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“Peace and stability in the Middle East”?

A response to this statement, paragraph by disingenuous paragraph:

https://www.pm.gc.ca/en/news/statements/2025/06/16/g7-leaders-statement-on-recent-developments-between-israel-and-iran

g7 leaders at Kananaskis

Dear Prime Minister
CC: Minister of Foreign Affairs, interim leader of the Conservative party, interim leader of the NDP, leader of the Green Party, leader of the Bloc and my local MP

Respectfully, leaders of the G7, your words are worse than utterly meaningless.

How can you possibly claim a “commitment to peace and stability in the Middle East” when you continue to sell weapons to the country who is making it unstable?

How can you affirm Israel's “right to defend itself” when it is the unprovoked attacker? What about Iran’s right to defend itself? How can we claim to uphold a rules-based order if we only respect the sovereignty of countries we like? (And why we should like Israel remains a mystery: this is not a commentary on the people of the country, only the reprehensible actions of its government.)

How can you state “Iran is the principal source of regional instability and terror”? There is no doubt the government of Iran's treatment of minorities, women and political opposition is unacceptable but regional instability in this moment has entirely been caused by the country that has bombed – unprovoked – three of its neighbours and is doing its level best to obliterate every building and human being in a portion of territory it has illegally occupied for more than 70 years.

No one should have nuclear weapons. Interestingly, of the two state actors named, only one of them has nuclear weapons and it’s not the one you are condemning.

How can you call this “the Iranian crisis” when the crisis is wholly caused by Israel’s unprovoked, malicious, wanton attack? “A broader de-escalation of hostilities in the Middle East” is not possible without de-arming the murderous Israeli state. Invoking a ceasefire in Gaza here rings hollow when you've done nothing substantive to demand or enforce it in almost 2 years.

Even aside from having any concern for the human beings who live in these countries, it is egregious to countenance any state actor making war in this moment of climate crisis. We are careening toward climate catastrophe fast enough without accelerating due to bombing. If you can’t bring yourself to care about human rights in other countries, could you at least care enough about your own citizens not to hasten the floods, fires and droughts we are sure to suffer in the coming climate instability?

Finally, how can you end your communique with the supposed reassurance about “energy markets” and “market stability”? Who cares about that at this time? Where is your humanity? What about the people living in a state of fear and terror? What about the destruction of their homes and public spaces? What about the innocent lives being ripped from this life?

I am utterly ashamed that this is the reassurance the leaders of the supposedly enlightened, “free world” can come up with. There is no humanity in these delusional platitudes and affirmations.

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Comments

kar0ling said…
What this letter was reacting to was the one-sided perspective of the statement from world leaders. I have been reminded that the Islamic Republic is very much a villain (as my letter acknowledges, but perhaps not strongly enough) -- also a significant contributor to regional instability, and, of course, trampler of human rights -- and that it gives many people hope to think the regime could be crushed by this offensive. My grief and outrage is for the innocent civilians who will be crushed along with it. To fill in some perspective missing from my letter, note voices like Masih's: https://youtu.be/nzC1jzwy9Ec?si=pRzpyKNICS0kQDOJ
June 19, 2025 at 3:34 AM
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