by Etgar Lefkovits
"We are not foreigners in our home,” Israel's diaspora affairs minister tells pro-Israel Canadian parliamentarians in Ottawa.
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| Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli (front center) and Canadian parliamentarians at the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa, May 31, 2023. Credit: Courtesy. |
Ignorance, coupled with a “progressive” worldview which disregards historical fact, is the most powerful weapon in the arsenal of those who seek to deny Israel’s right to exist, Israel’s diaspora and strategic affairs minister said in Canada on Wednesday.
“In a time of ‘relative truth,’ some portray the people of Israel as foreigners in the Land of Israel,” Minister Amichai Chikli told a gathering of pro-Israel Canadian lawmakers at the Parliament in Ottawa.
The event marked Israel’s 75th anniversary and the reunification of Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War.
“We are not foreigners in our home,” said Chikli.
“Our ancestors knew there would come a day when there would be those who would claim we have no connection or right to Jerusalem,” he added, citing the passage in the Book of Samuel describing how King David insisted on purchasing the Temple Mount.
“However, I don’t think they could have fully imagined the depths of absurdity we see today, including condemnations of Israel for building in Jerusalem or for Jews visiting the Temple Mount,” he continued.
The Likud minister told the gathering, organized by the Canadian Israel Allies Caucus in the first such commemoration of Jerusalem Day in the Canadian Parliament, that “basic historical facts” are the most powerful weapon for those who support Israel and the Zionist idea in the face of such “shameful ignorance.”
The event comes at a time of rising global antisemitism, often in the guise of anti-Israel activity.
Indeed, the competing Israeli and Palestinian narratives were on vivid display at the Canadian Parliament on Wednesday, where an anti-Israel event organized by Law for Palestine and the Palestinian General Delegation to Canada was held on Parliament Hill at the very same hour as the gathering of the supporters of Israel.
“At a time when antisemitism is on the
rise, it is critical that Canadian parliamentarians, faith and Jewish
community leaders stand together in their steadfast support of Israel,”
said Canadian MP Dr. Leslyn Lewis, who immigrated to Canada as a young
child from Jamaica and who now heads the Israel Allies Caucus.
Etgar Lefkovits
Source: https://www.jns.org/jns/amichai-chikli/23/6/1/291906/
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