January 20, 2014, Knesset, Jerusalem, Israel
"Canada supports Israel fundamentally because it is right to do so."
"Canada supports Israel fundamentally because it is right to do so."
Today, there are nearly 350,000
Canadians who share with you their heritage and their faith. They are proud
Canadians. But having met literally thousands of members of this community, I
can tell you this: They are also immensely proud of what the people of Israel
have accomplished here. Of your courage in war, of your generosity in peace and
of the bloom that the desert has yielded under your stewardship.
Laureen and I share that pride. We
share that pride and the understanding that what has been achieved here has
occurred in the shadow of the horrors of the Holocaust....
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.
Let
me repeat that: Canada supports Israel fundamentally because it is right to do
so. This is a very Canadian trait, to do something for no reason other than it
is right, even when no immediate reward for, or threat to, ourselves is
evident.* * *
"It is, thus, a Canadian tradition to stand for what is principled and just, regardless of whether it is convenient or popular."
It is, thus, a Canadian tradition to
stand for what is principled and just, regardless of whether it is convenient
or popular. But, I would argue, and as you know, as prime minister I have
argued, that support today for the Jewish state of Israel is more than a moral
imperative. It is also a matter of strategic importance, also a matter of our
own, long-term interests.
Ladies and gentlemen, I said a
moment ago that the special friendship between Canada and Israel is rooted in
shared values....
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. And these are not mere notions. They are the
things that, over time and against all odds, have proven to be, over and over
again, 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 people or one nation. Nor are they a finite resource.
On the contrary, the wider they are spread, the stronger they grow. Likewise,
when they are threatened anywhere, they are threatened everywhere.
And who threatens them? Or more
precisely, what today threatens the societies that embrace such values and the
progress they nurture? Those who scorn modernity, those who loathe the liberty
of others and those who hold the differences of peoples and cultures and
religions in contempt. Those who often begin by hating the Jews, but, history
shows us, end up hating everyone who is not like them.
* * *
"in the world of diplomacy...it is all too easy 'to go along to get along,'...But such 'going along to get along' is not a 'balanced' approach...It is, just quite simply, weak and wrong."
Now friends, I understand in the world of diplomacy with one, solitary, Jewish state and scores of others, it is all too easy "to go along to get along" and single out Israel. But such "going along to get along" is not a "balanced" approach, nor is it a "sophisticated" one. It is, just quite simply, weak and wrong.
Now friends, I understand in the world of diplomacy with one, solitary, Jewish state and scores of others, it is all too easy "to go along to get along" and single out Israel. But such "going along to get along" is not a "balanced" approach, nor is it a "sophisticated" one. It is, just quite simply, weak and wrong.
Unfortunately, ladies and
gentlemen, we live in a world where that kind of moral relativism today runs
rampant. And in the garden of such moral relativism the seeds of much more
sinister notion can be easily planted.
And so we have witnessed in recent
years, the mutation of the old disease of anti-Semitism and the emergence of a
new strain. We all know about the old anti-Semitism. It was crude and ignorant
and it led to the horrors of the death camps. Of course, in many dark corners,
it is still with us. But, in much of the western world the old hatred has been
translated into more sophisticated language for use in polite society.
People who would never say they
hate and blame the Jews for their own failings, or the problems of the world, instead
declare their hatred of Israel and blame the only Jewish state for the problems
of the Middle East. As once Jewish businesses were boycotted, some
civil-society leaders today call for a boycott of Israel. On some campuses,
intellectualized arguments against Israeli policies thinly mask underlying
realities, such as the shunning of Israeli academics and the harassment of
Jewish students.
Most disgracefully of all, some
openly call Israel an apartheid state. Now think about that statement. Think
about the twisted logic and outright malice behind that. A state based on
freedom, democracy and the rule of law that was founded so Jews can flourish as
Jews and seek shelter from the shadow of the worst racist experiment in history
that is condemned and it is condemned in the masked language of anti-racism.
Friends, that is nothing short of sickening....
* * * "I believe the story of Israel is a great example to the world."
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
society, 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.
