Judi Weinstein Haggai and Gadi Haggai in Toronto.Iris Weinstein Haggai/The Associated Press
Iris Weinstein Haggai is the daughter of Judi Weinstein Haggai and Gadi Haggai, two of the victims of the terrorist attack perpetrated by Hamas in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Two weeks ago, I met with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly to share the story of my parents.
My mother, Judi Weinstein, a Canadian citizen who grew up in Toronto, and my father, Gadi Haggai, who grew up in the U.S., lived on Kibbutz Nir Oz, near the border with Gaza. It was a quiet place full of those who sought to live in peace with their neighbours – a place where on that horrific day, a quarter of the kibbutz was either brutally murdered or taken hostage.
My parents were murdered while taking their morning walk outside the Kibbutz Nir Oz fields. Their bodies were then taken by Hamas and are still being held in Gaza.
It’s difficult to describe what life on a kibbutz is like to those who haven’t lived it. It’s a community that is so close-knit that your neighbours become your family. Having so much of your family at the mercy of ruthless terrorists in Gaza is unbearable.
It took 83 days for officials to confirm that both my parents were in fact brutally murdered on that Black Saturday. Until then, we didn’t know if they were alive or dead. I can’t even explain the pain of not knowing the fate of your loved ones, and no international humanitarian organization was making the basic effort to help get information, even for proof of life.
The only thing I want after the hell I’ve been through is for the return of both of my parents’ bodies for a respectful burial, and the chance to say a real goodbye.
I deserve to bury my parents.
My siblings, my children and their grandchildren deserve to have a place to come and mourn them and visit them.
We are Canadians, which means our government has an obligation to do everything it can to help release my mother’s body.
Two weeks ago, I stood in front of media in Canada in the Parliamentary Press Gallery, imploring Canadians from coast to coast to hear my words.
I am begging the Canadian government to help me get my parents and all 134 hostages out. Every day that passes, we are in hell. They are in hell.
This is not political. This is not about the war between Israel and Hamas – this is a humanitarian issue, a global issue.
Hamas and Hezbollah are a direct extension of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which poses a threat to all humanity. Iranian operatives threaten people on Canadian soil on a regular basis.
The reality is that no one can guarantee Oct. 7 won’t happen again. It can happen anywhere in the world, even here in Canada, at any given moment.
This country’s values are to always seek justice. I know Canadian values – we don’t reward terror.
My mother embodied Canadian values. She was a peace activist and a mindfulness teacher, a poet and a dreamer of equality. She believed in peace for all.
As we mark six months of unbearable longing for our loved ones who were stolen from our lives, there is no bigger act than to support the unconditional release of my parents’ bodies and all hostages, and to stand with justice.
I am collaborating with the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, which has filed a Magnitsky sanctions submission on behalf of victims’ families to the Canadian government. This submission provides evidence and legal analysis for the sanctioning of more Hamas leaders and those aiding and abetting their crimes. I am asking the government to act and secure justice for Canadians targeted by Hamas.
We have also called for the RCMP to fulfill their mandate and open an investigation into Hamas’s crimes against Canadian nationals. Every day that these hostages are in Hamas captivity is a crime against humanity.
Let’s look back 20 years from now and be proud that we were on the right side of history. Help me bring my parents home for a respectful burial, and return all hostages to the loving arms of their families.