Here are a series of model questions that we encourage for use at all-candidate meetings, one-on-one meetings with candidates or other opportunities that may present themselves (including e-mailing the candidate). Please feel free to share responses you receive with us and others:
Questions for candidates in the current federal election
1. If nuclear non-proliferation is to succeed, it must be based on an even-handed approach. What is your position on the proposition that the Canadian government should pressure Israel to shed its nuclear weapons as part of a general nuclear non-proliferation agreement for the Middle East?
2. Is it your view that organizations such as the B’nai Brith, the Canadian Jewish Congress and the Canada-Israel Committee, which are uncritical in their support for Israel, speak for the entire Jewish community in Canada?
3. What role should our government play in bringing about peace between Israel and her Palestinian neighbours?
4. Should the Canadian government pressure Israel to withdraw its armed forces and settlers from Occupied Palestinian Territories?
5. What should our government do to reverse the construction of Israeli settlements on the West Bank and Gaza of Palestine?
6. The 1.4 million Palestinians living in Gaza have been sealed off by an Israeli military blockade, closing off access by land, sea and air, and depriving them of adequate supplies of food, water and medicines. What is your position on this blockade?
7. What is your view of the fact that the Jewish National Fund, whose purpose is to provide Jewish-only access to lands in Israel and which excludes Palestinians from purchasing any of the land it holds, enjoys tax-deductible status in Canada?
8. Do you support sanctions against the state of Israel as a means of pressuring it to comply with international law?
9. Do you believe that criticism of the state of Israel tends to be a mask for anti-Semitism?
