This week marked the 24th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C., but it also provided a stark reminder of how the Canadian government has lost the moral clarity it once had, and failed to protect the victims of hate and extremism here at home, while turning its back on fellow democracies.
On Tuesday, Israel carried out an airstrike on Doha, Qatar, targeting senior Hamas officials who were responsible for the October 7 massacre.
Its message was clear: we will no longer allow the leaders of a terrorist organization whose stated purpose is to destroy us and has been holding Israeli hostages for nearly two years to receive safe harbour in other countries.
This is similar to the doctrine espoused by then-U.S. president George W. Bush after 9/11: "We will pursue nations that provide aid or safe haven to terrorism. Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists."
At the time, Ottawa sided with freedom and democracy over terror and religious fanaticism, sending troops into Afghanistan to topple the Taliban regime and root out the al-Qaida terrorists it was protecting. But this time, Canada's response was far more meek -- as it has consistently been since October 7.
Following the strike on Qatar, Prime Minister Mark Carney wasted no time condemning Israel and praising the dictator who has given asylum to those responsible for one of the worst terrorist attacks in modern history.
"Canada condemns Israel's strikes in Qatar -- an intolerable expansion of violence and an affront to Qatar's sovereignty. Regardless of their objectives, such attacks pose a grave risk of escalating conflict throughout the region," Carney tweeted from the prime minister's official account.
He went on to praise Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani for playing a "highly constructive role" in peace negotiations, despite failing to secure a lasting ceasefire for the past 23 months.
The prime minister's latest condemnation of the Jewish state comes as violent hate crimes targeting Jews continue to escalate throughout the country.
After a 70-year-old Jewish woman was stabbed in the kosher section of an Ottawa supermarket late last month, Montreal MP Anthony Housefather released a letter, signed by himself and 31 of his Liberal colleagues, condemning the hatred and violence targeting Canada's Jewish community and calling for a series of public policy changes.
Noticeably absent were the signatures of the other 137 Liberal MPs, including the prime minister and his nearest rival for the Liberal party leadership, Chrystia Freeland. They have, in effect, chosen to avoid saying that violence against Canadian Jews is bad.
After all, Housefather's letter was not about the war. It was just about protecting Canadian Jews from violence. But even that was apparently a bridge too far for the vast majority of Liberal MPs.
In his defence, Housefather said the letter "was drafted and signatures gathered over 24 hours on a holiday weekend. Originally it was going to be from (the) Jewish caucus and then we asked some others," and that, "Virtually everyone who was asked signed on."
The key word there is "virtually," which means that some members of the governing caucus outright refused to put their name to a letter condemning violence against Jews. And troubling questions remain, like: did Housefather ask Carney to sign on?
If so, it either speaks to the powerlessness of Liberal backbenchers, who were already forced to resort to a public letter to attempt to pressure their own government to protect innocent Canadians; or it means that the prime minister made a conscious decision not to speak out against antisemitism.
At the very least, Housefather -- who has consistently been one of the few principled members of the Liberal caucus -- should have known that failing to wait a few more days to collect signatures would be a bad look and open his party to attacks from the Opposition.
Sure enough, late last week, the Tories released their own letter condemning the "vile antisemitic attack" in Ottawa, the rapid proliferation of "anti-Jewish hatred" since October 7 and the government's lack of response.
The succinct yet strongly worded statement, which was signed by every single member of the Conservative caucus, concluded with a straightforward message: "All Conservatives will stand up and protect the Jewish community in Canada, even when the government won't."
Part of the Tories' rationale for releasing the statement was surely political. But the party has consistently stood against rising antisemitism and supported Israel's war of self-defence against Hamas -- displaying a moral fortitude that has completely eluded Mark Carney and his predecessor, Justin Trudeau.
It was the latter who apologized for Liberal prime minister William Lyon Mackenzie King's refusal to grant the MS St. Louis safe harbour in 1939, sentencing its nearly 1,000 passengers, including over 900 Jews, to their deaths at the hands of the Nazis.
Although the situation today is thankfully not as dire as it was then, the fact remains that we once again have a government that is refusing to protect Jews.
Back then, Ottawa's policy towards the Jews was "none is too many." Now, it's one of sheer indifference towards violence perpetrated against Jewish-Canadians, and active hostility towards actions intended to protect the world's only Jewish state.