Pro-Palestine activist Tiro Mthembu claims Iddo Moed’s recent visit to Saskatchewan has to do with a long genocidal history in the Prairies.
Moed, Israel’s ambassador to Canada, visited Saskatchewan a month after the United Nations declared Israel had committed genocide in Gaza, accusing the Israeli government of war crimes like blocking humanitarian aid and directly targeting children.
Mthembu, a community organizer in The Heritage Community in Regina, protested the meeting between Moed and Premier Scott Moe in a recent pro-Palestine rally.
Mthembu believes there are similarities between the recent Israeli visit, and the visit Glenn Babb, South African ambassador, paid to Manitoba during 1987 before the end of apartheid. The main similarity being that both South African and Israeli governments were violating human rights.
In a Facebook post, Premier Moe stated that the meeting is meant to “expand technological cooperation and market diversification.”
The premier’s office, however, did not respond to questions relating to Mthembu’s claims.
The questions included why Scott Moe decided to talk trade with a government accused of genocide, and how trade with Israel can be seen as disrespectful for a provincial government that claims to preach Truth and Reconciliation.
Mthembu’s parents were both part of the anti-apartheid movement at the University of Saskatchewan during the 80s. His father, a political refugee from South Africa, and his mother, a Canadian protester that was “beaten by the police” at one of the movement’s protests.
“Directly linked to our colonial roots,” said Tiro Mthembu when asked why Glenn Babb’s visit was made specifically in the prairies.
Mthembu said that Edward Dewdney’s mandate was “successful in dismantling and oppressing Indigenous populations,” which is what he said Glenn Babb came to research.
Mthembu said that there is resemblance between the Indian Act and the laws that South Africa placed during apartheid. He compared reserves to townships and identity cards with treaty cards.
“Now we can see that directly in the Israeli occupation in Gaza,” said Mthembu. He calls Scott Moe’s decision to continue trade “shameful.”
“Sanctions, sanctions, sanctions,” said Mthembu. He argued that sanctions and boycotts worked once to protest apartheid in South Africa, and Canadians should demand it now amidst Israeli genocide.
Although apartheid started in 1948, Canada did not put sanctions into place until 1985. Apartheid came to an end five years after said sanctions were placed.
