Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly said on Wednesday she disagreed with people who thought Canada was too slow to respond to the war in Israel..“I am a busy woman,” Joly told reporters. There were “so many issues happening in the world.”.“I’m working 24/7 on this,” said Joly. .“Meanwhile, there are so many issues happening in the world. I’m trying to address all of these.”.“I am an impatient person by nature,” said Joly. .“I like to push things to happen and it is important that they happen.”.“The world is getting much more of a difficult place to live in,” said Joly. .“We are living in an international security crisis and with this Middle East conflict that has just started, we know we have to be ready.”.On Wednesday, the National Defense department sent two CC-150 Airbus planes to help Canadians leave Tel Aviv..According to Blacklock’s Reporter, the Foreign Affairs department said they are using Air Canada planes to help people evacuate because regular commercial flights were stopped..“There is definitely an expectation on the part of Canadians for the government to do this and that’s why we are doing it because we’re hearing their call for help,” said Joly. .“There are no commercial options directly going to Canada.”.Five days after Hamas attacked Israel, Joly said she was okay with people asking “tough questions” about Canada's actions..“I think we live in a world where people think that things can happen just like this,” said Joly..“My goal right now is to make sure this assisted departure is well done,” said Joly. .“That’s my first priority. My second priority is really to help and work with partners to de-escalate because I’m concerned about what’s going on in the region.”.“I’m concerned that this could be a second front to what is happening in the world as we’re also dealing with Ukraine, which is our first front,” said Joly. .“That’s why I’ve been talking to many, many of my colleagues.”.“I know people are scared,” said Joly. .“Nobody knew this would happen. This is one of the worst terrorist attacks in Israel’s history.”.The Foreign Affairs department said six Canadians might be dead or missing because of the terrorist attacks. Joly did not reveal if any Canadians were among the approximately 100 people taken hostage by Hamas..“This is a standing approach we take, which is, in any hostage negotiation, we don’t confirm,” said Joly. .“Why? Because we don’t want to increase the value of that person in the eyes of their tyrants and at the same time we want to make sure that we do everything in our possibility to protect these lives and don’t increase the danger.”.“This is common practice,” said Joly. .“It is based also on past experience.”
