Stephen Harper jumped on the pro-Israel bandwagon damned smartly, even granting absolution for monstrous aerial bombing of civilian neighbourhoods. Our prime monster acted as though this was really an angry Israel retaliating for the kidnapping of a few of their soldiers. Right.
There were no clean hands in this. Not Hezbollah's certainly, but not Israel's either. Israel answered a pinprick with a sledgehammer that made a mockery of the notion of proportionality and slaughtered many innocent Lebanese.
When some Liberal politicians stood up and criticized Israel for its excesses, it prompted a great flourish from the likes of Gerry Swartz and Heather Reisman, dramatically severing ties with the Libs and boldly moving to the Regressive Conservatives.
More recently, when leadership candidate Michael Ignatieff described Israel's attack on Qana as a 'war crime', more of the Jewish community bailed out in protest. Again the weasel couldn't wait to jump in, accusing the Liberal leadership candidates of an anti-Israel bias.
These incidents reveal a powerful campaign by the pro-Israel lobby to stifle any criticism of Israel and punish anyone who deigns to speak his mind. The fact is there were no clean hands in that war, Israel did commit war crimes. No one in Canada ought to be subject to this kind of intimidation and coercion for expressing fair criticism.
What has the Liberal party really lost from these defections? Precious little. Their loss is a small price to pay for the party's soul, it's integrity.
If you're interested in the unvarnished truth about Arab-Israeli violence, read this book:
This isn't some anti-semetic rag. Hirst simply tells the truth and that's something the pro-Israel lobby would rather avoid. If you're doubtful about the legitimacy of Hirst and his book, a simple Google search will ease any concerns. It's a thoroughly documented, insightful and well-balanced history of a very troubled part of our world.
A curious fact comes out from this most recent war in Lebanon. It appears those holding negative views of Israel's actions within Canada, are older in age and those siding with Israel are younger. It must be that all this "anti-semetism" stuff onsets with age ... natually, like arthritis. You know what they say about grey hair and arthritis.
ReplyDeleteHere's a curious fact fragmunt - the issue isn't one of pro or anti Israel any more than it is of pro or anti Lebanon.
ReplyDeleteWhat it is an issue of is the conduct of extremist who have chosen to hide under label of religion while committing genocide.
Whatever else the grey haired arthritis crowd may have adopted over the years it blends in with having lived in an era when the world was recovering from the realities of a world war.
That includes having parents, and other family members who spent the rest of their existence not just devoid of innocence, but damaged for life because of their experiences.
Certainly there is a small amount of 'younger' people that like to belieeve they are 'elite' and representative of their generation.
The fact is they aren't, and they're no different than the type of youth that Hitler's people were able to exploit with their Youth programs in WWII.
Don't you dare to be so presumtuous and smarmy at what Canada's aging population knows or why they holds those views.
The world didn't begin with your generation any more than it began with ours.
But the distinct difference is that your version of history involves reading about it, our version of history involves having lived it.
Hi Goat: I don't think genocide is the issue here. Read the Gun and Olive Branch and you'll discover that co-existance is a viable option for Israel if it genuinely wants peace. I'm not sure that Israelis want to pay the price for that.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't in WWII but I sure have experienced its aftermath. My Dad came home terribly wounded and those wounds came back to try to take his life time after time.
Wars of the type endured by Israel aren't settled in terms of victory or defeat. Fatigue and acceptance of futility are the catalysts that can lead to peace.
We should all hope that a solution to the Palestinian issue can be found before nuclear proliferation spreads throughout the Middle East.
Unfortunately there are elements on both sides of the middle east conflict for whom complete and total destruction of another people is the only suitable and acceptable solution.
ReplyDeleteContinual commentary tied to pure religious dogma such as that of Cherniack
(http://jasoncherniak.blogspot.com/)are divisive, especially when is gets to the level of attacking more moderate members of the Jewish community for their beliefs.
I don't appreciate self serving attack politics tied to race, colour, creed or ethnicity, regardless of what area of the political spectrum it is launched from.
Like a growing number of people I will no longer stand for political or social black mail regardless of the source.
The foul mouthing - if you don't side with (our friend) Israel then you are supporting Muslim terrorism, or if you don't support my brand of religious-political extremism then you are anti-semetic is the the propaganda of facism, and has no place being used in this country.
I'm only too aware that there is a movement in Israel that is attempting desperately to deal with the political extremists from within. I too read Haaretz daily along with Al Jezeera, and numberous other on-line publications.
That form of radicalism and extremism which those people fight against is new to this country, but has to be stopped because like genocide it is the politics of hate that destroys individually what cannot be destroyed collectively.
Hey Goat: All I can say is "Amen, brother." Welcome aboard. Now if we can just find a few million more like you.
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