Mr. Speaker, because this is the first opportunity I have had to give a speech, I have not had an extended amount of time to thank the citizens of Flamborough—Glanbrook for their trust and confidence.
It is a brand new riding. The original riding that I represented was Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale, which was divided by the commission. I now had to prove my worth with a new group of people from Flamborough—Glanbrook, and I am glad they put their trust in me. I want to thank all the volunteers and supporters who made it possible for me to come here and speak to issues on their behalf.
It is an honour for me to rise in the House today to support the motion by my colleagues. I would like to take this time to amplify the many salient points made by my caucus colleagues throughout the debate, and frankly from the other side of the House too, on the important motion to reject and condemn the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement and call it what it is: the deliberate, malicious targeting of Israel, a long-standing friend of Canada and Canadians.
As the final speaker likely from our side of the House on the motion, and by way of closing arguments, I would like to reiterate three key points made by my colleagues throughout the discussion today. First, Israel is our friend. Second, the BDS movement is nothing but thinly veiled anti-Semitism, and to be very frank, Jew hatred. Third, the BDS movement has completely misplaced in its narrow-minded agenda and it ignores regimes like Iran and North Korea that are serial human rights abusers.
First and foremost, the premise of the motion before us recognizes the friendship Canada shares with Israel. As chair of the Canada-Israel Interparliamentary Group for the last four years, I have had the privilege of watching the relationship between these two nations strengthen and grow. Our closest friends on the world stage are those who share our values. In the case of Canada and Israel, we are bound together in strong beliefs in freedom, human rights, democracy, and the rule of law.
For Israel, these values have come at a very high price. In a region where basic human rights are denied time and again, in a region where democracy has yet to take root, in a region ravaged by war, and in the face of terrorism, Israel has become a beacon for hope, freedom, human rights, democracy, and the rule of law. With those values serving as the foundation of our friendship, both nations now enjoy improved diplomatic ties as well as strengthened and growing economic relations, including the modernization of the bilateral free trade agreement between Israel and Canada last July.
Although our friendship is alive, Israel faces a renewed enemy. It is a rise of a new kind of anti-Semitism, and it is not exclusive to the Middle East. It exists in Canada with those groups so actively calling for boycott, divestment and sanction against Israel.
In 2011, I served on the panel of inquiry for the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat anti-Semitism. The panel heard about organized anti-Semitic efforts, like the boycott, divestment and sanction movement. In broad terms, BDS exists to delegitimize and isolate Israel, advocating for the elimination of the Jewish state, while making the claim that Israel alone is responsible for the Arab-Israeli conflict. This ideology is a dangerous slippery slope that should be alarming to all free people.
When people find it easy or palatable to hate Jews simply because they are of Jewish faith or ethnicity, it is not a stretch for that discrimination then to snowball to include more faiths, more and more ethnicities, and worse and worse consequences. As Canadians, we have a duty and moral obligation to stand up to this kind of ideology and say loudly “no”.
The panel heard from expert witnesses who confirmed movements like BDS breed hate and fuel anti-Semitism around the world. However, what is most alarming is what is happening right here in Canada, a land of tolerance and respect that all of us here in the House love.
Who would have thought that in early 21st century Canada, synagogues would be desecrated with swastikas and religious objects destroyed? Worse still, who would have thought in the early 21st century in Canada that Jewish community centres, schools, and synagogues would be fire bombed? Who would have thought in early 21st century Canada, anti-Israel protesters would chant profane and highly threatening chants in the core of our largest cities?
Through this motion, we must use our voice in the House of Commons on behalf of the Jewish community in Canada and abroad to reject this type of racist violence.
What is more is that the boycott initiative and events like Israel Apartheid Week are targeted at Israel, Israelis, and Jews.
We know that regimes like those in Iran, North Korea, Congo, Nigeria, Somalia, and others have horrifying human rights records. Yet, we do not see organized efforts to isolate and delegitimize them. Nor is their right to exist called into question by these same organizations. It is obvious, why the double standard.
While I will not stand here and make the claim that Israel is perfect, because no nation is, it is clear that the intent of those in favour of BDS is not to address concerns they might have with Israel to work toward a resolution, but rather to single out Israel's right to be treated with fairness and legitimacy, and to make all Jews responsible for contrived human rights abuses. This type of approach is not one that will lead to lasting peace in the region.
Pressuring consumers to avoid buying Israeli products, which happened in my home city of Hamilton, or calling for universities to cut ties with Israeli academia, which happened in my home city, at McMaster University, or calling for Israeli athletes to be banned from international sporting competitions and other actions like these does not and will not create a pathway to peace. Rather, these actions only encourage hate and discourage peace.
We suffered a dark day in Canadian history in 1939 when the government of the day rejected Jewish refugees on the St. Louis at Halifax Harbour. In doing so, we condemned hundreds of them to eventual death when they landed back in Nazi-controlled Europe. As one of our local rabbis said, we arguably allowed Hitler to believe that since no one would stand up for Jews, since no one would take them, then it was his opportunity to pursue his plan of Jew genocide.
It is easy to look back now and see how shameful that was. However, we forget that the 1930s was a time of rampant anti-Semitism in Canada.
Would we who are in the House now have spoken out in 1939? That is exactly the point of this motion: it is to stand up, to speak out and act now. If we are to learn anything from history, it is that no amount of anti-Semitism is tolerable.
If we were to go to Jerusalem and visit Yad Vashem, which most Gentiles would call a museum of the Holocaust, or the Shoah, we would enter a building that shows the timeline of anti-Semitism, how it grew, how it became socially acceptable in Germany, and how that paved the way to allow Nazis to take over the country and to come up with what they called the ultimate solution.
It is educational to the point that any kind of racism, when allowed to brew, when allowed to fester, when allowed to grow, can turn into these kinds of atrocities that all of us despise, that all of us would condemn.
The reason the motion is important today is to send a very clear message to all of those who would be involved in BDS that this is unacceptable, that we reject it, that we condemn the message behind BDS, and ask those people who are ignorant of the core purposes of the very leaders who started BDS to educate themselves on it and to remove themselves from the movement.
