Mr. Speaker, I rise to mark one year since the October 7 attacks on Israel. This was the single deadliest day Jewish people have faced since the Holocaust, and it forever changed their world.
On October 7, Hamas terrorists took 251 civilians hostage while killing over 1,200 people, including eight Canadians: Judih Weinstein, Vivian Silver, Ben Mizrachi, Netta Epstein, Shir Georgy, Adi Vital-Kaploun, Alexandre Look, and Tiferet Lapidot. May their memories be a blessing.
In the year since, Jewish Canadians have faced an alarming rise in anti-Semitic hate crimes, with vandalism, bomb threats and open calls for violence against Jews. Jewish Canadians wearing a Magen David or a yarmulke in public or placing a mezuzah outside their homes face harassment and threats to their safety, all with the added stress of ongoing deadly rocket attacks targeting friends and family in Israel.
Jewish Canadians are calling for action. We know all too well the dire consequences of turning a blind eye to anti-Semitism. It is time to work together, to demand the return of all hostages and to chart a path toward a just and lasting negotiated peace for all.