VANCOUVER, B.C. — Three years ago, on October 7, 2023, we woke up to horrific images from Israel as Hamas terrorists carried out the deadliest attack against the Jewish people since the Holocaust, recording and live-streaming their crimes.
More than 1,200 people were murdered, including Canadians, thousands were injured, and more than 200 were kidnapped and dragged into Gaza as hostages.
Today, we remember every innocent life stolen, in particular, 22-year-old Vancouverite Ben Mizrachi, a graduate of King David High School who was attending the Nova music festival. A trained medic, Ben stayed to help the wounded as terrorists attacked. He was murdered trying to save others.
But three years later, British Columbians must also confront what October 7 exposed here at home.
The networks that sympathize with, glorify and in some cases support terrorist movements are not confined to the Middle East. They have been organizing and fundraising in Canada, including right here in British Columbia.
Samidoun should be a wake-up call for every Canadian.
For years, the organization operated openly in Vancouver. Its international coordinator lived here. It organized demonstrations here. Its activists praised Hamas and celebrated October 7 here.
The Government of Canada ultimately listed Samidoun as a terrorist entity because of its links to and support for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, itself a listed terrorist organization. FINTRAC has since described Samidoun as a sham charity that served as an international fundraiser for the PFLP.
Then Canadians saw where this ideology leads.
At a Samidoun rally on Vancouver streets, a Canadian flag was burned, a speaker declared “we are Hezbollah and we are Hamas,” and protesters chanted “Death to Canada, Death to the United States and Death to Israel.”
Their hatred does not begin and end with Israel.
Vancouver and British Columbia have become places where people sympathetic to these movements can organize, raise money, recruit support and attempt to legitimize their ideology.
We cannot pretend this is somebody else’s problem.
We need to know where money is being raised and where it is going. We need to know who our governments, universities and public institutions are funding and partnering with. Not one taxpayer dollar or ounce of institutional legitimacy should go to organizations connected to terrorism, terrorist financing or the glorification of political violence.
To British Columbia’s Jewish community: you are not alone. You should never have to hide a Star of David, fear attending synagogue or worry about sending your children to a Jewish school.
As leader of the Conservative Party of British Columbia, I am committed to rooting this dangerous and hateful ideology out of our province’s institutions, root and stem, while protecting the lawful rights and freedoms of every British Columbian.
October 7 showed us what this ideology is capable of. The three years since have shown us that those who celebrate and support it can exist much closer to home than Canadians wanted to believe.
Today, we remember Ben Mizrachi and every innocent person murdered on October 7.
May their memories be a blessing.
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Media Contact:
Alex Shiff, Director of Media Relations
media@conservativebc.ca
