Mr. Speaker, I am rising because I was named by the Conservative member of Parliament for Thornhill in her question of privilege on Friday, and I would like to set the record straight.
The member for Thornhill's characterization of my involvement in the event is wildly inaccurate and misleading. In her speech, she alleged that I organized the event and that the intention was to shut down Parliament. This is an outright fabrication. On Tuesday morning, I was at the gym. In fact I was exercising with my personal trainer when the member for Thornhill alleges I was occupying the lobby. When I finished my exercise, I left the gym.
Outside the Confederation Building, I did encounter members of the Jews Against Genocide group, and I tweeted, “I was so happy to see @JewsSayNo telling politicians in Ottawa they will not support genocide.” After being gifted with a T-shirt from the group, as a fellow Jew who is against genocide, and posing for a photo outside, I came to the House.
That is the extent of my involvement. For that to be misconstrued as an attempt to block the member's privilege is not only unacceptable but also laughable. All I did was pose for a picture outside after the demonstrators had been removed from the building.
Why should I not express my support for the demonstrators' cause? They are a group of fellow Jews who have expressed serious concerns about the Netanyahu government's violation of international law. Let us remember that the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for members of that government as a result of crimes in Gaza, and last week, in a landmark finding, Amnesty International concluded that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza.
With all due respect, I understand that the member for Thornhill does not agree with the findings, but to try to shut down the demonstrators' right to express their views and to try to shut me down for expressing solidarity for the group is not acceptable. To liken the group to “unhinged mobs that think that their petty grievances allow them to target Jewish neighbourhoods, firebomb Jewish schools, obstruct synagogues and wreak havoc on our Canadian values, while abiding and abetting groups that are designated as terrorists in this country”, as the member did, is completely unacceptable.
The Jewish community is not a monolith. To accuse members of our community in this manner is beyond the pale. Not all members of the Jewish community think the same way, have the same political opinions, have the same lived experience and share the exact same values.
I would like to remind the member that part of the reason I support Jews Against Genocide is that my whole family was killed in the Holocaust. When my grandmother, the only person to survive the concentration camps on both sides of my family, got out, she said she loves everybody. She was a Jew against genocide. My father, who survived the Holocaust as a child in hiding, came out of the war and became a lifelong peace activist and pacifist.
Therefore I feel very compelled today to set the record straight, not just for myself but also for the Jewish community, in honour of my father and in honour of the members of my family who died as a result of war and genocide. I am deeply insulted by the accusations.
Individuals who were at the demonstration have had to face real anti-Semitism, like my family did. They have fought against tropes and memes, including the rise of far-right anti-Semitism online, some of which I experience. They have family members who fled Nazi Germany, like my family did, and who were not so lucky, like my family. Some were denied entry into Canada or were denied services when they did come.
For the demonstrators to face accusations that their demonstration was not only a contempt of the House but was also anti-Semitic is disgusting and borders on anti-Semitism itself. Nobody, including the Conservative member in question, holds the power to tell us what their actions are and whether they are a betrayal of their Judaism.
Speaking for myself, like I said, I am a Jew against genocide. I absolutely support other people in my community who have protested the Netanyahu regime, and I will not be silenced by the Conservative deputy leader just because she does not like those views. As members well know, matters of privilege are very serious things. They ought not to be brought to the House frivolously or lightly, and accusing other members of Parliament of breaching their privilege is very serious—