I suspect this is one of those cases where something that looks like a simple solution to a moral dilemma actually opens up a big can of worms. I believe the current way of thinking is that we don’t have any say over who another country allows to serve in their military. So a citizen who is eligible to join a foreign military just has to jump through the expected bureacratic hoops at the Canadian end for a long stay abroad.
We’d either have to bar all foreign military service by Canadians (which will cause some dual citizens to lose their foreign citizenship through no fault of their own), or somehow put Israel in a special category, which I don’t see happening.
It might be possible to have people who have served in the IDF arrested and tried for war crimes upon return to Canada, but it would require some work to make the charges stick.
Or, and hear me out, we call the IDF what they are and enforce the laws already on the books.
83.18 (1) Every person who knowingly participates in or contributes to, directly or indirectly, any activity of a terrorist group for the purpose of enhancing the ability of any terrorist group to facilitate or carry out a terrorist activity is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than 10 years.
Calling Israel’s official military a terrorist organization is right on the edge of saying they’re not a state at all, and that isn’t going to happen no matter how justified it is. After-the-fact war crimes trials are at least realistically possible, even if far from ideal.
I would be happy with something to the effect “not allowed to serve in the army of countries engaged in illegal occupation and/or found in contravention of this and that treaty”, and enumerate the treaty for the prevention of apartheid, the one for genocide, and the Geneva conventions.
I suspect this is one of those cases where something that looks like a simple solution to a moral dilemma actually opens up a big can of worms. I believe the current way of thinking is that we don’t have any say over who another country allows to serve in their military. So a citizen who is eligible to join a foreign military just has to jump through the expected bureacratic hoops at the Canadian end for a long stay abroad.
We’d either have to bar all foreign military service by Canadians (which will cause some dual citizens to lose their foreign citizenship through no fault of their own), or somehow put Israel in a special category, which I don’t see happening.
It might be possible to have people who have served in the IDF arrested and tried for war crimes upon return to Canada, but it would require some work to make the charges stick.
Or, and hear me out, we call the IDF what they are and enforce the laws already on the books.
83.18 (1) Every person who knowingly participates in or contributes to, directly or indirectly, any activity of a terrorist group for the purpose of enhancing the ability of any terrorist group to facilitate or carry out a terrorist activity is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than 10 years.
Calling Israel’s official military a terrorist organization is right on the edge of saying they’re not a state at all, and that isn’t going to happen no matter how justified it is. After-the-fact war crimes trials are at least realistically possible, even if far from ideal.
Plenty of countries declared IRGC, part of Iran’s military, a terrorist organization including US, EU, Australia. Clearly not a blocker.
I would be happy with something to the effect “not allowed to serve in the army of countries engaged in illegal occupation and/or found in contravention of this and that treaty”, and enumerate the treaty for the prevention of apartheid, the one for genocide, and the Geneva conventions.