44th Parl. 1st Sess.
October 16, 2023 11:00AM
- Oct/16/23 3:36:24 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, on October 7, Hamas carried out the worst attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust. It deliberately targeted innocent mothers, babies, grandparents, partygoers, peace activists and countless others who had no connection whatsoever, even to military life. These were innocent civilians living their lives until they suddenly came to an end. The attacks unleashed a carnage that is almost unprecedented in human history. In fact, what was special about these attacks was the delight, triumphal pride and exhibitionism with which Hamas surely carried them out.
All of that reminds us that Hamas is not a militant organization. It is not a government. It is not an activist group; Hamas is a sadistic criminal terrorist death cult, and it must be defeated.
Indeed, Israel does have the right to defend itself in accordance with international law, and it has the right to respond, just as Canadians would respond if an attack of this type were carried out against our people or on our soil. There will be, and there can be, no negotiating with Hamas. Hamas can only be destroyed, just like President Obama destroyed and assassinated Osama bin Laden. There was no negotiating with bin Laden, and there can be no negotiating with Hamas.
This attack was also an attack on Canadians. I will quote my deputy leader, “In the carnage, five Canadians were murdered, and they are not just numbers.”
“Alexandre Look from Montreal and Ben Mizrachi of Vancouver were both murdered when Hamas opened fire on a music festival. Shir Georgy was also killed... Adi Vital-Kaploun of Ottawa was murdered in her kibbutz; and Netta Epstein was murdered as he [attempted to defend] his girlfriend [against] a grenade... They are now in our memory forever and may their memory be a blessing.“
“Canadian citizens missing are believed to be held hostage among the 199... by Hamas... who hold their own people under siege in the gruesome grip, serving as a proxy for the regime in Iran, imposing maximum terror on everyone in their path of destruction.”
“Among the missing believed to be held are Vivian Silver; Judith Weinstein; and Tiferet Lapidot, daughter of {Canadian] citizens. Their fate is unknown. Canada [can] and it must do more [to achieve their liberation]. We pray for their fate and their safe return.”
Meanwhile, a million Gazans are reportedly displaced. Many more are suffering or have lost their lives. Let it be said that the suffering of the Palestinian people is a tragedy. Every innocent human life, Palestinian, Israeli, Jewish, Muslim, Christian or otherwise, is of equal precious value. All of us must do everything in our power to preserve this precious life and minimize the suffering of innocent civilians.
Let us be clear, though, that this is not incidental to Hamas's actions; it was the purpose of Hamas's actions. Hamas not only seeks the maximum suffering of the Israeli people; it seeks the maximum suffering of Palestinians as well. Hamas has controlled Gaza ever since Israel departed from the Gaza strip, roughly a decade and a half ago, and it has worked diligently to preserve Palestinian suffering and prevent any opportunity for an easing of tensions or a future of peace.
We know why Hamas felt the need to act with such drastic cruelty at this time. Hamas, of course, is guided by its terror sponsor, the dictatorship in Tehran, which had been growing in its concern for Israel's signing of the Abraham Accords with the UAE and Bahrain and the signing of an agreement with Sudan, with even the possibility of normalization with Saudi Arabia.
This kind of peace between Muslims and Jews, between Israelis and Arabs, would be a nightmare for Hamas and for the dictatorship in Iran, which seek to perpetuate the conflict and the divisions as a source of power. They need to perpetuate the hatred in order to justify their dictatorships. That is why they felt the need to interrupt any path toward peace.
We all believe in a peaceful future that includes an independent Palestinian state, a two-state solution. We believe that Israelis, Palestinians and Arab countries need to discuss that peace. We understand that stability and security for the Israeli people are necessary for that to happen.
There are concrete actions that Canada can take toward these goals. I will list some of them, although they are not exhaustive. I expect that my members will be raising more of them later tonight in the take-note debate.
First, Canada must criminalize the IRGC, the terrorist arm of the Iranian government. There is no doubt that the attacks carried out on October 7 had a degree of sophistication and coordination to them that would not have been possible without aid from an outside government actor. That actor, of course, was the dictatorship in Tehran.
That same regime uses the IRGC, as it is one of the most sophisticated and far-reaching terrorist groups in the world. It coordinates between Tehran, Hamas and Hezbollah. It is unthinkable that the IRGC can operate legally in Canada. It can raise funds. It can prepare logistics. It can recruit new followers.
Some of the people attached to the highest levels of the IRGC live in Canada today, their very presence terrorizing peaceful Canadians of Iranian descent who desperately want to kick these terrorists out of our country. They are right. The terrorists must be kicked out. This organization must be made a criminal entity.
Second, we call for Hamas to immediately release all hostages.
Third, we want a complete review of all aid programs to make sure that not one penny goes to terrorism.
Fourth, we need to protect places of worship of all different backgrounds. We know that synagogues, mosques and other places of worship have been targeted in the past in Canada, prior to this recent incident. We know that Muslims have been the victims of hateful and murderous attacks by monsters here on our own soil. We know that synagogues are now facing attacks by anti-Semites. We know that churches have in the past been burned down.
All of this is to say that we need to protect all of our places of worship. We need to debureaucratize and simplify the federal programs that provide security infrastructure at places of worship so that every single Canadian, regardless of their belief, can feel safe when they go to worship with their fellow congregants.
As I said at the outset and as I will say again, the lives of innocent Palestinians and Israelis are of equal value. To that end, we believe it is urgently important to minimize the suffering and protect the lives of Palestinians who had no part in these attacks, including by supporting safe zones for civilians in Gaza and by backing a humanitarian corridor for food, water and medical supplies. It means that we should support the evacuation of foreign nationals through Egypt. It means that we must do a comprehensive review of all of the aid we are sending to Gaza to make sure that it actually reaches the Palestinian people and not the terrorist thugs in Hamas.
Years ago, when a terrorist attack happened in the United States of America, one commentator, almost trying to absolve the attack, said that we needed to look at the root causes of terrorism. The root cause of terrorism is the terrorist, which I said at the time, to the great horror of my critics. Some of them said that the statement was too simplistic to be true. Others said that the statement was so obvious that it need not be said at all. In reality, it is neither: It is both simple and true, and it is perfectly the summary of the Liberal democratic world view.
Our view is that each individual is responsible for their own actions. The root cause of terrorism, therefore, is not Islam, Christianity, Judaism or any religion; it is the individuals who carry out the terrorism. This is important, because it means that when we see vile actions carried out by people purporting to act on behalf of a religion, we do not blame all of their supposed co-religionists. We do not blame Muslims for the actions of Hamas. We do not target our fellow Canadians because of something that has happened on the other side of the world.
Here in Canada, we judge people on their own merits, their own deeds and their own words. That is why the great Canadian Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier, when he was asked, “What is our nationality?”, did not list an ethnicity, a religion or any other superficial demarcation. Back then, we were already mixed up. We obviously had indigenous people, Scots, Irish people and many people from all around the world in our country. Therefore, we could not define ourselves on any of those lines. He said, “Canada is free, and freedom is its nationality.” So it is today.
Let us, then, set out to protect the freedom of all Canadians and to stand for the values of freedom all around the world. Let us support our Jewish and Muslim friends here in this country as they watch with horror and sadness at what is happening to loved ones on the other side of the world. They too are Canadians. They are our people. We must stand with them now and always, because, after all, we are Canadians.
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- Oct/16/23 8:15:37 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, we agree that innocent civilian lives need to be protected, and that is why we have called for three things.
First, we have called for the establishment of a safe zone in the southern part of the Gaza Strip to allow Gazans who are fleeing from the north, where a lot of the IDF is targeting Hamas infrastructure, to get to the south of the Gaza Strip in safety.
Second, we are calling for a humanitarian corridor to allow for food, water and medical supplies from outside the Gaza Strip to enter the Gaza Strip.
Third, we are calling for a humanitarian corridor to evacuate foreign nationals who are in Gaza, particularly Canadian citizens, who are trapped there.
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- Oct/16/23 8:16:25 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, on Saturday, October 7, Hamas launched a coordinated attack against Israel from the Gaza Strip. The attack was sadly dubbed “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood”. It was a large-scale terrorist operation that killed more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians—men, women, children and babies only a few months old—who, according to some sources, were beheaded and burned.
In the face of that cruelty and brutality, in the face of terrorism and hatred, we must all first and foremost offer the Israeli people our deepest and most sincere condolences. It was with sadness and concern that I spoke these words earlier today, and it is with equal emotion that I repeat them tonight in the House. The Bloc Québécois strongly and unequivocally condemns these terrorist attacks by Hamas. We reiterate that Israel has the right to defend itself against Hamas. However, we must not conflate Hamas with all Gazans or with the Palestinian people.
Israel responded to these terrorist attacks by declaring war on Hamas and ordering half the population of the Gaza Strip to leave. Over one million civilians have been forced from their homes. It is an impossible situation, one that the UN even describes as illegal.
Nevertheless, more than one million residents of Gaza have fled south, raising ominous concerns for young families. In addition to bombing the Gaza Strip, Israel has laid full siege to the area. The resulting blockade has forced Gaza's only power plant to shut down, cutting off the water supply and depriving hospitals of electricity. According to a number of sources, many Palestinians are now resorting to drinking salt water, leading to rising mortality rates. The worst is yet to come, as the days dwindle to hours before Israel's anticipated ground offensive against Gaza begins.
Faced with this situation, we are appealing to Israeli authorities. A democracy like Israel has a duty and a responsibility to act within the framework of international law and human rights. Not enough attention is being focused on the need to create a humanitarian corridor into the Gaza Strip. Time is running out. The situation is beyond urgent. Human lives are at stake.
At this very moment, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Italy are working together to try to open humanitarian corridors and help civilians. Canada must join these efforts and do everything in its power to pressure its partners and use every means necessary to help at-risk populations. Canada can and must do more in the current context. This is a matter of responsibility in the face of the real humanitarian crisis that is unfolding right now.
I stand before the House this evening knowing how little impact my words can have on the situation and on the despair of those whose lives are being ravaged by the atrocities of war, but wholeheartedly supporting victims on both sides of the armed conflict, the families of the missing, and those who have perished in the inhuman attacks we have witnessed in recent days.
I cannot imagine, even for one second, how terrified the civilians must be. Hour after hour, they live with the uncertainty of not knowing whether they will ever be able to return home and hug their loved ones again. Unfortunately, their fears are well-founded.
As reports emerge that Hamas is using civilians as a human shield and that Palestinian civilians could die in a ground assault on Gaza, there is nothing in this world that could justify an attack on these people, nothing that could justify the lack of humanity, nothing that could justify the horror.
At the risk of repeating myself, I believe that, most of the time, collaboration and cross-party co-operation must triumph over political agenda pushing. For the sake of the victims and everyone affected by the conflict, I am calling on my colleagues from all parties to show wisdom and compassion. I am also calling for respect for the principles of international law. They are often undermined, but they should prevail in this situation.
I spoke these simple words at the beginning of my speech, but they bear repeating: The Bloc Québécois strongly and unequivocally condemns the terrorist attacks by Hamas and reiterates Israel's right to defend itself. With men, women, entire families and children dying, we cannot overemphasize how vital it is to create a humanitarian corridor in Gaza because, sadly, history has taught us the hard way that it is always the eleventh hour when we talk about human lives. Everyone here in the House is human. Let us prove it.
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- Oct/16/23 11:12:24 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, there is only one way for me to start my intervention tonight, and that is by taking a moment to reflect on the victims of the violence over the last few days. I am talking about both Israeli and Palestinian victims, on Israeli soil and Palestinian soil and elsewhere in the world. I will come back to that second aspect.
Alongside my colleagues in the House who have spoken with one voice, I, too, send my condolences to all those who have lost a loved one in the violence. My thoughts go out to those who have been kidnapped and injured, and to all those who still fear for their lives. Yes, it has been said many times already, but it cannot be said too often.
Similarly, everyone in the House has stressed the importance of condemning the actions of Hamas. Again, it bears repeating. Again, it cannot be overstated. Hamas is a terrorist entity. Canada has designated it as such, and the Bloc Québécois supports that designation. Indiscriminate attacks against Israeli civilians, women, men, the elderly, children and babies, are in no way justifiable.
From the perspective of a Parliament that is speaking with one voice, I commend the leader of the Bloc Québécois for taking the initiative to ask for periodic meetings between the leaders of the different parties in the House so that they can ensure that the different political entities' messaging is as aligned as possible and that the current conflict does not become a source of partisan polarization.
Speaking of messaging, I admit that one of my biggest fears right now about what is going on in Israel is that the positions taken by various members will be polarizing. I hope that, here in the House, we will do our best to avoid taking a black-and-white view of the conflict. On the contrary, I hope that we will all be able to have a nuanced discussion.
Again, I commend all parliamentarians who spoke this evening. They all denounced the fact that there are civilian victims on both sides. They all denounced the actions of Hamas, and they all called for a humanitarian corridor to be established in order to avoid causing more civilian casualties. Listening to this evening's speeches, we could sense the members' genuine empathy for all those who are suffering because of this conflict, regardless of their origins or their religion.
This all-encompassing, unconditional empathy can only come from a nuanced discourse, which I hope will help us set an example for the public and put a stop to demonstrations of hatred directed against either group. Unfortunately, we have seen such acts in France, and in the United States, for example, where a six-year-old child was just murdered. We saw it again earlier today in Belgium. They are all collateral victims of the polarization of the situation. The onus is on every single one of us to condemn the hatred that exists outside Israeli and Palestinian territory. We must not fan the flames.
There was a Radio-Canada article this week with the headline Sale temps pour les pacifistes, hard times for pacifists. It recounted stories of long-standing friendships, unlikely friendships between Israelis and Palestinians living in Quebec, friendships driven by the desire to see the two nations one day live in peace. Unfortunately, these friendships are currently being put to the test. Clearly, it is because of the situation on the ground in Israel and Palestine, but it is also because of the hateful demonstrations happening elsewhere in the world that deserve condemnation. The longer the situation in Gaza drags on, the more civilians will lose their lives, and the more I fear that polarization will get worse, bringing even more hatred in its wake.
We all know that it is futile to make any demands of Hamas. A terrorist organization that uses its own people as a human shield has no regard for civilian lives. It has committed unspeakable massacres. War may be an ugly thing, but it has rules, and Hamas has not complied with any of them. Its attack in no way resembled a military intervention. It was pure carnage, a wanton act of brutality calculated to sow terror.
That is why, this evening, members are primarily addressing their requests to the Israeli government, urging it to set up a humanitarian corridor.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said earlier this week that Israel has the right—indeed it has the obligation—to defend itself against these attacks from Hamas and to try to do what it can to make sure that this never happens again, but he added that the way Israel does this matters. As democracies, we are held to higher standards.
Tonight, the Israeli government is being called upon to respect the rules of international humanitarian law, as any democracy must do.
For one thing, the protection of civilian lives is obviously at stake. If nothing is done in the short term, the complete siege of Gaza with no possibility of delivering aid will inevitably result in more loss of life. Because of the blockade, electricity cannot be produced at Gaza's only power station, which has cut the supply of drinking water. Forced to drink sea water, Gazans will see their mortality rate rise sharply.
Without a humanitarian corridor, medical personnel no longer have access to medical equipment to treat the wounded, and the wounded no longer have access to pain medication to ease their suffering. Even though breaks in the bombardments are announced on stretches of roads intended to evacuate civilians, the absence of telephone and Internet networks in the Gaza Strip means that people are not necessarily notified in time for these breaks, or may not be notified at all.
It is also unlikely that the people of Gaza can travel the required distances within the allotted time. Children and seniors cannot travel very quickly, and injured people who are hospitalized and babies in incubators, for example, cannot easily be moved. Adding to these difficulties is the fact that Hamas is holding back the people of Gaza and preventing them from leaving, once again using them as hostages and human shields. The Israeli government cannot ignore these factors when considering its respect for international humanitarian law.
Also, if the Government of Israel refuses to set up a corridor, I am concerned that the resulting losses will serve to breed more hate. As it has been mentioned, Hamas must be eradicated from Gaza because, otherwise, there will never be any political peace in the region and it will be impossible to negotiate a two-state solution. It is one thing to wipe out Hamas's military capability, ensure that its leaders are eliminated and annihilate its power for physical destruction, which is the objective announced by the Government of Israel, but we also need to ensure that the very idea of Hamas, its disembodied form, is eradicated. If civilian casualties continue to multiply in Palestinian territory, that will only fuel the beast. Hamas, although it cares nothing for civilian life, could fuel the narrative of non-compliance with international humanitarian law in order to breed hate for Israel. It would not be the first time. We might then fear that October 7 was just the beginning or that the unfortunately all-too-familiar cycle will start all over again in four or five years.
Israel has just experienced a tragedy of immeasurable proportions. I cannot even begin to imagine the pain. Tonight, for the sake of the civilian lives that may yet be spared and the possibility that the region may one day live in peace, Canadian parliamentarians are calling on the Israeli government to abide by international law and establish a humanitarian corridor.
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