Saturday, August 02, 2014

Israel, Hamas And Canada

"The usual political reaction from Israel’s allies when such an event occurs is to condemn the attack and sternly demand that Israel try better at avoiding civilian casualties.

Canada has in the past reacted in the usual and expected manner, but today’s Canada under Stephen Harper refuses to do so. To Harper’s detractors, it is a sign of moral bankruptcy, but in fact it is a sign of moral courage. What would it achieve to condemn Israel in this instance? Will such condemnation suddenly drive Israel to find a way to fight a war against Hamas without any injury to civilians? Or will such condemnation embolden Hamas in its strategy of accumulating civilian casualties in order to gain the world’s sympathy and support for Israeli concessions? The latter is of course true, and everyone but the most naive people know it."
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"Harper does not want to see more civilian deaths, but he also refuses to use such tragedies to score political points. Harper said, “obviously no one likes to see the suffering and loss of life that has occurred”. Such a statement should suffice, and in fact as he says, such compassion is “obvious”, but Harper’s critics demand much more; they demand what they call “balance”. They like to pretend that Israel could stop more tragedies by simply giving up against Hamas, but Harper has no common ground with such people, and he does not even try to gratify them with a symbolic condemnation of Israel.

It is extremely clear to anyone who understands the history of the Israel / Arab conflict that in the war between Israel and Hamas, one side is right and the other side is wrong. One side would make peace in an instant if the occasion presented itself while the other side will not stop until forcibly stopped. One side goes to great lengths to avoid civilian deaths while the other side goes to similarly great lengths to ensure the death of as many civilians as possible on both sides. On side wants to live, trade, grow, innovate, and the other side wants to pile up the dead bodies until Islamist victory.

U.S. President Barack Obama knows this. British Prime Minister David Cameron knows this. Every Western world leader knows this, but only one world leader is willing to go to the logical conclusion and support Israel “through fire and water”, without excuses, without compromises, without political double-speak, and without misplaced political correctness. This is moral courage. This is courage that the world needs now more than ever."

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