Brave stand on Israel cost us UN Security Seat, says Harper
November 8, 2010 - 6:40pm
“Whether it is at the United Nation or any other international forum, the easy thing to do is simply to just get along and go along with this anti-Israeli rhetoric,” Harper told an interparliamentary conference on combating anti-Semitism....
Harper’s position was in a sharp contrast to blaming Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff last month for Canada losing out to Portugal for the UN position.
Ignatieff scoffed at Harper’s latest explanation.
“To claim a defeat as a moral victory seems to me to be a mistake. To have lost the seat on the Security Council of the United Nations is a defeat,” Ignatieff said, adding it made far more sense for Canada to defend Israel from the Security Council than from the sidelines.
Ignatieff told the gathering anti-Semitism is more than just a threat to Jews, “it is a threat to every one of us, all of humanity.”
Nice mealy-mouthed defence from Ignatieff as well: apparently Canada's lack of UN SC seat jeopardizes Israel's security too!
Iggy never lost an opportunity to out do the Cons. Perhaps we should shop Harper off to Israel and let them have him? Can it be arranged?
I read the comments section of this article today and or once it didn't appear to be freeped. people are starting to get very angry.
Iggy never lost an opportunity to out do the Cons. Perhaps we should shop Harper off to Israel and let them have him? Can it be arranged?
I read the comments section of this article today and or once it didn't appear to be freeped. people are starting to get very angry.
Both Harper and Ignatieff should run for Likud.
Stargazer, I too was pleasantly surprised at the comments on the CBC article. People aren't lapping this up like they used to (i.e., Canada's support of Israel during the bombardment of Lebanon). The more Ignatieff and Harper sound like they are on the same page (this and extending the Afghanistan debacle), the more there is an opportunity for the NDP to distinguish themselves clearly and really challenge this right ward shift in political discourse.
Now Harper is whipping up anti-semitism by using Jews as a scapegoat for Canada failing to get a seat on the Security Council. Shame on him!!
the funny thing is that when it happened and mainstream canada was watching, it was anything but support for israel, but now to a pro israel audience it was in fact a reason.
Typical politician, telling everyone what they want to hear.
I'm betting we'll see a statement praising Harper's "brave stance" (sic.) from the CJC tomorrow.
What I find really interesting/disturbing, is the way in which the Right-wing has so heavily 'constructed' this identity as opposing anti-semitism (really conflating anti-semitism with anti-zionism!), when they were the prime instances of promoting anti-semitism in the past.
I guess sucking up to Israel could be described as "brave" in a similar way to how defending Paul Bernardo's crimes in public would require bravery. Harper the brave man, he should run the next election under this slogan. Maybe for the next campaign he could escort a convicted child molester to a school playground to drive the brave point home.
But we're all "anti-semites"™! Does that make those of us who are Jewish, or have Jewish friends and/or sweethearts, "self-hating anti-semites"?
And of course people here or elsewhere who protest Canada's shameful treatement of "our" Indigenous peoples anti-Canadians? And hence complicit anti-semites, given Harper's brave stand?
So are tar-sands protesters among the villains too?
(Please understand the irony in "our indgenous peoples" - of course they are their own peoples - this kind of thing can easily be misunderstood on web forums).
Michael Ignatieff, Speech to the Inter-Parliamentary Coalition for Combating Anti-Semitism:
What a bastard that Ignatieff is.
It is indeed disturbing. Anyone who thinks Stephen Harper and Jason Kenney or Michael Ignatieff have a soft spot for Jews should put their names down for a brain transplant.
So is it wrong for me to say that Manitoba is an apartheid state when it comes to First Nations and Aboriginal people? And based on Iggy's conjecture, why do we not recognize Taiwan as a democratic state with the right to be recognized? Ignatieff and Harper's stances only serve to promote Israeli exceptionalism, a similar exceptionalism afforded to western nations who never have to account to anyone how they treat their indigenous people.
you are right to raise the this - re: other settler states including ours
Canada has achieved what Israel can only dream of...
They're so brave, our fearless leaders in Ottawa. And Harper's pathetic puppets in Warshington are backing them all the way as usual. There is no justice in the UN.
well, if things continue on the current path, israel in a few hundred years will look something like canada. The palestinians will be demanding israel recognize and respect the "peace treaty" they signed, and that israel has been routinely violating for centuries with impunity.
There are two things I'd like to add:
1) I thought the Right-wing was opposed to things like speech codes in universities (the 'political correctness' debates of the early 1990s, ), but it seems they are remarkably onside with suppressing free speech.
2) I'm really intrigued about the way in which the 'struggle against anti-semitism' has become detached from the 'struggle against racism' in general. There's an idiot right-wing talk show host in Ottawa, and on one day he says he's aggressively opposed to anti-semitism, and then the next day, he's complaining about the immigrants because they don't have the 'right' Judeo-Christian culture (or complains about how much refugees are costing Canada...blah, blah, blah)! In the early 20th century, anti-immigrant racism was frequently bound up with anti-semitism. Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany couldn't get into Canada, because of anti-semitism in the Canadian government. The Right-wing today seems to say "It was wrong to exclude Jewish refugees from Canada during the Holocaust (that was anti-semitic), but excluding refugees and immigrants today is perfectly fine".
Both are excellent points.
American Jewish Committee Praises Canada Prime Minister's 'Stirring Words' on Irael
http://yahyaottawa.blogspot.com/2010/11/american-jewish-committee.html
"We pay tribute to Prime Minister Harper's stirring words,' said AJC Executive Director David Harris. 'This speech is nothing short of historic.."
no wonder Avi Liebermann loves Canada