Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s address to the Knesset, January 20, 2014 ...
Ladies and Gentlemen, Canada and Israel are the greatest of friends, and the most natural of allies. And, with your indulgence, I would like to offer a reflection upon what makes the relationship between Canada and Israel special and important. Because the relationship between us is very strong..
The friendship between us is rooted in history, nourished by shared values, and it is intentionally reinforced at the highest levels of commerce and government as an outward expression of strongly held inner convictions.
(snip)
The understanding that it is right to support Israel because, after generations of persecution, the Jewish people deserve their own homeland and deserve to live safely and peacefully in that homeland. Now let me repeat that: Canada supports Israel because it is right to do so.
(snip)
Indeed, Israel is the only country in the Middle East Which has long anchored itself in the ideals of freedom, democracy and the rule of law. These are not mere notions. They are the things that, over time and against all odds, have proven to be the only ground in which human rights, political stability, and economic prosperity, may flourish. These values are not proprietary; they do not belong to one nation or one people. Nor are they a finite resource; on the contrary, the wider they are spread, the stronger they grow.
First, Canada finds it deplorable that some in the international community still question the legitimacy of the existence of the State of Israel.
Our view on Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state is absolute and non-negotiable.
(at this point in Harper’s address, several Arab Knesset members, some of whom had earlier heckled him, got up and left the Knesset chamber.)
But this is the face of the new anti-Semitism. It targets the Jewish people by targeting Israel and attempts to make the old bigotry acceptable for a new generation. Of course, criticism of Israeli government policy is not in and of itself necessarily anti-Semitic. But what else can we call criticism that selectively condemns only the Jewish state and effectively denies its right to defend itself while systematically ignoring – or excusing – the violence and oppression all around it? What else can we call it when Israel is routinely targeted at the United Nations, and when Israel remains the only country to be the subject of a permanent agenda item at the regular sessions of its Human Rights Council?
(SNIP)
Ladies and gentlemen, Let me conclude with this thought.
I believe the story of Israel is a great example to the world. It is a story, essentially, of a people whose response to suffering has been to move
beyond resentment and build a most extraordinary society, a vibrant democracy, a freedom-loving country with an independent and rights-affirming judiciary. An innovative, world-leading “start-up” nation. You have taken the collective memory of death and persecution to build an optimistic, forward-looking land, one that so values life, you will sometimes release a thousand criminals and terrorists, to save one of your own.
In the democratic family of nations, Israel represents values which our Government takes as articles of faith, and principles to drive our national life.
And therefore, through fire and water, Canada will stand with you.
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Canada will be blessed for this!