“And seldom was heard a discouraging word and the skies were not cloudy all day”
“And seldom was heard a discouraging word and the skies were not cloudy all day”
-- from Home on the Range, a cowboy folk song
Jews are in the midst of the “ten days of repentance” or “the days of awe” which include Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and the days in between. It’s at this time that Jews are meant to meditate (I typed medicate) and ask for forgiveness from anyone they have wronged.
But that is not on the pro-Israel agenda, is it?
More bombings more missiles and more deaths rained down on the Palestinians and the Lebanese from Israel. And try as we may, we Jews in Canada can’t say it has nothing to do with us. It has everything to do with us because Israel claims to represent all Jews worldwide which emphasizes “an existential need for Zionism as a way to ensure the survival of the Jewish people”.
So Israel is supposed to save the Jewish people.
Payback in Full
And speaking about saving Israel, we have Canadian Senator Leo Housakos who went on the free trip to Israel courtesy of CIJA in 2017. Seven years later he gave this speech in the Senate about 7 Oct. Payback in full.
October 7 Attack on Israel
First Anniversary, Speech in Senate
Hon. Leo Housakos: Honourable senators, Monday marks one year to the day that Canada’s Jewish community woke to the news of their brothers and sisters in Israel being kidnapped and massacred by the genocidal Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas. The images that emerged were difficult to watch and believe: entire families bludgeoned or burned alive in their homes, young people at a music festival shot, raped and butchered. Innocent people as young as 9 months and as old as 86 years were kidnapped and dragged to the dungeons of Gaza. It was the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust.
Eight Canadians were among Hamas victims that day: Judih Weinstein, whose body is still being held hostage; peace activist Vivian Silver; Ben Mizrachi, a 22-year-old known for his compassion; Netta Epstein, who jumped on a grenade to save his fiancée; Shir Georgy, known as someone who always radiated light; Adi Vital-Kaploun, a mother of two young children; Tiferet Lapidot, a loving young woman murdered just shy of her twenty-third birthday; and the charismatic Alexandre Look from my hometown of Montreal.
But the horror of Hamas’ actions didn’t end on October 7, as more than 100 hostages remain in Gaza, including the youngest of two Bibas children. Those hostages have endured one full year of starvation, sexual abuse and torture.
Monday also marks one year of the Trudeau government’s overt and despicable abandonment of the Jewish people, both at home and abroad.
Here in Canada, October 7 sparked riots in our streets that continue to this day. Protesters masked themselves and called for violence against Jews in the name of “Free Palestine.” Synagogues and Jewish schools have faced arson and shooting attacks. Yet, this government has failed to criminalize the perpetrators and hold them accountable.
Abroad, we have failed to stand by our ally Israel in its war against Hamas, as well as Hezbollah and other Iranian proxies. Instead of holding UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, to account for its employees’ participation in the October 7 massacre, Justin Trudeau provides it with more taxpayer funds. At the same time, Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly brags about cutting Canada’s supply of defensive weapons to Israel.
The war goes on so long as the hostages remain in Gaza, so long as the threat to Israel’s right to exist remains. Canada’s support for Israel and the Jewish people must be unwavering.
It is my hope as we mark the one-year anniversary since October 7 that Israel continues to fight for the return of all hostages and for the destruction, once and for all, of Hamas. It is also my hope that Canada will soon again be considered a friend to the Jewish community and their brothers and sisters in Israel.
May the memory of the 1,200 victims of the October 7 massacre — of Judih, Vivian, Ben, Netta, Shir, Adi, Alexandre and Tiferet — be a blessing. May the hostages come home, and may we have peace in the Middle East and among all Canadians.
Thank you, colleagues.
Not a word of rebuke, not a word about Palestinian deaths, even Palestinians “known for their compassion” (I guess there aren’t any), not a word about the total destruction and massacre in Gaza, let alone the West Bank. His tribute was to the people of Israel and Canadian Jews.
Somehow the Jewish communities around the world and Israel itself managed to stumble through the tributes to 7 Oct. and encountered few negatives.
While Housakos alone was the only speaker about 7 Oct in the Senate the other day, six Tory MPs in the House of Commons, rather dramatically talked about the brave Jews and bold Israel on the anniversary of the 7 Oct. Three out of six MPs – Rachel Dancho, Michelle Rempel Garner, and Garnett Genuis (all Tories) had previously taken at least one free trip to Israel (Junkets to Genocide) paid for by CIJA (the Centre for Israel Jewish Affairs).
Below: MP Genuis, MP Garner, MP Dancho — all Tories who took the free trip to Israel
It seems only one Liberal MP, Iqra Khalid, spoke in solidarity with the Palestinian people, as did NDP MP Lindsay Matheson.
Of course the day – 7 Oct. was in homage to the Jews – the 1200 killed by Hamas a year ago. No journalist was allowed to broadcast or write about the murders of 16,700 Palestinian children, the 17,000 Palestinian kids now orphaned due to the deaths of one or both parents and any close relatives, the 3,000 children with amputated arms and/or legs resulting from Israel’s bombs and missiles, and the more than 10,000 children and women who have been buried alive in their homes when they were struck by Israel’s missiles, or bombs.
Yom Kippur, or the Jewish “Day of Atonement”, takes place on Saturday. Will there be one synagogue in this country which will be accountable for the likely hundreds of thousands of deaths and destroyed human beings in Gaza, or the West Bank? Will there be one Jewish congregation that decides to run a Go Fund Me campaign to help Palestinian survivors? Are Canada’s Jews so racist and full of hate they justify the disproportionate “payback” of Israel after Hamas’ terror. No– instead we have terror beyond terror; Israeli deaths amounted to 2.8% of the number of Palestinians killed by Israel in the last year.
And then we have what I call the “civil terror” here in Canada, where those who dare speak out about the genocide, or even “like” someone else’s post, or sign a petition, are fired, suspended, harassed, doxxed, called out, sued, kicked out of university, etc. Read my newsletters here, here and here to know more.
Image at the top: A Palestinian boy pulls a water container amid shortages in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, 3 June 2024. (Credit: REUTERS/Mohammed