HALIFAX, Nova Scotia — A Canadian safety discussion board on Saturday introduced an award to the individuals of Israel for 75 years of democracy, following the Hamas incursion into the nation that left some 1,200 individuals {dead} and 240 kidnapped.
The Halifax Worldwide Safety Discussion board presents the award yearly in honor of U.S. Sen. John McCain, who died in 2018, to “people from any nation who’ve demonstrated unusual management within the pursuit of human justice.”
The discussion board attracts navy officers, United States senators, diplomats and students.
“On the seventy fifth anniversary of Israel’s creation, and within the aftermath of the Oct. 7 assault that resulted within the biggest lack of life to the Jewish individuals for the reason that Holocaust, it’s becoming to current an award that bears Senator McCain’s identify to: The Folks of Israel,” the assertion learn.
McCain was a daily on the discussion board and his spouse, Cindy, was current this yr and sat within the entrance row.
Peter Van Praagh, President of the Halifax Worldwide Safety Discussion board, introduced the award to Lital Leshem, a consultant of Brothers in Arms. The group began as a protest motion of navy veterans who opposed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s judicial overhaul, however remodeled itself into the biggest nongovernmental help company in Israel to assist these affected by the newest Israel-Hamas struggle.
It now organizes volunteer actions to help victims and households who had been evacuated from border communities. It gives counseling and transportation and arranges volunteers to work on farms the place the previous staff both fled or had been killed or kidnapped.
Leshem stated she was honored to simply accept the award on behalf of the individuals of Israel.
The battle erupted on Oct. 7 when militants in Gaza crossed into Israel and killed not less than 1,200 individuals and kidnapped 240 others. Israel launched a struggle that has claimed over 11,000 lives in Gaza, in keeping with well being officers within the Hamas-ruled territory, who don’t differentiate between combatants and civilians.
“After the horrendous assault on Israel, we put politics apart and instantly got here to assistance from our fellow residents,” Eyal Naveh, a consultant from Brothers in Arms, stated in a press release. “Democracy is fragile. It requires fixed vigilance and a spotlight. We’re a workforce of motion so when the individuals of Israel wanted us probably the most, we answered the decision.”
Previous winners of the John McCain Prize for Management in Public Service have included the individuals of Hong Kong for his or her “struggle for his or her rights within the face of oppression from the federal government of China” and the individuals of Lesbos, Greece, “for his or her valiant actions to rescue refugees fleeing battle within the Center East.”
Leaders from democratic nations — together with former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak — participated in a dialogue on Saturday on international safety. This yr, the three-day discussion board is basically targeted on the Ukraine struggle, however the preventing between Israel and Hamas can be a serious speaking level.