"At the beginning the directive was to enter a house with an armoured vehicle, to break the door down, to start shooting inside and – I call it murder – to shoot at everyone we identify. In the beginning I asked myself how could this make sense? Higher-ups said it is permissible because everyone left in the city [Gaza City] is culpable because they didn't run away."
That is the testimony of a squad leader of the Israeli Army that rolled over the Palestinian population of Gaza, one of many such accounts now pouring out from Israeli soldiers plagued by their consciences.
And why the total silence from the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada who condoned this butchery and absolved Israel, in advance, for these deaths claiming that the deaths of Palestinian civilians at the hands of Israeli troops was to be blamed on Hamas. This is what Michael Ignatieff did in the name of the Liberal Party of Canada and its members.
Evidence that can only be described as grotesque is coming out not from Hamas, not from Palestinians, not from international relief workers but from Israeli soldiers, the very people who had their fingers on the triggers. Among other things they tell of military rabbis who exhorted the soldiers to ethnically cleanse the Holy Land of Israel, God's Israel, of these Palestinian gentiles.
Were any of these possibilities in Michael Ignatieff's mind when he threw the Liberal Party's wholehearted support behind Israel at the outset of this conflict? It brings to mind the words of another Liberal MP from 2006:
"Michael is an intelligent person and I would think that he would have a better handle on the Middle East given his years of experience on human rights and international law."
That was Susan Kadis rebuking Iggy for labelling the Israeli cluster bombing of the Lebanese village of Qana a "war crime." Ignatieff was unquestionably right on the cluster bombing and I'm sure he knew it just as he knew that saying so was politically wrong. It was a defining moment in the life of the Liberal leader, one that carries on to this day. He's got a better handle now Sue.
10 comments:
Have you seen stageleft's most recent post?
Thanks Troy, I checked it out. I'd like to make a couple of pols wear those t-shirts.
The silence is almost deafening over at the Liblogs on this subject...
It reminds me of how the neo-cons in the U.S. were able to bamboozle the population into supporting the farce in Iraq.
Here we have Iggy and Harper who sing the same song with only a few slight nuanced differences.
If Hamas had even done 1/10 of the horrors inflected by the IDF, there would be noticeable outrage here.
The hypocrisy is staggering.
Of course those that are appalled at this, are singled out as being cranks and misfits.
I can predict blowback and what will be perceived at "anti-Semitic" actions because of the behaviour and support of Israel in this country.
It's sickening to see so many sheeple follow Iggy down this path. I expected the disconnect of reality from the Tories but it's infuriating to see it from the Liberals.
Of course, this leave "who to vote for" in a quandary for many.
It is more than disappointing CWTF. The New York Times today has a disturbing story on the rise of Jewish fundamentalism within the Israeli Defence Force. It reminded me of that born again General Wm. Boykin who went around dissing Allah. And we all know about the scourge of Muslim fundamentalism in the form of the Islamist movements like al Qaeda.
Religious fundamentalism - Christian, Jewish or Muslim - is poison, especially when it begins to infest military or para-military organizations.
That NYT article doesn't leave much hope that the Israeli government has the will or desire to purge this genocidal/ethnic cleansing disease from the ranks of their military.
How the LPC can ignore this is completely beyond me.
Same here, MoS. Same here.
Iggnatieff will be in Victoria this Saturday for a town hall meeting. Besides the tarsands, people I assume will question him about this.
Ofcourse anything said here is being relayed to him.And to Mr. harper.
How in hell can you call this man intelligent!! A. Morris
It's not Mr. Ignatieff's intelligence that's the issue A.M., it's his (to use a term invented in WWII) "lack of moral fibre." It's his spinelessness that guts whatever vain hope Ignatieff ever had of being the next great Liberal, the successor to Laurier, Pearson and Trudeau. His academic credentials speak for themselves. His problem isn't intellect, it's character.
Intelligence and character go hand in hand. Can't he see what he is doing? If not, then he is not that intelligent. Credentials don't mean a thing in some cases. Look at Malroney....he did nothing while he was at Delhousie. That's like the person who graduates from Calgary with an A+ who is up against the person who graduates with a C- from Yale. Wbo will be hired? A. Morris
While History is important, there isn't any great shake in having a doctorite degree in history. History and Geograph majors abound and it doesn't take much intelligence in getting one. A. Morris
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