Hijacked for Hamas’s benefit
Anti-israel NDP paves way for antisemitism
This week’s horrendous political coup, in which the anti-israel NDP hijacked Canada’s foreign policy has paved the way for a new strain of antisemitism. It is in this climate that the editors of La Presse deemed it acceptable to publish a Nazi-era style cartoon, depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a vampire.
On the same day Parliament admonished its friend and ally, Israel, by declaring a de facto arms embargo. It pretended to embody Canadian values by also paying tribute to former prime minister Brian Mulroney. Given Mulroney’s relentless support of Israel and fight against antisemitism, what took place in Parliament on that fateful day was a disgrace to his memory.
Mulroney elevated Canada’s standing in the world. He befriended Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, and reinforced their friendship, helping motivate the fall of the Iron Curtain and non-proliferation nuclear treaties.
Mulroney understood Canada’s imperative place in the world and ensured we stayed relevant. Former prime minister Stephen Harper studiously followed in Mulroney’s footsteps. In G7 meetings and global affairs, he projected a mature and principled demeanour that elevated Canada’s status on the world stage.
Having travelled with Harper on his inaugural and historic visit to Israel in 2014, I witnessed the standing ovation he received in the Knesset when he declared, “Through fire and water, Canada will stand with you.” Canadians were jubilant, recognizing Harper’s commitment to Israel was deeper than Israel itself.
It was about fighting radical Islam and Jihadism, the same strain responsible for 9/11. It was about protecting our shared values of freedom, democracy, and human rights. It was about standing with an ally and friend surrounded by hostile neighbours seeking its destruction. And yes, it was about defending the Jewish people’s right to exist in their homeland after 2,000 years of persecution.
But now things are different for Canada. Our foreign policy has been hijacked by parliamentarians who lack the sophistication to distinguish between good and evil. History will indeed judge Canada harshly, as noted by Israel’s Foreign Minister, Israel Katz.
In hindsight, Canada seems to always apologize for its poor judgment. In recent years, our government has apologized for nearly everything under the sun, including when it turned the St. Louis back to Germany in 1939, where most of its Jewish passengers were gassed to death. Now we wonder if these apologies were sincere.
I was in the House of Commons when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued that apology, which expressed remorse for blocking Jews from protecting themselves and their loved ones by fleeing Hitler’s gas chambers. He said this would never happen again. But it happened again this week when his party, along with the NDP and the Bloc Québécois, decided to give a genocidal terrorist organization (Hamas) the upper hand by promising to block arms sales to Israel that would help the Jewish people defend themselves.
Canada’s lean-in to radical and terrorist groups like Hamas is disconcerting to many Canadians. The reverberations are felt in Europe and America, where in my travels around the globe, many shake their heads in bewilderment, asking just what happened to Canada? They wonder how Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly, and a noted Member of Parliament, Ya’ara Sacks, could stand warmly alongside the terror-inciting, Holocaust-denying, corrupt Palestinian “President” Mahmoud Abbas.
Our long-standing foreign policy is withering away. Canadians at large — those who are paying attention — find this behaviour irresponsible and reprehensible. They worry about Canada losing its moral high ground on the world stage. They see our traditional values eroding and our stance with democratic allies diminishing. Most want the good old days back when being Canadian meant something more than a passport and a quiet place to live.
There is a systematic effort in our institutions to erode our global standing and our long-held alliances that placed us in a community of allied democratic nations. What happened this week in parliament is a wake-up call for all Canadians: we need to stand our ground and voice our displeasure, so that we can once again feel proud and free.
WHAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK IN PARLIAMENT IS A WAKE-UP CALL FOR ALL CANADIANS.