A commentary by a member of the board of directors of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights. He lives in Victoria.
Appalling, barbaric, sickening … words fail to adequately describe the revulsion felt by decent people around the world about the heinous attack by Hamas on children, grandmothers and other non-combatants in Israel.
If you wondered about the true face of the Palestinian movement, you have seen it. It is not one of peace, rather it is one enraged to kill Jews and eliminate the Jewish homeland.
Israel is only the first target, warns Hamas Commander Mahmoud Al-Zahar in a recent video, “The entire planet will be under our law, there will be no more Jews or Christian traitors.”
Murder, rape and hostage-taking of civilians are war crimes. And yet, Hamas’ allies, apologists and sympathizers in Canada and elsewhere obscenely celebrate this hate-filled and murderous attack, shaming all of us who ignore, allow or enable it.
There should be no doubt that Hamas stands for hate and murderous antisemitism. And “peace-partner” Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority have again shown themselves to be little better by applauding these atrocities as Palestinian self-defence.
Taking children and disabled grandmothers as hostages, desecrating dead bodies and parading raped women through the streets of Gaza is not self-defence.
These are despicable crimes against humanity, the height of human depravity. What kind of people celebrate these crimes and cheer a video of Palestinian children abusing an Israeli child encircled by them?
I ask you to consider: Where do you stand? There is no moral equivalence here and justifying these crimes is nothing less than enabling terrorism under the pretext of freedom and liberation.
The deceitful campaign has begun to justify this murderous, hate-filled rampage and convince you that Israel is to blame. That Israel is a colonial enterprise that must be up-rooted. Nonsense!
The truth is that Israel is the miracle of a dispossessed Indigenous people coming home after many generations of persecution and genocide in Islamic and Christian lands.
We Jews want peace for all people but we will fiercely defend our right to live in our ancestral homeland without fear.
In Victoria and across Canada, we are your friends, colleagues and neighbours. We contribute in innumerable ways to the betterment of our community and country.
Reach out. Don’t leave us to stand alone.
This moment is one that cries out for moral clarity and compassion.
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