UN Arms Trade Treaty and passed the necessary implementing legislation back in 2019. It was dismissed then, it can no longer be ignored.
https://t.co/duLskC41Zq

A new report released today from the Arms Embargo Now campaign documents "hundreds of shipments from Canadian military manufacturers to the U.S. weapons factories that manufacture Israel’s key warplanes, bombs, and artillery shells." It puts the lie to the frequent Canadian government assertions that we are not sending arms to Israel. It demonstrates in stark terms why the reforms included in C-233 are so urgently necessary.
https://t.co/Q7qdSBlCej...

Also today I've seen a copy of what appear to be deeply troubling, inaccurate and inflammatory briefing notes for Liberal MPs, encouraging them to vote against and defeat C-233, insisting that the Bill is a "misguided piece of legislation that would undermine Canada’s security, weaken our alliances, and decimate our defence industry" and asserting that "Canada has one of the world’s strongest military export control systems." The talking points are full of unsubstantiated hyperbole including that C-233 would constrain the capabilities of the Canadian Armed Forces, apparently by "impeding their operations in vital regions, like the Arctic," which is blatantly unfounded fearmongering given that the Bill applies to arms exports, not imports.

The bottom line is that claims to have one of the world's best arms control regimes will remain empty as long as that system exempts the one country to which we sell and transfer more arms, weapons, parts and components than any other, namely the United States. The United States is of course not a party to the UN Arms Trade Treaty, and is, by far, the primary source of arms and weapons imported by Israel. Those arms and weapons have been at the heart of two years of genocide in Gaza. Canada's arms trade cannot in any way be allowed to be a part of that deadly commerce.

This is not about our "alliances" and the health of our "defence industry", it is about preventing and certainly not being complicit in genocide. To suggest otherwise is a craven abdication of some of our most important international obligations.

Continuing to allow the US loophole is a contravention of our obligations under the Arms Trade Treaty, with deadly consequences for Palestinians.

C-233 is scheduled for Second Reading debate tomorrow, November 19. All MPs should express their support. It is a matter of international law, it is a matter of saying no to genocide, it is a matter of conscience.

[Gauri Sreenivasan @GauriSreenivas1]

It’s time to create a massive wave: We are proud to be a country that welcomes immigrant and refugees and we expect our leaders to carry on that legacy. Because in Canada, we know We’re Better together! Stand with us. @ccrweb

[Oxfam International @Oxfam]

The richest 10% consumed half of all global energy in the last decade while the poorest 50% consumed just 8%, yet face the worst climate impacts.​
​
The math is clear: the super rich and historic polluters must pay for a just transition. #MakeRichPollutersPay #EndClimateColonialism

[Alex Neve @AlexNeve24]

To point out the obvious Ambassador @DavidLametti & Minister of Justice @SeanFraserMP...

The applicability of the Genocide Convention (and the obligation Canada carries to prevent genocide) does not hinge on a final determination from the ICJ, whenever that may come. That obligation arises now. The whole point is, after all, prevention, not waiting until all the evidence is in and the final grim death toll tallied.

How many expert, thorough and entirely consistent assessments and determinations does Canada need?

This is not a waiting game. This is an urgent, inescapable obligation to act, now.

https://t.co/Wrnxaw5dtA

[Saul Staniforth @SaulStaniforth]

"Every country was put on notice by the ICJ that there was a plausible risk of genocide in Gaza.. every country became obliged under the law.. not to speak fine words, to take action to prevent genocide.. that obligation was activated on 24th Jan 2024"

Chris Sidoti spells it out

[United Nations Geneva @UNGeneva]

“It is clear there is an intent to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza through acts that meet the criteria set forth in the Genocide Convention.”

UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry's report shows #Israel has committed #genocide in #Gaza.

https://t.co/UGjepPwmwo

[Save the Children UK @savechildrenuk]

Text Copyright © 2015 Michael Rosen, published by Smokestack Books

‘Don’t Mention the Children’ was written in 2014 by the children’s author, poet and activist Michael Rosen following a @guardian report that the Israeli government had banned a radio advert naming children killed in Gaza.

Gaza is now the deadliest place in the world to be a child. Over 20,000 children have been killed by Israeli forces. The actual number is undoubtedly higher.

These children had names, and favourite subjects in school. They wanted to be teachers, doctors and astronauts when they grew up – the same as children in the UK and across the world.

They were, and still are, someone's everything: their entire universe.

We refuse to allow their suffering to become normalised. We must make their voices heard.

With Save the Children UK and @chooselove, we called on actors, presenters, activists and influencers to use their voices and platforms to ensure these children can never be erased.

The poem was written to expose the silencing of children’s suffering in the face of devastating violence. Since then, the situation for children has only grown worse. Its message remains painfully relevant today.

Demand Prime Minister Keir Starmer takes urgent action for children in Gaza and the West Bank.

Sign our petition: https://t.co/nOnNXbY9gf

'Don't Mention the Children' – a poem by: @MichaelRosenYes

Narrated by:

Misan Harriman
Zawe Ashton
Beth Orton
Laura Bailey
Laura Whitmore
Khalid Abdalla
Dawn O’Porter
Nadia Sawalha
Jolyon Rubenstein
Indira Varma
Jen Brister
Daniel Ings
Denise Gough
Stephen Kapos
Max la Manna
Ambika Mod
Vanessa Redgrave
Joely Richardson
Nathalie Emmanuel
Poppy Delevingne
Dr Mo Mustafa
Guy Pearce
Michael Rosen
Juliet Stevenson
Annie Lennox

[Robert Fox @RobertFox_]

See this Instagram photo by @robertfox__ https://t.co/WhRsk6CabR

[Dr. Ezzideen @ezzingaza]

There are moments when a man ceases to be a man.
He becomes a wound. A gash torn open in the universe.
I am that wound.

I write these words not from a room, but from the grave of meaning itself.
And I write them with trembling hands and a blasphemous heart because I no longer know if prayer is a virtue or a curse.
Because the silence from the heavens has become so loud, I fear it will shatter my skull.

They told us to flee.
They told us: “Go south, there you will be safe.”
So we went.
Obedient.
Meek.
Begging life like beggars beg bread.
But there is no south.
There is no safety.
There is only earth quaking under the weight of corpses, and children carrying the eyes of the dead in their faces.

I sit now in a room smaller than a confession booth, twenty-eight square meters of guilt.
And I am ashamed to possess even that.
Ashamed because my friend lies headless in the north.
Ashamed because I breathe, and his mother no longer does.
Ashamed because survival, here, has become a sin.

What is this?
What do you call a world where innocence is a death sentence, and justice a superstition?

Do not call it war.
Call it ritual slaughter.
Call it divine abandonment.
Call it what it is: the slow crucifixion of a people in broad daylight, while the bishops of democracy sip wine and speak of “context.”

They bombed a tower today.
Forty-eight families.
Thirty minutes to escape.
Then it was fire.
Then it was rubble.
Then it was silence.

And the world, this bloated, bloodless world, watched with dry eyes and full stomachs.
They wrote it down.
They called it “a response.”
They said: Hamas infrastructure.
I say: a nursery with blood still wet on the blankets.

I say: a child curled around her dead sister’s shoes.

I say: a father digging through bricks with his fingernails because there is no shovel left, no ambulance, no hope.

And the tents, do not insult us with that word.
A tent is not shelter.
A tent is the mockery of shelter.
A tent is what you give to ghosts when even the dust has forgotten their names.

And still, somehow, my heart beats.
Why?
What right does it have to beat?
What right have I to remain while others vanish in smoke?

Oh God, if You are watching, then watch this.
Three more houses have fallen as I write.
Three.
Each with its own holy story, its own lullaby interrupted by the scream of steel.

If this is not hell, then hell is redundant.

And yet I write.
Because words are the only thing we have left to bury the dead with.

#GazaGenocide

[Robert Fox @RobertFox_]

Stop the arms. Demand a ceasefire. Break the aid blockade. Defend the ICC. Recognize the state of Palestine. Issue student visas. 4/4

[Robert Fox @RobertFox_]

We must not become inured to the obscene daily slaughter of men, women, and children scrambling to avert starvation in Gaza.1/4

[Robert Fox @RobertFox_]

We must do everything possible to to prevent the erasure of Gaza. Canada must act to end Israeli war crimes and atrocities. 3/4