October 13, 1997

The Honourable Mr. Lloyd Axworthy

Minister of Foreign Affairs

Ottawa, ON

K1A 0G2

Dear Mr. Axworthy,

I am writing to express our serious concern about our Government’s response to Israel’s Mossad’s agents' use of Canadian passports in their latest act of terrorism in Jordan.

We note that in your statements in the House of Commons and to the media you repeatedly described this action as "attempted assassination". In none of your statements, nor Mr. Chretien’s, is there any mention of terrorism in referring to this unmistakable act of Israeli international state terrorism, a recurring Israeli practice.

Mr. Norman Spector, our former ambassador in Tel Aviv, has stated repeatedly that Mossad and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) cooperate closely and there was a Mossad-CSIS meeting only days before this "assassination attempt". We are aware of Mr. Spector’s commitment to Israel, but, as our recent ambassador to Israel, he clearly has inside knowledge on this issue. Furthermore, you are quoted (The Globe & Mail, Oct. 11, 1997) as stating: "CSIS is forbidden by Canadian Law from conducting overseas operations, and its officers in Israel are there strictly for antiterrorist intelligence sharing and liaison". Does this "antiterrorist Intelligence sharing and liaison" include Israeli local terrorism and death squads in the West Bank and international Israeli state terrorism, including the bombing and massacres in Lebanon?

We note, for interest, that, to my knowledge, none of our politicians, with the sole exception of Alexa McDonough, or our media, used the word terrorism to describe this criminal act. It is intriguing to wonder how has the state of Israel acquired, amongst all states, this unique immunity from having its acts of repeated terrorism being called by their true name?

To repeat, we believe our Government’s response to this act of international state terrorism, using Canadian passports, has been paltry and ineffective, taking into consideration the threat to the security of our innocent citizens travelling in the Middle East and the reputation of our country.

Yours truly,

Ismail Zayid, M.D.

President, Arab Canadian Association of the Atlantic Provinces

cc. Ms. Alexa McDonough, M.P., Halifax