Good morning, Speaker. Thank you. It’s a privilege and an honour to rise in this chamber to represent my beautiful, safe communities of Chatham-Kent–Leamington.

Speaker, I have an amendment to the motion. I move that the motion be amended by deleting the words “defence against Hamas terrorists” and replacing them with “defensive action in the face of reprehensible violence by Hamas.”

To stand in this chamber today, to speak to the horrific acts of terrorism that occurred only 11 days ago in Israel, is truly something I never thought I would be doing.

I like to think the best of mankind. I like to believe that we learn from the past, to ensure the atrocities of the past are never repeated, yet here I stand with my colleagues who have stood before me yesterday and today to speak to the inhumane actions of a terrorist group.

Eleven days ago, it was our Canadian Thanksgiving. We were all likely thinking about our meal preparations for the holiday, thinking about all the fixings and looking forward to the time we were going to spend with our families and friends, when we saw the breaking news headlines on all the news media outlets: Israeli civilians under attack by Hamas terrorists.

For our Jewish community members, I can only imagine what emotions overwhelmed them, especially the thought of loved ones in Israel, and then to think of their own safety right here in our country. Why? Why would they have to think like that? The footage that started coming across our TV screens, unceasing displays of horrors. Some of it came from Hamas body cameras and videos posted by Hamas militants to social media, and later verified by Israel. Some was taken by civilians as they tried to escape, some by first responders. It showed bodies of people who had been bound; a room with at least seven bodies reduced to ash; civilians shot in bedrooms, bathrooms, front yards. The bloodshed is just overwhelming. I had to look away. To think of the intent with this act—the militants were well prepared. In the videos, it showed some dressed in army fatigues to look like Israeli soldiers. Others were dressed like police officers. Who commits such premediated horrific acts of terrorism?

On October 15, a group of over 100 international law experts issued a statement assessing that the Hamas terror group committed multiple war crimes in a massive assault on Israel and that its actions in slaughtering 1,300 people likely amounted to genocide. “These acts constitute gross violation of international law, and, in particular, of international criminal law,” declared the document, signed by academic figures and legal authorities in Israel and abroad. “Videos, released mostly by Hamas, posted on social media, document acts of torture, sexual violence, violence towards children and molestation of bodies,” the document specified. Among those who signed the document was Professor Irwin Cotler, a former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada.

On October 7, Thanksgiving weekend, we bore witness to a bloody assault, which came alongside a widespread barrage of 5,000 rockets fired indiscriminately at towns and cities across Israel. As noted, it resulted in the death of more than 1,300 people, the vast majority of them civilians, including six Canadians. Thousands more were injured, hundreds of them seriously.

As my colleague from Thornhill noted yesterday afternoon, Israel is not that far away, and it is not. On October 9, the strong and brave Jewish Canadian community in the GTA, organized by the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto, managed to bring people together for a rally for Israel. And bring people together they certainly did, with a reported 15,000 people in attendance.

I stood on the Mel Lastman stage in North York alongside Premier Ford and 15 of my colleagues at the rally for Israel. I was personally overwhelmed by the thousands of people who were there to support the Jewish community in the face of the terrorist attacks that took place. We watched a video of the people in Israel and heard directly from them as to what was happening. It was surreal, and yet the reality of this massacre become ever so overwhelming.

I go back to my days of learning about the Holocaust at school and of my visit to the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. I’m receiving a real history lesson of what took place in the world—how Jewish people had to hide from Nazi persecution. And here we are again.

I also think about the time I was in Pearl Harbor, visiting the museum there. It was so overwhelmingly sad. My mom and I were there together. My dad couldn’t come, because he remembers those days. He said no, he can’t go to a place where there was that much death. But my mom and I went. I remember crying.

I also think about how I felt that morning of September 11, 2001, when the planes hit the World Trade Center twin towers in New York—the hate of a terrorist group.

There is a common denominator here: hate. Hate is the devil’s breeding ground, and we have no use for hate towards anybody, especially in Canada. Racism, hate and discrimination have no place in this great province of Ontario. The safety of all communities has and remains of the utmost importance.

I condemn—and our government condemns—Hamas’s heinous acts on the people of Israel. Israel must defend itself against such acts of terror. The tragic loss of life and the terror invoked among the men, women, families and children in Israel is beyond words. We can only imagine the emotional trauma and pain that thread itself through Israel over these past 11 days. Now more than ever, Ontario stands firm in its support of Israel and in solidarity with the Jewish communities across the province who are heartbroken and horrified by this senseless act of terror. Our government will continue to work with the Israeli Canadian community to create a stronger, safer and more inclusive province, where people from all walks of life can call it home and feel safe and respected.

After attending the rally for Israel, when I was in my community last week, I had a few local Jewish constituents tell me that they watched the rally on TV, on the news. They saw me, and they so appreciated the support of our government and thanked me for being there with Premier Ford. They also said to me that they did not want to go to the rally because they were afraid. No one in this province should be afraid to go out and support one another in such a time of crisis.

This past Sunday evening, when I took part in the challah for Israel women’s prayer vigil. After all the women arrived, it was a purposeful move to lock the doors of the centre for safety purposes. That brought to light how the Jewish people feel—that fear, security, the potential for someone to come in to hurt these women. It made me think of what happened on October 7, when Hamas went into homes and slaughtered women and children. This reiterated to me that as politicians, we have the responsibility to ensure our community members feel safe, to feel that they can count on us to take a stand when we see acts of terror and to stand against terrorists and such brutal, savage, inhumane acts. They count on us to stand up against anti-Semitism. They count on us to stand up against hatred acts.

This is why I support motion 38: “That this House condemn the ongoing and reprehensible attacks being carried out by the terrorist organization Hamas, including the slaughter, rape and kidnapping of innocent Israeli civilians, including babies, children and seniors, and recognize the inalienable right of the State of Israel to defend itself and its people against this horrific violence.”

Madam Speaker, I’d like to just correct what I said there. It’s actually motion 18. I believe I said 38—my apologies.

I go back to my member’s statement earlier today. I think about being there with the local Jewish women, kneading the challah. As we were doing that, we were saying prayers. I was very honoured to be able to say a prayer with the ladies. I was honoured to hear them pray in Hebrew. I thought it was phenomenal when the dough actually rose. It was my first time making bread.

But there was all kinds of symbolism with what we were doing and the braiding of the challah: The symbolism of hope, the symbolism that they can be strong and that we can be strong together.

After we were finished with our prayers and had our bread braided, I had a few ladies come up to me, and they spoke to me about some of their concerns. I listened to them. One of the concerns was related to the schools, how silence was deafening. I spoke to them about how our government supports our Jewish community: We support them in schools; we support them in the community. We stand with the Israeli people. We stand with our Jewish communities.

Madam Speaker, I pray for a peaceable outcome for all people. As I noted earlier today, and I will reiterate, for all those innocent souls lost during this senseless attack, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.