Outrage is exploding after the Canadian Parliament and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky gave a standing ovation to a man named Yaroslav Hunka. 

Described as a Ukrainian war hero who fought the Russians by Speaker Anthony Rota, Hunka is seen on camera standing and pumping his fist while Zelensky and Canadian PM Justin Trudeau cheer. The problem? Hunka's fight against the Russians came when he was a member of the Waffen SS fighting for nazi Germany.

Canadian Parliament and Zelensky give a standing ovation to Yaroslav Hunka, who fought for the 14th division of the Waffen SS

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— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) September 24, 2023

Canadian lawmakers cheered and Zelenskyy raised his fist in acknowledgement as Hunka saluted from the gallery during two separate standing ovations. Rota called him a “Ukrainian hero and a Canadian hero, and we thank him for all his service.”

The excuses began to flow immediately, with Rota claiming that he and Zelensky were unaware of Hunka's background. That makes little sense given an announcement was made of his fighting during World War II against the Russians. You would expect everyone present, including a Ukrainian like Zelensky, to be aware that those who fought the Russians during that time period were fighting for Hitler. Everyone is now playing dumb in the aftermath, but it belabors belief that no one in the room realized what was happening.

To make matters worse, this happened on the eve of Yom Kippur, and the Waffen SS unit that Hunka served in was accused of committing atrocities against Jews. Further, there is no doubt that the unit was fully in collaboration with nazi Germany.

Rota offered this apology along with an attempt to absolve everyone else who stood and applauded. 

“In my remarks following the address of the President of Ukraine, I recognized an individual in the gallery. I have subsequently become aware of more information which causes me to regret my decision to do so,” Rota said in a statement.

He added that his fellow Parliament members and the Ukraine delegation were not aware of his plan to recognize Hunka. Rota noted Hunka is from his district.

This is what happens when the entire world is so desperate to virtue signal that they break everything down into simple binary. That binary right now is Russia is bad, and Ukraine is good. The world is more complicated than that, though, and literal SS soldiers did not suddenly become worthy of honor just because they fought the Russians at some point in their lives. 

For Hunka to even show up for this event is astonishing. I know he's really, really old, but he seems to be in good health. Did he really think it was fine to have the parliament honor him when his service happened at the behest of Adolf Hitler? The entire thing is just a cluster. Zelensky is going to need to address this directly. 

It's also worth noting that the ADL and its CEO, Jonathan Greenblatt, have not made a single comment about the incident. Once again, partisan politics appears to be getting in the way of an organization that claims to stand against anti-Semitism.