Public Safety Minister Stephen Blaney announced that the Harper government will show "zero tolerance" for groups advocating a boycott of Israel as a protest against that government's treatment of Palestinians. Those who now openly criticize Israel include former president Jimmy Carter and Pope Francis. And their criticism is based on recent events. Murray Dobbins writes:
Indeed, during the recent Israeli election, Netanyahu declared towards the end of the campaign that there would never be a Palestinian state so long as he was prime minister. For most observers, this was at once shocking and simply a statement of what Netanyahu had always made clear by his actions: his continued building of settlements throughout the West Bank, his refusal to consider (even in negotiations) East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital, his stunningly brutal bombing of Gaza and his repeated insults directed at U.S. President Barack Obama regarding Israel's responsibilities in reaching a peace settlement.
Netanyahu's new Minister of Justice, Ayelet Shaked -- who, incidentally, does not possess a law degree -- recently declared on Facebook:
"What's so horrifying about understanding that the entire Palestinian people is the enemy? … in wars the enemy is usually an entire people, including its elderly and its women, its cities and its villages, its property and its infrastructure." In the same post she declared war on Palestinian mothers: "They should go, as should the physical homes in which they raised the snakes. Otherwise, more little snakes will be raised there." Under Article 3 of the UN's Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, this kind of statement ("Direct and public incitement to commit genocide") is listed as an act that is "punishable" under the Convention.
Clearly, there are some loose screws in Netanyahu's cabinet. But Harper's threat to punish people like Carter and the Pope -- as well as his obsessive pursuit of Omar Khadr -- suggest that there are one or two loose screws banging around in the heads of the Harper cabinet.
8 comments:
Sadly, Owen, this is all part and parcel of the Harper regime's systematic unraveling of our democracy. When we were young, we couldn't have imagined such a fate was in story for us, could we?
We've had plenty of imperfect prime ministers, Lorne. But we've never had a prime minister as flawed as this one.
It would be interesting to see what the Harper-cons would do if Pope Francis came to visit a Roman Catholic Diocese in Canada. Would Harper have the cajones to arrest him?
What about Jimmy Carter coming to Canada and pitching in on a 'Habitat for Humanity' project [it is one of Jimmy's favorite charities he often shows up at to help] in Canada. Would Harper have the cajones to arrest him too?
Anyways it is looking dismally glum for the Harper-cons the oil and gas industry is shedding 185,000 jobs. So much for the touted 'Action Plan' because there is none. It is mostly hot air escaping out of Harper's rear end.
https://www.google.ca/?gws_rd=ssl#q=canadian+press+cuts+in+oilpatch+loss+ofr+185%2C000+jobs
Mogs
The longer he stays, Mogs, the more incompetent he looks.
Unfortunately, they have mixed Israel's war crime, brutal politics with being an anti-semite. The two simply aren't related.
These Cons would have us believe that apartheid and slavery were good things.
I can't wait until they try to implement this. We'll either become the nation known as the quickest to respond to Canada's rising fascism or dumbest on the planet. Which will win out is what frightens me the most.
These days, Anon, Ignorance appears to rule the roost.
You are too kind Owen.
One or two loose screws might be tolerable but that 'cabinet is made of loose screws.
At least Ikea supplies you with a tool to put their stuff back together after it eventually falls apart but I think the only way to 'fix' this shoddy piece of work is to have Red Green wrap them all up together in duct tape and put them on a navy ship to the edge of the earth.
I can hear them all now upbraiding each other as they plummet over with smug satisfaction, "See, I told you it was flat."
They are convinced they can remake the world in their own image, Ron. But no matter how hard they try, they can't flatten it out.
Post a Comment