MONTREAL — Outgoing Treasury Board president Stockwell Day received a standing ovation for his strongly pro-Israel speech from 500 Jews and Christians who gathered in Mount Royal riding last week to “support and celebrate the land and people of Israel.”
Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz, left, embraces Dean Bye, director of Return Ministries, at a rally for Israel bringing together Jews and Christians.
Fellow guest speaker, Liberal incumbent Irwin Cotler, was also well received for emphasizing that he supports the State of Israel “not because it is a Jewish cause, but because it is a just cause for all Canadians, Jewish and non-Jewish.”
The public event, held April 5 at Federation CJA’s Gelber centre, was organized by the Israeli Knesset Christian Allies Caucus (KCAC), with several Canadian fundamentalist Christian groups. It was co-chaired by Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz of Congregation Tifereth Beth David Jerusalem and Dean Bye, executive director of Return Ministries, a Huron Park, Ont.-based organization that “encourages Jews and Christians to work together to fulfill God’s plans and purposes for Israel,” including Jewish aliyah.
Cotler took a non-partisan approach, affirming that all federal parties “stand together” with Israel, while Day emphasized that the Harper government’s support for the Jewish state has been constant and one of action, “no matter what the polls, the vote or the media say.”
He did say his government and Cotler see eye to eye on Israel, including assuring Israel’s security before any peace talks.
Day earned wide applause when he said Israel, as a Jewish state, has “an aboriginal right to exist” and that the Hebrew scriptures, written as far back as 1,000 years BCE, provide historically accurate evidence of the Jewish presence in what is now Israel.
Yet no other nation today has its right to exist denied and is defamed by so many, he said. He also criticized the media for not giving as much prominence to news favourable to Israel as it does to that which is negative, such as Judge Richard Goldstone’s recent reversal of his United Nations report alleging Israel committed war crimes in Gaza.
“When the [follow-up to the 2001 UN anti-racism] conference in Durban had it that Zionism is the same as racism, we didn’t talk about how we were going to vote when we go, we said we’re not going,” Day said. When Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was slated to speak at the UN, he continued, the Harper government “did not decide that the Canadian delegate would leave if he made offensive remarks. Our prime minister said he has already made offensive remarks and we are not going to be in that room.”
Cotler, who spoke before Day, reiterated the need to hold the Iranian regime accountable for incitement to genocide in the international criminal system and for ratification of a global agreement on combating “the virulent new antisemitism.”
He also wants Canada to take the lead in designating the Iranian Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization and in pressing Hamas to revoke “the glorification of terrorism” in its charter.
Cotler also deplored the accusation of Israeli apartheid as a thinly veiled denial of Israel’s right to exist. “Apartheid is defined under international law as a crime against humanity, therefore Israel has no right to exist.
After Ottawa, Montreal was the second stop on a national tour by the Christian group leaders and three Knesset members – Ayoob Kara of Likud, Robert Ilatov of Yisrael Beitenu, and Shai Hermash of Kadima – as well as KCAC director Josh Reinstein.
Rabbi Steinmetz provoked nervous laughter when he admitted that he had hesitated to be aligned with this Christian-Jewish coalition. “The questions boiled down to ‘Can we trust the Christians, given our difficult history? Is this friendship sincere? Is there an ulterior motive?”
He was convinced of its genuineness after the outpouring of sympathy from Christians following the March 23 terrorist bombing of Jerusalem’s central bus station.
He described the gathering as the largest ever in Montreal of Jews and Christians expressing support for Israel. The proceedings were translated simultaneously into French.
Bye pledged the sponsoring groups’ “unconditional love” for the Jewish people, but he expects “awkward moments” to arise in forging ties.
“I’m not here to convert you. I’m here to get converted,” he said.
One of the MKs, Kara, is Druze, a monotheistic people who believe they are descended from the biblical Jethro, he said. He thinks that Jews should have dominion over the Land of Israel, including “Judea and Samaria,” and is opposed to a two-state solution with the Palestinians.
He termed radical Islam as “the new Nazism” and Israel as the West’s only Middle East ally in the fight against it.
Cultural attaché Margaux Chetrit spoke on behalf of the Israeli consulate, expressing appreciation for Christian solidarity with Israel since its founding in 1948.
