The readout of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s meeting this week with Jordan’s King Abdullah II covered most of the bases you would expect to be covered in such a communiqué, all of it couched in earnest diplomatic language, with the obligatory nod to “the importance of renewing efforts toward a two-state solution to secure lasting peace” in the Middle East.
There was one glaring omission, however. The dispatch from the Prime Minister’s Office made no mention of UNRWA – the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. Yet, it is highly unlikely that UNRWA did not come up in Wednesday’s tête-à-tête between the two leaders. Before arriving in Ottawa, the King had publicly appealed to the agency’s largest donors, including Canada, to restore funding they suspended last month on the heels of allegations that 12 UNRWA employees participated in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel.
UNRWA should be defunded however that will have to wait for a new government as Junior lusts for Canada’s Hamas vote.
