MPs approve softened version of NDP’s Israel-Hamas motion

The societal fissures forming around the conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip played out Monday in the House of Commons as an NDP motion to recognize Palestine as a state was turned on its head before the final vote.

MPs debated the non-binding but highly symbolic motion for hours, reflecting the emotional dispute about the Palestinian right to self-determination and Israel’s right to defend itself that has unfolded over the months since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.

But at the 11th hour, the governing Liberals tabled a substantial motion that dramatically softened the NDP’s original call, to the dismay of Opposition Conservatives and at least two Liberal MPs who planned to vote against the original motion.

The amended version instead urges Canada to “actively pursue” the establishment of a Palestinian state as part of a negotiated two-state solution, which aligns with Canada’s existing policy.

It also included reference to Hamas as a terrorist organization and a demand that Hamas lay down its arms.

Arguments that MPs hadn’t had time to think about or debate the rewritten proposal were overruled, and the new motion passed by a margin of 204-117.

The ongoing conflict has opened rifts in the Liberal caucus, with some members staunchly defending Israel as others call the country out for the mounting death toll in the Gaza Strip and violence in the West Bank.

Earlier in the day, Montreal Liberal MP Anthony Housefather gave an impassioned plea in the House, describing how “demoralized and intimidated” the Jewish community feels.

“This motion creates one winner and one loser,” he said of the version initially tabled by the NDP.

“The way this motion is constructed, it is clearly creating a false equivalency of the state of