Mr. Speaker, a young man from Tel Aviv is in Ottawa today to plead the case of Israeli prisoners held captive by the terrorist group Hezbollah. Ori Tannenbaum's father, Elchanan, was kidnapped two years ago while on a business trip in Belgium and is being held today by Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Today I tabled a motion urging the government to press for the release of Mr. Tannenbaum and other prisoners including five soldiers who have been held hostage by Hezbollah for up to 20 years.
Canada should raise this issue at the highest level with those states known to support or condone Hezbollah, including Lebanon, Syria and Iran. Instead, Canada has been cozying up to these countries with a trip to Beirut where the Prime Minister sat next to the leader of the Hezbollah, and $200 million U.S. in aid announced for Lebanon.
Rather than rolling out the red carpet and buckets of tax dollars for these governments, I urge our government to do whatever it can to have them exert pressure on Hezbollah to release its illegally held Israeli prisoners.