Israel's Right to Self-Defence

"Further action [risks triggering] a broader regional conflict with devastating consequences. De-escalation must be the priority."

"We urge all parties to refrain from actions that further destabilize the region. The protection of civilians must be paramount."

"Importantly, Canadians in the region are advised to exercise a very high degree of caution, monitor developments closely, and follow the advice of local authorities."

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand

 

"Don't think that they hit and it's over. No."

"They started the work and started the War."

"We will not allow them to escape safely from this great crime they committed."

Iranian Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei  

 

"[There will be] even more brutal [attacks if Tehran did not soon reach a nuclear deal]."

"Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left, and save what was once known as the Iranian Empire."

U.S. President Donald Trump 

 

"[Israel took] unilateral action against Iran [that did not involve the United States]." 

"Our top priority is protecting American forces in the region."

"Israel advised us that they believe this action was necessary for its self-defence. President Trump and the administration have taken all necessary steps to protect our forces and remain in close contact with out regional partners."

"Let me be clear: Iran should not target U.S. interests or personnel."

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio  

Israel continued to strike Iran's capital Tehran on Sunday night   Getty Images

 

The Liberal government that has ruled Canada for the last decade has abandoned in all but veneer, the traditional relationship of alliance between two democracies -- Israel and Canada -- under its administration. Under previous, and most particularly Conservative-led governments -- the Liberal government's immediate Conservative administration led by former Prime Minister Stephen Harper in particular -- left no illusions that there was ever a gap in the friendship and support Canada gave to Israel. During the administration of former PM Justin Trudeau that relationship descended markedly into suspicion and grudging support.

 

Canadian demographics had undergone a marked change, for one thing. In Mr. Trudeau's sanctimonious overtures to economic migrants flooding North America streaming toward the United States, he welcomed those whom the U.S. refused, recognizing them as fomenters of Islamic entitlements. He offered haven to Muslims from war-torn Middle East and North African nations. Emigration from the Near East and North Africa picked up pace, and Canada now has a sizeable voting bloc emanating from that demographic that politicians cater to, inviting their ballots.

 

Censuring Israel, for what is interpreted, thanks to an Islamist/Palestinian public relations campaign, as 'occupation' of unceded Judaic ancestral territory partitioned by the United Nations in 1948 to offer a state to the Jewish occupants of the land, and a similar state to the Arab population who took on the designation of Palestinians meant to distinguish Jewish territory during the Roman occupation. An 'occupation' necessitated to maintain security and control over the actions of Palestinians dedicated to the  destruction of Israel and the death of Jews.

 

Decades of incitement, agitation, formation of Iranian proxy terror groups undertaken by the Quds division of the Islamic National Guard Corps of the Islamic Republic of Iran, had succeeded in forging an 'Axis of Resistance' of Shi'ite Islamists to Israel's presence in the Middle East. That same axis conducted a sectarian/tribal conflict with the majority Sunni-Muslim Middle East in an enterprise of long duration to replace the authority of the Sunni majority with the conquest to be achieved by the minority Shias in their traditional sectarian-tribal antipathies.

 

Israeli security forces inspect the site of homes destroyed by a missile fired from Iran, in Rishon Lezion, Israel, on Saturday. The federal government is urging Canadians to 'avoid all travel' to Israel as the country exchanges missile and air strikes with Iran. (Ohad Zwigenberg/The Associated Press)

 

Iran has threatened repeatedly over the years to destroy the presence of Israel. And over those same years it has worked assiduously to produce nuclear-grade uranium to produce nuclear weapons, a program it disguises as fulfilling a domestic need for nuclear-powered civilian energy ... in a country with vast oil and gas energy resources. Iran has never fully cooperated with the UN's Atomic Energy Commission inspectors who have reported that Iran has flouted its rules and  hidden its true purpose in refining uranium to weapons-grade status.

 

Taken together with Iran's threats, its sponsorship and arming of acknowledged terrorist groups such as Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, Iraqi Shia militias, Yemen's Houthis, and formerly Syria's Assad military, and finally its near approach of late to acquiring nuclear devices, Israel made its move. A move that Iran prompted when its Hamas-supported leaders decided to invade southern Israel in a concerted sadistically-savage orgy of mass rape, mutilation, murder and  hostage-taking.

 

That horrific event led to Israel's military invasion of Gaza and its determination to finally destroy the group that had continued to attack it with rockets and suicide bombers over the years, then to turn its military to address a year's worth of rocketry attacks from Hezbollah, and finally the Houthi rocket attacks. The Iranian regime as the source of the venom that had infested the Axis, was the final target to be addressed and destroyed, as a forced move of self-defense for Israel.

 

Israel launched a pre-emptive strike against the nuclear-facilities in Iran, targeting as well the top IRGC leaders. Iran retaliated, unleashing hundreds of ballistic missiles on Israel, targeting mostly civilian areas in response; explosions lighting up the sky over Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. The missiles sent to Israel by Iran have been intercepted by Israel and the United States, with assistance from Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Israel's western allies like the U.K. and France are markedly less keen to render aid to Israel, more inclined to criticize the Jewish state, as Canada has done.

 

All three countries jointly censured Israel for its Gaza invasion, with the Israel Defense Forces engaged in eliminating the threat of Hamas terrorism:

"If Israel does not cease the renewed military offensive and lift its restrictions on humanitarian aid, we will take further concrete actions in response."

"We will continue to work with the Palestinian Authority, regional partners, Israel and the United States to finalize consensus on arrangements for Gaza’s future, building on the Arab plan. We affirm the important role of the High-Level Two-State Solution Conference at the UN in June in building international consensus around this aim."

"And we are committed to recognizing a Palestinian state as a contribution to achieving a two-state solution and are prepared to work with others to this end."

Britain, France, Canada  

 

The Israeli Iron Dome air defence system fires to intercept missiles over Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday, June 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa) 

 

"[Israel] disarming Iran's genocidal nuclear program [is within Israel's right to self-defence]."

"It cannot wait until the regime has capabilities for a nuclear strike."

Canadian Official Parliamentary Opposition, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre

  

"The international community must not allow the Iranian regime to acquire the means to threaten millions of lives in the Middle East, Europe, and ultimately here in North America."

"Countries like Canada that value democracy and reject terrorism must stand firmly in support of Israel's right to defend itself, especially against the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran."

Noah Shack, interim president, Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs 

Searching Gaza for Hamas Terrorists

"Each and every interrogation leads to the release of new locations and the human intelligence that emerges from the Gaza Strip."

"More than ten out of these 24 battalions [were] damaged significantly. In some battalions, we eliminated hundreds of Hamas terrorists."

"This can't be replaced (Hamas commanders killed in battle) in a war."

"[The number of rockets fired at Israel is decreasing, reaching] nearly zero. [Hamas still has firepower, however, and] if we want to take it, we have to go to the south [of Gaza]."

Senior Israeli military official speaking anonymously under army guidelines 

Footage released by the IDF on November 20, 2023, of an interrogation of a Gazan terror suspect by the Shin Bet security service. (Screen capture/IDF)

 

According to new revelations by the Israeli military, over 300 members of Hamas and other terrorist groups arrested in Gaza during the Israel Defense Forces ground invasion have been interrogated. Those interrogations have  yielded invaluable intel, including revelations of locations of underground tunnels, warehouses, weapons and the use of civilian infrastructure by Hamas.

The vast underground command complex centre beneath the Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza is of particular interest to the invading forces, since it is reputed to be the locale, hidden among the most vulnerable of places in wartime, a vast hospital complex, where vital command centres for the terrorists have been installed, shielded from view and presumably from attack during war.

Although Hamas, as well as Gaza health officials deny that Hamas has any positions installed within and beneath the hospital complex, intel says otherwise, and the forays by the IDF into and under the hospital have proven intel right and Hamas deceptive. Videos have been revealed from closed-circuit cameras showing Hamas operatives hustling Israeli hostages into and through the hospital.

 

Hamas terrorists bring a hostage into Shifa Hospital as seen on surveillance footage from October 7, 2023. (IDF)

 

According to the anonymous official, his intelligence unit has had thousands of telephone calls from residents of Gaza. Although no details were forthcoming, ostensibly to inform the IDF intelligence of information that might be useful in finding the sought-after evidence of Hamas duplicity in carrying out war crimes against its own population. 

The human intelligence unit of the Israeli army, Unit 504, placed thousands of calls to Gaza residents and dropped millions of leaflets to alert and urge the Palestinians to evacuate to the territory's southern area as long as Israeli forces continue to target buildings in northern Gaza. There was a battle between Israeli forces and terrorists in the vicinity of a second hospital Monday, where thousands of patients and displaced residents have sheltered for weeks. IDF troops returned fire from Hamas fighters firing on them from within the 3.5-acre hospital compound.

Since the start of the war, over ten of Hamas's battalions sustained significant degradation. The battalion represents the main Hamas army unit, with roughly a thousand operatives in each. The IDF estimates that thousands of Hamas terrorists have been killed in the Israeli offensive. Most battalions are located in northern Gaza. A large number of Hamas commanders have also been killed; some battalions with over half their commanders gone.

In northern Gaza, Hamas's main rocket arsenals are concentrated. "We're approaching the end of our campaign in northern Gaza to root out Hamas infrastructure and will turn to the rest of the Gaza Strip", explained Eylon Levy, spokesman for the Israeli government. The main thrust of the ground offensive so far has been east into Gaza City, the Hamas "centre of gravity".

Many parts of the city's largest hospital, Al Shifa, are in control of Israeli forces. Videos were found over the weekend giving proof of Hamas's exploitation of the facility, where a command centre had been built, and a network of tunnels constructed under the ground.

IDF Spokesman Daniel Hagari with weapons found by IDF forces in a Hamas command center underneath Gaza City’s Rantisi Hospital, in a photo released by the military on November 13, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces)