SoVote

Context: House Hansard - 290 - Mar/18/24

Ms. Heather McPherson (Edmonton Strathcona, NDP)

Mar/18/24 1:16:42 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague spoke about the recognition and the value of international law. Does he believe international law applies in all cases? Does he believe the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court, institutions Canada has supported and has shown respect for, should be respected? Does he believe those provisional measures that have been put in place against the Government of Israel should be adhered to? Does he believe the Canadian government should urge its friends within Israel to in fact stick with those provisional measures despite the fact that right now they continue to bomb innocent civilians, they continue to kill children and we continue to see the death toll of people who are innocent go up?

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Context: House Hansard - 290 - Mar/18/24

Hon. Michael Chong

Mar/18/24 1:17:46 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, international humanitarian law, in other words the law of armed conflict, makes it clear that what Hamas did on October 7, 2023, was war crimes. The taking of hostages is a war crime. I think we all acknowledge that hostages were taken. The raping, murdering and targeting, deliberately, of civilians is a war crime. This has been assessed by reputable organizations. What I am not aware of is any reputable organization's, including the International Court of Justice's, assessing that Israel has committed a war crime. States have the right to defend themselves and to use force to defend themselves. They have the right to target military infrastructure and the right to eliminate terrorist entities like Hamas that pose a threat to the safety and security of their own citizens. I am not aware of any international organization, the UN or any high court that has assessed that the State of Israel has committed war crimes since October 7, 2023.

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Context: House Hansard - 290 - Mar/18/24

Mrs. Julie Vignola (Beauport—Limoilou, BQ)

Mar/18/24 5:41:31 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, for a week now, we have been getting a lot of emails. Some ask us to vote in favour of the NDP motion, while others ask us to vote against it. Those asking us to vote in favour of the motion say that if we vote against it, then we are genocidal. Any way you slice it, we are either genocidal or anti-Semitic. When I take a step back and look at these emails, I see that all anyone is asking for is to live in peace, both here and there. These two nations have been at war for years, but, during all that time, civilians are the ones who have been paying the price for politics. Does my colleague think that we can finally agree and ensure that these two nations can soon live in peace side by side?

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Context: House Hansard - 290 - Mar/18/24

Mrs. Salma Zahid

Mar/18/24 5:42:50 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, lasting peace in the region is really very important, and we have to make sure that we put an end to the killing of innocent civilians. We have lost over 31,000 innocent civilians through this war. Voting in favour or against this motion is about morals; it is about humanity. I will be voting in favour, because I think it is the right thing to do. There should be an immediate ceasefire, and there should be unimpeded access for humanitarian aid in the region.

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Context: House Hansard - 290 - Mar/18/24

Mr. Anthony Housefather

Mar/18/24 6:26:12 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, any death of a human being is a tragedy. We are getting statistics, and the hon. member mentioned the figure of 30,000 from the Hamas ministry of health, but I do not know how accurate that is. I do know that many of those people are Hamas fighters. Of course, there are innocent civilians killed in wars, and we feel horrible for the fact that they are innocent civilians. We have to call upon Israel to exercise maximum restraint. Of course, I would love to see a temporary ceasefire for six weeks, for example, as called for by the Americans, but Hamas needs to agree. We have had Hamas break previous ceasefires. We have had Hamas refuse to release the hostages, and until those hostages are released, it is very unfair to say to Israel, “Leave your people in tunnels under Gaza forever”, which I think is essentially being called for in the motion before us.

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Context: House Hansard - 290 - Mar/18/24

Mrs. Julie Vignola (Beauport—Limoilou, BQ)

Mar/18/24 6:52:51 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to take us back in time almost 108 years. When the Treaty of Versailles was signed, one witness walked out saying that the terms were so harsh that they might lead to a second world war. Today, we are dealing with a situation where civilians were brutally attacked and have been detained since October 2023. On the Israeli side, they were attacked by Hamas. On the Palestinian side, civilians are also being brutally attacked by the Israeli government. We have a duty not to protect Hamas, but we also have a duty not to protect the Israeli government. There must be a limit to the escalating “eye for an eye” approach. Civilians, both Palestinian and Israeli, are the ones in need of protection. Does my colleague agree that civilians, not governments, are the ones we need to protect?

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