RELEVANT FACTS

• The Government of Israel withdrew unilaterally from the Gaza Strip, but since that withdrawal, Palestinian terror groups have used this territory to fire rockets and launch attacks targeting Israeli civilians.

• Similarly, even after Israel’s complete withdrawal from Lebanon in May 2000, Hezbollah has continued to wage terrorist operations against Israel.

• In 2005, there were 2,990 terror attacks against Israeli targets. The firing of Kassam rockets increased in 2005, with 377 rocket attacks, following 309 in 2004. Since the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza last summer there have been over 700 such attacks.

• The much-vaunted electoral victory of Hamas in January 2006 represented a step backward in the ongoing struggle for peace in the Middle East. Hamas is a terrorist group that refuses to recognize the Jewish State and calls for its destruction. Hamas, while at the helm of the Palestinian Authority, has continued, either through direct operations or by “sub-contracting” out to Popular Resistance Committees, to encourage attacks against Israel.

• The Canadian Government has played a leading role in isolating Hamas on the world stage and for recognizing that terrorist groups like Hamas pose a real danger not just in the Middle East but also here at home. Both Hezbollah and Hamas are outlawed here in Canada and in many countries around the world. Canada’s Foreign Minister, the Honourable Peter McKay, has stated:

“Canada strongly condemns Hizbollah’s attack on Israel, which has included the capture of two Israeli soldiers and the launching of Katyusha rockets and mortar bombs into Israeli towns. These actions only exacerbate tensions in the Middle East, threaten the lives of civilians, and risk a deteriorating humanitarian situation.

We urge Hizbollah to immediately and unconditionally release the Israeli soldiers. We call on the Lebanese government to do its utmost to restore order within its border and to fully implement Security Council resolution 1559. We also call on Syria and Iran, both long time supporters of Hizbollah, to cease all financial and other assistance to the organization.

Hezbollah has a long history of abducting Israeli soldiers and targeting civilians.

On October 7, 2000, three Israeli soldiers were abducted by the Hezbollah terror organization. A private citizen Elhanan Tannenbaum, 54, was also abducted. The three Israelis were Sgt. Adi Avitan, 22, Staff Sgt. Benyamin Avraham, 21, and Staff Sgt. Omar Sawaid, 27. They were taken alive while patrolling the southern (Israeli) side of the UN-recognized Israeli-Lebanese border. On January 29, 2004 the bodies of these three soldiers were returned to Israel as part of a prisoner exchange deal struck by the Government, which demonstrated once again the great premium Israel places on returning its sons home, a sensibility which has always been exploited by its enemies. Tannenbaum was freed in the same exchange, the only captive ever returned alive by Hezbollah.

LET US PRAY FOR THE SAFE RETURN OF ALL ISRAELI MIAs