Opinion: Indigenous leaders call Canada's anti-Israel joint statement hypocritical

National Post

17 hours ago

We are deeply disappointed by the joint statement, co-signed by Canada, France, and Britain on 'the situation in Gaza and the West Bank.' This call rewards Hamas for the torture and murder of 1,200 innocent civilians on October 7 and the kidnapping of 250 others. We note that these are the same Western powers that bombed Raqqa and Mosul into rubble to eliminate ISIS, yet now invoke humanitarian concern to shield Hamas from the consequences of their own atrocities.
Article content
Article content
Hamas started this war, and Israel has every right to defend itself against terrorists. One wonders what Canadian authorities would do if these Hamas atrocities had targeted Canadian citizens on Canadian soil.
Article content
Article content
From the outset of the war, Hamas has hijacked international aid, diverting food, fuel, and medical supplies to sell on the black market. The proceeds— estimated at up to half a billion dollars — have effectively been a war subsidy, funding the recruitment and arming of more terrorists.
Article content
Under the Fourth Geneva Convention, aid restrictions are entirely lawful when there is a risk that the aid will be diverted to enemy combatants. Every truck that Hamas seizes is a reward for terrorism and an incentive to repeat their strategy. In spite of this, Israel ensured there was enough aid in Gaza to last months, with 25,000 aid trucks entering Gaza during the 42-day ceasefire. Indeed deliveries of aid have re-started, and a new mechanism has been put in place to ensure that aid is distributed to the needy, rather than diverted and stolen by Hamas.
Article content
Article content
Meanwhile Hamas still holds 58 hostages in inhumane conditions underground — starving, torturing, and sometimes murdering them.
Article content
The conflict in Gaza could end tomorrow if Hamas laid down its arms and released the hostages. This is the path to peace. Hamas has never accepted Israel's right to exist. After Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, Hamas did not build a state; they built terror tunnels and stockpiled rockets, planning for October 7. To believe that a Palestinian state can be negotiated with a group that rejects the very existence of Israel is a dangerous and naïve fantasy.
Article content
Every ceasefire gives Hamas time to regroup and plan the next massacre. This is the unbearable dilemma Israel faces. Unless Hamas is defeated, this war will not end — it will merely pause, until the next October 7. If Western leaders enable this cycle, they will bear responsibility for the bloodshed to come — on both sides.
Article content
We are also concerned for the Jewish and Israeli people in Canada. Israel's Ministry of Diaspora Affairs upgraded its travel alert for Canada to Level 2 due to rising threats against Israelis and Jews, following multiple recent attacks on Jewish institutions and a rise in hostile rhetoric. Israelis in Canada were urged to avoid public displays of Jewish/Israeli identity. Leaders of nations should be mindful of how their pubic statements (or lack thereof) might correlate with a rise in antisemitic attacks.