Canada has a real leader, and a man of principle.
The Egyptians put forth an anti-Israel resolution condemning Arab suffering in the Lebanon war at the 11th Organisation International de la Francophonie (OIF) summit in Bucharest on Friday. The OIF comprises 53 member states and 10 permanent observers sharing a French linguistic or cultural heritage.
It was blocked personally by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper over its double standard towards Israel.
In a televised press conference, Harper said it was wrong for the OIF to express regret over the loss of Arab life, while remaining silent on Israeli casualties.
Needless to say, la merde a frappé le ventilateur after that, as they say.
Harper's support for Israel and his refusal to accept the Arab-backed amendment demonize Israel provoked outrage from the Arab delegates and nearly derailed the conference.
"We wanted to condemn the war because it was deplorable," Lebanese Culture Minister Tarek Mitri told CBC. "Everyone agrees, except Canada."
Ummm, no, Tarek. Harper is simply smart enough to realize that Israel is merely a surrogate target for the West by jihadis like yourself. And, if condemning the war is your objective, how about a condemnation of hezbollah, who started it by attacking Israel?
I'm waiting, Tarek....
But then, not all western leaders get that.
French President Jacque Chirac, for instance, was pefectly willing to demonize those horrible Zionists."The majority supported the amendment, but Canada was hostile to it," he said in a statement.
He didn't reckon with Harper's steel.
"Canada believes that any resolution has to be balanced, that we should recognize the victims in both Lebanon and Israel," Harper said.
Victims of war "must be recognized regardless of their
nationality", he noted. "We are able to deplore the war, we are able to recognize the victims, but on both sides."
"I think that we all want to avoid is a similar attack on Israel in the future, a similar response and a similar war," Harper added.
Well done, Mr. Harper. Though I have a feeling some of your fellow conference attendees don't share your sentiments.
i'm not left or right, those are mere terms..but i have been doing my research and to say that 'Liberals need to really look at the war and its not just Lebanese people dying' 'israeli's are dying too' 'hezbollah attacked israel' 'bravo steven harper in your pro-war stance'
ReplyDeletethat makes sense if you started paying attention to history this summer. The israeli government has been forcefully occupying southern lebanon. Hezbollah was formed out of these displaced citizens in the mid-80's.
so yes please look to who started the violence before you applaud the support harper is giving to israel. Hezbollah does not = lebanon
Dear `Anonymous',
ReplyDeleteAre you serious?
Have you forgotten why Israel went into South Lebanon in the first place? It was because Yasir Arafat created a terrorist enclave in Lebanon and was attacking its civilians..just as he later did in the land Israel gave him to create a Palestinian state.
As for this latest war, perhaps you've for gotten that it occurred because Hezbollah attacked Israeli territory, kiled Israeli soldiers, took hostages and then began rocketing Israel's cities in response to the Israeli demand for their return.
The underlying cause, of course, was Hezbollah doing its Iranian bosses bidding and distracting attention from Iran's nuclear weapons program.
Nor do I buy that `Hezbollah doesn't equal Lebanon.' They have veto power over Lebanon's actions, they are part of the Lebanese government (which did nothing to disarm or control them) and the Lebanese Army actively collaberated with them in the war.
Hezbollah runs drugs and human trafficking, as well as having the distinction of murdering the largest amount of Americans by any Muslim terroist group prior to 9/11. They have done nothing but misery to Lebanon and amount to a foreign proxy amry there. YOU want to shill for
them, be my guest.
As far as I'm concerned they deserve to be wiped of the face of the earth.
Thanks for weighing in.