Canada pledges help for Palestinian sex-crime victims, angering Israeli envoy

An announcement this week that Canada would supply funding for Palestinian girls who’ve survived sexual violence drew a direct rebuke from a senior Israeli official. 

Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly made the $1-million pledge on social media Tuesday.

“We believe Palestinian women,” she posted on X.

“Allegations on sexual and gender-based violence against them must be investigated and Palestinian women must be supported.”

Within minutes, Israel’s envoy for combating antisemitism criticized the put up. 

Michal Cotler-Wunsh wrote that the funding is “supporting blood-libel inversion of fact” that can gas rising anti-Jewish sentiment.

“It is also a betrayal and undermining of Canada’s commitment to uphold and protect foundational principles of life and liberty,” she mentioned on X.

Joly’s workplace wouldn’t say whether or not Canada believes Israeli forces are perpetrating sexual violence on girls in Gaza as their conflict in opposition to Hamas continues, nor if the funding pertains to home abuse within the Palestinian territories.

The minister’s workers would solely say that the cash will go towards “organizations supporting Palestinian women from the West Bank and Gaza who are survivors of sexual violence, no matter the circumstance.”

Earlier this week, Joly introduced the identical amount of cash to assist Israeli girls who’ve been victims of sexual violence by Hamas, months after a cross-partisan group of Canadian former politicians requested Canada to pledge $1 million.

It is unclear which teams will obtain the funding introduced for ladies in every area.

Last month, a bunch of United Nations specialists mentioned they had been distressed by unconfirmed reviews that Palestinian girls and ladies in Israeli detention have confronted sexual assault. 

The accusations included two reviews of rape, threats of sexual assault and strip searches by male Israeli troopers. The specialists mentioned they had been in search of an neutral investigation into the allegations.