WATCH: Canadian opposition condemns Palestinian terror, government silent

Canadian-Israelis have written a letter protesting their native country’s “deafening silence” on the Ofra shooting Sunday night. The Opposition, however, has strongly condemned the barbaric attack. 

By Atara Beck, World Israel News

Following the news of the passing of the latest victim of Palestinian terror – an infant delivered 10 weeks early by emergency C-section after his mother was shot in the abdomen – Canada’s opposition leader, Andrew Scheer of the Conservative party, issued the following statement:

“Absolutely gutted by the news that Amichai and Shira Ish-Ran’s baby boy has passed away after being born prematurely following a targeted and gutless terror attack in Ofra. Jill and I are praying for their family in Montreal and for Amichai and Shira’s full recovery.

“Conservatives unequivocally condemn, in the strongest possible terms, this vile terrorist attack as well as all acts of violent anti-Semitism. We must stand up to the cowards who target and attack innocent people simply for being Jewish.”

Many Canadian-Israelis have been circulating a letter on social media, urging others to protest the silence of Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Canadian Ambassador to Israel Deborah Lyons. Amichai is a Canadian citizen, they note in the letter, yet they “have not heard any word of condemnation against the Palestinian Authority from you or the Canadian government.”

“The Canadian government’s silence is deafening. Canadian funds are going to an entity that repeatedly incites its people to destroy the State of Israel and to kill Jews,” the letter states.

Silence is complicity

“When will the Canadian government condemn the attack in Ofra and make clear to the Palestinian Authority, which survives almost entirely on international aid, that its violent rhetoric is unacceptable? When will Canada condition its millions of dollars of aid on the Palestinian Authority ending its ‘pay for slay’ program that supports and rewards the murder of Israeli citizens?

“Until then, Canada is unfortunately complicit in barbaric attacks on Israeli men, women and children. Amichai is a Canadian citizen. His grandmother, aunts, uncles and cousins live in Montreal. We expect Canada to speak up in defense of its citizens, targeted by Palestinian terror simply because they are Jews living in the Jewish state.”

Meanwhile, Peter Kent, a Conservative member of parliament for the riding of Thornhill and former Minister of the Environment, issued the following statement on video, slamming the PA’s incitement to terror, expressing solidarity with the victims and proclaiming that the “light of freedom and democracy will prevail over the darkness of terror attacks and hate.”