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THE SPEAKER OF Canada’s House of Commons Anthony Rota has issued an apology days after he drew attention to a man who fought in a military unit under the Nazis in World War II.
Yaroslav Hunka (98) received two standing ovations from Canadian MPs in the presence of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is Jewish and lost relatives in the Holocaust.
On Friday, speaker Anthony Rota introduced Hunka as a war hero who fought for the First Ukrainian Division.
The First Ukrainian Division was also known as the Waffen-SS Galicia Division or the SS 14th Waffen Division, a voluntary unit under Nazi command.
The apology came in the wake of a statement from The Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies yesterday which said Hunka and his division “was responsible for the mass murder of innocent civilians with a level of brutality and malice that is unimaginable”.
The statement said: “An apology is owed to every Holocaust survivor and veteran of the Second World War who fought the Nazis, and an explanation must be provided as to how this individual entered the hallowed halls of the Canadian Parliament and received recognition from the Speaker of the House and a standing ovation.”
Shortly after the statement from The Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, Rota issued one of his own to express regret after honouring the elderly man after discovering more of his history.
Rota said: “In my remarks following the address of the President of Ukraine, I recognised an individual in the gallery. I have subsequently become aware of more information which causes me to regret my decision to do so.
“I particularly want to extend my deepest apologies to Jewish communities in Canada and around the world. I accept full responsibility for my action.”
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office also issued a statement on the issue, that stated Rota had apologised and accepted full responsibility for issuing the invitation to Hunka.
It also said Rota accepted responsibility for the Nazi soldier’s invitation to parliament.
The statement said: “This was the right thing to do. No advance notice was provided to the Prime Minister’s Office, nor the Ukrainian delegation, about the invitation or the recognition.”
Canadian parliamentarians cheered while Zelenskyy raised his fist to acknowledge Hunka in Canada’s parliament on Friday.
Hunka saluted from the gallery during two separate standing ovations.
Rota then called him a “Ukrainian hero and a Canadian hero” and thanked him for his military service.
The Ukrainian president was in Ottawa to bolster support from Western allies for Ukraine’s war against the Russian invasion.
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Zelensky also applauded the man. Left that bit out.
@James Groden: that’s mentioned in the article
@James Groden: Yeah, they really should have mentioned that in the 13th paragraph.
The CIA have been supporting and funding these Nazi units since the end of the Second World War.
Operation Paperclip.
The US are up to their necks in this conflict.
@Tommy Haze: In fairness, US soldiers on the ground gave quick justice to the SS they caught. In the film Fury you might recall the execution of an SS killer that they capture.
The 14th Waffen-SS Grenadier Division, of which this Ukrainian Nazi was a volunteer, was employed to kill Jews, Russians and other non-people for the glory of the Third Reich. They were the ones who hanged children in the streets to terrorise the population.
Zelensky has no excuse of ignorance as he knows what these people did and still he gives a saltue this monster.
@Fearg: Yeah Zelenskyy is of course well up on all the soldiers who fought for the Nazis in Ukraine 80 years ago. You would have thought he’d have given a heads up to the speaker of the house ahead of time. Jah-hay-sus.
@Etcher: do you think any political figure should be aware of who they are saluting/praising? Do you think they should know something about a person they will all rise to their feet for? Or does it matter more to signal your virtue so the world can see?
His close military security have been pictured with nazi insignia patch work on there uniforms and his top generals don’t hide there nazi affiliations either with pictures of bandera on there wall.
“Zelensky raised his fist to salute the nazi”
Someone didn’t do their due diligence. It shows the importance of not letting age, or the passing of years, dilute the horrors inflicted by people.
This is why the British governments attempts to “write off” crimes committed during the troubles must not succeed. ( let’s also not forget Adams and O’Broin supported this stance in recent years)
@honey badger: careful u dont run anyone over reversing your heavily loaded virtue signalling bus back defending the great ukraine army and its leader lad……still classy how u hate russia but somehow give israel a pass
@honey badger: That attempt at deflection was abysmal. Must try harder.
@honey badger: Someone didn’t do their due diligence in many countries, including this one, allowing that nazi criminal in. He consistently shows his true colours.
@William Slevin: Well said William Slevin.
The Irish Neutrality League has organised an excellent and timely event on Neutrality in Trinity College.
It will be held this Thursday at Trinity College/Dublin from 6:00 – 8:30 pm in the Thomas Davis Hall,Arts Block.
All are welcome.
——————–
Body bags say no to neutrality,so does the arms industry.
@William Slevin: I’d say honey badger will change the name out when this proxy conflict ends and European leaders will realise they were led up a path of destruction..like with covid all those accounts that were ever so vocal on restrictions and vaccination have disappeared
They’re the boys we are told to support, day in and day out.
The truth is finally coming out.
Nazis in Ukraine are a historically fact.
Neo Nazis in Ukraine currently are a fact.
The only people claiming there are no Nazis in Ukraine are either ignorant of the facts, or ignoring the facts to serve their own political/globalist/proxy war agenda.
@Dvsespaña: Except no one claims there are no Nazis in Ukraine. There are in Ireland too.
What people dispute is that, like Ireland, there is very little public support for Nazis in Ukraine. And that was very clearly demonstrated in the last Ukrainian election when all the Far Right parties couldn’t get more than 2%-3% of the vote.
Every single country in Europe right now (and further afield) has a Far Right problem. But both in Ireland and Ukraine, they’ve not managed any sort of success at the ballot box.
@Tricia G: did you read the article? Did you see the clip? An entire parliamentary body rose to salute a Waffen SS Nazi
@mainmsam: You understand that happened in Canada, right?
And “Anthony Rota introduced Hunka as a war hero who fought for the First Ukrainian Division.” – So unless the House had a working knowledge of the history of all the brigades I think it’s not difficult to think they didn’t know they were applauding someone that fought with the Germans (which is a serious oversight by the Speaker that should NEVER have happened, hence the apology).
@Tricia G: Stable door & horse gone springs to mind They are elected officials to represent the country. They should know who they are standing in salute to
@Tricia G: Are you seriously comparing the few recently arrived far right in Ireland with the massive neo Nazi movement that has existed in Ukraine for decades? There are actual neo Nazis leading battalions in the Ukrainian army for years. It’s such common knowledge that BBC have a documentary about it from around ten years ago. I have to believe you are aware of this and are deliberately muddying the water by talking about Ireland in some like for like fashion. It’s laughable that anyone would try pass of that comparison
Imagine being Jewish and raising your fist to a Nazi. Zelensky is a strange individual
The Azov battalion are Nazis right?
@Dave Grant: Yes.
They won’t even let a nazi get in the way of their virtue signaling
Those who don’t know history are doomed to make embarrassing mistakes.
All sides had their monsters. Some examples include the German & Japanese Concentration Camps and murder of innocents. The US atomic bombings of Japanese cities and murders of civilians, the Russians murdering and raping their way through German cities and the British daylight carpet bombings of already defeated undefended German cities resulting in many murders too. Still it’s very unfortunate that this Nazi honoured in Canada still exists and outlived many of his victims by decades.
Still, there is a bit of a difference between ideological, systematic annihilation of whole populations, and other war atrocities. This is the difference between the two sides in WW2.
Oops
@William Slevin: you’re so obvious . Pretending to be neutral. You support russia. End of. Send me a long reply if you wish. Anyone can see through your rants. It’s obvious you support russia who have massacered civilians with their hands tied. But you keep talking about nazis and ignore the real war crimes ,
@William Slevin: You are propagating the lie that there is a substantial Far Right problem in Ukraine when election results have clearly demonstrated that that is not the case.
In the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election, the coalition of Svoboda and the other extreme-right political parties in Ukraine―National Corps, the Governmental Initiative of Yarosh, and the Right Sector―won only 2.15% of the vote combined and failed to pass the 5% threshold. As a result, no party was able to win a proportional seat.
@William Slevin: “both Russia and Ukraine are two peas in a pod” – except they’re not.
There is ZERO opposition in Russia. Russia is a gangster State. But you know that, you’re here spouting their propaganda for them.
The parties banned in Ukarine are all pro-Russian parties with links to Putin (the biggest having a leader who’s child has Putin as a godparent).
We see you Bill.
@Tricia G: you just said yourself they’re banning people from running Tricia
@mainmsam: Yes, because all countries should allow their enemies to create political parties, funded by their enemies (especially those enemies that have invaded them) so they can run for office and take down the country from the inside.
Putin and his former KGB buddies have been doing this since the fall of the USSR. They have funded dissent in multiple western countries, corrupted western politicians all with the intent of destabilising democracy and “winning” the war they’ve been covertly fighting for years.
It’s the reason for the shadow economy, it’s the reason for the lack on an independent judiciary, police force and media within Russia. It’s all happening in plain sight.
And either you’re that ignorant of the situation you choose to ignore it or you support the aims of Putin to overthrow democratic rule and allow for fascism to take root. But you’re certainly spouting his propaganda.
@Alan B: We thank you for your efforts and support of our Jewish, as you say, leader of the new Israel erez. We must silence all dissent and promote your narrative to dispel any myths, such as our most recent rise to prominence in Ukraine beginning circa 2000 with the help of our partner and friend Paul Wolfowitz, a fellow zionist and architect of the genocidal Iraq war. As you know, Wolfowitz met with Banderites and arranged special provisions for weaponising the neo-Nazis (who are in fact an old guard we have established and supported since WWII). As the great Carl Gershman (NED) proclaimed – Ukraine the “biggest prize” for (US) zionism. In 2014, Nuland-Kagan (from the influential Kagan clan of warmongers) ran a putsch in Kiev in collaboration with Banderites and our esteemed Mossad snipers. Immediately after the putsch, our friend and CIA director Brennan flew to Kiev to help to initiate a civil war against the people of Donbass.
The well known president of our own community of Ukraine Mr. Kolomojsky founded and financed four self-proclaimed Nazi battalions (Azov, Aidar, Dnipro I & II) to protect his “quite rightfully obtained” property in Donbass. Later, these Nazis became part of the national guard of Ukraine. Our associates in The Wall Street Journal (to which you I am sure refer) published an enthusiastic article about Kolomojsky and his Nazi battalions. Kolomojsky also funded the electoral campaign of our talented and highly entertaining comedian, Zelensky. The comedian was duly elected on his promise to normalise relationships with Russia and to implement Minsk I and Minsk II agreements. In line with our plans, these promises were immediately broken on orders from our US friends. Meanwhile, Ukraine enjoyed regular Nazi parades, the celebration of Stepan Bandera and other Nazi collaborators, the prohibition of Russian language and Russian classics of literature, and suppression of 11 opposition parties. Under US diktat Ukraine became completely Nazified and moved towards becoming a fascist state. The country was thoroughly looted by our local oligarchs, our friends within multinational corporations, and such luminaries as Bidens’ family.
We must thank Zelensky for heeding our advice to make “corrections” in the Constitution of Ukraine, which allowed the sale Ukrainian land to foreigners. Thus ensuring not only Ukrainian citizens (who we view as expendable) became cannon fodder, but Ukraine itself being offered for sale. In 2021, the suddenly very wealthy Zelensky began bloviating about nuclear weaponry as our efforts to assist Ukraine were so greatly improved by US DARPA installed bio-weaponry labs and our friends in the US were ready to establish a military nuclear base in Ukraine with the continued support of our friends in NATO. In this way, we have ensured Russia has little choice but to protect herself from the voracious parasite we have beset upon them – the western usurers of the City of London and the Federal Reserve, the main war profiteers, and our Straussian Zionist brothers longing for war and domination. To this end, we are now free to set upon the world the usurers and war profiteers. By way of deception thou shalt do war. And with help from others, such as yourself. In this way, we shall make great strides.
@AnthonyK: the British did the same if not worse!
I dare say if confronted by a powerful neighbour who wants to wipe your country off the map and destroy its culture, you may work on the principle of my enemy’s enemy is my friend? Not saying it’s morally justified but I can see how some people would embrace the idea.
@Harry Callahan:
These Nazi outfits are not enemies of Ukraine. They’re part of the army and have been carrying out state sanctioned atrocities for years.
@William Slevin: where am I defending Nazis? I stated that it might not be morally justified from my/our point of view but some Ukrainians may have a different perspective? That’s not to say I agree with them but put words in my mouth if it makes you feel better.
@Tommy Haze: you have anything to back that up?
@Harry Callahan: This Nazi SS division not only slaughtered and wiped out Polish villages but they were also fighting their own people a la Soviet soldiers who were Ukranian. There is no amount of mental gymnastics that can justify this.
So a bit like the asov battalion? Or along the lines of celebrating Stepan Bandera?
History is never black and white. Russia persecuted Jews and others before WW2. Russia caused famines which killed millions in failed economic policies. German scientists assisted both America and Russia in the space race. The Allies included Russia despite Stalin being as much a monster as Hitler. History, is never black and white.
@AnthonyK: Yeah Stalins forced famine and other policies killed more innocents than the Nazis did. China too killed millions in a forced famine last century. Another genocidal forced famine was inflicted upon ourselves in the century before. We don’t talk so much about these murders.
Trudeau can wear blackface, grope women, applaud Nazis and debank protesters and not a word. If you say the right things you are untouchable.
Did the Nazis do much worse than the Israeli’s in Palestine….or than the Catholic church down through the centuries…or the English did conquering the world…
@hi from heaven: go ask a Jewish person that question or relatives of gay people who vanished during WW2, ask anyone in Poland who had to wear a badge on their clothing to identify their ethnic background. Start asking that question to them, then come back to the comments section & let us know how you got on
@hi from heaven: The implemented a State backed and funded systematic extermination of all those they perceived to be lesser. Estimated to be near approx 16 million people.
So yeah, if we’re ranking atrocities, what the Nazis did is pretty up there. And also in living memory.
BTW, “whataboutery” about horrendous acts by others, doesn’t reduce the guilt of the Nazis nor excuses it. Although clearly you seem to think it does.
@Tricia G: not disagreeing with your sentiments here but could you point me towards the evidence of that 16 million figure please. Thanks
In fairness the catholic church helped smuggle nazi out of europe after ww2…..when it suits the narrative, anyone will do deals or support the devil no matter what
@Tom Newell: They also backed Franco who was a fascist and bombed his own people with the help of the nazis.
Why is this Fascist not arrested?
Ah William slevin is back. How many times will it be banned this time?
@honey badger: How many times have you been banned? Be honest now?
Back an hour or so and already conjouring more conspiracies. You’d be funny if you weren’t so tragically damaged
@honey badger: ro claim historical documented fact ia conspiracy is a new low even doe you mr badger.
Mustn’t have had your coffee yet as you’re nor frothing at the mouth yet.
@William Slevin: Keep up the good work.
Say no to war and yes to Irish neutrality.
This happened because the Canadian politicians are as inept as our own.
Many readers, unfortunately, and needlessly, through their silence support the same academic conviction that drove the Nazis and their population to atrocities based on the invalid biological principle of favoured or superior ‘races’ and the imperative to exterminate those considered inferior or less favoured.
“In 500 years how the Anglo-Saxon race will have spread & exterminated whole nations; & in consequence how much the Human race, viewed as a unit, will have risen in rank.” Darwin
I see no reason why readers should defend natural selection when it attempts to introduce prejudice by misusing biology and framing it as an evolutionary narrative. Apologies are not needed, just action to adjust perspectives in the 21st century.
@Gearoid O’Ceilleachair:
Valid point. I see the Neo Liberal economic model as a direct expression of survival of the fittest also.
The more important issue is the original attempt to introduce a prejudice within the Human Race as favoured and less favoured ‘races’ thereby keeping the focus on the topic itself and how 21st century society defends natural selection.
There were many outriggers of survival-of-the-fittest including financial endeavours which in tu rn affected political and social society.
press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691156682/the-darwin-economy
I do not need to demonstrate between genuine competition and greed and often, like today, Ireland suffers from a lot of greed and especially in the area of housing where four walls and a roof have become more expensive because of real estate envy among those who pay no attention to the effects on young people and the wellbeing of society.
Willy Sleven . Russia has always been a country ruled by violence . There citizens are serfs who have centuries of so much horror and violence that total disrespect for life and liberty is ingrained in thier dna. But the fact that there birth rate is negative and migration into Russia is dubious , And finally every person in the world that believes in democracy is fronting up to putins child killing terror.
@Andrew Purfield
“An unfortunate part of their history”.
When you lived in Ukraine, would you have had the guts to say that to the thousands of innocent civilians including children that the Kiev regime killed in Eastern Ukraine? And you call others bots, because you lived there? Perhaps you’d be better off returning and find a dose of reality on the Eastern front for yourself.
It’s ironic how the same Uki Nazi sympathisers have been parroting the same mantra since the conflict began Why don’t they just pretend Ukraine is a country in Africa or Palestine, and that Russia is America. They can rest easy then and go back to normality.
God help anyone getting their information from the angry vatniks on this site. My advice to anyone genuinely interested is to read up from legitimate sources about the extent of the neo-nazi problem in the Azov battalion. Then read up on the Wagner group, sledge hammers and all, and the far right in Russia in general. Finally, think about the fact that the resident vatniks are so giddy about Zelenskiy clapping a man who everyone in the building thought fought the Nazis. OMG, he clapped someone he thought was anti Nazi but was actually Nazi –> he clapped a Nazi –> he’s a Nazi. That’s a good illustration of how well they are coping with Russia’s humiliation.
@Bobby Digital: both sides have Neo-Nazi elements but it’s clear that one side has a far worse problem. You can be pro-Ukraine but admit there is a big Nazi issue in the country. There’s no shame in condeming one part but supporting their defence and right to be independent. This also does not mean that Ukrainians are all Neo-Nazis either even though there are considerable elements of it in their armed forces……. And before you say how can there be a Nazi problem if their president is Jewish, ask yourself how can Serbia have an LGBT issue yet their prime minister is a gay woman.
A Jew, a Nazi and a Canadian Primimister walk into a bar…..
Is the man asleep? Past his bedtime?
Applauded like they did when Obama got Nobel peace prize for using drones to bomb men,women and children
all bunch of naziz..
The one guy who does not seem to have apologised for applauding Jaroslav Hunka seems to be: Zelenskyy!
You would think a cursory search of this guy, a guy who fought Russians in WW2 would have given it away, the same unit that killed Canadians and yet everyone in the parliament rose to applaud him, utterly shameful.
@Andrew Purfield: where you there before or after the US funded far right coup d’eta??
Why did Germans murder millions of people during ww2 ? It was horrible
To kill humans beings as an imperative, they first have to be dehumanised. Natural selection insisted that this was necessary.
“Truly, this earth is a trophy cup for the industrious man. And this rightly so, in the service of natural selection. He who does not possess the force to secure his Lebensraum in this world, and, if necessary, to enlarge it, does not deserve to possess the necessities of life. He must step aside and allow stronger peoples to pass him by.” Hitler
Jimmy
I bet none of the know alls and bots on here have ever lived in or visited Ukraine. There is practically zero support for the far right over there , similar to Ireland. It’s an unfortunate part of their history but if Poland knows the difference between Ukraine then and now, why can’t others cop on to themselves? We may as well call Finland, Sweden, Hungary, France Nazis. Those places had collaborators too you know. Yet only Ukraine gets this BS. I lived in Ukraine for a while. There are zero Nazis in public office there and practically zero among the general public
@Andrew Purfield: except the lad the Canadian parliament had trotted out in front of them by the Ukraine leader, oh and the nazi militia too
@Andrew Purfield: good perspective. While there were undoubtedly many Ukrainians who subscribed to the Nazi philosophy during the war, there were many others who fought on the German side not out of conviction but rather saw it as a chance to evict their Soviet overlords. Unfortunately for them and Ukraine, they unwittingly or otherwise made a pact with the devil and many paid the ultimate price. If I recall correctly, the Wagner deputy chief was a neo Nazi with swastika tattoos yet I don’t hear anyone bleating about that or the far right militias/mercenaries at large in Russia.
@Harry Callahan: Want to cite a source for that claim? Wagner actually have a special military order and that is to denazify Ukraine.
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