Steve Harper is going to open Canadian courts to enable victims of terrorism to sue for compensation. I wonder what he thinks of these terrorists. From AFP:
Jewish settlers rampaged in the West Bank on Monday, wounding four Palestinians, as they vented fury that Israel may answer US calls and dismantle outposts in the territory, officials said.
Jewish extremists blocked roads, hurled rocks at drivers, burned fields, cut down olive trees and opened fire towards Palestinians who tried to chase the trespassers from their fields in the northern West Bank, witnesses said.
West of the city of Nablus, an area home to some of the most hardline settlers in the occupied territory, dozens of masked extremists blocked a road in the early hours and hurled rocks at Palestinian drivers who stopped their vehicles to move the obstructions, they said.
"They attacked when the minibus (carrying 17 Palestinian workers on their way to work in Israel) stopped. The man next to the driver was seriously wounded," said Zakaria Sada, an activist with the Rabbis for Human Rights organisation.
Near the settlement of Yizhar -- one of the most radical in the West Bank -- heavy smoke billowed into the air as settlers set fire to Palestinian fields.
When a group of Palestinians threw stones trying to chase them off the land, about 20 settlers armed with guns jumped out from hiding places and opened fire in the direction of the Palestinians and journalists, an AFP correspondent said.
Three army patrol vehicles at a nearby junction stood by and did not intervene to stop the violence, but prevented a Palestinian fire-engine from reaching the field.
That sure sounds like terrorism and I'll bet those farmers whose fields were torched could probably do with a dollop of compensation too. Maybe Steve can tell us where they can sign up to launch their court cases.
Will be interesting to see who Harper defines as terrorist. You don't really think he would consider Israeli's terrorists now do you. But Palestinians? Of course. Anyone who is not of his idealogy - Galbraith? Yes.
ReplyDeleteI know you get my drift. This will be a complete mess.
I only hope Steve doesn't try to turn the Canadian judicial system into an instrument of his political ideology. If he prescribes the individuals, nationalities or groups that are/are not to be deemed terrorist, that is just what he'll be doing. On the other hand, if he allows the courts to weigh evidence determining the terrorism status, he invites having those same courts also rule against some of his favourites.
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine he'd tolerate that so it seems to leave him with the one option - politicizing the court.
"Actually, I'm thinking that once the details are revealed, it will be consistent with what we've seen from the Conservatives, i.e. victims = Israel, terrorists = Hamas.
ReplyDeleteSuch an overtly political definition would be necessary, in order to avoid opening a big, ugly, nasty can of worms.
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=4937285970642106606&postID=7753141513319623750
I saw this on Martin's Musings’ blog. A comment by someone calling himself Mark. Can you believe this?
It's ALL ideology for Harper. Yes, he'll politicize the courts. Like you said MoS he wouldn't want any charges brought against his "buddies" (Bush/Cheney or whoever).
ReplyDeleteAs others have said, this would turn into an absolute mess because, as with most things politically-driven, it would be rushed into law without due diligence or any rational consideration of the consequences.
ReplyDeleteWhat is most likely is that Harper got his brownie points with all the usual suspects, so now we watch the foot dragging.