44th Parl. 1st Sess.
October 16, 2023 11:00AM
- Oct/16/23 10:42:13 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I rise as a voice for the great people of Calgary and for our vibrant Jewish communities. In the solemn silence of the Sabbath, violence and terror ensued last Saturday. The chosen friends whom I have had and the chosen family I get to make, as for so many people from across Israel, began to text as they learned and watched the documented evidence of atrocities. They watched babies being thrown into cages and seniors being dragged across the street. They heard news of young people revelling in joy, song and love being slaughtered. They watched wanton destruction by terrorists roaming the streets of the country I have come to love in the many times I have had the honour to visit. Now, seven Canadians lie dead.
I am here just to say a few things. The first is that Israel has the right to exist. The Jewish people, as indigenous to the land, through the modern state of Israel, tell the story of the most remarkable indigenous revival on Planet Earth. The world's recognition of this Israeli legitimacy, this Zionism, is long overdue. Terror runs across the streets of that great country, that amazing, remarkable democracy.
Its legitimacy is being challenged once again, which brings me to my second point: Israel has the right, and indeed the obligation, to defend itself by itself. In 1948, the world's establishment argued against its existence, saying that it was less permanent than other nations are. This is logic that strays dangerously close to anti-Zionism and, through it, to actual anti-Semitism. Time and time again, Israel has proven them wrong, against great odds, fighting to preserve its state and proving beyond any doubt its ability to defend itself and its capital.
In most instances, such strength would be taken as an example of Israel's permanence, yet each time, the Jewish state is forced to sue for peace and grant concessions to its enemies. These enemies have only one goal: to destroy the state and eradicate the people. We stand with the reservists and security services that bring order to Israel by weeding out hundreds of Hamas terrorists, by rescuing hundreds of innocent hostages and by ensuring Hamas is dismantled and never capable of doing this again.
Third, anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism. At rallies sprouting up across our land, extremists celebrate rape, murder and kidnapping by Hamas, calling for actual incitement of violence against our treasured Jewish communities. Extremists' celebration of actual hate crimes and war crimes constitutes an affront to the peace and freedom of all Canadians, especially our Jewish communities.
Hamas is responsible for all the misery, murder and chaos across Israel and Gaza. There is no equivalence. Hamas is responsible for the deaths we see on the streets of Israel and for the loss of every innocent life to come. Gaza has not been occupied for more than 18 years. For 18 years, it has been part of a Hamas terror factory backed by a clerical military dictatorship in Iran. It is time to dismantle all of it now.
In this terrible test, when the calls for appeasement and restraint come, when it is hard to stand with Israel, I will pay attention to those who actually do. Under attack by land, by sea, by air and by a firestorm of rockets, and with infiltrators kidnapping and killing innocent civilians, there is no equivalence to be made. Hamas is responsible.
This is hard for me, because I spent a few years living in the desert under bombardment from Iranian rockets, and I know what it is like. In the hours and weeks, in the dark months ahead and in the trying times of our defining age, may the blessings of the memories of those who have been murdered over this last week, of those who have been sent to gas chambers and of those who have survived through the millennia fortify us to get this job done, because Am Yisrael Chai.
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- Oct/16/23 10:47:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, 24,000 litres of water have been stolen by Hamas. Hamas has been constantly subjugating humanitarian supply chains and requisitioning them to support its own terror apparatus in this region. Hamas is what is holding the peace and safety of Palestinians back, and not some morally equivalent argument about international institutions. At the end of the day, when we care about the prosperity and the peace that the Palestinian people deserve, what needs to happen is that Hamas must be defeated once and for all.
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- Oct/16/23 10:49:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Hamas is holding those people hostage. Hamas is using these innocent civilians as a means to shield its terror apparatus, and it has no desire, no plan and no stated objective to ever stop. The people in Hamas proved, just one week ago, to what extent they will commit wanton acts of murder against innocent civilians. They have proven over the last 18 years how ready they are to sacrifice Palestinians for their own demented cause. Therefore, Hamas is responsible for the safety and the security of those Palestinians and Hamas is responsible for all that is to come.
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- Oct/16/23 10:50:30 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Israel has always been held to a separate standard compared to other states. For some reason, when Israelis and Jews and those who live within its sovereign borders are attacked, they are immediately compelled to restrain themselves and find ways to be more civil, even though, as a democracy and as a professional military, they go above and beyond the standards that are required, compared to what most countries do. Therefore, we find that Israel is constantly singled out as a country internationally.
Its Jewish people are often identified as colonial settlers when in fact they are indigenous people who have revived the state and set an example in modern times. We have seen how Israel is seen in our academia, in our non-profit community and in many other places as somehow subjected to a different standard and to anti-Zionism. In campuses across the country, we have seen this distortion of facts and the reality of the actual truths of what modern Israel is built upon. I thank the hon. member for the opportunity to point out how unfairly Israel is characterized across the world.
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