Canada abstains from UN motion calling for Israel to leave Gaza, West Bank within a year

Canada's ambassador to the UN, Bob Rae, said the motion was too one-sided to support, but the Canadian government agrees that Israel is illegally occupying those territories

OTTAWA — Canada abstained Wednesday from a high-profile United Nations vote demanding that Israel end its “unlawful presence” in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank within a year.

The decision follows a shift in how Ottawa votes at the UN, and it alarmed a prominent Israel advocacy group while earning criticism from two Liberal MPs.

“We cannot support a resolution where one party, the State of Israel, is held solely responsible for the conflict,” Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations, Bob Rae, told the General Assembly.