After 50 years of this occupation, it's important for Canadian taxpayers - who have a government that considers itself to be a close friend of Israel's - to understand how we may be implicated in the perpetuation of these injustices.

I follow the Hedy Epstein school of Holocaust lessons: two wrongs do not make a right. It is why I decided to submit a resolution to the Green Party to revoke Revenue Canada's charitable status of the Jewish National Fund of Canada, and why I co-sponsored the resolution calling for the boycott, divestment and sanctioning of Israel until they end their occupation of Palestine.

Rather than debate these issues or merely discuss them openly, the Canadian Jewish establishment has preferred to bully Canadian individuals and organizations into silence by repeatedly utilizing the term "anti-Semitism" to quell legitimate criticism of Israel.

As conflict rages in Syria, Israel has taken in hundreds of Syrian refugees in need of urgent medical care. Even though Israel is officially at war with Syria, the preservation of life trumps security concerns. Likewise, when Palestinian terrorists try to indoctrinate children to wear suicide bomb vests, Israel remarkably takes painful efforts to save that child's life.