QUESTION PERIOD — Public Safety
Anti-Semitism
November 6, 2024
Senator Gold, I’m sure you are aware of a very ugly scene last night at a well-known synagogue in our hometown of Montreal. A large group of masked terrorists gathered at the synagogue yelling and screaming, “Death to Jews.” Some even went so far as to call a worshipper by their full name and say, “Tonight, Jew, you are going to die.”
That is anti-Semitic, a direct threat of violence and in violation of at least two sections of the Criminal Code. Yet the police stood by and did nothing. Why? Because they know they have political cover, unfortunately.
Your government waited too long to list Samidoun as a terrorist organization, allowing them to spew their hate on our streets and campuses. The Trudeau government allowed a convicted Jew-killer to come to this country from France to teach at a Canadian university.
You talk about slogans and catchphrases, Senator Gold, but there is no catchphrase emptier than when your government says, “There is no place for hate in Canada.” There is a place for hate in this country, and it’s because of the Trudeau government.
Senator Gold, when will enough be enough?
Senator Housakos, sincerely, I have long appreciated your friendship to the Jewish community of Montreal and your involvement not only with our community but with many communities. We run into each other regularly, and it’s to your credit.
What happened outside the Shaar Hashomayim synagogue, where I was just a few days earlier to honour Irwin Cotler, was grotesque and reprehensible. I will not use those words to describe the link you made between the police force’s inaction and your allegations and claim that they somehow did so because they have political cover from this government. The word I’m going to use, and I say it not to you personally but to your words, it’s shameful.
Senator Gold, there are laws in this country and when police refuse to defend them and apply them, it is because they think they don’t have the political will to do so.
Senator Gold, a good friend of mine said to me this morning, “As a Jew, we feel there is an utter lack of empathy from the political class for how traumatizing this is.” Meanwhile, we have colleagues in this place who met and posed for photos with Francesca Albanese, a raging anti-Semite who came to Canada to meet with the leader of a terrorist group, Samidoun.
Senator Gold, do you endorse that meeting and do you not now understand how our friend from Montreal feels?
I understand how your friend from Montreal feels. They might very well be a friend of mine, and if they aren’t, I certainly know many.
Yesterday, you heard me tell you what the government thinks of Francesca Albanese, and I’m here to answer on behalf of the government: I do not condone her words, her holocaust denial, her anti-Semitism or the like.
That is all I have to say. Thank you.
