NDP leader Jagmeet Singh’s statement commemorating the one-year marking of the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks on Israel has failed to connect with Jewish groups in Canada.
Instead of only mourning the victims of the attack, the NDP used it as an opportunity to mostly criticize Israel’s anti-terrorism response.
The statement starts by expressing how unacceptable the Hamas-led attack, which killed over 1,200, including eight Canadians, and took over 250 people hostage, was.
“This anniversary is a painful reminder of the suffering endured by countless families who have experienced the devastating impact of those attacks,” Singh said in the statement. “New Democrats and all Canadians mourn with Canada’s Jewish community, and we reiterate our call for the return of all hostages.”
As Singh’s statement continues, he switches gears. He called Israel’s government extremist, saying that it’s committing “genocide” in its response to several terrorist attacks on multiple fronts and that there is “no possible military solution” to being repeatedly attacked by terrorist entities.
“For many Canadians, the response to October 7th from Netanyahu’s extremist government was the beginning of a brutal assault on the people of Gaza, who did not and do not deserve collective punishment,” Singh said in the statement. “Palestinian, Muslim, and Arab communities in Canada are feeling the weight of immense suffering from the ongoing genocide by Netanyahu’s extremist government that has killed tens of thousands of innocent people, including children.”
Despite the House of Commons unanimously agreeing to call for the elimination of Hamas and Hezbollah, in a motion by Conservative Deputy Leader Melissa Lantsman on Oct. 7, the NDP called for an immediate ceasefire and an arms embargo against Israel
Rich Robertson, the director of research and advocacy at B’nai Brith Canada, a Canadian Jewish community group, called the statement “disheartening.”
“The NDP’s message of solidarity with the Jewish community was highly compromised by the equivalency within the statement,” Robertson said in an interview with True North. “It’s disheartening and distressing that the NDP felt the need to refer to Israel’s defensive actions in Gaza in Lebanon when referring or when producing a message commemorating the atrocities committed on October 7.”
He said B’nai Brith Canada questions the need to reference the actions of the Israeli state in a statement designed to honour the victims of a terror attack.
“Israel is an ally of Canada, and all Canadian leaders, including members of opposition parties, must continue to support Israel as they work to rid the region of the threat of what are listed terrorist entities in Canada,” Robertson said.
Robertson disagreed with Singh’s proposition that there was no military solution in regard to terrorist entities attacking Israel in a “decades-long conflict” that Singh mentioned in his statement.
“Israeli people have a right to defend themselves and to be assured that they can continue to live without the constant threat of attack by terrorist entities,” he said.
The Jewish mayor of Hamstead, Quebec, Jeremy Levi, also criticized the statement.
“A truly disgusting and reprehensible statement from the NDP on such a solemn and somber day. Every single member of that party should be ashamed of themselves. Canada deserves better,” Levi said on X.
Richard Marceau, the vice president of external affairs for the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, a Jewish advocacy group in Canada, called Singh’s statement on behalf of the NDP “disgraceful.”
“Once again, the NDP missed an important opportunity to connect with and stand by Canada’s Jewish community. October 7 was a moment to pause and reflect on the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, as well as the alarming rise of antisemitism in Canada,” Marceau told True North. “Instead, the NDP chose to engage in partisan politics, virtue signalling to anti-Israel activists even on this most solemn day. In short, at a time when the Jewish community needed compassion and solidarity, the NDP was MIA.”