I stand with Israel because the Land of Israel is the Jewish national homeland; the history, faith, religion, culture and identity of the Jewish people have been, are and forevermore will be tied to this land which bears its name, from its ancient name of Judea to its modern name of Israel.
I stand with Israel because the Jewish people was born as the People of Israel in the Land of Israel, a land and a people inextricably and eternally united.
I stand with Israel because the re-establishment of Israel as a modern Jewish state in the homeland of the Jewish people's ancestors is a modern miracle.
As former Canadian Justice Minister Irwin Cotler said: "The Jewish people is the only people that still inhabits the same land, embraces the same religion, studies the same Torah, hearkens to the same prophets, speaks the same aboriginal language - Hebrew - and bears the same aboriginal name, Israel, as it did 3,500 years ago."
I stand with Israel because Shivat Tzion, the return to Zion - one of the names for Jerusalem - with the re-establishment of Israel as a modern state, is the fulfillment of the millennia-long aspiration of the Jewish people for the right to self-determination in their ancestral homeland.
I stand with Israel because the Land of Israel is the celebrated homeland of the Jewish people to which it has religious rights, historical rights and legal rights.
The rights of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel were codified in international law at the San Remo Conference of 1920 and remain in effect to this day.
At this conference to decide the future of the former territories of the Ottoman Empire, a binding international agreement was reached "to reconstitute the ancient Jewish State within its historic borders." The desire to restore the Jewish people to its native land was then ratified by a unanimous vote of The League of Nations, thereby correcting the historical injustice of forced exile. As the British, tasked with re-settling the Jewish people within its ancestral homeland, declared, the Jewish people are in this land "as of right and not on sufferance."
I stand with Israel because with the horrific persecution and slaughter of Christians throughout the Middle East, Israel is a safe haven. As the Vicar of St. George's Church in Baghdad Canon Andrew White says of Israel, it is "the only place in the Middle East [where] Christians are really safe." As Father Gabriel Naddaf, head of the Greek Orthodox Church in Yafia, near Nazareth, says of Israel, "In no Arab country do Christians have as good a life as they have in the State of Israel."
Much of the harm that is being perpetrated against the State of Israel and the Jewish people today is predicated on carefully crafted lies designed to denigrate the Jewish state and convey a picture of Israel that is at odds with reality. To so many who suffer at the hands of the true oppressors in the region, Israel stands as a symbol and a place of freedom, a society to emulate.
I stand with Israel, recognizing the extraordinary humanity and decency of the Israel Defense Forces. As Colonel Richard Kemp, former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, testified at the United Nations: "The Israeli Defense Forces did more to safeguard the rights of civilians in a combat zone than any other army in the history of warfare."
I stand with Israel because Israel has built a thriving country that protects the rights of its citizens, protects freedom of religion and ensures that all religions have access to their religious sites - something that was not allowed when Israel was not governing Jerusalem. Israel protects a free press, minority rights and women's rights in a part of the world where such rights and protections are alien. Minorities participate in all areas of civic life. As Israel's first Beduin diplomat, Ishmael Khaldi, declares, "I am a proud Israeli - along with many other non-Jewish Israelis who live in one of the most culturally diversified societies and the only true democracy in the Middle East... By any yardstick you choose - educational opportunity, economic development, women and gay's rights, freedom of speech and assembly, legislative representation - Israel's minorities fare far better than any other country in the Middle East."
I stand with Israel because the core value of Tikkun Olam - "repairing the world" - guides its every step. MASHAV, Israel's Agency for International Development Cooperation, has trained close to 270,000 course participants from approximately 132 countries in the hope of sharing with developing countries Israel's innovations and technology in beneficial ways.
In addition, Israel is consistently a first responder in times of crisis the world over. In 2010, Israel was among the first nations to send relief and rescue units to Haiti after the earthquake.
Former US president Bill Clinton had stated: "I don't know what we would have done without the Israeli hospital in Haiti. The Israeli hospital was the only operational facility which was able to perform surgery and advanced tests."
In 2011, Israel sent aid to Turkey.
Israel sent an aid team to Japan at the time of the earthquake and tsunami of 2011.
In Boston, in the wake of the horrific Marathon Day bombings, doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital credited Israel with training the hospital's first-response team. In 2013, in response to the typhoon in the Philippines, a 147-member delegation and 100 tons of humanitarian and medical supplies were dispatched in aid.
In 2015, Israel sent a team of 250 medical personnel and rescue workers to Nepal after the earthquake there.
