A Canadian Jewish advocacy organization noted that it will soon be 1,000 days since Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) shot down Ukraine International Airlines flight PS 752, murdering all 176 aboard.
B’nai Brith Canada expressed “sadness and frustration” that Iran has so far refused to pay or even permit an independent investigation, obliging the families to file a case at the International Criminal Court.
In May, 2021, reviewing abundant evidence, an Ontario court ruled that the downing of Flight PS 752 was an intentional act of terrorism and awarded some families of the victims reparations. Of the passengers who were killed, 55 were Canadian, another 30 were permanent residents.
“This horrific crime is just one of the actions of the rogue state that is today’s Iran,” B’nai Brith said. “The lack of resolve by western nations allows Iran to repeatedly violate international law with impunity.
The advocacy organization urged the Canadian government to enact stricter sanctions to isolate the Iranian regime.
The measures called for include designating the IRGC in its entirety a terrorist entity; collaboration with international partners at the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to limit Iranian air carriers’ ability to transport passengers until reparations are paid to the victims of Iranian terror; immediate action to end IRGC-associated money laundering and investment in Canadian markets; and the seizing of Iranian assets in Canada to pay the reparations ordered by the Ontario Superior Court.
“Today, we see Iran shooting its own people who are courageously protesting the killing of Masha Amini,” says Marvin Rotrand, National Director of B’nai Brith’s League for Human Rights. “Meanwhile, a lack of resolve by Western nations has emboldened Iran in exporting terror and violating international law. In recent months, Iran has hijacked two Greek oil tankers, enabled attacks on shipping in the Arabian Gulf and has kidnapped Western tourists to promote hostage diplomacy.”
B’nai Brith CEO Michael Mostyn added that Iran arms Palestinian Arab terrorist groups.
“Iran spreads global antisemitism, it flouts international law, it supports Russian aggression in Ukraine, it interferes to intimidate the Iranian diaspora including here in Canada, yet faces only mild slaps on the wrists,” Mostyn said. “We are calling for far more stringent sanctions on this ghoulish regime. We can start by making Iran pay for the deliberate destruction of flight PS 752.”