The war between Israel and Hamas, a recognized terrorist organization in this country that happens to govern Gaza, has prompted many groups and individuals to come out of the woodwork demanding the eradication of Israel and often, by extension, the slaughter of Jews.
Words like colonialists and accusations of Israel being an apartheid state can be heard on Canadian streets, shouted from university and college campuses, and propagated on social media.
Most people have no idea and don’t understand what’s really going on and that the division and the strife in that land has existed for ages, long before the creation of the State of Israel, said Parry Sound—Muskoka Member of Parliament Scott Aitchison. “Fast forward to the establishment of the State of Israel and it was immediately attacked by its Arab neighbours, by people who fundamentally do not believe it has a right to exist.”
Aitchison recently visited Israel and the West Bank and we asked him what his impression was of his short visit, a visit he said he’d like to repeat soon. “From what I can tell is this: Israel is a fairly modern state that is economically, socially, and culturally incredibly viable and it’s actually a remarkably inclusive society,” he said. People don’t understand that Israel wants peace and that this latest situation with Hamas is with a terrorist organization that does not care about the lives of Palestinians. They are backed by Iran, which supports terrorist-related activities. “War is a horrible thing but terrorism is worse,” said Aitchison.
He blamed the destruction and death in Gaza squarely on Hamas. “Hamas has used Gaza hospitals, people’s homes, and innocent civilians to launch their attacks and they will use civilians as human shields because they don’t care about human life…,” he added.
As for repeated calls from the international community for a ceasefire, “How do you have a ceasefire with a terrorist organization,” he questioned. Aitchison agreed with the concept of humanitarian pauses in order to get children and people unrelated to Hamas out. “And I think that effort should continue but people that are calling for a ceasefire don’t know what they’re asking for. They don’t know what they’re calling for. Hamas is a terrorist organization dedicated completely and totally to killing Jews and destroying the Israeli State. You cannot have a ceasefire with an organization like that.”
Parry Sound—Muskoka MP Scott Aitchison at the Western Wall during his visit to Israel in July.
He spoke of the geopolitical conflicts in the area, particularly during the Cold War as superpowers attempted to gain supremacy in the Middle East, and said Israel was often used as a pawn. “The conflict in Israel is centuries old and I just wish everybody could just step back and just say, you know what, this was an arid piece of dirt before Israel was established and started to apply technology and innovation and entrepreneurship to this land. You can tell where the border is between Israel and its neighbours, it’s where the green ends. Israel is slowly making peace with its nighbours. It is making peace with water, it’s amazing. They’re pumping water into Jordan, you know, they’re helping,” he said. He referred to countries in the region that refuse to make peace with Israel as failed states run by terrorist organizations.
“So what do we expect? Self-respecting nations that actually try to serve their people like Jordan, like Egypt, I mean they’ve made peace.” Aitchison said during his visit to the West Bank he met a number of Palestinian leaders and individuals some are profoundly against Israel, while others have made peace with Israel and just want to live their lives. “Many of them have great jobs and a great life, they just want peace.”
Aitchison also said he does not understand the rise in antisemitism here at home. “I fundamentally do not understand it. It makes no sense to me but it is clear that it is rooted in centuries-old hatred. It certainly has no place in Canada.”
He said it is important for Canadians to remember that regardless of their background, ethnicity, nationality, or whatever part of the world they came from, they are Canadians now. “And that hatred, from wherever you may have been from, does not belong here. It has no place here. It has no place anywhere in the world but if you’re a Canadian, you’re a Canadian!”
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Jeff Robertson says
Thank you, Scott. When we see images of dead children in Gaza on TV, we should be aware of the historical context that makes it OK.
Traci McIlroy says
Thank you Scott for a very informative article. I appreciate your strong stance on terrorism and being Canadian.
Joanne Tanaka says
It is difficult to think about all the current death and destruction in Gaza -and the West Bank. It is difficult to see how there can be a path to lasting peace and security in the region when there is so much suffering, fear, anger and grief. How tragic this is playing out in the cradle for great religions.
When I visited Hiroshima, I was moved by graffiti “Peace on Earth” close to the memorial park. Miraculously to me the green park with the ruins from the atomic bomb was surrounded by a joyful, busy city. So peace be with you and peace on earth.
Anna Bertelsen says
Thank you for your opinion regarding the Israeli and Hamis war. It is so sad to see that Israel is not receiving the moral support they deserve. Again the squeaky wheel get the oil and the Palestinians have mastered that. 1948 when a ship left Farmagusta, Cyprus filled with Jews excited about heading to the new land that God had provided for them. Put yourself in their place, they flurshed in their new land and yet all their neighbors where always sceaming to enialate them all. I ask: WHAT WOULD YOU DO?
My suggestion to people is cut the ties with TicToc and start reading the history.
Friend or foe (Hamas is a terrorist group) hate is all they know and teach. Before making up your mind about the conflict, read the history, please
Jean Vanderveer says
Thank you Scott, for explaining the situation the in the Middle East. If only everyone would read your article and appreciate your knowledge.
David Wexler says
Thank you for insightful article, Scott. I would add only one thing. I believe that this horrific but necessary war will end as soon as Hamas releases the 240 babies, women and elderly people that they took hostage and stop the indiscriminate missile attacks on Christian, Muslim and Jewish Israelis that are still being launched on schools, homes and businesses. .
Doug Beiers says
The Fog of War. Mainstream media rarely acknowledges this, but Israel pretty much created Hamas, mostly funded it when it was merely a tiny fringe group in an attempt to counter-balance against the PLO & Yasser Arafat. This is an article and short video from 2018 that helps put things in perspective. — “…This isn’t a conspiracy theory. Listen to former Israeli officials such as Brig. Gen. Yitzhak Segev, who was the Israeli military governor in Gaza in the early 1980s. Segev later told a New York Times reporter that he had helped finance the Palestinian Islamist movement as a “counterweight” to the secularists and leftists of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Fatah party, led by Yasser Arafat (who himself referred to Hamas as “a creature of Israel.”)” https://theintercept.com/2018/02/19/hamas-israel-palestine-conflict/
Hugh Holland says
Thank you, Scott, for the most clear and accurate account I have seen on this recent dispute. Travel is a great educator. I have not been to Israel, but your observations are consistent with another friend who visited there a few years ago. “The Source” by James Michner gives a fascinating account of the early history of the region. And “Exodus” by Leon Uris describes the return of the Jewish people to Israel after the horrors of WW2, and how they worked hard to drain the swamps and irrigate the dessert and build a a very productive civilization.
Oil has been a strategic resource for the last 120 years. Parts of the Middle East, with 80% of the worlds oil, have been radicalized by powerful countries all trying to ensure access to satisfy their insatiable needs. Fossil fuels have been called the great paradox of our time. For the past 200 years, fossil fuel capitalism has made us wealthier, and healthier than ever before, but now it threatens to make our environment unlivable. We have seen some of that tension in Canada over the past 50 years, and we need to be careful that it doesn’t create a bigger east-west rift than we already have.
Like your trip to Israel, I have worked and travelled with Iranians and found them to be good people. Iran was neutral during WW2 but after the war, the Anglo-Iranian oil company was dominated by the Anglos who took 80% of the profits. Iran’s first European educated and democratically elected government failed in their attempts to get a fairer deal and eventually nationalized the oil company. So, the British MI6 and the US CIA planned a coup that overthrew the elected government of Iran and installed the brutal Shaw. That radicalized Iran and they started to develop nuclear weapons. So, Obama organized a nuclear agreement including Iran, the EU, US, and China to bring Iran back into the world community. Then along came Trump with his sick obsession to destroy everything Obama had done. That undermined the moderates in Iran who had signed the agreement and it fired up the radicals again. We are still dealing with that today. So, there are few angels in any of this, but your report is a very good summary of the most current situation.
Anna Bertelsen says
Just a word about David’s comment about the war will be over when Hamas releases all the hostages. I strongly disagree. If Hamas releases the hostages and I hope they will, they will only do this to buy time to plan the next attack. IT’S WHAT THEY DO, THEIR HATE IS THAT GREAT. They do not value human life at all.
IF THIS IS NOT SCARING US, IT SHOULD. IMAGINE BEING JEWISH LIVING THERE.
Just saying….
Helen Earley says
There is a myth cited in this article, which is that Palestine was “an arid piece of dirt” before Israel was established. It was not. It was home to the Palestinian people. Now Palestinians live in Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) – a prison, surrounded by barbed wire, and controlled by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF).
My father, a Canadian, spent many months in the West Bank as one of many multi-faith international observers to the human rights abuses being committed by the IDF. He came back with a warm affection for the Palestinian people and a deep sadness and frustration for the situation. Many Israelis, especially new settlers, view the “Arabs” as inferior, and believe they have no right to live in Israel. The IDF has no regard for Palestinian lives. For decades, Israel has been bulldozing Palestinian homes to build illegal settlements, and putting Palestinian children in prison simply for throwing rocks (both actions condemned by the UN).
Both IDF soldiers and Hamas fighters have something in common: each side has been blindfolded by generations of anguish and conflict, racism… and indoctrinated with subtle myths such as “it was just arid dirt.”
Allen Markle says
Being the western edge of the ‘Fertile Crescent’, Eretz-Israel has been home to a succession of civilizations. Jews and Palestinians are descended from ancient Canaanites and both indigenous to the area. That ancient land was occupied by Egypt, then Persia. A Greek, Alexander the Great subjugated the land for a while, followed by the Maccabees and then the Hasmoneans. The Roman Empire held sway for a century or so, surrendering the land to a couple of Muslim caliphates before the Crusaders arrived to take the ‘Holy Lands’. Eretz-Israel became part of the Ottoman Empire once the Crusades ended, and when the Ottomans crumbled, the French and British had a go at making it a safe place. There may have been a few others I haven’t included.
But it is written that “he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep” and whether you believe it or not, it has sure worked that way for a few thousand years. Today the news is riff with the latest ‘sleeplessness’ of the watchers.
I imagine everyone has an opinion as to how things should be dealt with, picking a side; but to survive Israel will be on it’s own. Listening to opinions in the news makes you wonder if any thought was given to some statements. Our Prime Minister commented that Israel should exercise restraint in dealing with, what is a terrorist organization. Should Israel react in the same way as it was attacked? Without declaration! It doesn’t seem the Hamas attack was restrained in any way.
There have been countries state that the International Criminal Court should become involved. We must know that only Israel would be under scrutiny. Or would both Israel and Hamas stand jointly accused?
The situation must be terrifying for both Palestinians and Israelis and is dangerous and unsettling for the rest of us. Especially when there are those who would import the danger to this country. I wonder about the intention of those who would shoot a school or phone in bomb threats. What does that prove or accomplish, other than establishing them as terrorists, much as Hamas is.
I can understand that people look for safe haven. Then appreciate Canada to be that. But once here, please leave the turmoil and politics behind.
Adil Kamal says
Thanks Scott. Nice to hear you had a nice vacation in the west Bank and Israel where Palestinians are subjected to torture and humiliation for years but of course it’s only because Arabs are blood thirsty savages who can be ethnically cleansed from their homeland to satisfy western failure to support the jews during WWII.
Honestly it doesn’t matter what you and Israeli zionists believe because the world sees the injustice in real time and will never allow a return to apartheid again. God willing.
We will never unsee the murder of babies by IDF.
Jane Hudel says
Thank you for writing this article. I have passed it on to several people.
Monica Chaudhuri says
This article is Zionist propaganda. It denies the existence of Palestine prior to Israel. And pretends that the Nakba did not occur. It dehumanizes non Israelis and says nothing about the occupation and the current genocide taking place. It is shameful that our politicians are paid to repeat the propaganda. I am hopeful that they will spend a few moments with some of the survivors of this genocide so that they can learn the truth.