Munk debate featuring former Israeli officials met with protests, allegations of war crimes
CBC
As many as 200 people protested outside the Munk Debates in Toronto on Wednesday, where a panel of all-Israeli speakers discussed whether a two-state solution is in the best interest of Israel.
Protesters held signs and Palestinian flags as they chanted before the demonstration was broken up by police. One of the protesters, Trevor Miller, called the event “unacceptable.”
“We are here to speak out for the people of Palestine, everyone who suffers under imperialism,” he said.
According to the Munk Debates website, the focus of the discussion was: “Be it Resolved, it is in Israel’s national interest to support a two-state solution.”
Ehud Olmert, former Israeli prime minister, finance minister, and mayor of Jerusalem and Tzipi Livni, Israel’s former justice and foreign minister, argued in favour of the prompt.
Michael Oren, former Israeli ambassador to the U.S. and former deputy minister during Benjamin Netanyahu’s second term, and Ayelet Shaked, Israel’s former justice minister and minister of the interior, argued against.
No Palestinian voices were included in Wednesday’s debate.
“It’s indefensible for them to have all of these voices and to have no one representing the people who are genuinely suffering,” Miller said.
Rudyard Griffiths, chair and moderator of the Munk Debates, defended the decision in an interview with CBC Radio’s Metro Morning on Wednesday.
“As we do with every Munk Debate, we try to really assemble people who have hard-won insights, in-depth experience that they can bring to the topic,” he said. “I think these four panelists will do this.”
He said Wednesday’s conversation was just one part of a much larger, ongoing conversation.
Griffiths said the debate around Palestinian statehood has led to “deep fractures” in Israeli society, which he said makes it an important conversation to have.
The majority of the members of the United Nations have recognized Palestine as a state, including Canada. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has condemned the announcements of recognition and continues to reject a two-state solution.
When asked if the Munk Debates would be open to future debate including Palestinian voices on the same topic, Griffiths said he would “welcome somebody organizing that debate.”
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