Yes, intifada—calling for it on our university campuses, what does that say about how safe it’s going to be in this country?

We have to do every single thing we possibly can to combat that kind of hate. It applies to Islamophobia as well, but, today, the issue is the hatred of the Jew and Israel. Hatred for anyone is absolutely unacceptable, but when we allow university student associations to perpetrate that kind of sickening desire to kill—that’s what they’re saying on those campuses. How does a Jewish student feel safe at York University today? And that’s just one of them.

And there is no moral equivalency. I’ve heard that from the other side too much. There is no moral equivalency. If you want a safer place for everyone, today you have to start with stomping down the anti-Semitism that is like a cancer right here in Canada and in this city and in the province of Ontario. We must stand firmly against hate of all kinds—all kinds. But today, we have the opportunity to unanimously stand up against hate for Israel and the Jewish people.

I want to thank my colleague from Peterborough South-Kawartha—

It’s interesting, because as I was thinking about what I was going to be saying today, our theme was going to be very, very similar. As many of you know, my father was a World War II veteran. He was never there when they liberated the Jews from places like Auschwitz or Treblinka—that was the work of other soldiers—but he never lost sight or appreciation of the atrocities that the Jewish people were subjected to.

Of course, subsequent to the Second World War, the free world rightfully decided that a religion, a race, a people that had experienced more discrimination and oppression than any other group in history must have a homeland, so a decision was made to provide them with that homeland, Israel, where they had been for millennia—the Holy Land. And ever since then, there has been a conflict over that decision, so ever since then, the Jews in Israel have rightfully felt that they have been surrounded by hostiles, that they must do everything they can to defend the only homeland they have.

Jews were dispersed in many countries before that, but they were discriminated against in all of them, some not as much as others—obviously Germany, when Hitler took over and became the Führer, the ruler, in such an inhuman way that the rest of the world could not help but notice and could not help but do something about it.

So Israel was established. Unlike my colleague from Peterborough–Kawartha, I was around for the Six-Day War and the Yom Kippur War, and I remember—you know, my dad didn’t talk about many of these things. But on the Six-Day War—I was 10 years old—he talked a little bit about how difficult life always has been for the Jews and how they’ve always been so unfairly treated and maligned throughout the world, yet they continued to forge forward and prosper, because they were a determined people that would not take that as a fatal setback. They just kept doing their best for their people.

As my colleague said, throughout all that time, there has always been this feeling of not if it will happen, but when it will happen. I’ve given my colleague here from Eglinton–Lawrence a copy of this, but in a speech that my father made in 1977 to a Pentecostal church—I happen to have a copy of it; those things weren’t usually recorded then. But he talked about how fortunate we are in Canada, that we’ve never had war on our land—and before anybody corrects me, we weren’t Canada in 1812 to 1814. We’ve had disagreements and we’ve had skirmishes, but we have been spared. And even speaking of a man who was in the theatre of war overseas—how some parts of the world had experienced war multiple times in that last century and how we are so blessed in this country that we have never experienced that.

So as my colleague said, when we go to bed at night, we go to bed at night knowing that unless the good Lord calls us some other way, we will not be rising in the morning to the sounds of sirens or a bombardment of rockets from a terrorist group. We will rise the next morning safely and go about our daily business. That is not the case in Israel. It’s never the case, because if it isn’t today, it might be some other day.

On October 7, when the terrorist attack took place, thousands of rockets raining down on the people of Israel—completely innocent men, women, children and babies attacked intentionally by a terrorist group. This is not something where—we’re not talking about collateral damage or anything else. They crossed that border and they went in there determined to kill Jews. That was their motivation, because that’s what they believe: that the only endgame for them is the annihilation of Israel and the annihilation of the Jew. They must be destroyed. This is what they believe, and this is what they strive for every day. And when they’re not involved in a terrorist attack, they’re getting ready for a terrorist attack. This is what they believe. This is what keeps them going. Their only motivation is to destroy the Jew.

So on October 7, it was manifested in the most egregious, heinous attack you could possibly envision. More Jews were killed that day than in any other time since the Holocaust. Put that into perspective. In all of the things that have been happening, because there’s always been unrest—since the end of the Second World War and since Israel was established, there has always been unrest in the Middle East. It goes through some periods where it simmers down and things like that, but the reality is that it has never gone away.

I believe one of the world’s failures—and it’s because we continuously hope that something might change—has been to allow terrorist organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah to continue to exist, because they’re there for one reason. We’ve allowed it to happen because we’re hoping against hope that if we just say, “Okay, back off now,” and maybe things will get better. They never have, and we know in our heart of hearts that they never will as long as groups exist where their only reason for being is to destroy another group of people.

We’ve failed repeatedly to deal with these terrorist organizations. So now they were able to build up some armaments and be in a position where they thought they could level a serious blow to Israel—and they did—a massive terrorist attack that destroyed so many innocent lives.

Now we’re asked, by some, to now condemn Israel for defending itself. We’re now asked to condemn Israel, who—there’s not another neighbour in the area that they can join up with. They’re alone. That’s why the Americans and other countries have said, “We will stand with Israel,” because they know that otherwise they stand alone. But now we’re being asked to just say, “Okay, Israel, that’s enough.” But Hamas is right there.

I say—and I know there will be those that vehemently disagree with me, and that’s fine. The blood of every Palestinian that has suffered death—and that is terrible, but the blood of every Palestinian is on the hands of Hamas, not Israel. Israel is doing what it must do to defend itself. Hamas has no morals. There are no rules. You use children and vulnerable people as human shields.

By the way, I digress for a moment, but I was very disappointed this morning when the chief whip of the opposition, who obviously just takes their information from Hamas, said the hospital was bombed by Israelis. Well, we know—and she knew at that time—that US intelligence has shown clearly that it was done by another terrorist group.

“Deadly Blast Provokes Anger in Middle East and Complicates Biden’s Visit

“The US has collected signals intelligence showing that the explosion at a Gaza hospital compound on Tuesday was caused by the militant group Palestine Islamic Jihad, US officials said, buttressing Israel’s contention that it wasn’t responsible for the blast. The US assessment drew in part on communications intercepts and other intelligence gathered by the US, defence officials said.”

So not only do Hamas use their own citizens as human shields, they also will blame the casualties on Israel. But you see, in all of these buildings, Israel can tell where the rockets come from. Hamas masks the rockets in populated areas among the Palestinian civilians—the citizens—and I guess Israel is just supposed to say, “Well, I guess we can’t defend ourselves because of this, so we’ll just wait for the next rocket attacks coming from Gaza. We’ll just lie down and lay down our weapons and say, ‘Oh, boy, I hope we are able to intercept the next attack on us.’” No, Israel is going to act as it always has to defend itself and defend its unalienable right to do so.

So, Speaker, what is the answer, then? I mean, I may be pretty simplistic at times, and I’ll accept that assessment. If Hamas really cared about its own citizens in Palestine, when Israel said, “Turn over the hostages and the rockets will stop”—no, Hamas would rather hold the hostages whether they live or die, and how many Palestinians die as a result matters nothing to them. They have no regard for life, whether it’s in Israel, Palestine, Lebanon or anywhere else—they have no regard for life. But Israel is doing what it feels it must do to protect their lives.

Where do you go, then? Where do you go to stop the carnage? Well, it has to start with Hamas. Hamas initiated the terrorist attacks, beheadings, rapes—just absolutely sickening actions, inhumane actions below any level of human degradation you could ever think of. There is no apology from Hamas. In fact, they videotaped and livestreamed for the world to see the atrocities they were committing against the Jewish people. Apologize? They’re proud of it; they’re proud of it. For them, it’s like keeping score: “Hey, I killed 25 Jews today. I beat your 23.” It’s so sickening it’s beyond comprehension. But this is what you’re dealing with, with a terrorist organization.

Of course, we have another motion on the table as well to censure the member from Hamilton Centre, but it’s as much to censure—or not censure, but to chide the leader of the NDP. I can tell you this much: If a member of this caucus was told by the Premier to withdraw a statement that was as hate-filled as the one from the member from Hamilton Centre and chose to put up some insincere, fake apology but not take down the statement that caused the problem in the first place, I have absolutely no doubt that they would not sit as a member of this caucus for one single day longer.

So I say to the leader of the NDP: This is on you, too, because you told your member to withdraw it. They thumbed their nose right at you and said, “No, I won’t do it,” and now you’re the one backing off. The shame is on you as well. We’ll have time to debate that motion in greater detail at a later hour, perhaps even later today. I’m not sure what the House leader has in store.

But, again, it is painful for someone who has, quite frankly, in this country—I’m not alone. I’m not singling myself out, but I’ve lived a charmed life: so protected, so secure, so unafraid to be who I am. Even in this country, if I had been raised a Jew, I would not feel as secure because, even in this country, we see the anti-Semitism manifested every single day. We see it on our university campuses. That is so troubling because—listen, I’m not going to be here much longer. Hell, I might not be around, period, much longer. Who knows? Who knows? But the next generation of people in our schools—when we have groups on university campuses trying to foster anti-Semitism and hate for the Jew as their daily mission in life, and calling intifada—is that what it’s called?