Canada’s Complicity in Suppressing Palestinian Resistance: A Critical Examination

Tazeen Hasan 

​Many Canadians remain unaware of a troubling aspect of Canada’s foreign policy—its provision of training and support to the Palestinian Authority (PA) police in the occupied West Bank. While Canada publicly condemns Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem and the West Bank, its actions tell a different story. Through its aid to the PA police, Canada is effectively facilitating the suppression of Palestinian resistance to Israel’s illegal occupation. This complicity in the suppression of Palestinian voices raises serious questions about Canada’s commitment to its own stated principles of international law and human rights. In this blog, we will critically examine Canada’s role in supporting the Palestinian Authority’s security forces and explore the contradictions inherent in its actions.

Canada’s provision of aid and training to the Palestinian Authority (PA) police in the occupied West Bank, particularly in areas like Jenin, undermines its own stated position on international law and human rights. While the Government of Canada recognizes Israeli rule and occupation in East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Golan Heights as illegal, its actions fail to align with this principled stance. Instead, by equipping and training PA forces that act as a proxy for Israel in suppressing Palestinian resistance to occupation, Canada is indirectly supporting the entrenchment of Israeli colonial policies.

Under international law, Israel’s occupation of the West Bank is a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, and its continued settlement expansion constitutes a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Canada has acknowledged these violations on platforms such as the United Nations, recently reaffirming its condemnation of illegal settlements. Moreover, Canada has sanctioned a handful of Israeli settlers involved in violence against Palestinians, signaling an awareness of the gravity of the situation. However, these actions, though symbolically significant, fall far short of addressing the systemic injustices and policies driving Israeli expansionism and apartheid practices.

The Canadian government’s actions betray a troubling inconsistency. While sanctioning a few rogue settlers, Ottawa ignores the incendiary rhetoric and policies of Israeli ministers and senior officials, such as Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who openly advocate for full annexation of the West Bank and support settler violence. By failing to sanction these high-ranking officials or hold the Israeli government accountable for enabling settler violence and expanding illegal settlements, Canada’s response appears superficial—an attempt to maintain a veneer of moral responsibility while avoiding substantive action.

This inconsistency is further compounded by Canada’s financial and logistical support for PA security forces. The PA police, often described as collaborators by the Palestinian public, operate under the framework of the Oslo Accords, enforcing Israel’s security interests by suppressing resistance against the occupation. Through this partnership, Canada is effectively complicit in maintaining the occupation it claims to oppose. Instead of supporting the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination, Canada is reinforcing a structure that silences legitimate resistance and perpetuates Israeli dominance in the West Bank.

If Canada is serious about its commitment to international law and human rights, it must adopt a coherent and principled approach. This means:
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1. Halting Support for PA Security Forces: Aid and training to PA police must end unless the PA demonstrates its independence from Israeli security policies.
2. Sanctioning Israeli Officials: Beyond targeting individual settlers, Canada must impose sanctions on Israeli government officials and entities actively involved in expanding settlements, annexation rhetoric, and supporting settler violence.
3. Demanding Accountability at International Forums: Canada must leverage its influence at the United Nations and other international bodies to push for investigations into Israel’s violations of international law, including settlement expansion and systemic violence against Palestinians.
4. Reevaluating Diplomatic Relations: Canada must critically assess its bilateral relations with Israel to ensure that they are not enabling human rights violations and breaches of international law.

By failing to take meaningful action against Israel’s occupation policies and, worse, indirectly supporting them through aid to the PA police, Canada is undermining its credibility as a defender of human rights and international law. To stand on the right side of history, Canada must align its actions with its principles and play a constructive role in advancing a just resolution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict—one rooted in the end of occupation, respect for international law, and genuine support for Palestinian self-determination.

Tazeen Hasan is a seasoned human rights policy analyst and Advocacy Manager for Western Canada at Justice For All Canada. With extensive journalism experience spanning the Middle East, South Asia, and North America, she has also contributed chapters to two books published in Canada. In 2020, she was honored with the Harvard Spotlight Award for her groundbreaking research on the Uyghur genocide. A frequent speaker at United Nations forums in Geneva and New York, Tazeen reported from Jenin, Palestine, amidst the ongoing Gaza genocide in December 2023.