“Justin, this is your chance to be a leader,” by Brian Henry

 

Now that we've come to the end of 2023 with the Hamas terror group publicly thanking Canada, it seems foolish, but I confess I had hopes our government would stand by Israel following the worst terror attack in its history. Even more foolishly, I still have hope. 

Back on October 9, me and 15,000 other people rallied in Toronto in support of Israel. This was in those black days when the news just kept getting worse: the numbers confirmed murdered and kidnapped kept rising, the news of mass torture and rape began to circulate, while horrific videos taken by the terrorists themselves were on internet, and in Canada and around the world, upon hearing the news of the slaughter, thousands of people were rejoicing – literally dancing in the streets (here).

One of the speakers that night in Toronto’s Mel Lastman Square was Chrystia Freeland, our Deputy Prime Minister, while the Prime Minister himself was speaking at a similar rally in Ottawa. In Ottawa, Trudeau condemned Hamas’s terrorist attack, and stated: “We stand with Israel and reaffirm our support for Israel’s right to defend itself (here).” Freeland delivered this same message.

I wanted to believe they meant it. The Jewish community in Canada is tiny and vulnerable, as is Israel in the world at large. I needed to believe.

Throughout the West and around the democratic world, other leaders were affirming they, too, stood with Israel, they too affirmed Israel is right to defend itself. But unlike elsewhere, here in Canada, Trudeau and Freeland added a clause: “in accordance with international law.”

I hoped this was just a bit of reflexive Liberal preening – adding an obvious caveat as a reminder that the Liberals consider themselves high-minded. I could forgive them their vanity.

By now, though, it’s clear Trudeau was laying the groundwork to try to please both sides: those supporting Canada’s ally, the only fellow democracy in the Middle East, and those who hate that democracy.

For the benefit of those supporting Israel’s war to destroy Hamas so that Israelis may once again live without fear, Trudeau decries Hamas’s terrorism.

But he also fashions statements for the other side. On November 14, he declared Israel must end its "killing of women, of children, of babies" – phrasing it as if Israel chooses to kill innocents. Trudeau’s words could have been written by Hamas’s propaganda department. His words had an eerie echo of centuries of blood libel – of accusations of Jews killing babies for ritual or for pleasure or because that’s just what Jews do.

The same day, November 14, a poster making the blood libel was put up at the main entrance to the Ontario College of Art and Design in Toronto: a picture of a hook-nosed Netanyahu sacrificing a Palestinian baby on an altar. 

Not a coincidence.

Trudeau surely doesn’t believe in the blood libel. But at this moment in Canada, the idea of Israelis as evil incarnated has become part of the Zeit Geist (and the same for Jews who support Israel, meaning almost all of us). That we’re committing genocide against helpless Palestinians is an article of faith both for the trendy left and the extreme right.

Then on November 16, Trudeau again affirmed Canada’s “long-standing support for Israel and its right to defend itself” (here), as if he hadn’t slandered Israel as baby-killers two days earlier.

We saw this policy of extreme wobble earlier when Hamas claimed Israel had bombed the al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza. Trudeau rushed to a microphone to declare the bombing “absolutely unacceptable” and “not legal.” 

Why the rush? It seemed such a rookie mistake not to wait for confirmation. 

I think Trudeau expected the accusation would quickly be disproved, because (a) the claim came from Hamas and you don’t believe what terrorists say (duh) and (b) because Israel doesn’t randomly bomb hospitals. Trudeau needed to get his outrage on record while it was still credible.

By morning, that credibility was gone. Photos taken by daylight showed a hospital that hadn’t been hit at all; instead, a parking lot with several burnt cars. An Israeli missile had supposedly killed 500 people. Where was the huge crater such a strike would have left? There wasn’t one.

It was a misfired Palestinian rocket that caused the damage, Israel said, and offered proof. Yup, misfired Palestinian rocket, intelligence agencies from the US, France, the UK and Canada all agreed. Yup, Palestinian rocket, said all the independent experts. One of 2,000 such misfired terrorist rockets that have fallen on Gaza and killed who knows how many people - Five hundred in this one strike Hamas says, though like everything else coming from Hamas, that's not to be believed.

Trudeau stayed silent several days (leaving it to his Defence Minister Bill Blair to confirm it was a Palestinian rocket) and then resumed saying Israel’s a good friend, yada, yada.

Why the extreme wobble?

On the one hand, Israel is an ally. For 75 years, since Israel’s founding, Canada and Israel have had firm friendship based on shared values and the deep desire of millions of Canadians to see the world’s only Jewish state thrive.

On the other hand, Trudeau surely has his eye on ridings with large Muslim populations, especially in the Greater Toronto area which the Liberals must hold to get re-elected (or at least escape utter destruction).

Also, Trudeau faces rebellion within his party. Last month, 23 of his MPs put their names to a letter calling for an immediate ceasefire.

This was directly contrary to Liberal policy. To call for a ceasefire is to say to Israel: No, you cannot defend yourself. If Jews are killed, massacred like it’s the Holocaust all over again, that’s okay. Hamas must be allowed to rebuild and do it again – as they have promised to.

But that was last month’s policy. On December 7, Canada did an about-face and voted in the UN for an unconditional ceasefire – a ceasefire that would leave Hamas in place ruling over Gaza.

So now Trudeau has a new rebellion: Three Liberal MPs have denounced this betrayal: Anthony Housefather (Mount Royal), Marco Mendicino (Eglinton–Lawrence), and Ben Carr (Winnipeg South Centre).

{My own MP, Ya’ra Saks (York), has chosen loyalty to Trudeau over loyalty to her constituents and has kept quiet, even though her riding is 20% Jewish.}

Continuing with his policy of trying to please everyone, on the same day Canada voted for Hamas in the UN, Trudeau also issued a statement along with Australia and New Zealand calling for Hamas to “lay down its arms” and stating, “There is no role for Hamas in the future governance of Gaza.”

To be sure this statement is another call for a ceasefire, but a ceasefire conditional on Hamas surrendering. Unfortunately, as Housefather pointed out, this is not what Canada voted for in the UN – it’s the opposite of what Canada voted for. 

Politically, Trudeau can’t square this circle, and by wobbling, he just enrages both sides. 

As if to emphasize what a mess the Liberals have made, Hamas came out and publicly thanked Canada for our position (here). Which position? you might ask. Well the one they like - the ceasefire that leaves Hamas in charge of Gaza and in fact encourages them to further atrocities.

May I make a suggestion….

Justin, this is your chance to man up – to be a leader. Get in front of one of those microphones you love and tell the truth:

War is a horrible business, and of all wars, urban warfare is the worst, especially in a situation like Gaza, where Hamas has dug in beneath hospitals, schools, and apartment buildings.

But Israel did not start this war and has no choice other than to win it and to end Hamas as a viable military force.

As it always has, Israel is of course trying to minimize civilian deaths, and despite Hamas urging Gazans to act as human shields, Israel is having some success.

As I write this, Hamas claims more than 20,000have died in Gaza – a number which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and terrorists[i]. Nor does Hamas distinguish between those killed by Israeli strikes and those killed by errant Hamas missiles. Nor is there any reason to believe anything Hamas says.

Even so, by way of comparison, the war Canada and its allies fought against the Taliban in Afghanistan killed about 200,000 people – and that was with little close urban fighting of the kind we’re seeing in Gaza. 

As the conflict continues, here are a few things to keep in mind:

First, responsibility for all deaths, on both sides, lies with Hamas for starting this war and doubly so for using the civilian population as human shields.

Second, remember that wherever Hamas holds power and wherever Palestinians still fear these terrorists, Hamas controls every word and image that comes out of Gaza.

Doctors and nurses who work in Gaza hospitals may be enthusiastic supporters of Hamas. For example, Dr. Abu Salmiya (also rendered in English as Abu Selmia), Director of al Shifa Hospital, filled his social media with praise for terror attacks and terrorists – no surprise as his brother was a Hamas military commander until killed by the Israelis. And one guess as to who appointed Selmia as Director in the first place.

Yet the CBC, other media, and UN agencies rely on Selmia as the source for many of their most lurid stories (see here).[ii]

Other doctors in Gaza, who aren’t willing channels for its propaganda, live in fear of Hamas (see here). We cannot expect them to say anything to the media that Hamas wouldn’t want them to say. 

Likewise, local photographers and stringers in Gaza who supply the news to the international wire services must also answer to Hamas.

All international agencies operating on the ground in Gaza also depend on Hamas’s goodwill. Plus, such agencies hire locally, which means their staff may be enthusiastic supporters Hamas. See here, for example.

What’s most important to keep in mind is that, in time, Israel will break Hamas’s grip on Gaza. This war will end, and Hamas will no longer terrorize either Israelis or the people of Gaza.

Pray for that day, may it arrive swiftly, and rebuilding can then begin.

Go ahead, Justin, just say all that. I’ll help write your speech. What have you got to lose? Even if you don’t win the next election, at least you’ll go down in history as a real leader, not as a wobble doll.

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An earlier version of this piece appeared on TheJ.ca here.

An excerpt also appeared as an addendum to my piece "Jesus wasn't a Palestinian" on on Canadian Zionist Forum. If you liked this piece, do please go to Canadian Zionist Forum and click the Heart button and maybe leave a comment here.

Brian Henry teaches creative writing and publishes Quick Brown Fox. He’s been a regular contributor to the TheJ.ca and has also contributed to Canadian Zionist Forum, The Line, the National Post, The Toronto Star, the (now defunct) Jewish Tribune, and the Engage and Harry’s Place websites in the UK. 

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[i] As of two weeks ago, Israel Defence Forces believed they had killed about 8,000 terrorists in Gaza, plus an additional 1,000 in southern Israel.

[ii] Abu Salmiya has now been arrested by Israel and is being questioned as a terror suspect. See here.