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When people tell us who they are, believe them.
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On Thursday, Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly specifically denounced Hamas terrorists for using rape as a weapon of war against innocent Israeli women in their terrorist attack on Oct. 7.
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This after weeks of pressure from the opposition parties for the government to do so.
Joly said on ‘X’ that:
“Using sexual violence as a tactic of war is a crime. We strongly condemn #SGBV (sexual and gender-based violence) including rape, perpetrated by Hamas against women in Israel on October 7. We believe Israeli women. Canada will always stand against #SGBV and advocate for justice for all victims.”
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Strong words, but why did it take so long to make such a painfully obvious statement?
In Calgary, Mayor Jyoti Gondek announced on X Wednesday she was boycotting a traditional menorah-lighting ceremony by the city’s Jewish community on Thursday evening, marking the beginning of Hanukkah, the eight-day Jewish festival of lights, because it had become politicized.
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Gondeck pointed to a poster by organizers advertising the event that said, “Supporting Israel” and included the phrase, “Am Yisrael Chai!” meaning “the people of Israel live!”
The phrase “Am Yisrael Chai” long predates the Israel/Hamas war.
It comes from a 1965 song by Jewish composer Shlomo Carlebach, written in solidarity with Jews in the Soviet Union.
Hanukkah celebrates the victory in 164 B.C. by Jewish fighters known as the Maccabees, against oppressors who had banned the practice of Judaism and destroyed the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem.
Apparently to Gondeck, Jews celebrating their history and survival, supporting a Jewish homeland and holding an Israel bonds raffle, “creates a divide and forces people to choose a side.”
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It looks like Gondeck has chosen hers.
Finally, two presidents of prestigious American universities — Claudine Gay of Harvard and Liz Magill of the University of Pennsylvania — are being widely criticized for vague answers during a congressional hearing Tuesday when they were asked whether calling for the genocide of Jewish students on their campuses would constitute bullying and harassment under campus codes of conduct.
As a White House spokesperson told Bloomberg News, “It’s unbelievable this needs to be said: Calls for genocide are monstrous and antithetical to everything we represent as a country.”
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