Hon. Amina Gerba: Honourable senators, October 7, 2023, will always be remembered as a day of horror. Hamas launched an unspeakably violent attack on Israeli civilians, killing approximately 1,200 people, mainly women, children and seniors, and taking 251 people hostage. I, too, want to join the calls to immediately release the hostages who are still being held captive.
Recognizing the gravity of the events of October 7 reminds us that no amount of suffering justifies that of another people. Justice and peace demand that every human life be treated with the same dignity. That dignity is being sorely tested today in Gaza. It is with a heavy heart that I rise today to support the very brave motion moved by Senator Woo.
I think that his initiative upholds the honour of this chamber and our country.
As parliamentarians, it is rare that we are called upon to vote on such a serious issue, but this motion is appropriate considering the unspeakable suffering of the people of Gaza made this motion.
For the first time in history, a fully informed and aware international community is witnessing in real time the systematic destruction of infrastructure and the daily slaughter of civilians, regardless of their circumstances.
I would like to tell you about a man whose convictions continue to enlighten us today, the late Stéphane Hessel. This visionary humanitarian and seasoned diplomat was born in 1917 to a Jewish family in Berlin.
As a naturalized French citizen, he joined the resistance and followed General de Gaulle to London to fight against the Nazi occupation. In 1944, he was arrested and tortured by the Gestapo, before being deported to the Buchenwald concentration camp, from which he managed to escape.
He then joined the United Nations Human Rights Council, where he worked with John P. Humphrey, an eminent Canadian jurist who is known as one of the fathers of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In fact, it was Humphrey who drafted the very first version, a historic contribution that has had a lasting impact on the evolution of human rights around the world.
You must be wondering why I am talking about Stéphane Hessel today. It is because, just before his ninety-third birthday, in 2010, he published a short manifesto entitled Time for Outrage. This text, which I recommend that you read, has been translated into 34 languages and has sold more than four million copies.
His message is simple and powerful. Outrage is a healthy and necessary reaction to the injustices of the world. It is a bulwark against indifference, a call to civic action and a moral compass in a lost world.
Honourable senators, today, I am outraged.
I am outraged about the war crimes being committed in Gaza by the Israeli state, and I want to be very clear that I am talking about the Israeli state and not about the Jews, because that is important. I am also outraged about the crimes perpetrated by Hamas on October 7, 2023.
I am outraged that a civilian population is being deliberately denied basic humanitarian needs and that famine is being used as a weapon of war.
I am outraged about our timid response, as Canadian parliamentarians, to this tragedy unfolding before our eyes.
I am also outraged that desperate NGOs that are active in Gaza need to come see us every day in Parliament about this situation. The most recent one, representing Oxfam, made everyone here cry.
I am outraged because we have no answers to give them, no response to their distress but silence or hollow words.
And yet, Canada has a voice that matters. It embodies an ideal for countless men and women who have faced persecution. It has welcomed oppressed peoples from all corners of the world. It has adopted a Constitution and a Charter of Rights and Freedoms that rank among the most ambitious in the world.
This position and moral standing come with a responsibility: to defend human rights with courage, without distinction, without calculation and without double standards.
So I ask you, honourable colleagues, where is Canada’s voice?
Our silence is not only incomprehensible, it is deafening.
Worse still, the United Nations Human Rights Council’s commission of inquiry recently stated that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza. In light of such a statement, Canada could one day be called to account for its passivity, or even complicity.
I am neither a lawyer nor an expert, but the words of former Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Galant still resonate with me. In October 2023, he said:
We are imposing a complete siege on Gaza. No electricity, no food, no water, no fuel — everything is closed. We are fighting human animals, and we act accordingly.
That is what he said: “We are fighting human animals.”
Dear colleagues, over the decades, our country has helped shape some of the most advanced legal instruments in the field of human rights, but what are those texts worth if no one stands up to defend them? If we remain silent, who will give them life? Without commitment, they are nothing more than ink on paper.
In several emerging countries, there is bitterness over what appears to be double standards when it comes to empathy on the part of Western leaders. The West was quick to sanction Russia for the crimes committed in Ukraine. What about the equally well-documented crimes committed in Gaza?
Why such a blatant double standard?
Stéphane Hessel visited Palestine five times between 2002 and 2009. He was already concerned about the consequences of Operation Cast Lead.
Following his trips, he wrote the following:
Make no mistake. I stand in solidarity with the Jews of Israel and in the diaspora, because I know what it means to be Jewish. I myself am of Jewish origin on my father’s side, and I have unequivocally supported the idea that the Jews deserved a state after what they have suffered. I shouted with joy when the State of Israel was created.
He added firmly, “Israel is not above international law.”
What would Mr. Hessel say today? I’ve no doubt that he would be utterly outraged.
Colleagues, at a time when we seem paralyzed by a strange sense of impotence and when basic rights are being trampled upon, Canada has a duty to act.
Canada’s voice is strong and is being heard. The world listens when our country stands up for its founding values, because they are an intrinsic part of who we are.
As our era is shrouded in a dark veil that is causing people to slowly abandon our humanist ideals, Canada must take pride in these values and champion them openly. All is not lost, so let us act.
At a time when humanist ideals are under threat, when the rule of law too often gives way to the law of the jungle, Canada must remain true to itself. All is not lost if we choose to act.
Hear me, honourable senators.
Think of the 1.9 million displaced people in Gaza and get outraged.
Think of the 250 journalists killed in Gaza and get outraged.
Think of the 400 aid workers killed in Gaza and get outraged.
Think of the 65,000 civilian victims in Gaza and get outraged.
Think of starvation being used as a weapon of war and get outraged.
Think of the 1,200 Israeli victims on October 7 and the 251 hostages taken by Hamas and get outraged.
Think of those who oppose the right of Palestinians and Israelis to live in peace and get outraged.
Think of the prevailing indifference, fatalism and impotence and get outraged.
History is watching us and will judge us, so we must all get outraged. Thank you.