From southern Israel to Mumbai, murderous terrorists seek to destroy Western liberal democracy, but in Canada the Jewish and Indo-Canadian communities are standing together in the face of this pernicious evil.

In the last year alone, Israel has been the target of close to 3,000 rocket attacks and mortar shellings. These attacks have been aimed almost exclusively at civilian population centres, with the express purpose of killing non-combatants. On Dec. 27, 2008, Israel finally reached its breaking point and launched Operation Cast Lead to destroy the capacity of the Hamas "terrocracy" to target the more than one million men, women and children who live in southern Israel.

The math is nothing short of astounding: 3,200 attacks in a year works out to almost nine a day. Each shell and each rocket is launched with the hope that it will maim and kill. And Hamas is not merely "the gang that couldn't shoot straight." Since September, 2000, more than 500 Israelis have been murdered in 140 Hamas sponsored suicide and rocket terror attacks and more than 5,000 have been wounded.

Israel is motivated purely by its responsibility to defend its citizens -- something that is always the top priority for any government of any country. But, of course, Israel is not alone in the fight against terror. It's a global concern -- the single greatest global concern of our time. Just over a month ago, Canadians were transfixed as terror struck the heart of Mumbai, capturing headlines and television screens around the world. This was the latest of the 11 terrorist attacks which, in total, claimed the lives of 1,000 people in India in 2008. As the horror unfolded, Mumbai, only a name on a map to some Canadians, was given a very human face, as we learned that members of our national, religious and ethno-cultural families were among the wounded and the dead.

In the aftermath of the murderous rampage in Mumbai, we were left to wonder: How do we respond?

We mourned our dead, and held memorials to our victims. But it wasn't enough. We could not allow these murderous acts to turn us inward, to cause us to turn our backs on others who had suffered just as much at the hands of unrepentant terror.

So we reached out to each other, as fellow mourners and as fellow citizens of Canada. We created an opportunity for each community to see the face of the other, not only as victims of terror, but as communities that stand resolutely against it.

The results of that very human desire were coast-to-coast rallies jointly organized by the Indo-Canadian and Jewish communities, attended by thousands of participants representing the diversity of Canada's ethnic and religious communities. We came together to stand against terror, to show solidarity with the people of India, to memorialize all of the victims of Mumbai and to remember all the victims of barbarous forces who desire nothing but the destruction of innocent life. Through these interactions we came to realize that people of good conscience understand the need to stand up and be counted irrespective of their religious or cultural backgrounds or their political affiliations.

We have a duty as citizens of our country and of our world to oppose terror wherever it appears and to ensure that its poisonous roots find no nourishment in our soil. We need to work collectively and individually every day to demonstrate that terrorists cannot and will not destroy us. We need all Canadians to speak out and to demand that all of our elected leaders take a stronger stance than ever before in this global fight against terror. Terrorism is the single greatest threat to mankind today and must be treated as such.

Sadly, once again, we find ourselves having to plan rallies in which all Canadians -- Jews, Indo-Canadians and others -- will be able to express our solidarity in the face of terror. Tomorrow, in cities across the country, friends in the Indo-Canadian community will walk shoulder to shoulder with the Jewish community, as will Canadians from all walks of life.

Winston Churchill once observed that the only thing to do when you are going through hell is to keep on going. Going through hell is awful, but going through it with friends makes it easier.

-Bernie M. Farber is CEO of the Canadian Jewish Congress. Manoj Pundit is spokesperson for the Canada India Foundation.

© 2008 The National Post Company. All rights reserved. Unauthorized distribution, transmission or republication strictly prohibited.

http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/story.html?id=1149069