NDP statement on recent devastating events in Israel and Palestine

NDP Foreign Affairs Critic Heather McPherson issued the following statement:

"Today is a devastating and terrifying day. Hamas’ call for a Day of Rage is awful. Israel’s order to displace 1.1 million innocent Gazans is reprehensible. The region is spiralling, and Canada must act now to save lives.

I am alarmed by what we are witnessing from the siege of Gaza. Children, women, and the elderly are indiscriminately attacked. The use of white phosphorus is a war crime and now, Israel’s demand to move over 1.1 million people south is both illegal & impossible. I fear for the people who cannot flee, including thousands of wounded. We are watching potential war crimes in real time.

We condemn Hamas’ call to arms today, which will inevitably lead to more violence. We reiterate our unequivocal condemnation of the terrorist violence by Hamas that killed thousands. These attacks have caused unimaginable pain and trauma for Jewish communities globally and made many Jewish Canadians feel unsafe. This must end.

Palestinians are suffering at a scale we have never seen as a result of the siege of Gaza. Canada must, today, insist for the respect of international law, of humanitarian principles, and urge Israel to rescind the evacuation order, as the United Nations has called for. Anything less would be a betrayal of our values.

New Democrats continue to call for immediate release of all hostages, the protection of all civilians, an end to the siege and bombardment of Gaza, and for humanitarian aid to reach civilians urgently and without restriction.

We condemn all acts of antisemitism and all anti-Palestinian racism including any glorification or calls for the killing of innocent people, Israeli or Palestinian.

Thank you to all Israelis and Palestinians working to preserve life – medical workers, humanitarians, human rights advocates, ordinary people doing what they can – in the face of such horror. We see you and we stand with you."