Mr. Chair, I am honoured to rise today to address the concern that all those who value human rights and dignity share, and that is the current and very troubling rise around the globe of anti-Semitism. This re-emergence of anti-Semitism is such that I believe everyone should be troubled by this most virulent of all forms of prejudice.
What is also very troubling is that anti-Semitism is like the proverbial canary in the mine, as my colleague from Mount Royal has already said today, warning of a broader poison of racial hatred that is at work in some hearts and minds in our society.
That is because when people find it easy or palatable to hate Jews simply because they are of Jewish ethnicity or faith, it is not a stretch for discrimination to then metastasize to include more and more faiths and more and more ethnicities, with worse and worse consequences. As free people, we should make sure we stand up most vigilantly and say absolutely no to this.
Other members have talked about the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe as witnessed by the Paris attacks and the proliferation of websites and blogs that make horrendous fabricated allegations against the Jews and Israel. This is most disturbing and worrisome.
Unfortunately, this echoes the testimony that I and other members of the House heard in 2010 during the hearings conducted by the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Anti-Semitism, as well as the International Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Anti-Semitism Conference that was held right here in Ottawa in November 2010.
It is why we approved the Ottawa protocol at that summit.
What we identified in 2010 and what we witness continuing in Europe and North America today is a diabolical new strategy employed by those who perpetrate anti-Semitism in the 21st century. Their strategy is not to attack people of Jewish descent directly, but rather by stealth, to launch illegitimate criticism against the Jewish homeland, Israel.
Please allow me to be clear. In a free society such as Canada, legitimate criticism of any nation and debate of policy concerns is perfectly acceptable, in fact, even encouraged. Goodness knows we put up with plenty of it here. However, when the intent is to systematically demonize a nation, not for the purpose of disagreeing with its policies but out of racial hatred, then that is illegitimate and must be called out for what it is.
I think this is what we are seeing on Canadian campuses, called Israel Apartheid Week, not a reasoned debate on policies and actions of a country, but a concerted effort to demonize and delegitimize the State of Israel to exist and the Jewish people to have a safe homeland therein.
Why would there be those who would drive support of a movement to boycott, divest, and sanction every dimension of the Israeli economy and development? Why would there be those who attempt to sanction and censure Canadian academic professors who are simply supportive of Israel?
I believe that most people caught up in these activities are either too busy to check the facts about Israel—after all, this is a democracy on a tiny sliver of land in a troubled region—or are simply naive.
However, I also believe there are some of those in these movements whose motives are prejudicial, racist, and hateful. They are using these vehicles to promote anti-Semitism. What other conclusion could one derive from these actions that only demonize Israel and the Jewish people?
Why is there no boycott initiative or apartheid week against Angola, Iran, Congo, or North Korea? Again, this is the essence that is documented in the report by the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Anti-Semitism, released in 2011.
Anti-Semitism's rise around the world concerns me, but here at home it is a much bigger worry for me. In my constituency, there has been anti-Semitic graffiti on homes and synagogues, and at McMaster University an annual Israel Apartheid Week.
We know the recommendations of the coalition's report said that the best way to combat this ignorance and prejudice is through education and the courage of all Canadians to speak out. Certainly that includes all members of the House who are speaking out tonight.
This fight requires the courage of Canadians to be vigilant when anti-Semitic words and deeds are perpetrated. They cannot be allowed to go unchallenged. It is that courage to stand up to the racist bullies who bluster insults and threats that can intimidate even the hardiest of souls.
While this is always easier said than done, if insults and threats are the worst that we have to endure, then so be it, because in other countries that are not as free and tolerant as our own, we can understand why it might be a very slippery slope to harassment, perhaps even loss of property, and in some extreme cases, torture and worse.
We saw how the seeds of discrimination sown in Europe some 80 years ago manifested into something far more sinister. I am not suggesting that it will happen here in Canada. However, what I am suggesting is that when we say "never again", it is because we are always mindful that we must stand by those words with action. We must stop any anti-Semitism in its tracks. We must never allow it to escalate.