Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly arrived in Kyiv, February 2, to launch an effort to repatriate children who were abducted by Russian forces and to discuss long-term security arrangements for a postwar Ukraine.Olga Ivashchenko/The Globe and M/The Globe and Mail
Canada may impose sanctions on some Jewish settlers in the West Bank and is renewing calls for a two-state solution as the devastating Israel-Hamas war enters its third month, Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly said after she arrived in Ukraine on Friday.
“We are working on addressing the issue of extremist settlers in the West Bank through immigration measures and sanctions,” she told The Globe and Mail in an interview. “We are working with the G7 on this.”
She did not offer details on who might be targeted, saying only that the sanctions might come “in the coming weeks.” She added that senior members of Hamas, the Palestinian military and political group that has governed the Gaza Strip since 2007, and who are considered a terrorist organization by Canada, the United States, the European Union and Israel, “may also be sanctioned.”
On Thursday, U.S. President Joe Biden issued an executive order that aims to punish Jewish settlers who attack Palestinians or seize their property in the occupied West Bank. The punishment will include financial sanctions and visa restrictions. “Today’s actions seek to promote peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians alike,” National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement.
Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed by security forces and settlers in the West Bank since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October, according to the United Nations.
Ms. Joly said that Canada is pushing for the release of the hostages abducted by Hamas militants when they attacked Israel on Oct. 7, a demilitarized Hamas, and sustained progress toward a Palestinian state alongside the state of Israel.
“We need a hostage deal to happen and we need to get onto a determined path to an irreversible two-state solution,” she said. “If [Israeli Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu does not change course on the two-state solution, then a new government in Israel will be needed to provide Israelis with their fundamental needs for security.”
Mr. Netanyahu has rejected calls for Palestinian sovereignty.
Ms. Joly arrived in Kyiv to launch an effort to repatriate children who were abducted by Russian forces and to discuss long-term security arrangements for a postwar Ukraine.
Making her fourth visit to Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion almost two years ago, Ms. Joly is launching what her office calls the Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children. The effort will see Canada help Ukrainian officials build identity files on missing children and apply pressure on Russia to send them home.
“We will talk to many countries in the world about this effort, including the Global South,” she told The Globe and Mail shortly before her arrival in Ukraine. “Children cannot be used as pawns of war. Canada is proud to lead the effort alongside Ukraine to ensure their return home to Ukraine.”
Many of the Global South countries, including Brazil, Indonesia and South Africa, are opposed to or remain neutral regarding sanctions imposed on Russia by Western countries. Ms. Joly’s office is gambling that countries with ties to Russia will be better able to convince the Kremlin to repatriate the Ukrainian children.
Canada must do everything possible to combat Russia’s abduction of Ukrainian children
Ms. Joly said Canadian officials will provide technical expertise and resources to build the files on the thousands of missing children, fewer than 400 of whom have been sent home. The project will not involve a financial commitment from Ottawa – all the Canadian work will be done virtually.
In Kyiv on Friday, Ms. Joly was scheduled to meet with her counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, and President Volodymyr Zelensky, when the topic of Canada’s contribution to Ukraine’s continuing financial, military and humanitarian security will be discussed. “The goal is not only to put money on the table but also to make sure we will be there for Ukraine over the long term,” she said. “Russia will always be a very dangerous neighbour of Ukraine.
She gave no details about what new commitments Canada would make to help Ukraine, adding that any fresh funds would cover financial assistance, weapons and non-lethal aid.
Since early 2023, Canada has committed more than $9.7-billion in aid to Ukraine. Even with the renewed EU funding, Kyiv fears assistance from its allies will drop as war fatigue sets in and newly elected governments turn their attention elsewhere.
In December, Germany’s Kiel Institute for the World Economy reported that, between August and October, the amount of newly committed aid to Ukraine fell 87 per cent, to about US$2.2-billion, from the same period last year. In the United States, the Republican-controlled Congress has yet to approve, and may not approve, an assistance package requested by President Joe Biden that includes about US$60-billion for Ukraine.
Separately, Ms. Joly said Canada has not diminished its funding for Palestinians in Gaza as Israel’s war with Hamas enters its fourth month. In late January, Ottawa approved an additional $40-million in assistance to the Gaza Strip, where almost 27,000 residents have died, according to officials with the Palestinian Ministry of Health in the territory.
Canada’s next contribution to UNRWA, the UN’s Palestinian relief agency, is scheduled to be made in late March but is under review pending a UN investigation into Israel’s allegations that some of the agency’s 13,000 employees in Gaza were involved in the Hamas attack on Israel. About 1,200 people were killed in that attack and another 250 were taken hostage.
“We are confident that the investigation can be done before the next payment instalment at the end of March,” Ms. Joly said. “UNWRA is fundamental to help Palestinians get through one of the darkest conditions they have ever been in.... We all agree that the situation in Gaza is catastrophic. Gaza is the worst place to live on Earth.”
Canada has contributed about $25-million a year to UNRWA. The $40-million in new assistance will mostly go to UN agencies such as the World Food Programme and the World Health Organization.
Eric Reguly