PRESS RELEASE
For immediate distribution
November 5, 2024
Criminal appeal to be heard in case of alleged Israeli military recruitment
TORONTO – On Thursday, November 7, 2024, the Ontario Court of Appeal will hear arguments in a two-year legal battle centred around allegations involving alleged Israeli military recruitment in Canada.
In September 2022, a Justice of the Peace found that there was sufficient evidence for a criminal charge to be laid against Sar-El Canada for allegedly recruiting or inducing individuals to accept non-combat engagements as volunteers with the Israeli armed forces, contrary to section 11 (1) of the Foreign Enlistment Act.
Section 11 of the Foreign Enlistment Act states that “Any person who, within Canada, recruits or otherwise induces any person or body of persons to enlist or to accept any commission or engagement [combatant or non-combatant] in the armed forces of any foreign state or other armed forces operating in that state is guilty of an offence.
The case, which was commenced by Canadian Rabbi David Mivasair and Palestinian-Canadian artist Dr. Rehab Nazzal as a private prosecution, represented the first ever prosecution related to alleged Israeli military recruitment in Canada. However, the case never made it to trial. In December 2022 the Public Prosecution Service of Canada intervened, took over the case, and terminated the prosecution.
The appeal alleges that the Public Prosecution Service of Canada committed an abuse of process in terminating the prosecution, and that the move was reflective of a larger pattern of Canada refusing to enforce the law where Israel’s armed forces are concerned. The appeal seeks, among other things, an order that the prosecution be allowed to continue.
In the two years since the Public Prosecution Service of Canada terminated of the prosecution, the impetus for hearing this case has only grown. In the International Court of Justice, Israel stands accused of committing genocide, with grave breaches of international humanitarian law apparent throughout its year-long assault on Gaza and its more recent attack on Lebanon. Determining the legality of Canadian engagement with Israel’s military is a matter of international import.
The matter returns to court on November 7, 2024, at 10:00am in courtroom #2 at the Ontario Court of Appeal (130 Queen Street West) in Toronto, Ontario. It will also be livestreamed at the link below. The appellants are represented by Sherif Foda of Foda Law and Shane Martínez of the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) – Canada.
For interviews and additional information, please contact Shane Martínez by phone at 647-717-8111, or by e-mail at shane@icjpalestine.com
Background
Rabbi David Mivasair was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 2016 and has a history of involvement in peacebuilding and justice projects in Israel/Palestine. Dr. Rehab Nazzal holds a PhD in Art and Visual Culture from the University of Western Ontario. In December 2015 she was shot in the leg by a sniper while photographing activities of the Israeli armed forces in Bethlehem.
Zoom Link
The hearing of the appeal will be livestreamed at the following link on November 7, 2024, at 10:00am:
https://ca01web.zoom.us/j/64669140821?pwd=bBZXIR1rgnuxb3nrcQNy33TNPFX4zp.1
Important: Unless permission is given by the court, it is an offence under s. 136 of the Courts of Justice Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. C.43, punishable by a fine of not more than $25,000 or imprisonment of up to six months, or both, to record any part of the hearing, including by way of screenshot/capture and photograph, as well as to publish, broadcast, reproduce or disseminate any such recording.
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