Montreal, October 21, 2021 – CJPME is pleased to announce that its small claims court lawsuit with Ezra Levant and Rebel Media News Network Ltd. has been settled. Launched in early 2021, CJPME’s suit was based on Rebel Media’s failure to promptly comply with the terms of a previous settlement between the two parties, reached in February 2020.

The terms of the most recent settlement are confidential, and the two parties are legally constrained in the language they may use to talk about it. In regards to the settlement, CJPME President Thomas Woodley simply asserted that he is “satisfied” with the settlement.

The statement of claim in CJPME’s most recent lawsuit argued that, despite repeated reminders, Rebel Media had not complied with one of the conditions of the settlement for more than six months following the February, 2020 settlement. Rebel Media was to have complied with all the conditions of the settlement “forthwith.”

The previous settlement was based on a series of defamatory publications released by Rebel Media that attacked CJPME for its promotion of the BDS campaign. BDS, standing for “Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions,” is an international movement to apply economic pressure on Israel such that it fully respects the human rights of Palestinians. Rebel Media’s publications accused CJPME of antisemitism, comparing CJPME to Nazis and calling CJPME “Jew-baiters.” In the associated statement of claim in that lawsuit, CJPME rejected allegations that its support for the BDS campaign was antisemitic, and pointed out that the BDS movement in Canada is a lawful activity that is constitutionally protected as free expression.

CJPME endorsed BDS in 2008, considering the movement to be an effective means of non-violent protest and pressure grounded on principles of international law. The BDS movement has three objectives: 1) ending Israel’s occupation of all Arab lands and dismantling its Wall, 2) recognizing the fundamental rights of Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality, and 3) respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties, or for compensation, as stipulated in UN resolution 194 (1948). CJPME has been one of the movement’s foremost proponents in Canada over the past decade.