Toronto, Ontario, Canada - August 6, 2025 - Hatikvah Canada wishes to respond to the recent announcement by Canada’s Prime Minister, Mark Carney on Israel, including Canada’s condemnation of the horrific attacks of October 7, its call on Hamas to disarm and release all the hostages, its demand for increased aid to the civilians of Gaza, its support for peace in the region based on a two-state solution, and its contingent intention to recognize a demilitarized Palestinian state without Hamas’ participation in government. 

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We note positively Prime Minister Carney’s statement “that Hamas must immediately release all hostages taken in the horrific terrorist attack of October 7; that Hamas must disarm; and that Hamas must play no role in the future governance of Palestine.”  We also note that Canada’s intention to recognize a Palestinian state is predicated on demilitarization and governance reforms.  We call on the Canadian Government to ensure that the Palestinian Authority fulfils these commitments and, in particular, abandons pay-for slay and incitement, and reforms its educational system.

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We do not believe that Canada’s position can be construed as a reward for terrorism; on the contrary, Prime Minister Carney’s announcement clearly eschews terrorism and “recognizes Israel’s inalienable right to security and peace.”  

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Recent independent empirical surveys show that a majority of Canadian Jews support a two-state solution. While there are a range of different viewpoints within this majority on the most effective and appropriate timing and detail concerning recognition of Palestinian statehood, we believe that Prime Minister’s Carney’s announcement broadly reflects the spirit underlying this support. 

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Hatikvah Canada believes that only a political settlement can end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and bring sustained peace and security to a Jewish and democratic Israel.  Netanyahu is neither interested nor capable of standing up to Ben-Gvir, Smotrich and others who endorse ethnic cleansing and annexation. Recent developments, including the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian crisis in Gaza, a non-binding Knesset vote to annex the occupied West Bank, and accelerated settlement construction and settler violence across the West Bank and East Jerusalem, require coordinated international action to preserve the possibility of a two-state solution.

 

Israel’s Declaration of Independence aspires to the highest ideals of Jewish tradition. The State “will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.”   This pivotal moment presents a unique opportunity to achieve that dream.

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HATIKVAH CANADA is a coalition formed in April 2025 to participate in Canada’s first Zionist election in over 20 years, as the only independent slate for a democratic Israel.  Hatikvah Canada placed third nationally in total votes out of nine slates, winning three mandates to the 39th World Zionist Congress.

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Media contact: hatikvahcanada@gmail.com

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