Ghamari Delivers Powerful Speech Against Hatred, Terrorism
By Barrhaven Independent Staff
As the number of pro-Hamas and anti-Israeli rallies continues to grow in Ontario and Canada, Carleton MPP Goldie Ghamari delivered what critics say may be the most powerful and poignant speech of her political career in the Queen’s Park Legislature Wed., Oct. 17.
She opened with words from 8th Century Iranian poet Sa’adi. They are from the poem Bani Adam, which means “the children of humanity” in English, calls for the breaking of all barriers in humanity. The poem, she said, decorates the entrance of the United Nations building.
Human beings are members of a whole,
In creation of one essence and soul.
If one member is afflicted with pain,
Other members uneasy will remain.
If you’ve no sympathy for human pain,
The name of human you cannot retain.
“’Never again’ is a phrase that’s been constantly repeated since the end of the Holocaust,” Ghamari said. “However, on October 7, the world looked on in shock and horror as ‘never again’ unfolded right before their eyes. Over 1,400 and counting innocent Israelis, including men, women and children, as well as numerous foreign nationals, were brutally raped, executed, burned alive, beheaded and taken hostage by Hamas terrorists. Six Canadians have lost their lives so far; two are still missing. These terrorists shot dogs. They executed Holocaust survivors. They laughed. They tied up adults and children and burned them alive. As more footage comes out and more stories are shared, our collective horror as humanity rises.”
Before the terrorist attack, Ghamari was perhaps the most vocal of any Member of Provincial Parliament against the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the terrorist regime that has controlled Iran for 44 years and the primary financial backer of Hamas and the architects of the attack on Israel. Since the killing of Mahsa Amini by the IRGC in September 2022, Ghamari has spent her free time away from Queen’s Park and the Carleton riding to be a catalyst in Ottawa, in Ontario and throughout Canada in raising awareness of the terrorist regime.
In 1986, when Ghamari was a year old, her father survived a roadside execution attempt when a terrorist tried to pull him out of his vehicle. Ghamari’s mother pulled him back in the car and they sped away. Shortly thereafter, the family arrived in Canada as refugees with one suitcase full of clothes and $50 cash.
Ghamari called the Oct. 7 attack on Israel “an act of monstrous barbarity.” It was the single-largest targeted massacre of Jews in one single day since the Holocaust.
“Now is the time for moral clarity, not moral relativism,” Ghamari said. “Hamas is an evil, genocidal, terrorist organization. Hamas is a listed terror group in Canada and has one main goal: the eradication of Jews and the annihilation of the state of Israel—in other words, genocide. That vile goal is enshrined in its charter of terrorism. Hamas builds military bases in hospitals, schools and apartments. Hamas digs up water pipes and uses them to make missiles. Hamas holds innocent Gazans hostage, using them as human shields. They spread misinformation. They kill Palestinians for their own political gain and share it through their terrorist news networks.
“Thousands of innocent lives have been lost since Hamas’s brutal and monstrous attack, both in Gaza and Israel. My heart breaks for every single innocent life lost: Palestinian, Israeli, Canadian and all others. But let me be very clear: Be they Palestinian, Israeli, Canadian or foreign nationals, Hamas is responsible, absolutely responsible for every single innocent life lost in this war, full stop. Hamas terrorists must release and return all hostages and lay down their arms. I support Israel’s inalienable right to defend itself, I support Israel’s right to exist, and I support Israel.”
Ghamari said she was disgusted by the response of some people in Canada, who rejoiced after the slaughter of innocent people.
“As reports of the gruesome and horrific massacre came out, the response here in Canada was just as vile,” she said. “Canadians looked on in shock and disgust as people took to the streets, dancing, celebrating and passing out sweets in response to Hamas’s terrorist attack. On Monday, hundreds attended pro-Hamas rallies in Canada, including Toronto, calling for the eradication of Israel and celebrating Hamas’s terrorist massacre of civilians as an act of resistance.
“Footage from hate rallies in Canada and around the world show people chanting ‘gas the Jews,’ tense moments with police and saying ‘Khaybar’ to pro-Israel supporters, which is a reference to the seventh century slaughter of 100 Jews by Muslims. Terrorist flags of ISIS, Hamas, Taliban and more have been seen in rallies right here in Ontario. This is not something I ever thought I would see in 2023 here in Canada, and it is horrifying.”
Ghamari calls the anti-Semitic behaviour glorifying Hamas’s terrorist massacre ‘nothing short of radical extremism’ propagated by the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the world, the Islamic regime in Iran.
“For those who are unaware, Hamas is trained, funded and armed by the terrorist Islamic regime in Iran,” Ghamari said. “This is the same radical extremism that Iranian Canadians have been sounding the alarm on at demonstrations calling for the end of the terrorist Islamic regime in Iran, the same demonstrations that made ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ a rallying cry for peace and democracy around the world, the same demonstrations that helped the world finally understand that the Islamic regime in Iran does not represent Iranians, and Iranians have been fighting against the Islamic regime for decades.”
On Friday, October 13, an ex-Hamas leader declared a Global Day of Jihad, a call to Muslims around the world to rise up and exterminate Jews around the world. The Ottawa Police Service increased security in Jewish community centres, schools and synagogues.
“Those who attended the pro-Hamas rallies this week claim it was about freedom and human rights, but where were they when Iranians were calling for the end of the Islamic regime and calling for freedom and human rights in Iran? They were nowhere to be seen,” Ghamari said.
While Canadian politicians of all stripes were quick to condemn these pro-Hamas hate rallies, some did not. Ghamari said “that silence is deafening.”
“One horrifying and spine-tingling sentiment that I’ve seen on social media time and time again from people in the Jewish community is the following: ‘This week, I’ve learned which friends would hide me during the next Holocaust, which friends would not and which friends would hand me over. I’ve got ‘friends’ in all three categories. I see you.’ Chilling,” Ghamari said.
“The Jewish people are living their darkest days right now, living their worst nightmares since the Holocaust,” she added. “I cannot even fathom what it must feel like to live in fear, to walk down the street and look at someone and think, ‘Will this person hate me just because I exist, just because I’m Jewish?’”
Ghamari said that the support at the Israeli rallies given by the Iranian community has made her proud. Since the Mahsa Amini murder and the protests and rallies that have followed globally, the old Iranian flag with the symbol of the lion and the sun is starting to appear more prevalently. The IRGC removed the lion and sun symbol from the flag when they seized control of Iran in 1979.
“Since the horrific terrorist attack by Hamas, Iranians in Iran and around the world have been standing in solidarity with the people of Israel,” she said. “#IraniansStandWithIsrael was a hashtag that was trending on X for days. Every single peace rally organized by Israel and the Jewish community has been flooded with Iran’s lion-and-sun flag and attended by hundreds of Iranians in a show of solidarity. Iranians inside Iran have been chanting slogans and secretly raising the flag of Israel in defiance of the terrorist Islamic regime’s anti-Semitic, Holocaust-denying and pro-Hamas policies. Jewish Iranian soldiers have been sending messages of support to Iranians through the Israel Defense Forces’ Farsi channel on X, saying that they are in this together against the terrorist Islamic regime.”
At the rally supporting peace in Israel that Ghamari attended early in the conflict, she said she saw something that became a fond memory in a very dark week.
“After the rally, I noticed a standoff,” she said “On one side, there were a lot of Israeli flags, and on the other side, pro-Hamas counter protesters had shown up. It was very tense. I walked to the front of the lines to get a better look, and as soon as I got there, amidst the sea of blue and white, I saw two Iranian lion-and-sun flags standing right in front of everyone else—raising them high and waving them. I’ve never been more proud to be Iranian Canadian.”
The history of Jews in Iran, Ghamari explained, dates back to late biblical times. After establishing the Persian Empire, King Cyrus the Great allowed all subjects to participate in governance. He borrowed the good deeds of other cultures in the first sign of his commitment to diversity through culture. He set the Jews free from their Babylonian captivity that had taken place decades before. Cyrus the Great facilitated their return to the promised land, Israel, and he became a notable figure in the Jewish scripture as a saviour who helped them build the Second Temple in Jerusalem. This great event in Jewish and Persian history took place in the late sixth century BC, by which time there was a well-established and influential Jewish community in Persia.
“For 44 years, the terrorist and illegitimate Islamic regime in Iran has tried to erase our shared history, has tried to say that Jews and Iranians are enemies, but they cannot erase our history,” Ghamari said. “These radical extremists who have been funding terrorism in the Middle East, these radical extremists who have helped Hamas attack Israel, who support this cause, who call for the eradication of Jews in Israel cannot erase our shared history spanning almost 3,000 years.”
Ghamari said she has never been more proud to be Iranian, and added that she is also very proud to be part of a government that has unequivocally spoken out against the “heinous terrorist attack” by Hamas.
“There is no other way to describe what happened,” Ghamari said. “It is the darkest form of terrorism we have ever seen. It is pure evil. There is no ‘yes, but.’ There is no moral equivalency when you are burning babies, when you are killing people and then raping their friends next to them and then executing them. There is no justification whatsoever. Anyone who thinks so needs to take a good, hard look at themselves in the mirror and question whether or not they are human.
After repeating the poem she opened her speech with, Ghamari ended with a simple statement.
“I stand with Israel. Thank you.”
