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Top Canadian lawmaker apologizes after inviting former Nazi soldier to Zelensky speech
MONTREAL (JTA) — A leading Canadian lawmaker has apologized after inviting a former Nazi soldier to attend Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to Parliament last week.
Speaker of the House of Commons Anthony Rota said he had not known that 98-year-old Yaroslav Hunka had volunteered with the Waffen SS Galicia Division in Ukraine during World War II when he invited Hunka to be his guest for Zelensky’s speech. The combat division was part of the Nazi army.
“I subsequently became aware of more information which causes me to regret the decision to do so,” Rota said.
Rota drew attention to Hunka’s presence before Zelensky’s speech, saying that the resident of his Ontario district was “a Ukrainian hero, a Canadian hero, and we thank him for all his service.” Zelensky joined the assembly in applauding Hunka, pumping his fist in the air in acknowledgment.
Jewish advocacy groups were quick to condemn the ovation, including B’nai Brith Canada, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, and the Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies.
“Canada’s Jewish community stands firmly with Ukraine in its war against Russian aggression,” the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs said in a statement. “But we can’t stay silent when crimes committed by Ukrainians during the Holocaust are whitewashed.”
Hunka’s Waffen-SS division “was responsible for the mass murder of innocent civilians with a level of brutality and malice that is unimaginable,” the Simon Wiesenthal Center said in a statement Sunday.
Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, said he was distressed by Rota’s oversight but did not join in calls for Rota’s resignation coming from some lawmakers.
“It’s extremely upsetting that this happened. The speaker has acknowledged his mistake and has apologized,” Trudeau said. “But this is something that is deeply embarrassing to the Parliament of Canada and by extension to all Canadians.”
In his apology, Rota emphasized that his office alone was responsible for not vetting Hunka adequately.
“I particularly want to extend my deepest apologies to Jewish communities in Canada and around the world,” he said. “I accept full responsibility for my actions.”
The episode drew notice from the Kremlin, which cited the presence of Nazis in Ukraine as a pretense for its invasion of the country in February 2022. “Such sloppiness of memory is outrageous,” a Kremlin spokesman said in response to Hunka’s recognition.
Prior to the Russian invasion, a tide of rising nationalism within Ukraine had included rallies in honor of the Waffen SS unit, which unlike the majority of Ukrainian volunteers during World War II fought against the Communist forces that would ultimately prevail. Zelensky denounced the rallies at the time.
More recently, the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Philadelphia temporarily covered a local monument to the Waffen SS division after drawing criticism for honoring it.
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The post Top Canadian lawmaker apologizes after inviting former Nazi soldier to Zelensky speech appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Iran Currency Plunges to Record Lows Amid Escalating US Tensions
ILLUSTRATIVE: The Iranian flag waves in front of the IAEA headquarters before the beginning of a board of governors meeting, in Vienna, Austria, March 1, 2021. Photo: Reuters/Lisi Niesner
Iran’s currency fell on Saturday to a new all-time low against the US dollar after the country’s supreme leader rejected talks with the United States and President Donald Trump moved to restore his “maximum pressure” campaign on Tehran.
The rial plunged to 892,500 to the dollar on the unofficial market on Saturday, compared with 869,500 rials on Friday, according to the foreign exchange website alanchand.com. The bazar360.com website said the dollar was sold for 883,100 rials. Asr-e-no website reported the dollar trading at 891,000 rials.
Facing an official inflation rate of about 35%, Iranians seeking safe havens for their savings have been buying dollars, other hard currencies, gold or cryptocurrencies, suggesting further headwinds for the rial.
The dollar has been gaining against the rial since trading around 690,000 rials at the time of Trump’s re-election in November amid concerns that Trump would re-impose his “maximum pressure” policy against Iran with tougher sanctions and empower Israel to strike Iranian nuclear sites.
Trump in 2018 withdrew from a nuclear deal struck by his predecessor Barack Obama in 2015 and re-imposed U.S. economic sanctions on Iran that had been relaxed. The deal had limited Iran’s ability to enrich uranium, a process that can yield fissile material for nuclear weapons.
Iran’s rial has lost more than 90% of its value since the sanctions were reimposed in 2018.
The post Iran Currency Plunges to Record Lows Amid Escalating US Tensions first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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US Envoy’s ‘Zionist’ Ring Sends Shockwaves on Social Media
Lebanon’s army chief Joseph Aoun walks after being elected as the country’s president at the parliament building in Beirut, Lebanon, Jan. 9, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
i24 News – A photo showing US President Donald Trump’s deputy Middle East envoy donning a ring embellished with the Star of David to a meeting with Lebanon’s leader triggered outrage in Arabic social and broadcast media.
As Morgan Ortagus, who is Jewish, shook hands with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, her Star of David ring was visible in the frame, sparking accusations such as her being “more Zionist than her predecessors.”
Her direct superior, Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff, is likewise Jewish-American, as is his predecessor Amos Hochstein, who was born in Jerusalem and served in the Israel Defense Forces.
Ortagus is the first senior Trump admin official to visit Lebanon amid the fragile ceasefire agreed by Israel and the Lebanon-based Shiite jihadists of Hezbollah.
The post US Envoy’s ‘Zionist’ Ring Sends Shockwaves on Social Media first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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UK: Pro-Palestinian Activists Applied for a March Permit on Oct 7 as Massacre Was Ongoing
Supporters of Hizb ut-Tahrir at a pro-Hamas rally in London. Photo: Reuters/Martin Pope
i24 News – Anti-Israeli activists in Britain applied for a permit to stage a demonstration through London on the morning of October 7, 2023, as Gazan jihadists were rampaging through southern Israel and slaughtering civilians, the Daily Telegraph reported.
At 12:50 PM, as the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust was still ongoing, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) notified the Metropolitan Police that they intended to hold a rally the following week.
Reports and videos of the Hamas-led onslaught began appearing on social media, and Israeli and then international broadcast media, several hours earlier.
“The Met was contacted on Saturday Oct 7 at approximately 12.50pm via telephone call and informed of the intention to protest,” a police spokesman was quoted by the Telegraph as saying. “The Met committed this to our systems on the same day and are satisfied being contacted by telephone was a sufficient means in which to notify the MPS as the event was taking place seven days after notification.”
The group’s spokesperson defended the move, telling the Telegraph it was “clear” as early as Saturday noon that “the Israeli attacks on Gaza would be of an indiscriminate violence we had not witnessed before, and that 2.3 million people in Gaza – more than 50 percent of them children – were at severe risk.”
The post UK: Pro-Palestinian Activists Applied for a March Permit on Oct 7 as Massacre Was Ongoing first appeared on Algemeiner.com.