Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
This morning I met with Iris Weinstein, daughter of Judih Weinstein, a Canadian who was a resident of kibbutz Nir Oz. She and her husband were murdered by Hamas on October 7, and their bodies remain in Hamas captivity.
Judih Weinstein volunteered with peace groups helping Palestinians in Gaza access health care in Israel. She worked with Jewish and Palestinian children by teaching them mindfulness, which helped build resilience when surrounded by violence. We New Democrats want all hostages returned, including the remains of Judih Weinstein, a Canadian and an Israeli, who believed in doing her part to build peace and work across borders.
Judih believed in a two-state solution. and as I think of Judih, I also think of other peace builders in Israel. I think of Standing Together, which has organized thousands of Israelis and Palestinians to march in the streets to call for a ceasefire, a hostage deal and an end to Israel's war in Gaza. I think of Gil Murciano, CEO of Mitvim, who said, “For years, we used to talk about wars of no choice. But now, after October 7, it's time to shift the conversation. We must talk about a peace of no choice.”
There are so many Israelis who are ready to do the work for peace and who are supported by the many members of the Jewish community in Canada, including through the New Israel Fund.
We know that Netanyahu and his extremist government and its supporters are not here for peace or for a two-state solution. We know that there are loud voices crying out for more violence, more death, more war.
We want to hear from those voices that offer hope.
When I think of Judih Weinstein, who grew mangoes and peanuts, who wrote poetry for peace, I also think of the Palestinian families in the West Bank who grow olives and who also see land as life, who for generations have gone to their olive groves to harvest the olives that symbolize their hard work, their livelihood and their love of Palestine. Palestinian olive farmers dream of harvesting their olives in peace, but extremist settlers in the West Bank, emboldened by the extremist Netanyahu government and enabled by Israeli soldiers, are attacking Palestinians on their own land, burning their olive groves and cutting down their trees.
As we sit here today listening to apologists for an extremist government that is continuing a genocide in Gaza, trying to annex Palestinian land in both Gaza and the West Bank and make a two-state solution impossible, we need to ask ourselves, not just as the foreign affairs committee but as Canadians, what we stand for.
Hamas and Sinwar did not want a two-state solution. Netanyahu and his extremists do not want a two-state solution.
Our job is to find a pathway to peace. Our job is to learn from peace builders, not warmongers, not those who defend atrocities. This must end.
It is time for Canada to do the hard work to build that peace. It should start today with the recognition of Palestine.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.