My wonderful Uncle would be asking the same thing plus so many Canadians who died- this Brit has it right on!
''''
Racist vultures flock to Ukraine
JOSEPH HOWSE
Editor’s Note
Joseph Howse is a Halifax author and computer scientist whose work includes inter national development projects. He travelled to Ukraine in 2012.
“I am happy to have killed," writes Gaston Besson, a French mercenary who commanded Croat paramilitary units in the Yugoslav civil war.
In a 1993 interview with the French magazine Le Nouvel Observateur, Besson says he executed pris oners, executed the wounded and fired on UN peacekeepers. He also describes his reaction to seeing the mass graves of civilians. “I saw corpses without eyes and without ears. It was boring. . . . We didn’t give a f ***."
Today, Besson is fighting in the sixth war of his bloody career. He is a recruiter and commander in the Azov Battalion, a paramilitary force of 500 men who, for now, side with the Kiev government in Ukraine’s civil war. Posts on Besson’s Facebook page encourage foreigners and Ukrainians to enlist or s end funds.
Azov’s badge includes the Wolfsangel, a neo-Nazi symbol, and several of its organizers and officers have publicized a white supremacist vision of Ukraine’s future.
“My goal is a white Ukraine," says one officer, Mikael Skillt, in an interview with the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet. “I am a nationalist and I want there to still be white Europeans in Europe."
Ukraine’s large minorities, including ethnic Russians, Armenians, and Jews, are sometimes labelled as non-European and non-white.
Skillt, a former army sniper, is one of several Swedish extremists who have joined Azov. In a BBC interview, he boasts that his duties include “clearing houses and going into civilian areas." His Facebook and Twitter pages show a photo o f him smiling and hugging his squad mates as smoke rises from shelled apartment blocks behind them.
Shelling in the dens ely p opulated Donetsk area, where Skillt is fighting, has caused many civilian deaths, which may constitute war crimes, UN officials have warned.
Separatist paramilitary forces, too, are implicated in many civilian deaths and disappearances and are bolstered by foreign recruits, mostly from Russia but a few from as far west as Spain.
The international community should act to cut off the supply of recruits, arms and money to all o f these paramilitary movements, and shou ld apprehend the known war criminals who are involved.
If we fail in this, it is our loss as well as Ukraine’s — a descent toward accepting the anarchy and impunity of the Yugoslav civil war as a model for future conflicts.
On the frontlines, peacekeeping would still be a sane response. The insane response, as always, would be to turn a blind eye or, worse, give the nod to hatemongers who shell cities today and perhaps usurp a government tomorrow.
(Beware) a descent toward accepting the anarchy and impunity of the Yugoslav civil war as a model for future conflicts.
Firefighters put out a blaze after buses were shelled in eastern Ukraine on Sunday. “Shelling in the densely populated Donetsk area, where mercenaries like Mikael Skillt are fighting, has caused many civilian deaths, which may constitute war crimes," writes Joseph Howse. SERGEI GRITS • AP
-------------------------
FROM XINHUA NEWS -world's best news source (especially 4 us oldies looking 4 news on our troops and Iraq and Afghanistan back in mid 2000s)
People in U.S. protest to support Israel's military campaign in Gaza outside UN Bldtg.
-----------------
AUGUST 2 2014
CANADIANS SUPPORTING ISRAEL
news.ca.msn.com/.../people-in-winnipeg-rally-in-support-of-israel
2012-11-25 · Hundreds of
people gathered a the Asper Jewish Community Campus in Winnipeg for a rally in support of Israel in its conflict with Hamas in the
Gaza Strip.
INDIA
www.thehindu.com/.../rally-in-support-of-israel/article6232314.ece
support Israel” A sizeable
number of protesters held a rally in support of
the Israeliinvasion of the Gaza Strip at Jantar Mantar here on
Sunday.
USA
www.demotix.com/news/5325002/american-jews-rally-support-israel
2014-07-20 ·
American Jews rally in support of Israel in
Scottsdale, Arizona. The Jewish community wished to convey their support for
the country while it battles …
---
Canada
www.cbc.ca/...garneau-attend-israel-support-rally-in-ottawa-1.2708975
John
Baird, Marc Garneau attend Israel support rally in
Ottawa 'Their presence and theirsupport are appreciated by the
Jewish community,' says local organizer.
Italy
www.jpost.com/International/Italians-hold-speech-rally-for-Israel
Italian
MP and journalist Fiamma Nirenstein organized a “speaking marathon” to supportIsrael in
front of Italy’s parliament in Rome on Thursday. Nirenstein ...
Russia
int.icej.org/news/special-reports/moscow-pro-israel-rally
...
members addressed the largest-ever pro-Israel rally in Russia and
plans were formulated to establish a caucus in the Russian parliament
to support Israel. ...
www.rjacademy.org/community-events/rally-to-support-israel.html
Rally to Support Israel Thursday,
July 17, 2014 Congregation Mishkan Tefila 300 Hammond Pond Parkway, Chestnut
Hill Doors open 6:30 p.m. Event begins 7:30 p.m.
www.centermakor.org/community-events/rally-to-support-israel.html
Center
Makor - Russian-Jewish Community in Boston ... Rally to Support IsraelThursday,
July 17, 2014 Congregation Mishkan Tefila
----
EUROPE SUPPORTS ISRAEL-
www.thejc.com/.../thousands-turn-out-support-israel-london-rally
Kensington
High Street was awash with Israeli flags as British Jews
flocked to south-west London to show their support at the
Zionist Federation (ZF) rally this ...
www.shalomlife.com/.../thousands-arrive-for-pro-israel-rally-in-london
Thousands
Arrive for Pro-Israel Rally in London Siren sounded in
the British capital to show solidarity for Israelis living
with rocket threat; demonstrators carry ...
----
moroccantimes.com › International
France: First Country in the World to
Ban pro-Palestinian Protests. By Imane Chatri ... King
Mohammed VI Refuses to Take a "Letter" from a Young
Lady;
---
www.france24.com/en/20140721-france-gaza-protests...israel-palestine
Protests against Israel’s assault on Gaza
turned ugly in the Barbès area of north ...FRANCE. Dozens arrested
after pro-Palestine demonstrators defy Paris ban ...
---
www.worldbulletin.net/...as-pro-palestinian-protesters-defy-france-ban
Related France pro-palestine protests Operation ... the
OPEC nation has failed to control ex-rebel militias who refuse to disband and who are threatening
the ...
---
www.france24.com/...fatah-abbas-refuses-recognise-israel-jewish-state
Fatah refuses to
recognise Israel as a 'Jewish' state. ... The US has
appeared to back the recognition of Israel as a "Jewish state
... Gaza protests: ‘France ..
---
www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21631427
2013-03-06 · More than
500 years ago, tens of thousands of Jews fled Spain because of persecution. Now their descendants are
being invited to return
CANADA
calgary.ctvnews.ca/...in-calgary-for-rally-to-support-israel-1.1929588
A rally at
the Calgary Jewish Community Centre in the southwest drew hundreds of people
all looking towards Israel as fighting in the Gaza Strip has
intensified over ...
---
USA
jpupdates.com/...support-israel-nyc...israel-rally-times-square-photos
Thousands
Chant Support Of Israel At ‘NYC Loves Israel ...
gathered on Sunday inTimes Square to ... Electeds Join Thousands At
NY Stands For Israel Rally;
---
U.S. President Barack Obama
warned Hamas that “the soldier needs to be unconditionally released as soon as
possible.”
Amid fears that Israel would
now seek to expand its offensive, John Kerry, the U.S. Secretary of State,
called on Turkey and Qatar to use their influence with Hamas to press it to
free the soldier.
A senior State Department
official said: “Absent that, the risk of this continuing to escalate, leading
to further loss of life is very high.”
Israel’s employs ‘Hannibal Procedure’ to bombard kidnappers’ escape routes
— even if it kills captured soldier
----------------
PHOTO- ROCKETS- OMG....
------------------
Obama speech at the UN on Palestinian statehood ...
... "America's commitment to Israel's security is ... reinforce the Palestinian UNargument. President Obama rightly said ... Obama's UN speech, ...
Obama: “Immediate, Unconditional” Surrender of Israel ...
------------------
How Ideals and not
Bullets are Killing in the Middle East
--------------------
BRILLIANT ARTICLE...
How Ideals and not
Bullets are Killing in the Middle East
Yet another highly-illuminated
tabloid-esque ‘Breaking News’ report attempts to steal my attention as it makes
its way upon my screen. It was only four minutes since the last one
scrolled across. My eyes are reading the details linked to the
atrocities that I am attempting to process in the images above; more Palestinian
children dead in another rocket launch by the Israelis..
But what am I
really seeing? There is no disputing the horrendous stories that I am
bearing witness to through the media – this is humanity at its
lowest, but still the question remains; what am I really seeing? The ‘facts’ of
this age-old war are unclear and require careful analysis; the majority of the
media leans towards supporting Israel’s right to defend itself, and perhaps in
retaliation to the negligence shown by these multi-national corporations, it
would seem that a large percentage of the public actually side with the
Palestinians.
Let’s not be blind-sided by either
though; the Palestinians fire their many rockets from suburban areas and
the Israelis are the proverbial ‘Goliath’ – neither are innocent, but their
individual causes are understandable. So how do we solve the issue and what
side should we really be taking? After all, sharing articles or having a
discussion over a coffee in Nero’s (or any High Street coffee chain) is not
changing a thing but only serving our self-righteous egos from our outsider
side-lined perspective.
The truth is, to solve the issue
requires an abstinence from side-taking and a removal of finger pointing.
Listen, Israel have killed and Hamas have killed – one life is not worth more
than anyone else’s, and so both are guilty. What is to blame however is their
Ideals. Attack the ideals and you dismantle the argument. The Jewish
people, the Jewish faith and Israel are not guilty of a thing, but perhaps
Zionism is. The Palestinians, Islam and the Arab world share in many ways
the same innocence as the Jews, but when Islam is tainted with the political
intentions of power-hungry fanatics, then groups such as Hamas or the
Islamic State (ISIS) are allowed to run riot in whatever fashion they
choose. The West is guilty in much the same way, but that’s a whole other
article.
So when you next share an article
or have your discussion over your tasty beverage, remember that you
cannot dismantle their guns, but you can break down their ideas. Get to
their minds and you will win the battle.
--------------------
HAMAS HIDES IN QATAR AND IRAN WHILST ATTACKING ISRAEL- NOT GIVING A SHEEET ABOUT THE PEOPLE.... NOT ONE CARE..... SHAME ON U.... SHAME ON U
patriotpost.us/posts/27675 Cached
Fox News political analyst hit the nail on the head with regard to the UN practically assisting Hamas with hiding missiles in schools. “[T]he UN doesn’t even care ...
... imho
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA HAS PROVIDED $$$$$TRILLIONS OF
WEAPONS 2 MIDDLE EAST- PERSIAN/ARAB NATIONS........ now Islamic Terror monsters
outright butcher innocent Muslims 4 not being Shia enough.. not being Sunni
enough... being Christian, Ba’hai, Buddhist, Hindu, whatever.... these absolute
Islamic Killers HAMAS, HEZBOLLAH, AFRICAN MONSTERS WHO STEAL LITTLE MUSLIM
GIRLS AND TIE BOMBS ON THEIR BACKS.... SYRIA, QATAR, IRAN, SAUDIS, IRAQ ... now
the Hamas Islamic Cowards are hiding under children and their mothers??? The world is sooooooo Muslimed out....
USA- U CREATED WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION 4 THESE ISLAMIC
TERROR WORLD.... AND HUMANITY... IS STARVING (48% of Americans have not enough
food ... and fast food stores in the Ghettos are abundant... BUT NO GROCERY
STORES???..... and 105 million Americans
have no jobs.... and the world blames ISRAEL???
CHRONICLE –HERALD- NOVA SCOTIA- ONE OF TOP 5 PURE NEWS- PAPERS IN CANADA
ISRAEL DECLARES VICTORY AND LEAVES
If you listen carefully, Israeli leaders generally describe the ground operation in Gaza as intended to destroy the Hamas-built tunnels leading into Israel, almost certainly for purposes of attack. The military says it has found and is destroying more than 20 tunnels and believes there are a few more. Once that job is done, Israel cou ld well pu ll out and try to declare victory or even a unilateral ceasefire. The hope would be that the respite from the devastation visited on Gaza wou ld compel Hamas to think again and quietly accept a return to the way it was: no rocket fire on Israel; no airstrikes and shelling of Gaza. This probably wouldn’t work. Hamas has put Gazans through so much that they certainly feel they must have something to show for their effor ts in the form o f an easing of the blockade. Rocket fire wou ld continu e and the hostilities would swiftly resume.
Despite huge reservations, Israel may just end up reoccupying the strip, even at the cost of hundreds of soldiers and then b eing saddled with nearly two million Gazans to rule. If the situation becomes bad enough, more fantastical scenarios suggest themselves: perhaps even a NATO force to pacify and rebuild the traumatized strip.
It probably won’t be necessary. Hamas will run out of rockets eventually. But for now, it’s believed to have thousands more, Israel will continue to strike back, and the destru ction will be harrowing for weeks.
PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY TAKES OVER THE BORDER WITH EGYPT
Hamas wants an end to the blockade that was imposed by Israel after the militants won the 2 006 Palestinian parliament election, were sidelined by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and then seized Gaza in 2007. Some minor things are conceivable, like a small extension o f the rights o f fishermen to venture out to sea. But Israel will not allow true sea access or an airport as long as Hamas controls the strip. The concern is that even bigger rockets and weapons would stream in. Israel also won’t soon open its borders to Gazans, remembering too well the suicide bombings of a decade ago.
There is one plausible way to greatly ease the siege: Open the southern border near the town of Rafah leading to Egypt, and put the Gaza side not under the control of Hamas but under the Palestinian Authority.
Cairo has been extremely cool to the idea of opening the frontier but not to the PA taking it over, in line with the tough Egypt-first policy of new President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi. Egypt seems little inclined to help Hamas against Israel, views Gaza as someone else’s problem, and fears Gaza’s militants trickling in and comp ounding its own jihadi problems in Sinai.
But the PA on the border could be spun as a win for everyone: Hamas broke the siege; the PA is back in business in the strip; Israel didn’t give up much under fire; the Gazans feel relief; and Egypt is the hero.
When the dust finally settles, don’t be surprised if this is the face-saving way out.
If you listen carefully, Israeli leaders generally describe the ground operation in Gaza as intended to destroy the Hamas-built tunnels leading into Israel, almost certainly for purposes of attack. The military says it has found and is destroying more than 20 tunnels and believes there are a few more. Once that job is done, Israel cou ld well pu ll out and try to declare victory or even a unilateral ceasefire. The hope would be that the respite from the devastation visited on Gaza wou ld compel Hamas to think again and quietly accept a return to the way it was: no rocket fire on Israel; no airstrikes and shelling of Gaza. This probably wouldn’t work. Hamas has put Gazans through so much that they certainly feel they must have something to show for their effor ts in the form o f an easing of the blockade. Rocket fire wou ld continu e and the hostilities would swiftly resume.
Despite huge reservations, Israel may just end up reoccupying the strip, even at the cost of hundreds of soldiers and then b eing saddled with nearly two million Gazans to rule. If the situation becomes bad enough, more fantastical scenarios suggest themselves: perhaps even a NATO force to pacify and rebuild the traumatized strip.
It probably won’t be necessary. Hamas will run out of rockets eventually. But for now, it’s believed to have thousands more, Israel will continue to strike back, and the destru ction will be harrowing for weeks.
PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY TAKES OVER THE BORDER WITH EGYPT
Hamas wants an end to the blockade that was imposed by Israel after the militants won the 2 006 Palestinian parliament election, were sidelined by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and then seized Gaza in 2007. Some minor things are conceivable, like a small extension o f the rights o f fishermen to venture out to sea. But Israel will not allow true sea access or an airport as long as Hamas controls the strip. The concern is that even bigger rockets and weapons would stream in. Israel also won’t soon open its borders to Gazans, remembering too well the suicide bombings of a decade ago.
There is one plausible way to greatly ease the siege: Open the southern border near the town of Rafah leading to Egypt, and put the Gaza side not under the control of Hamas but under the Palestinian Authority.
Cairo has been extremely cool to the idea of opening the frontier but not to the PA taking it over, in line with the tough Egypt-first policy of new President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi. Egypt seems little inclined to help Hamas against Israel, views Gaza as someone else’s problem, and fears Gaza’s militants trickling in and comp ounding its own jihadi problems in Sinai.
But the PA on the border could be spun as a win for everyone: Hamas broke the siege; the PA is back in business in the strip; Israel didn’t give up much under fire; the Gazans feel relief; and Egypt is the hero.
When the dust finally settles, don’t be surprised if this is the face-saving way out.
-------------------
JULY 30TH- SKY NEWS UK- As usual... hiding under
mommy’s skirt and behind little kids.... bet these creeps are in Qatar, Iran or
Syria..... can u believe in the year
2014 – Saudis and Persians have this much hate.... 4 each other still.....
Hamas Leader Defiant Over
Gaza In Rare Speech
The commander of Hamas' military wing says there
will be no ceasefire with Israel until the blockade of Gaza is lifted.
Mohammed Deif, who runs the Ezzedine al Qassam Brigades, narrates the footage for Al Aqsa TV, telling viewers: "The occupying entity will not enjoy security unless our people live in freedom and dignity.
"There will be no ceasefire before the (Israeli) aggression is stopped and the blockade is lifted.
"We will not accept interim solutions."
Israel accuses Deif of masterminding a series of terrorist attacks on Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
It says he co-designed the Qassam rockets that have been fired into Israel from the Gaza Strip.
The blockade Hamas wants to see lifted limits the movements of Palestinians.
It has "decimated lives and livelihoods" and "continues to severely hamper recovery and reconstruction", according to the UN.
Its relief agency UNRWA says the Erez crossing between Gaza and Israel is currently closed, with the Rafah crossing into Egypt shut to all except foreign passport holders and wounded Palestinians.
Sky's Foreign Affairs Editor Sam Kiley said: "What's interesting is that this audio statement doesn't call for the destruction of the state of Israel, which is the established Hamas position.
"It actually says they won't stop fighting until the blockade of Gaza, which is now many years old, is lifted.
"I don't think we should over interpret this and it isn't a shift in position ... but it may allow some opportunity for ceasefire negotiations to begin."
http://news.sky.com/story/1310012/hamas-leader-defiant-over-gaza-in-rare-speech
--------------------
Why Gaza makes me sad
25 July 2014 - 9:41pm - Paul Estrin’s essay — “Why Gaza makes me sad
Comment from the moderator:
Views expressed on Green Party members' blogs are representative of the members themselves and are not official party policy. The following motion was passed by the Green Party membership at the 2014 Convention on July 20, 2014.
G14-P58 Israel – Palestine Conflict
Be it resolved that the GPC urges the immediate cessation of hostilities between Israel and Palestine. The GPC will adopt a posture of engaged neutrality, opening all available diplomatic avenues in both Palestine and Israel to press for a peaceful resolution to the conflict consistent with the GPC’s commitment to justice and custom of speaking truth to power.
**
The history of the people who live in Gaza is something that should infuriate.
(Before I go on, a disclaimer as seen below as well: These are my personal thoughts and my personal perspective and do not necessarily speak to the thoughts and persectives of the membership and direction of the Green Party of Canada.)
We could delve into their history of the Egyptian rule over Gaza, or further back during the rule of the Ottoman Empire, or we could even go as far back as biblical histories of the people that lived in that same region, for which some of the place names have stayed unchanged for millennia.
Instead, we can just look at what has happened since Israel left Gaza. Yes, it was occupied by Israel, from 1967 to 2005, 38 years. And then, in a decision that rocked many people, Israel said that although it did not see a partner for peace in Gaza, and although Israel has a very clear policy that it will trade land for recognition and peace, Israel decided to leave, fighting its own citizens, showing once more that it sticks to its word about the settlements not being permanent, but instead something to be removed painfully if peace is achievable to be had.
And then Hamas took power. It has nearly been ten years. Since August 2005, Gazans have been in control of their own destiny. Some might say otherwise, yet Gazans have their own government and they are their own people: If their neighbours, Egypt and Israel, close their borders to Gaza, one must look to a Gaza run by a terrorist organization cum government that teaches and propagates hate, death and destruction to understand why.
Since then, stories of resources being used, such as concrete supposed to be used for infrastructure for civil use instead used for purposes of terrors, or stories of repression of the people there by its own government, or stories of how under Hamas rule people no income or ways to support themselves … I’m reminded of Bill Clinton’s remark “It’s the economy, stupid” … but instead of showing openness to the world, or managing, or caring ... Gaza has instead shown that it is not interested in peace, in building a stable economy, in a secure future.
The Gazan government has had ample opportunity over these past years, nearly a decade, to alter its ways, change its mantra of death to the Jews, and become respectable caretakers of the people in their charge.
They have not.
Surely they could have done more. Should have done more.
We can forgive them for at first being overjoyed with the departure of the Israeli forces, and them as a terrorist organization unable to initially take up the challenge of good governance.
We can forgive them for not immediately changing their charter. In Canada and elsewhere, national charters protect the people. In Gaza, the first article calls for the death of Israel and the Jew. (Let me quote just a bit: “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it." I would like to believe all of us in our organization can see how atrocious such a statement is, and that we would believe in things like the right of people to not be obliterated …)
They said, they being the Hamas government newly in power, they needed time. They have had nearly a decade. What is the holdup … oh, wait, the hate and desire to obliterate.
So, let us fast forward past a decade’s worth of battles, wars, incursions, etc.
How much aide has Israel given Gaza? How much has the world given Gaza?
Giving aid is worthwhile, a noble cause. But, has it gone to the people that need it? Ten years …
So, now, this month, what do we see:
Israel is more threatened than even because its neighbour, instead of caring about the welfare and well-being of its citizens, cares about the cause of killing, of carrying the banner of martyrdom, and of watching its fellow people die.
And yet, these are the same people who are embraced and loved by the international community, with marches on Parliament Hill in Canada’s capital, and in cities throughout the world, holding banners and chanting about the destruction of the state of Israel and of death to the Jews.
Meanwhile, Gaza uses UN locations to launch or house weapons … yet the international community cries out, a day after the UN itself admitted this and said that this practise puts at risk those in these facilities given that these places then are not safe havens but rather places of war to be targeted ..
Meanwhile, Gaza is giving children grenades … and asking their citizens to be sheep to the slaughter.
Gazan officials tell their people to be killed while they hide in bomb shelters.
Cowards? No, this is worse than cowardice. It is vile and ugly and they should be put to shame.
Instead, it is Israel who is put to shame. It is easy enough to do.
In our culture, often activists are against colonialism, yet forget that their ancestors only a handful of generations ago partook in just that, enabling them to live the secure lives they currently enjoy, and the lives the live is at the benefit of economic colonialism …
… to critique, is it better to know your roots and who you are, or is ignorance better so that you can accuse the other without seeing just how similar the other is to you?
It looks very bad for Israel. 800+ Gazans dead. 1000s injured. Lots of destruction.
Meanwhile, in Syria, how many hundreds of thousands of people, including so many Palestinians, are dead or injured … where are the inflammatory protests …
Meanwhile, throughout the world, injustices happen on a near-daily basis. But these same activists, when they hear the cry of the moment, if it is anti-Israel it is an easy band-wagon to get on, to get their anti-Israel war-paint on and join their friends between potlucks, veggie smoothies and coffee breaks.
Ask them about a warlord or abuser in another part of the world, I highly doubt they will know .. or care .. but Netanyahu, or Sharon, those are names they know and loath.
I always found it interesting, the focus on such a small country .. is it because then it is easy to know who is who, who to love, who to hate, as opposed to so many other regions and countries many, many times larger that have atrocities of a scale much larger than what has been seen in that one oh-so-small strip of the Middle East known as Israel?
I am sure that many people I know will be upset for my having the gall to write these words.
I am simply sick and tired of having to hear such hypocrisy and twisted logic.
I am reminded of a seminar I attended at the University of Victoria a decade ago.
The seminar was a group of Iranian professors who had fled Iran after the revolution, and a central theme that repeated itself was the image of the protests and marches in the city of Teheran.
I remember how one of the lecturers painfully spoke about the European marchers that were so caught up in the cause of overthrowing the Shah that they were all chanting “Allah-hu akbar” at the tops of their lungs, and how she was looking at these foreigners and wondering if they had any idea just what this chant was going to mean for her country.
… That history continues to be written, and it is a sad one.
We want to see the world as black and white, right and wrong.
We want to support the under-dog. Who doesn’t.
But, terror is terror. Evil is evil.
When Gazans are asked what they want, they want peace. They want to work in Israel. They want security for their children and themselves. They don’t want to live in the terror they have under Hamas … and yet the world cheers on Hamas that spends the money and resources needed for infrastructure, housing, hospitals, schools, and buys weapons, builds tools for terror.. I cannot help but feel sad for this world. And we, as a green movement, should not be supporting such a movement or government .. yes, their flag is green, but that is where the resemblance stops. Or at least, that is where it should stop.
On the other side of the coin, Israel is doing all it can with an untenable situation. The world media vilifies it, to the point that when those firing missiles into its borders and sending militias into its land need to see that they cannot do this, it is Israel, and not Gaza, that feels the world’s hate. When al-Jazeera does a more balanced job than CNN, and let’s not talk about here in Canada our media, how that has been … …
Military experts look at Israel’s military strategy: No carpet bombing, no quick actions, but instead pinpoint strikes whilst warning the enemy in advance of what their plans are, and slow movements.. they, military people the world over, say that Israel’s military is the most moral of them all, above the British, above the Americans, but at what price, when the enemy knows no qualms, and would rather see hundreds of their own people die for a media blitz against Israel than do all it can to save a single life. What other military calls up the enemy on their phone to tell them that their building will be bombed, to kindly leave, yes, you have enough time to leave, just thought it would be the neighbourly thing to do … anyone else in war, and that is what Hamas is calling this time in Gaza, would simply bomb, kill and destroy.
And that is it in a nutshell: Whilst Israel does all that is in its power to protect the lives of all its citizens and the lives of those it is attacking, Gaza does all in its power to have all the more die.
We need to re-examine our priorities if we are marching in the streets. Unless we want to see another Mullah amongst us, where other religions aside from a certain variety of Islam are not allowed, where synagogues are used as latrines and garbage dumps and Christians are living in constant fear.
For those of you who would say this is ridiculous, look at all the countries surrounding Israel and read their track record. And yes, Jordan up until Jerusalem was freed was using synagogues as garbage dumps and as latrines, it is history, look it up and understand how Israel is different, a land where all religions are free to practise and all its citizens are citizens … how many Palestinian refugees are still not the citizens of their countries of residence, the countries they were born in … But, that is a comment for another article for another time, how the world doesn’t actually care about the Palestinians, but rather cares about showing they care about the Palestinians. Though it is interesting, in that it resounds so similarly to nations and people saying they care about Jews and are appalled by anti-Semitism, but when violence occurs … Again, another article for another time.
Priorities.
One day, and soon, I hope that Gaza's government will act appropriately and show that the life of every single person is precious. But I fear that our world’s international media, international agencies and all the activists who noble actions are grossly misplaced, although nonetheless noble, they are simply enabling the terrorists, and so all they are having reinforced is that this is a strategy that works.
I hope and pray for a peace. That the borders will open. That trade starts up. That the international airport in Gaza can be reopened. That Gazans can retake their old jobs and through economic endeavours create and build upon a peace of social and economic unity.
And then maybe the other issues, such as water, air, and environment can be paid the dire attention that is needed.
But I feel that peace will take a miracle. Israel is losing patience, a country cannot live in constant fear without hardliners coming to power .. oh wait .. and then, while the world watches, Israel will be forced to conduct a military manoeuver, one that perhaps it ought to have made years ago, to then enable reconstruction and a manageable peace. I pray it will not come to that, but if Gaza under Hamas continues its reign of terror, what choice will Israel plausibly have.
Thank you for reading.
These are my personal thoughts and my personal perspective and do not necessarily speak to the thoughts and persectives of the membership and direction of the Green Party of Canada.
Sincerely,
Paul Estrin
Edit: I realize I initially signed this document with my name and title. I have removed my title because I want to make it as clear as possible that my words are my own, what I have written is my perspective.
http://www.greenparty.ca/blogs/20430/2014-07-25/why-gaza-makes-me-sad
comment:
Paul Estrin’s essay — “Why Gaza makes me sad” ---- Nailed it !
comment:
Farhad,
Regarding your comment stated above, you accuse Paul of justifying a Genocide. I know this can be a very emotional topic, but I think your emotions are getting the better of you and you are misinterpreting his words.
My interpretation of his statement is that Israel might be forced to take unfortunate military action in order to stop the constant threat of a ruthless terrorist organization (that does not even care about its own people). That is, to stop HAMAS, not the Palestinian people. Paul is not suggesting that the people of Palestine should be targeted.
However, since that Hamas hides behind innocent civilians in a cowardly, despicable, manipulative way in order to purposely endanger innocent civilians, I guess I can partly understand how you might think that taking out HAMAS would mean harming many innocent Palestinian civilians. That would be terrible. That IS currently terrible. But hopefully Israel will be able to better focus their efforts on singling out Hamas targets because Hamas just does not seem to want to negotiate any peace.
Regardless, I do not believe Paul is either suggesting or condoning a Palestinian genocide. Although some unintended victims seem to unfortunatley be unavoidable in this type of war.
I can see how people side with Israel and I can see how people feel for the Palestinans. However, anyone who sides with Hamas is on the wrong side of history.
comment:
It is also posted at the "Centre for Israel and Jewish affairs" website. (google that, plus the title of the article)
Comments allowed via Facebook.
It is a well written and spot on article in my opinion.
comment:
Paul Estrin should be congratulated for common sense.
He is exposing the loon base in the Green Party.
Arafat figured out how to get rich in the Arab world;
Do a couple of Google searches:
Arafat wealth
Gaza millionaires
and
Backstory: The "Anti-Zionist" mob turns its attentions to Green Party president Paul Estrin
Terry Glavin More from Terry Glavin
Published on: July 29, 2014Last Updated: July 29, 2014 4:49 PM EDT
As has been obvious for some long while now, there is a debilitating strain of “anti-Zionism” coursing through the arteries of the Canadian Left. It’s so toxic that reputable institutions like the New Democratic Party have ended up with no alternative but to resort to a policy of quarantine, and NDP leader Thomas Mulcair is to be credited for his most recent efforts to inoculate the NDP caucus and the party’s candidate list with an antidote policy: bar, isolate and marginalize.
Ever since Mulcair was elected NDP leader two years ago, erstwhile party loyalists have been whimpering that they will quit the party over their new leader’s offensively even-handed policy on the subject of Israel and Palestine. They threaten to ignore the party’s appeals for funds or to defect altogether to the Green Party, which is conventionally situated on the Left.
Green Party delegates went into their July 19-20 convention in Fredericton with a leadership-endorsed motion that was specifically intended to lure these disaffected “anti-Zionist” New Democrats.
Big mistake.
The motion itself was perfectly unobjectionable, declaring the Green Party’s opposition to the expansion of Israeli settlements in the Palestinian heartland of the West Bank. This put the Greens more or less in the same company on the subject, curiously, as the NDP, the Liberals and even the governing Conservatives. But the justification offered to the CBC by the Greens’ youth wing co-chair Ghaith El-Mohtar, the motion’s author, was that it might “win over former NDP supporters who oppose Thomas Mulcair’s unquestioning support of Israel.”
If that was the plan, Green Party president Paul Estrin wasn’t in on it, and he’s now being buried under the towering obscenities of an “anti-Zionist” dogpile over an essay he wrote last Friday on his personal weblog (hosted at the Green Party home page), titled “Why Gaza Makes Me Sad.” Estrin’s primary transgression appears to be his acknowledgement that the terrorist crime syndicate known as Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip by truncheon and firing squad, is an important reason why Gazans have been suffering so horribly in recent years.
If this poll is anything to go by, the overwhelming majority of Gazans appear to broadly agree with Estrin. But by Monday morning, on Twitter, Facebook and elsewhere, dozens of vicious, unhinged denunciations were being heaped upon him, and it hasn’t let up. Estrin has been called an “IDF spokesman,” a liar, “Anti-Palestinian to the core” and worse (small samplings can be found here and here). The ipolitics columnist Andrew Mitrovica, who has lately become a champion of the “anti-Zionists” and their anti-Mulcair cause, went so far as to insinuate on Monday that in his “long diatribe,” Estrin suggested that “Palestinian children are, in part, responsible for their own deaths.”
While not quite throwing Estrin under the bus, Elizabeth May has quickly distanced herself from him. “I do not agree with him. Those are his personal opinions. Not party policy. . . His views are contrary to #GPC position. We support peace. We condemn violence,” la la la, and this is where everything gets even curiouser.
Agree with it or not, Estrin’s essay, from top to bottom, is most obviously an expression of deep and sincere sympathy for the bloodied and brutalized people of Gaza. You could say it’s sloppy. You could say it overlooks the Israeli government’s irresponsible continuation of the West Bank settlements (which are in no way an immediately relevant issue anyway). You could say a lot of things about it, but at least it doesn’t retreat into the cowardice of some half-baked “neutrality” towards Hamas.
Widespread outbreaks of pathological “anti-Zionist” hysterics tend to erupt whenever the Israeli state asserts its security interests by force of arms, as it is now doing with Operation Protective Edge, and as it did with Operation Pillar of Defense in 2012 and with Operation Cast Lead in 2008-09. It is a pattern that leaves thousands of innocent Palestinians dead, injured, homeless, and further brutalized.
It shouldn’t be controversial to notice, as Estrin does, that the cycles of this pattern tend to be set off by such neighbourly entreaties as barrages of rockets launched at innocent Israeli citizens by a Jew-hating rejectionist cult and protection racket that funds its mischief by diverting international aid intended for the Gazan masses.
That Hamas has persisted in the costly acquisition of ever more deadly missile arsenals should not be anathema to a progressive analysis of the oppression of the people of Gaza. That Hamas has robbed the Palestinian people to pay for the construction of heavily-fortified underground command bunkers and a vast underground “terror tunnel” network that has taken the lives of at least 160 child labourers, “prized for their nimble bodies” should not be unmentionable.
But these things are very controversial to speak about out loud, especially if one is an official of, say, the Green Party, so much so as to induce moral panic. That is how far the “anti-Zionist” toxin has spread. It has gotten so that the Canadian Left has lost the practical capacity for a broadly decent and legitimately progressive, pro-peace critique on the question of Israel and Palestine. The hysterics drown out everything else.
The “anti-Zionists” are right about one thing: there isn’t much in the way of a robust and defensible Oppostion critique of Ottawa’s uniquely militant and unashamedly “pro-Israel” posture towards the conflict. The NDP’s Paul Dewar has been reduced to whining that Ottawa is just “rubber stamping everything that comes from Benjamin Netanyahu,” but has nothing to offer beyond a timid insistence that Ottawa should instead be telling Netanyahu that “there are too many civilian casualties and it’s unacceptable.”
When a Green Party president merely allows himself to think out loud in an honest and harmless essay that sets out the reasons why Gaza makes him sad, and for his trouble he’s subjected to a cyberlynching, it should tell you that we’ve entered a realm of moral bedlam. It becomes a nuthouse of the kind that saw the “anti-Zionist” crank, 911 Truther and Moammar Qadaffi devotee Cynthia McKinney elected leader of the Green Party in the United States.
Canada’s Greens will have to find their own way out of this mess, but the sooner they see the merits of the NDP leadership’s interim antidote – quarantine, inoculate, bar, isolate, marginalize – the better.
http://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/columnists/the-anti-zionist-mob-turns-its-attentions-to-green-party-president-paul-estrin
Why Green Party President Paul Estrin's 'Why Gaza Makes Me Sad' Crossed a Line
This blogpost is not about the conflict currently underway in Israel and Gaza. Rather, it’s about the reaction to that conflict which is currently playing itself out in my Party, the Green Party of Canada. And it’s also about my personal experiences with the reaction to the conflict. The specific motivation for this post was a recent blog entry made by the Green Party of Canada’s President, Paul Estrin (see: “Why Gaza makes me sad,” Paul Estrin, Green Party of Canada Blogs, July 25, 2014) which made its way into the public sphere over the weekend thanks to social media connections.
I understand, based on a remark now posted at the bottom of Mr. Estrin’s post, that since publishing the post on Friday, Mr. Estrin has removed reference in the post to his position as President of the Green Party of Canada. Mr. Estrin indicates that he is instead sharing his personal perspective on the Green Party’s blogsite.
The Green Party's Blogsite
First off, let me try to qualify myself here. I am a member of the Green Party of Canada in good standing, and I am currently an Officer with the Nickel Belt Green Party of Canada Electoral District Association. I have no authorization from the Central Party, as per the Party’s Constitution, to speak on behalf of the Party. Nor do I have any authorization from my EDA’s Executive to make statements on its behalf. Given my lack of authorization, I want to make it very clear that I am writing today only as a member of the Green Party of Canada – and no more should be read into this post by anybody.
And the same is true for Mr. Estrin’s post. As a past and one-time frequent contributor to the Green Party’s blogsite, I feel that it is incumbent to let the public know that the Party does not vet or in any way impede the posting of Member’s blogs. If you are a member of the Green Party in good standing, you can apply for a Login to the Member’s section of the site. Once logged in, you can make a post to the Party’s blogsite. Nothing more is required. Blogposts are not hidden by “members only “ firewalls – they are available for the public to view.
The Green Party’s blogsite is a unique feature of my Party, in that it encourages members to actively engage with one another, in a public venue, on matters of importance to the membership – or at least to an individual member. As per the Party’s Constitution, individual members must be authorized to speak on behalf of the Party, or as per the Constitutions of many Electoral District Associations, authorization is also required to speak on behalf of an EDA. Since making my first few blogposts back in 2007-08, I’ve always appended a disclaimer to my blogposts that my views are my own, and that I’m not writing on the Party’s behalf. While not everyone who posts on the Green Party’s site includes similar disclaimers, the fact of the matter is that there is a general understanding in the Party that a post to the blog site is to be in no way construed as representative of the Party’s policy, position or platform.
But values are a different story – one I’ll come back to.
The Party’s blog site is a space created by the membership for engagement. It’s not unusual to find a post made by an individual which challenges member-approved policy or questions decisions made by the Party Leadership. This would be completely unheard of in other parties, and would likely lead to sanctions against individual members. It seems to me that other parties put far too high an emphasis on message management. We Greens instead choose to engage in the messy process we call democracy – and try to do so in a transparent and respectful way. Having a blog site on the Party’s website with content generated by the membership speaks volumes about the inherent values of my Party. Shutting down and stifling respectful differences of opinion has no place in my Party.
That being said, I have to also acknowledge that sometimes, this blog site gets the Party into trouble. In the past, some posts have been made by the membership which have led to questions to the Party regarding the Party’s position on certain matters. People see a post on the Party’s website and some immediately take that post to be representative of the Party’s position or policy – sometimes simply because the Party’s logo might appear on the webpage, other times because it seems to some unfathomable that a political party in Canada in this day and age would tolerate anything but “the party line” posted to its website. Even I, one of the biggest supporters of our blog site, have to acknowledge that the very existence of this blog site causes confusion about the Party amongst the public – and even confusion amongst our own membership.
Years ago, a link to our blog site appeared on the front page of our website. When the Party’s website was redesigned, the link disappeared, and while the blog site still exists, anyone chancing on our site would have a heck of a time trying to find the blogs. But, linking one’s post to social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, can and does make blog posts accessible. And certainly, if you know where to look, you can find all of the blogs.
Since the removal of the link, many Green bloggers, myself included, decided to make the shift to maintaining personal blogs elsewhere other than the Green Party’s website. For a while, I continued to cross-post my blogs to my own personal Sudbury Steve blog and the Party website, but ultimately I moved away from the Party website all together. Now, I only post to the Party’s blog site when I feel that a specific post might be of specific interest to my Party. That being said, I continue to believe that the blog site can be a useful space for members to engage with one another and discuss important issues in a transparent way, although clearly it is being underutilized for those conversations.
Mr. Estrin's Post
All of this brings me back to Paul Estrin’s blog post of Friday, July 25, 2014. Given the above, it is clear to me that Mr. Estrin made this post only as a member of the Green Party in good standing, and not as an official spokesperson of the Party. Although Mr. Estrin is President of the Party, his opinions and posts to our blog site cannot and do not bind the Party to any position at all. That being said, I also totally understand why a blogpost identifying Mr. Estrin as President of the Party can be (and clearly has been) misconstrued as being representative of the Party’s position. I sincerely believe that it was not the intent of Mr. Estrin to mislead anybody into thinking that his opinion was in alignment with the Party. I believe this because I know that Mr. Estrin and I were present at the recent Green Party of Canada General Meeting, held in Fredericton, in which two motions relating to the conflict in Israel and Gaza were discussed by the membership. Further, Mr. Estrin’s own edits to his post clearly demonstrate that he understands his post is representative only of his own opinion, and not the Party’s.
It may be that Mr. Estrin made a mistake by identifying his position in the Party on his blogpost. I’ve not personally made my mind up about that, as I think there was some merit to the membership for him to identify himself as President of the Party. What might have helped initially would have been the sort of disclaimer that he eventually placed on his post, indicating that the view he was discussing was his own alone, and not the Party’s. Again, ultimately, Mr. Estrin made an edit to the post to clarify.
Mr. Estrin’s post has been receiving a lot of feedback in social media, including feedback from Green Party members. Some of my Party’s membership have shared their thoughts and views on the Green Party’s blog site as comments appended to Mr. Estrin’s post. Generally speaking, comments from Greens, including those made by me, have been critical of Mr. Estrin’s post. Other comments in the public realm have praised Mr. Estrin for taking a “bold” stand on the conflict, while yet others have condemned both Mr. Estrin and the Green Party of Canada for holding Mr. Estrin’s views on the conflict.
My Issue with Mr. Estrin's Post
Again, my post today is not going to explore Mr. Estrin’s opinion, or anyone else’s opinion for that matter, on the conflict in Gaza and Israel. I’m here to write about why I believe Mr. Estrin crossed a very serious line with his post, and why I believe he should now resign his position as President of the Green Party of Canada.
The fact that Mr. Estrin expressed his personal opinion on a matter, whether he identified himself as the Party’s President while doing so or not, is not, in my opinion, particularly problematic from the perspective of a legitimate use of the Green Party’s blog site to further discussion amongst members (although I do acknowledge the confusion it has created). That Mr. Estrin’s opinion might not be entirely in keeping with the Party’s policies or positions on this matter is also, frankly, of no concern to me – in fact, I believe that by posting to the blog site, Mr. Estrin’s intention was to foment discussion – the very sort of healthy political discussion that I think we need more of today in Canadian politics, not less.
Where I am expressing significant concern is with some of the characterizations which Mr. Estrin uses in his lengthy post – and in particular, a characterization of Muslims which I find offensive. I know that “cherry picking” certain words and phrases from a much longer piece can lead to mischief – let me be clear, that’s not my intention. The phrase in question stands alone in his lengthier essay, and there appears to be no good reason why Mr. Estrin included it, except to inflame the discussion by painting an identifiable group of people in a negative, and completely inappropriate, light.
The phrase in question is directed towards “peace activists” (which Mr. Estrin refers to in a follow-up comment pejoratively as “peaceniks”):
“We need to re-examine our priorities if we are marching in the streets. Unless we want to see another Mullah amongst us, where other religions aside from a certain variety of Islam are not allowed, where synagogues are used as latrines and garbage dumps and Christians are living in constant fear.”
The implication here is clear, and it’s nasty. Canadians and others “marching in the streets” in favour of ending the conflict in Gaza and Israel must be willing to accept what Mr. Estrin believes to be the inevitable the outcome of such protests. Mr. Estrin’s conclusion is completely off-base, and extremely offensive. And it grossly mischaracterizes Muslims as being anti-Jewish and anti-Christian.
And that’s why I believe that Mr. Estrin’s post has no place on the Green Party’s website. Anti-Islamic language such as Mr. Estrin’s has no place in any respectful and legitimate discourse on any subject, much less on a site hosted by the Green Party for respectful discourse.
The Values of the Party
Further, Mr. Estrin’s gross mischaracterization of Muslims is not in keeping with the Green Party’s values, specifically that of “respecting diversity”. By attempting to associate anti-Jewish and anti-Christian behaviour with an identifiable group, in this case a “certain variety” of Muslims, Mr. Estrin has clearly crossed the line of respectful discourse and veered instead into what can only be construed as offensive.
If Mr. Estrin sincerely believes that we are at risk of Muslims turning synagogues into latrines because of our peaceful protests, not only is Mr. Estrin completely misinformed, but he needs to resign his position as President of the Green Party – and frankly, he should also resign his membership in the Party. And let me be clear – Mr. Estrin does, in fact, make it very clear that he is quite serious about his belief in this risk, as later in the piece Mr. Estrin attempts to justify his fears by indicating that these events happened in Jordan in the past. Mr. Estrin should keep in mind that the past is not prologue, and what may have happened in another place and another time is not demonstrative of what may happen here and now.
Unfortunately, this gross mischaracterization of Muslims taints Mr. Estrin’s piece in its entirety – at least for me. While others have seen valid points in Mr. Estrin’s post, the anti-Islamic tone precipitated by Mr. Estrin’s characterization of Muslims is hard to overlook and should not be overlooked.
Legitimacy and Confidence
Yesterday, I posted a comment to Mr. Estrin’s post in which I asked Mr. Estrin to resign. I reposted my comment to my Facebook Page, to which Mr. Estrin responded – so I know he’s seen my request for him to step down as President. I continue to believe that for the good of the Party, Mr. Estrin should resign. Mr. Estrin can make this decision on his own – and should do so in the next day or two.
Otherwise, the Party may be left with no choice but to have our Federal Council review the situation and make a decision on his removal from Federal Council, as per Section 2.1.5.1 of the Party’s Constitutional by-laws. In arriving at a decision, should one be warranted, I believe that it is incumbent upon our Federal Council to strongly consider the anti-Islamic viewpoints expressed by Mr. Estrin, and question whether these views can be reconciled with the Party’s value of respecting diversity.
If Mr. Estrin does not act on his own initiative, and if our Federal Council fails to act, I believe that my Party is headed towards a crisis of legitimacy. This is not about free speech or controlling the views of party members – I sincerely hope that my blogpost has made it clear that I, and the majority of Greens, value the ability to publicly disagree with one another and our Party, if done with respect. This isn’t about anybody’s opinion on the conflict underway in Israel and Gaza. And this certainly isn’t about trying to sweep a sensitive political matter under the carpet, as some have suggested.
This is about respectful discourse in keeping with the values of the Party.
And I believe that’s the line Mr. Estrin has crossed.
Of course, it may be that by writing this post, as a member of the Party, I am also in contravention of the Party’s by-laws and should be made subject to discipline. I believe that what I’ve written here today (and elsewhere yesterday) has been in keeping with the values of the Party. If I am to be made answerable for what I’ve written, I’ll accept whatever consequences arise as a result. The good of the Party remains my primary concern, and it is what has motivated me to write about this episode with Mr. Estrin. I continue to believe that the good of the Party would be best served by not having Mr. Estrin occupy the position of President any longer – no matter how that may come about. If expressing my opinion on this matter should lead to a complaint process with the Party’s Ombuds Committee, or our Federal Council’s consideration of my expulsion, I am prepared to reiterate my reasons and motivation for writing this post to whatever body of the Party that may charged with considering the matter.
(opinions expressed in this blog are my own and should not be interpreted as being consistent with the views and/or policies of the Green Party of Canada)
Posted by Sudbury Steve at 8:07 PM
1 comment:
John Hutchinson said...
"Unless we want to see another Mullah amongst us, where other religions aside from a certain variety of Islam are not allowed, where synagogues are used as latrines and garbage dumps and Christians are living in constant fear."
Even of the phrase that you cherry pick from your party president's post misconstrues his viewpoint.
The "certain variety of Islam" is the type of Islam like ISIS, which kills other Sunnis because they are not Sunni enough. It is no different than Jacobins who killed other Jacobins because of their insufficient purity or Stalinists who killed other Communists for ostensibly similar reasons.
The mindset of such varieties of any religious or secular groups are reducible to that of death dispensers.
http://sudburysteve.blogspot.ca/2014/07/why-green-party-president-paul-estrins.html
--------------------
The history of the people who live in Gaza is something that should infuriate.
------------------------------
--------------------
how incredible... the bravery Of Canada’s Green's Party President- 4 pointing 2 the disgrace that is HAMAS...... Greenie President- Estrin may just save the Green party with a rare thing... called integrity 2 many Canadians..... GOD KNOWS GREENPEACE IS BEING SUED AS A TERROR ORGANIZATION...ON MANY FRONTS... BUT DELIBERATELY HUGGING HAMAS???? AREN'T THERE ANY GAY BROTHERS AND SISTERS OF THE GREEN PARTY??? GETCHA CANADA ON WHY DON'T YA...
When we think on how we fought 4 Elizabeth May (would never vote Green... they are way 2 disorganized and trendy) as a woman and her party 2 be part of Canada's debate process- well that's about as useful as titties on a bull- thank u very much Elizabeth May.... We considered Elizabeth May on the same lines as our beloved Hilary Rodham Clinton and her horrific betrayal by the Democratic party (and we can all see how that's working)....
ARTICLE:
Estrin’s post, which he stressed reflect his own personal view, is anything but neutral. He is critical not only of Hamas, but of many people in the western world who turn a blind eye to its actions and who jump on an anti-Israel bandwagon.
“Gaza is giving children grenades…and asking their citizens to be sheep to the slaughter,” wrote Estrin.
“Gazan officials tell their people to be killed while they hide in bomb shelters. Cowards? No, this is worse than cowardice. It is vile and ugly and they should be put to shame. Instead, it is Israel who is put to shame.”
Estrin wrote that Israel is threatened by Hamas and is “doing all it can with an untenable situation.” He added that he is “sick and tired” of the “hypocrisy” of people who focus their anger on Israel, even though larger conflicts occur elsewhere
“Throughout the world, injustices happen on a near-daily basis. But these same activists, when they hear the cry of the moment, if it is anti-Israel it is an easy band-wagon to get on, to get their anti-Israel war-paint on and join their friends between potlucks, veggie smoothies and coffee breaks.”
Estrin’s position — and the strong choice of words sprinkled throughout his 2,200-word post — have infuriated some members of the Green party
Elizabeth May distances herself as Green Party president faces backlash for strongly worded blogpost on Gaza
Mark Kennedy, Postmedia News | July 30, 2014 10:19 AM ET
------------------
www.independent.co.uk/.../stephen-fry-hits-back-at-accusations-of-islamophobia-8793025.html - Cached - Similar
1 Sep 2013 ... Stephen Fry has spoken of his frustration at being labelled an "Islamophobe" for criticising the violent acts ... However, he added: "Do I believe that all Muslims want to see my civilisation destroyed? .... Calling all fashionistas!
---------------
The best ... the very best... God bless our Canada...
Why Gaza makes me sad
25 July 2014 - 9:41pm - Paul Estrin’s essay — “Why Gaza makes me sad
Comment from the moderator:
Views expressed on Green Party members' blogs are representative of the members themselves and are not official party policy. The following motion was passed by the Green Party membership at the 2014 Convention on July 20, 2014.
G14-P58 Israel – Palestine Conflict
Be it resolved that the GPC urges the immediate cessation of hostilities between Israel and Palestine. The GPC will adopt a posture of engaged neutrality, opening all available diplomatic avenues in both Palestine and Israel to press for a peaceful resolution to the conflict consistent with the GPC’s commitment to justice and custom of speaking truth to power.
**
The history of the people who live in Gaza is something that should infuriate.
(Before I go on, a disclaimer as seen below as well: These are my personal thoughts and my personal perspective and do not necessarily speak to the thoughts and persectives of the membership and direction of the Green Party of Canada.)
We could delve into their history of the Egyptian rule over Gaza, or further back during the rule of the Ottoman Empire, or we could even go as far back as biblical histories of the people that lived in that same region, for which some of the place names have stayed unchanged for millennia.
Instead, we can just look at what has happened since Israel left Gaza. Yes, it was occupied by Israel, from 1967 to 2005, 38 years. And then, in a decision that rocked many people, Israel said that although it did not see a partner for peace in Gaza, and although Israel has a very clear policy that it will trade land for recognition and peace, Israel decided to leave, fighting its own citizens, showing once more that it sticks to its word about the settlements not being permanent, but instead something to be removed painfully if peace is achievable to be had.
And then Hamas took power. It has nearly been ten years. Since August 2005, Gazans have been in control of their own destiny. Some might say otherwise, yet Gazans have their own government and they are their own people: If their neighbours, Egypt and Israel, close their borders to Gaza, one must look to a Gaza run by a terrorist organization cum government that teaches and propagates hate, death and destruction to understand why.
Since then, stories of resources being used, such as concrete supposed to be used for infrastructure for civil use instead used for purposes of terrors, or stories of repression of the people there by its own government, or stories of how under Hamas rule people no income or ways to support themselves … I’m reminded of Bill Clinton’s remark “It’s the economy, stupid” … but instead of showing openness to the world, or managing, or caring ... Gaza has instead shown that it is not interested in peace, in building a stable economy, in a secure future.
The Gazan government has had ample opportunity over these past years, nearly a decade, to alter its ways, change its mantra of death to the Jews, and become respectable caretakers of the people in their charge.
They have not.
Surely they could have done more. Should have done more.
We can forgive them for at first being overjoyed with the departure of the Israeli forces, and them as a terrorist organization unable to initially take up the challenge of good governance.
We can forgive them for not immediately changing their charter. In Canada and elsewhere, national charters protect the people. In Gaza, the first article calls for the death of Israel and the Jew. (Let me quote just a bit: “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it." I would like to believe all of us in our organization can see how atrocious such a statement is, and that we would believe in things like the right of people to not be obliterated …)
They said, they being the Hamas government newly in power, they needed time. They have had nearly a decade. What is the holdup … oh, wait, the hate and desire to obliterate.
So, let us fast forward past a decade’s worth of battles, wars, incursions, etc.
How much aide has Israel given Gaza? How much has the world given Gaza?
Giving aid is worthwhile, a noble cause. But, has it gone to the people that need it? Ten years …
So, now, this month, what do we see:
Israel is more threatened than even because its neighbour, instead of caring about the welfare and well-being of its citizens, cares about the cause of killing, of carrying the banner of martyrdom, and of watching its fellow people die.
And yet, these are the same people who are embraced and loved by the international community, with marches on Parliament Hill in Canada’s capital, and in cities throughout the world, holding banners and chanting about the destruction of the state of Israel and of death to the Jews.
Meanwhile, Gaza uses UN locations to launch or house weapons … yet the international community cries out, a day after the UN itself admitted this and said that this practise puts at risk those in these facilities given that these places then are not safe havens but rather places of war to be targeted ..
Meanwhile, Gaza is giving children grenades … and asking their citizens to be sheep to the slaughter.
Gazan officials tell their people to be killed while they hide in bomb shelters.
Cowards? No, this is worse than cowardice. It is vile and ugly and they should be put to shame.
Instead, it is Israel who is put to shame. It is easy enough to do.
In our culture, often activists are against colonialism, yet forget that their ancestors only a handful of generations ago partook in just that, enabling them to live the secure lives they currently enjoy, and the lives the live is at the benefit of economic colonialism …
… to critique, is it better to know your roots and who you are, or is ignorance better so that you can accuse the other without seeing just how similar the other is to you?
It looks very bad for Israel. 800+ Gazans dead. 1000s injured. Lots of destruction.
Meanwhile, in Syria, how many hundreds of thousands of people, including so many Palestinians, are dead or injured … where are the inflammatory protests …
Meanwhile, throughout the world, injustices happen on a near-daily basis. But these same activists, when they hear the cry of the moment, if it is anti-Israel it is an easy band-wagon to get on, to get their anti-Israel war-paint on and join their friends between potlucks, veggie smoothies and coffee breaks.
Ask them about a warlord or abuser in another part of the world, I highly doubt they will know .. or care .. but Netanyahu, or Sharon, those are names they know and loath.
I always found it interesting, the focus on such a small country .. is it because then it is easy to know who is who, who to love, who to hate, as opposed to so many other regions and countries many, many times larger that have atrocities of a scale much larger than what has been seen in that one oh-so-small strip of the Middle East known as Israel?
I am sure that many people I know will be upset for my having the gall to write these words.
I am simply sick and tired of having to hear such hypocrisy and twisted logic.
I am reminded of a seminar I attended at the University of Victoria a decade ago.
The seminar was a group of Iranian professors who had fled Iran after the revolution, and a central theme that repeated itself was the image of the protests and marches in the city of Teheran.
I remember how one of the lecturers painfully spoke about the European marchers that were so caught up in the cause of overthrowing the Shah that they were all chanting “Allah-hu akbar” at the tops of their lungs, and how she was looking at these foreigners and wondering if they had any idea just what this chant was going to mean for her country.
… That history continues to be written, and it is a sad one.
We want to see the world as black and white, right and wrong.
We want to support the under-dog. Who doesn’t.
But, terror is terror. Evil is evil.
When Gazans are asked what they want, they want peace. They want to work in Israel. They want security for their children and themselves. They don’t want to live in the terror they have under Hamas … and yet the world cheers on Hamas that spends the money and resources needed for infrastructure, housing, hospitals, schools, and buys weapons, builds tools for terror.. I cannot help but feel sad for this world. And we, as a green movement, should not be supporting such a movement or government .. yes, their flag is green, but that is where the resemblance stops. Or at least, that is where it should stop.
On the other side of the coin, Israel is doing all it can with an untenable situation. The world media vilifies it, to the point that when those firing missiles into its borders and sending militias into its land need to see that they cannot do this, it is Israel, and not Gaza, that feels the world’s hate. When al-Jazeera does a more balanced job than CNN, and let’s not talk about here in Canada our media, how that has been … …
Military experts look at Israel’s military strategy: No carpet bombing, no quick actions, but instead pinpoint strikes whilst warning the enemy in advance of what their plans are, and slow movements.. they, military people the world over, say that Israel’s military is the most moral of them all, above the British, above the Americans, but at what price, when the enemy knows no qualms, and would rather see hundreds of their own people die for a media blitz against Israel than do all it can to save a single life. What other military calls up the enemy on their phone to tell them that their building will be bombed, to kindly leave, yes, you have enough time to leave, just thought it would be the neighbourly thing to do … anyone else in war, and that is what Hamas is calling this time in Gaza, would simply bomb, kill and destroy.
And that is it in a nutshell: Whilst Israel does all that is in its power to protect the lives of all its citizens and the lives of those it is attacking, Gaza does all in its power to have all the more die.
We need to re-examine our priorities if we are marching in the streets. Unless we want to see another Mullah amongst us, where other religions aside from a certain variety of Islam are not allowed, where synagogues are used as latrines and garbage dumps and Christians are living in constant fear.
For those of you who would say this is ridiculous, look at all the countries surrounding Israel and read their track record. And yes, Jordan up until Jerusalem was freed was using synagogues as garbage dumps and as latrines, it is history, look it up and understand how Israel is different, a land where all religions are free to practise and all its citizens are citizens … how many Palestinian refugees are still not the citizens of their countries of residence, the countries they were born in … But, that is a comment for another article for another time, how the world doesn’t actually care about the Palestinians, but rather cares about showing they care about the Palestinians. Though it is interesting, in that it resounds so similarly to nations and people saying they care about Jews and are appalled by anti-Semitism, but when violence occurs … Again, another article for another time.
Priorities.
One day, and soon, I hope that Gaza's government will act appropriately and show that the life of every single person is precious. But I fear that our world’s international media, international agencies and all the activists who noble actions are grossly misplaced, although nonetheless noble, they are simply enabling the terrorists, and so all they are having reinforced is that this is a strategy that works.
I hope and pray for a peace. That the borders will open. That trade starts up. That the international airport in Gaza can be reopened. That Gazans can retake their old jobs and through economic endeavours create and build upon a peace of social and economic unity.
And then maybe the other issues, such as water, air, and environment can be paid the dire attention that is needed.
But I feel that peace will take a miracle. Israel is losing patience, a country cannot live in constant fear without hardliners coming to power .. oh wait .. and then, while the world watches, Israel will be forced to conduct a military manoeuver, one that perhaps it ought to have made years ago, to then enable reconstruction and a manageable peace. I pray it will not come to that, but if Gaza under Hamas continues its reign of terror, what choice will Israel plausibly have.
Thank you for reading.
These are my personal thoughts and my personal perspective and do not necessarily speak to the thoughts and persectives of the membership and direction of the Green Party of Canada.
Sincerely,
Paul Estrin
Edit: I realize I initially signed this document with my name and title. I have removed my title because I want to make it as clear as possible that my words are my own, what I have written is my perspective.
http://www.greenparty.ca/blogs/20430/2014-07-25/why-gaza-makes-me-sad
comment:
Paul Estrin’s essay — “Why Gaza makes me sad” ---- Nailed it !
comment:
Farhad,
Regarding your comment stated above, you accuse Paul of justifying a Genocide. I know this can be a very emotional topic, but I think your emotions are getting the better of you and you are misinterpreting his words.
My interpretation of his statement is that Israel might be forced to take unfortunate military action in order to stop the constant threat of a ruthless terrorist organization (that does not even care about its own people). That is, to stop HAMAS, not the Palestinian people. Paul is not suggesting that the people of Palestine should be targeted.
However, since that Hamas hides behind innocent civilians in a cowardly, despicable, manipulative way in order to purposely endanger innocent civilians, I guess I can partly understand how you might think that taking out HAMAS would mean harming many innocent Palestinian civilians. That would be terrible. That IS currently terrible. But hopefully Israel will be able to better focus their efforts on singling out Hamas targets because Hamas just does not seem to want to negotiate any peace.
Regardless, I do not believe Paul is either suggesting or condoning a Palestinian genocide. Although some unintended victims seem to unfortunatley be unavoidable in this type of war.
I can see how people side with Israel and I can see how people feel for the Palestinans. However, anyone who sides with Hamas is on the wrong side of history.
comment:
It is also posted at the "Centre for Israel and Jewish affairs" website. (google that, plus the title of the article)
Comments allowed via Facebook.
It is a well written and spot on article in my opinion.
comment:
Paul Estrin should be congratulated for common sense.
He is exposing the loon base in the Green Party.
Arafat figured out how to get rich in the Arab world;
Do a couple of Google searches:
Arafat wealth
Gaza millionaires
and
Backstory: The "Anti-Zionist" mob turns its attentions to Green Party president Paul Estrin
Terry Glavin More from Terry Glavin
Published on: July 29, 2014Last Updated: July 29, 2014 4:49 PM EDT
As has been obvious for some long while now, there is a debilitating strain of “anti-Zionism” coursing through the arteries of the Canadian Left. It’s so toxic that reputable institutions like the New Democratic Party have ended up with no alternative but to resort to a policy of quarantine, and NDP leader Thomas Mulcair is to be credited for his most recent efforts to inoculate the NDP caucus and the party’s candidate list with an antidote policy: bar, isolate and marginalize.
Ever since Mulcair was elected NDP leader two years ago, erstwhile party loyalists have been whimpering that they will quit the party over their new leader’s offensively even-handed policy on the subject of Israel and Palestine. They threaten to ignore the party’s appeals for funds or to defect altogether to the Green Party, which is conventionally situated on the Left.
Green Party delegates went into their July 19-20 convention in Fredericton with a leadership-endorsed motion that was specifically intended to lure these disaffected “anti-Zionist” New Democrats.
Big mistake.
The motion itself was perfectly unobjectionable, declaring the Green Party’s opposition to the expansion of Israeli settlements in the Palestinian heartland of the West Bank. This put the Greens more or less in the same company on the subject, curiously, as the NDP, the Liberals and even the governing Conservatives. But the justification offered to the CBC by the Greens’ youth wing co-chair Ghaith El-Mohtar, the motion’s author, was that it might “win over former NDP supporters who oppose Thomas Mulcair’s unquestioning support of Israel.”
If that was the plan, Green Party president Paul Estrin wasn’t in on it, and he’s now being buried under the towering obscenities of an “anti-Zionist” dogpile over an essay he wrote last Friday on his personal weblog (hosted at the Green Party home page), titled “Why Gaza Makes Me Sad.” Estrin’s primary transgression appears to be his acknowledgement that the terrorist crime syndicate known as Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip by truncheon and firing squad, is an important reason why Gazans have been suffering so horribly in recent years.
If this poll is anything to go by, the overwhelming majority of Gazans appear to broadly agree with Estrin. But by Monday morning, on Twitter, Facebook and elsewhere, dozens of vicious, unhinged denunciations were being heaped upon him, and it hasn’t let up. Estrin has been called an “IDF spokesman,” a liar, “Anti-Palestinian to the core” and worse (small samplings can be found here and here). The ipolitics columnist Andrew Mitrovica, who has lately become a champion of the “anti-Zionists” and their anti-Mulcair cause, went so far as to insinuate on Monday that in his “long diatribe,” Estrin suggested that “Palestinian children are, in part, responsible for their own deaths.”
While not quite throwing Estrin under the bus, Elizabeth May has quickly distanced herself from him. “I do not agree with him. Those are his personal opinions. Not party policy. . . His views are contrary to #GPC position. We support peace. We condemn violence,” la la la, and this is where everything gets even curiouser.
Agree with it or not, Estrin’s essay, from top to bottom, is most obviously an expression of deep and sincere sympathy for the bloodied and brutalized people of Gaza. You could say it’s sloppy. You could say it overlooks the Israeli government’s irresponsible continuation of the West Bank settlements (which are in no way an immediately relevant issue anyway). You could say a lot of things about it, but at least it doesn’t retreat into the cowardice of some half-baked “neutrality” towards Hamas.
Widespread outbreaks of pathological “anti-Zionist” hysterics tend to erupt whenever the Israeli state asserts its security interests by force of arms, as it is now doing with Operation Protective Edge, and as it did with Operation Pillar of Defense in 2012 and with Operation Cast Lead in 2008-09. It is a pattern that leaves thousands of innocent Palestinians dead, injured, homeless, and further brutalized.
It shouldn’t be controversial to notice, as Estrin does, that the cycles of this pattern tend to be set off by such neighbourly entreaties as barrages of rockets launched at innocent Israeli citizens by a Jew-hating rejectionist cult and protection racket that funds its mischief by diverting international aid intended for the Gazan masses.
That Hamas has persisted in the costly acquisition of ever more deadly missile arsenals should not be anathema to a progressive analysis of the oppression of the people of Gaza. That Hamas has robbed the Palestinian people to pay for the construction of heavily-fortified underground command bunkers and a vast underground “terror tunnel” network that has taken the lives of at least 160 child labourers, “prized for their nimble bodies” should not be unmentionable.
But these things are very controversial to speak about out loud, especially if one is an official of, say, the Green Party, so much so as to induce moral panic. That is how far the “anti-Zionist” toxin has spread. It has gotten so that the Canadian Left has lost the practical capacity for a broadly decent and legitimately progressive, pro-peace critique on the question of Israel and Palestine. The hysterics drown out everything else.
The “anti-Zionists” are right about one thing: there isn’t much in the way of a robust and defensible Oppostion critique of Ottawa’s uniquely militant and unashamedly “pro-Israel” posture towards the conflict. The NDP’s Paul Dewar has been reduced to whining that Ottawa is just “rubber stamping everything that comes from Benjamin Netanyahu,” but has nothing to offer beyond a timid insistence that Ottawa should instead be telling Netanyahu that “there are too many civilian casualties and it’s unacceptable.”
When a Green Party president merely allows himself to think out loud in an honest and harmless essay that sets out the reasons why Gaza makes him sad, and for his trouble he’s subjected to a cyberlynching, it should tell you that we’ve entered a realm of moral bedlam. It becomes a nuthouse of the kind that saw the “anti-Zionist” crank, 911 Truther and Moammar Qadaffi devotee Cynthia McKinney elected leader of the Green Party in the United States.
Canada’s Greens will have to find their own way out of this mess, but the sooner they see the merits of the NDP leadership’s interim antidote – quarantine, inoculate, bar, isolate, marginalize – the better.
http://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/columnists/the-anti-zionist-mob-turns-its-attentions-to-green-party-president-paul-estrin
AND...
This blogpost is not about the conflict currently underway in Israel and Gaza. Rather, it’s about the reaction to that conflict which is currently playing itself out in my Party, the Green Party of Canada. And it’s also about my personal experiences with the reaction to the conflict. The specific motivation for this post was a recent blog entry made by the Green Party of Canada’s President, Paul Estrin (see: “Why Gaza makes me sad,” Paul Estrin, Green Party of Canada Blogs, July 25, 2014) which made its way into the public sphere over the weekend thanks to social media connections.
I understand, based on a remark now posted at the bottom of Mr. Estrin’s post, that since publishing the post on Friday, Mr. Estrin has removed reference in the post to his position as President of the Green Party of Canada. Mr. Estrin indicates that he is instead sharing his personal perspective on the Green Party’s blogsite.
The Green Party's Blogsite
First off, let me try to qualify myself here. I am a member of the Green Party of Canada in good standing, and I am currently an Officer with the Nickel Belt Green Party of Canada Electoral District Association. I have no authorization from the Central Party, as per the Party’s Constitution, to speak on behalf of the Party. Nor do I have any authorization from my EDA’s Executive to make statements on its behalf. Given my lack of authorization, I want to make it very clear that I am writing today only as a member of the Green Party of Canada – and no more should be read into this post by anybody.
And the same is true for Mr. Estrin’s post. As a past and one-time frequent contributor to the Green Party’s blogsite, I feel that it is incumbent to let the public know that the Party does not vet or in any way impede the posting of Member’s blogs. If you are a member of the Green Party in good standing, you can apply for a Login to the Member’s section of the site. Once logged in, you can make a post to the Party’s blogsite. Nothing more is required. Blogposts are not hidden by “members only “ firewalls – they are available for the public to view.
The Green Party’s blogsite is a unique feature of my Party, in that it encourages members to actively engage with one another, in a public venue, on matters of importance to the membership – or at least to an individual member. As per the Party’s Constitution, individual members must be authorized to speak on behalf of the Party, or as per the Constitutions of many Electoral District Associations, authorization is also required to speak on behalf of an EDA. Since making my first few blogposts back in 2007-08, I’ve always appended a disclaimer to my blogposts that my views are my own, and that I’m not writing on the Party’s behalf. While not everyone who posts on the Green Party’s site includes similar disclaimers, the fact of the matter is that there is a general understanding in the Party that a post to the blog site is to be in no way construed as representative of the Party’s policy, position or platform.
But values are a different story – one I’ll come back to.
The Party’s blog site is a space created by the membership for engagement. It’s not unusual to find a post made by an individual which challenges member-approved policy or questions decisions made by the Party Leadership. This would be completely unheard of in other parties, and would likely lead to sanctions against individual members. It seems to me that other parties put far too high an emphasis on message management. We Greens instead choose to engage in the messy process we call democracy – and try to do so in a transparent and respectful way. Having a blog site on the Party’s website with content generated by the membership speaks volumes about the inherent values of my Party. Shutting down and stifling respectful differences of opinion has no place in my Party.
That being said, I have to also acknowledge that sometimes, this blog site gets the Party into trouble. In the past, some posts have been made by the membership which have led to questions to the Party regarding the Party’s position on certain matters. People see a post on the Party’s website and some immediately take that post to be representative of the Party’s position or policy – sometimes simply because the Party’s logo might appear on the webpage, other times because it seems to some unfathomable that a political party in Canada in this day and age would tolerate anything but “the party line” posted to its website. Even I, one of the biggest supporters of our blog site, have to acknowledge that the very existence of this blog site causes confusion about the Party amongst the public – and even confusion amongst our own membership.
Years ago, a link to our blog site appeared on the front page of our website. When the Party’s website was redesigned, the link disappeared, and while the blog site still exists, anyone chancing on our site would have a heck of a time trying to find the blogs. But, linking one’s post to social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, can and does make blog posts accessible. And certainly, if you know where to look, you can find all of the blogs.
Since the removal of the link, many Green bloggers, myself included, decided to make the shift to maintaining personal blogs elsewhere other than the Green Party’s website. For a while, I continued to cross-post my blogs to my own personal Sudbury Steve blog and the Party website, but ultimately I moved away from the Party website all together. Now, I only post to the Party’s blog site when I feel that a specific post might be of specific interest to my Party. That being said, I continue to believe that the blog site can be a useful space for members to engage with one another and discuss important issues in a transparent way, although clearly it is being underutilized for those conversations.
Mr. Estrin's Post
All of this brings me back to Paul Estrin’s blog post of Friday, July 25, 2014. Given the above, it is clear to me that Mr. Estrin made this post only as a member of the Green Party in good standing, and not as an official spokesperson of the Party. Although Mr. Estrin is President of the Party, his opinions and posts to our blog site cannot and do not bind the Party to any position at all. That being said, I also totally understand why a blogpost identifying Mr. Estrin as President of the Party can be (and clearly has been) misconstrued as being representative of the Party’s position. I sincerely believe that it was not the intent of Mr. Estrin to mislead anybody into thinking that his opinion was in alignment with the Party. I believe this because I know that Mr. Estrin and I were present at the recent Green Party of Canada General Meeting, held in Fredericton, in which two motions relating to the conflict in Israel and Gaza were discussed by the membership. Further, Mr. Estrin’s own edits to his post clearly demonstrate that he understands his post is representative only of his own opinion, and not the Party’s.
It may be that Mr. Estrin made a mistake by identifying his position in the Party on his blogpost. I’ve not personally made my mind up about that, as I think there was some merit to the membership for him to identify himself as President of the Party. What might have helped initially would have been the sort of disclaimer that he eventually placed on his post, indicating that the view he was discussing was his own alone, and not the Party’s. Again, ultimately, Mr. Estrin made an edit to the post to clarify.
Mr. Estrin’s post has been receiving a lot of feedback in social media, including feedback from Green Party members. Some of my Party’s membership have shared their thoughts and views on the Green Party’s blog site as comments appended to Mr. Estrin’s post. Generally speaking, comments from Greens, including those made by me, have been critical of Mr. Estrin’s post. Other comments in the public realm have praised Mr. Estrin for taking a “bold” stand on the conflict, while yet others have condemned both Mr. Estrin and the Green Party of Canada for holding Mr. Estrin’s views on the conflict.
My Issue with Mr. Estrin's Post
Again, my post today is not going to explore Mr. Estrin’s opinion, or anyone else’s opinion for that matter, on the conflict in Gaza and Israel. I’m here to write about why I believe Mr. Estrin crossed a very serious line with his post, and why I believe he should now resign his position as President of the Green Party of Canada.
The fact that Mr. Estrin expressed his personal opinion on a matter, whether he identified himself as the Party’s President while doing so or not, is not, in my opinion, particularly problematic from the perspective of a legitimate use of the Green Party’s blog site to further discussion amongst members (although I do acknowledge the confusion it has created). That Mr. Estrin’s opinion might not be entirely in keeping with the Party’s policies or positions on this matter is also, frankly, of no concern to me – in fact, I believe that by posting to the blog site, Mr. Estrin’s intention was to foment discussion – the very sort of healthy political discussion that I think we need more of today in Canadian politics, not less.
Where I am expressing significant concern is with some of the characterizations which Mr. Estrin uses in his lengthy post – and in particular, a characterization of Muslims which I find offensive. I know that “cherry picking” certain words and phrases from a much longer piece can lead to mischief – let me be clear, that’s not my intention. The phrase in question stands alone in his lengthier essay, and there appears to be no good reason why Mr. Estrin included it, except to inflame the discussion by painting an identifiable group of people in a negative, and completely inappropriate, light.
The phrase in question is directed towards “peace activists” (which Mr. Estrin refers to in a follow-up comment pejoratively as “peaceniks”):
“We need to re-examine our priorities if we are marching in the streets. Unless we want to see another Mullah amongst us, where other religions aside from a certain variety of Islam are not allowed, where synagogues are used as latrines and garbage dumps and Christians are living in constant fear.”
The implication here is clear, and it’s nasty. Canadians and others “marching in the streets” in favour of ending the conflict in Gaza and Israel must be willing to accept what Mr. Estrin believes to be the inevitable the outcome of such protests. Mr. Estrin’s conclusion is completely off-base, and extremely offensive. And it grossly mischaracterizes Muslims as being anti-Jewish and anti-Christian.
And that’s why I believe that Mr. Estrin’s post has no place on the Green Party’s website. Anti-Islamic language such as Mr. Estrin’s has no place in any respectful and legitimate discourse on any subject, much less on a site hosted by the Green Party for respectful discourse.
The Values of the Party
Further, Mr. Estrin’s gross mischaracterization of Muslims is not in keeping with the Green Party’s values, specifically that of “respecting diversity”. By attempting to associate anti-Jewish and anti-Christian behaviour with an identifiable group, in this case a “certain variety” of Muslims, Mr. Estrin has clearly crossed the line of respectful discourse and veered instead into what can only be construed as offensive.
If Mr. Estrin sincerely believes that we are at risk of Muslims turning synagogues into latrines because of our peaceful protests, not only is Mr. Estrin completely misinformed, but he needs to resign his position as President of the Green Party – and frankly, he should also resign his membership in the Party. And let me be clear – Mr. Estrin does, in fact, make it very clear that he is quite serious about his belief in this risk, as later in the piece Mr. Estrin attempts to justify his fears by indicating that these events happened in Jordan in the past. Mr. Estrin should keep in mind that the past is not prologue, and what may have happened in another place and another time is not demonstrative of what may happen here and now.
Unfortunately, this gross mischaracterization of Muslims taints Mr. Estrin’s piece in its entirety – at least for me. While others have seen valid points in Mr. Estrin’s post, the anti-Islamic tone precipitated by Mr. Estrin’s characterization of Muslims is hard to overlook and should not be overlooked.
Legitimacy and Confidence
Yesterday, I posted a comment to Mr. Estrin’s post in which I asked Mr. Estrin to resign. I reposted my comment to my Facebook Page, to which Mr. Estrin responded – so I know he’s seen my request for him to step down as President. I continue to believe that for the good of the Party, Mr. Estrin should resign. Mr. Estrin can make this decision on his own – and should do so in the next day or two.
Otherwise, the Party may be left with no choice but to have our Federal Council review the situation and make a decision on his removal from Federal Council, as per Section 2.1.5.1 of the Party’s Constitutional by-laws. In arriving at a decision, should one be warranted, I believe that it is incumbent upon our Federal Council to strongly consider the anti-Islamic viewpoints expressed by Mr. Estrin, and question whether these views can be reconciled with the Party’s value of respecting diversity.
If Mr. Estrin does not act on his own initiative, and if our Federal Council fails to act, I believe that my Party is headed towards a crisis of legitimacy. This is not about free speech or controlling the views of party members – I sincerely hope that my blogpost has made it clear that I, and the majority of Greens, value the ability to publicly disagree with one another and our Party, if done with respect. This isn’t about anybody’s opinion on the conflict underway in Israel and Gaza. And this certainly isn’t about trying to sweep a sensitive political matter under the carpet, as some have suggested.
This is about respectful discourse in keeping with the values of the Party.
And I believe that’s the line Mr. Estrin has crossed.
Of course, it may be that by writing this post, as a member of the Party, I am also in contravention of the Party’s by-laws and should be made subject to discipline. I believe that what I’ve written here today (and elsewhere yesterday) has been in keeping with the values of the Party. If I am to be made answerable for what I’ve written, I’ll accept whatever consequences arise as a result. The good of the Party remains my primary concern, and it is what has motivated me to write about this episode with Mr. Estrin. I continue to believe that the good of the Party would be best served by not having Mr. Estrin occupy the position of President any longer – no matter how that may come about. If expressing my opinion on this matter should lead to a complaint process with the Party’s Ombuds Committee, or our Federal Council’s consideration of my expulsion, I am prepared to reiterate my reasons and motivation for writing this post to whatever body of the Party that may charged with considering the matter.
(opinions expressed in this blog are my own and should not be interpreted as being consistent with the views and/or policies of the Green Party of Canada)
Posted by Sudbury Steve at 8:07 PM
1 comment:
John Hutchinson said...
"Unless we want to see another Mullah amongst us, where other religions aside from a certain variety of Islam are not allowed, where synagogues are used as latrines and garbage dumps and Christians are living in constant fear."
Even of the phrase that you cherry pick from your party president's post misconstrues his viewpoint.
The "certain variety of Islam" is the type of Islam like ISIS, which kills other Sunnis because they are not Sunni enough. It is no different than Jacobins who killed other Jacobins because of their insufficient purity or Stalinists who killed other Communists for ostensibly similar reasons.
The mindset of such varieties of any religious or secular groups are reducible to that of death dispensers.
http://sudburysteve.blogspot.ca/2014/07/why-green-party-president-paul-estrins.html
--------------------
Why Gaza makes me sad
25 July
2014 - 9:41pm
************************************************
Comment from the moderator:
Comment from the moderator:
Views
expressed on Green Party members' blogs are representative of the members
themselves and are not official party policy. The following motion was passed
by the Green Party membership at the 2014 Convention on July 20, 2014.
G14-P58
Israel – Palestine Conflict
Be it resolved that the GPC urges the immediate cessation of hostilities between Israel and Palestine. The GPC will adopt a posture of engaged neutrality, opening all available diplomatic avenues in both Palestine and Israel to press for a peaceful resolution to the conflict consistent with the GPC’s commitment to justice and custom of speaking truth to power.
Be it resolved that the GPC urges the immediate cessation of hostilities between Israel and Palestine. The GPC will adopt a posture of engaged neutrality, opening all available diplomatic avenues in both Palestine and Israel to press for a peaceful resolution to the conflict consistent with the GPC’s commitment to justice and custom of speaking truth to power.
************************************************
The history of the people who live in Gaza is something that should infuriate.
(Before I
go on, a disclaimer as seen below as well: These are my personal thoughts and
my personal perspective and do not necessarily speak to the thoughts and
persectives of the membership and direction of the Green Party of Canada.)
We could
delve into their history of the Egyptian rule over Gaza, or further back during
the rule of the Ottoman Empire, or we could even go as far back as biblical
histories of the people that lived in that same region, for which some of the
place names have stayed unchanged for millennia.
Instead,
we can just look at what has happened since Israel left Gaza. Yes, it was
occupied by Israel, from 1967 to 2005, 38 years. And then, in a decision that
rocked many people, Israel said that although it did not see a partner for
peace in Gaza, and although Israel has a very clear policy that it will trade
land for recognition and peace, Israel decided to leave, fighting its own
citizens, showing once more that it sticks to its word about the settlements
not being permanent, but instead something to be removed painfully if peace is
achievable to be had.
And then
Hamas took power. It has nearly been ten years. Since August 2005, Gazans have
been in control of their own destiny. Some might say otherwise, yet Gazans have
their own government and they are their own people: If their neighbours, Egypt
and Israel, close their borders to Gaza, one must look to a Gaza run by a
terrorist organization cum government that teaches and propagates hate, death
and destruction to understand why.
Since
then, stories of resources being used, such as concrete supposed to be used for
infrastructure for civil use instead used for purposes of terrors, or stories
of repression of the people there by its own government, or stories of how
under Hamas rule people no income or ways to support themselves … I’m reminded
of Bill Clinton’s remark “It’s the economy, stupid” … but instead of showing
openness to the world, or managing, or caring ... Gaza has instead shown that
it is not interested in peace, in building a stable economy, in a secure
future.
The Gazan
government has had ample opportunity over these past years, nearly a decade, to
alter its ways, change its mantra of death to the Jews, and become respectable
caretakers of the people in their charge.
They have
not.
Surely
they could have done more. Should have done more.
We can
forgive them for at first being overjoyed with the departure of the Israeli
forces, and them as a terrorist organization unable to initially take up the
challenge of good governance.
We can
forgive them for not immediately changing their charter. In Canada and
elsewhere, national charters protect the people. In Gaza, the first article
calls for the death of Israel and the Jew. (Let me quote just a bit: “Israel
will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as
it obliterated others before it." I would like to believe all of us in our
organization can see how atrocious such a statement is, and that we would
believe in things like the right of people to not be obliterated …)
They
said, they being the Hamas government newly in power, they needed time. They
have had nearly a decade. What is the holdup … oh, wait, the hate and desire to
obliterate.
So, let
us fast forward past a decade’s worth of battles, wars, incursions, etc.
How much
aide has Israel given Gaza? How much has the world given Gaza?
Giving
aid is worthwhile, a noble cause. But, has it gone to the people that need it?
Ten years …
So, now,
this month, what do we see:
Israel is
more threatened than even because its neighbour, instead of caring about the
welfare and well-being of its citizens, cares about the cause of killing, of
carrying the banner of martyrdom, and of watching its fellow people die.
And yet,
these are the same people who are embraced and loved by the international
community, with marches on Parliament Hill in Canada’s capital, and in cities
throughout the world, holding banners and chanting about the destruction of the
state of Israel and of death to the Jews.
Meanwhile,
Gaza uses UN locations to launch or house weapons … yet the international
community cries out, a day after the UN itself admitted this and said that this
practise puts at risk those in these facilities given that these places then
are not safe havens but rather places of war to be targeted ..
Meanwhile,
Gaza is giving children grenades … and asking their citizens to be sheep to the
slaughter.
Gazan
officials tell their people to be killed while they hide in bomb shelters.
Cowards?
No, this is worse than cowardice. It is vile and ugly and they should be put to
shame.
Instead,
it is Israel who is put to shame. It is easy enough to do.
In our
culture, often activists are against colonialism, yet forget that their
ancestors only a handful of generations ago partook in just that, enabling them
to live the secure lives they currently enjoy, and the lives the live is at the
benefit of economic colonialism …
… to
critique, is it better to know your roots and who you are, or is ignorance
better so that you can accuse the other without seeing just how similar the
other is to you?
It looks
very bad for Israel. 800+ Gazans dead. 1000s injured. Lots of destruction.
Meanwhile,
in Syria, how many hundreds of thousands of people, including so many
Palestinians, are dead or injured … where are the inflammatory protests …
Meanwhile,
throughout the world, injustices happen on a near-daily basis. But these same
activists, when they hear the cry of the moment, if it is anti-Israel it is an
easy band-wagon to get on, to get their anti-Israel war-paint on and join their
friends between potlucks, veggie smoothies and coffee breaks.
Ask them
about a warlord or abuser in another part of the world, I highly doubt they
will know .. or care .. but Netanyahu, or Sharon, those are names they know and
loath.
I always
found it interesting, the focus on such a small country .. is it because then
it is easy to know who is who, who to love, who to hate, as opposed to so many
other regions and countries many, many times larger that have atrocities of a
scale much larger than what has been seen in that one oh-so-small strip of the
Middle East known as Israel?
I am sure
that many people I know will be upset for my having the gall to write these
words.
I am
simply sick and tired of having to hear such hypocrisy and twisted logic.
I am
reminded of a seminar I attended at the University of Victoria a decade ago.
The
seminar was a group of Iranian professors who had fled Iran after the
revolution, and a central theme that repeated itself was the image of the
protests and marches in the city of Teheran.
I
remember how one of the lecturers painfully spoke about the European marchers
that were so caught up in the cause of overthrowing the Shah that they were all
chanting “Allah-hu akbar” at the tops of their lungs, and how she was looking at
these foreigners and wondering if they had any idea just what this chant was
going to mean for her country.
… That
history continues to be written, and it is a sad one.
We want
to see the world as black and white, right and wrong.
We want
to support the under-dog. Who doesn’t.
But,
terror is terror. Evil is evil.
When
Gazans are asked what they want, they want peace. They want to work in Israel.
They want security for their children and themselves. They don’t want to
live in the terror they have under Hamas … and yet the world cheers on Hamas
that spends the money and resources needed for infrastructure, housing,
hospitals, schools, and buys weapons, builds tools for terror.. I cannot help
but feel sad for this world. And we, as a green movement, should not be
supporting such a movement or government .. yes, their flag is green, but that
is where the resemblance stops. Or at least, that is where it should stop.
On the
other side of the coin, Israel is doing all it can with an untenable situation.
The world media vilifies it, to the point that when those firing missiles into
its borders and sending militias into its land need to see that they cannot do
this, it is Israel, and not Gaza, that feels the world’s hate. When al-Jazeera
does a more balanced job than CNN, and let’s not talk about here in Canada our
media, how that has been … …
Military
experts look at Israel’s military strategy: No carpet bombing, no quick
actions, but instead pinpoint strikes whilst warning the enemy in advance of
what their plans are, and slow movements.. they, military people the world
over, say that Israel’s military is the most moral of them all, above the
British, above the Americans, but at what price, when the enemy knows no
qualms, and would rather see hundreds of their own people die for a media blitz
against Israel than do all it can to save a single life. What other military
calls up the enemy on their phone to tell them that their building will be
bombed, to kindly leave, yes, you have enough time to leave, just thought it
would be the neighbourly thing to do … anyone else in war, and that is what
Hamas is calling this time in Gaza, would simply bomb, kill and destroy.
And that
is it in a nutshell: Whilst Israel does all that is in its power to protect the
lives of all its citizens and the lives of those it is attacking, Gaza does all
in its power to have all the more die.
We need
to re-examine our priorities if we are marching in the streets. Unless we want
to see another Mullah amongst us, where other religions aside from a certain
variety of Islam are not allowed, where synagogues are used as latrines and
garbage dumps and Christians are living in constant fear.
For those
of you who would say this is ridiculous, look at all the countries surrounding
Israel and read their track record. And yes, Jordan up until Jerusalem was
freed was using synagogues as garbage dumps and as latrines, it is history,
look it up and understand how Israel is different, a land where all religions
are free to practise and all its citizens are citizens … how many Palestinian
refugees are still not the citizens of their countries of residence, the
countries they were born in … But, that is a comment for another article for
another time, how the world doesn’t actually care about the Palestinians, but
rather cares about showing they care about the Palestinians. Though it is
interesting, in that it resounds so similarly to nations and people saying they
care about Jews and are appalled by anti-Semitism, but when violence occurs …
Again, another article for another time.
Priorities.
One day,
and soon, I hope that Gaza's government will act appropriately and show that
the life of every single person is precious. But I fear that our world’s
international media, international agencies and all the activists who noble
actions are grossly misplaced, although nonetheless noble, they are simply
enabling the terrorists, and so all they are having reinforced is that this is
a strategy that works.
I hope
and pray for a peace. That the borders will open. That trade starts up. That
the international airport in Gaza can be reopened. That Gazans can retake their
old jobs and through economic endeavours create and build upon a peace of
social and economic unity.
And then
maybe the other issues, such as water, air, and environment can be paid the
dire attention that is needed.
But I
feel that peace will take a miracle. Israel is losing patience, a country
cannot live in constant fear without hardliners coming to power .. oh
wait .. and then, while the world watches, Israel will be forced to conduct a
military manoeuver, one that perhaps it ought to have made years ago, to then
enable reconstruction and a manageable peace. I pray it will not come to that,
but if Gaza under Hamas continues its reign of terror, what choice will Israel
plausibly have.
Thank you
for reading.
These are
my personal thoughts and my personal perspective and do not necessarily speak
to the thoughts and persectives of the membership and direction of the Green
Party of Canada.
Sincerely,
Paul
Estrin
Edit: I
realize I initially signed this document with my name and title. I have removed
my title because I want to make it as clear as possible that my words are my
own, what I have written is my perspective.
------------------------------
ur breaking the hearts of the worlds humanity- UNITED STATES MUST MIND ITS OWN BUSINESS- WHITE MAN'S WAR UKRAINE A DISGRACE -NEIGHBOUR KILLING NEIGHBOUR- MUSLIM BUTCHERING MUSLIMS GLEEFULLY- BEAUTIFUL ISRAEL BEING DECIMATED- AFRICAN MUSLIM HERETICS- IRAN...SYRIA...QATAR....HAMAS, HEZBOLLAH WHATEVER.. UR PERSIAN/ARAB HATE MUST STOP- UNITED NATIONS- DISBAND OR REMEMBER U WERE FORMED ON THE ASHES OF THE JEWISH HOLOCAUST FROM LEAGUE OF NATIONS 4 BASIC HUMANITY 4 ALL...imho deadderWEB-july30
---------------
JULY 30TH 2014- WORLD'S MEDIA NEEDS THEIR ARSES KICKED AND BILLIONS MUST PROTEST BY TURNING OFF AND TUNING OUT ALL WORLD MEDIA UNTIL THEY GET BACK 2 BASICS.... GLOBAL POLITICIANS... U BETRAY 7 BILLION OF US... WITH UR GREEDY DESPOTS AND THIEVES.... ALONG WITH UR GLOBAL BANKING RAPE OF THE PLANET'S PEOPLE.... shame on u all...imho
HOSTAGES TO HAMAS
What, exactly, does “disproportionate" mean? It means that Hamas spent $1 million for each of their massive tunnels, rather than use that money, mostly given by the international community, to improve the lives of their people. It means that rocket launchers are placed, at best, next to people’s homes, next to mosques, next to schools, and, at worst, inside or underneath those homes, mosques, schools.
So to all of you whose heart cries at the numbers of vulnerable people killed, yes, your hearts should cry — not because of “disproportionate numbers" of dead or injured, but at the abuse of its people by a terrorist regime.
Victoria Hammerling Rosenberg, Halifax
What, exactly, does “disproportionate" mean? It means that Hamas spent $1 million for each of their massive tunnels, rather than use that money, mostly given by the international community, to improve the lives of their people. It means that rocket launchers are placed, at best, next to people’s homes, next to mosques, next to schools, and, at worst, inside or underneath those homes, mosques, schools.
So to all of you whose heart cries at the numbers of vulnerable people killed, yes, your hearts should cry — not because of “disproportionate numbers" of dead or injured, but at the abuse of its people by a terrorist regime.
Victoria Hammerling Rosenberg, Halifax
STOP THE SLAUGHTER
Last week, I read that two dead children, a girl aged about seven and a boy aged nine, were lying in a room in Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. When a journalist walked by, he heard shouting and arguing from the relatives at the bedside. He went in and asked why they were fighting. One relative said bitterly, “We don’t know which boy died, Hamsa or Khalil." The journalist looked down and saw the b oy was headless.
Is this what Israel wants to be known for? Israeli airstrikes decapitating or shearing off arms and legs of scores of children? Even though the Israel Broadcast Authority has refused to air radio spots in which the names of Gazan children killed during Operation Protective Edge are read out, people around the world and in Canada can read the names of more than 200 children on Internet sites.
I’m a Jew and a proud member of Independent Jewish Voices — Canada. Will other Canadian Jews stand up for an end to the killings?
Judy Haiven, Halifax
http://thechronicleherald.ca/letters/1226215-voice-of-the-people-july-30-2014
Last week, I read that two dead children, a girl aged about seven and a boy aged nine, were lying in a room in Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. When a journalist walked by, he heard shouting and arguing from the relatives at the bedside. He went in and asked why they were fighting. One relative said bitterly, “We don’t know which boy died, Hamsa or Khalil." The journalist looked down and saw the b oy was headless.
Is this what Israel wants to be known for? Israeli airstrikes decapitating or shearing off arms and legs of scores of children? Even though the Israel Broadcast Authority has refused to air radio spots in which the names of Gazan children killed during Operation Protective Edge are read out, people around the world and in Canada can read the names of more than 200 children on Internet sites.
I’m a Jew and a proud member of Independent Jewish Voices — Canada. Will other Canadian Jews stand up for an end to the killings?
Judy Haiven, Halifax
http://thechronicleherald.ca/letters/1226215-voice-of-the-people-july-30-2014
------------------------------
JULY 28 2014- Canada like Israel- all are welcome- we love our Gay children, sons, daughters, mothers, sisters, brothers, fathers, cousins and so on.... it matters...
JULY 29 2014 - THIS IS JUST SO WRONG.... WHITE MAN'S WAR PUTTING NEIGHBOUR AGAINST NEIGHBOUR... IN BALKINS/EU/RUSSIA.... THE SHAME...
JULY 29 2014
To end Hamas-Israel wars,
deal with the mutual despair
Despair during this third Hamas-Israel war is so
high on both sides that despair itself needs to be addressed. Recognizing it as
a shared problem helps not only as a point of empathy but can dispel the notion
of despair as destiny.
By the Monitor's Editorial Board July 27, 2014
AP Photo
View Caption
The
latest war between Israel and Hamas, their third in less than a decade, has now
produced at least one shared result: utter despair among Israelis and the
Palestinians in Gaza that either side knows what
peace might look like.
This
emotion of despair is difficult to measure. Yet it can be seen on the faces of
people disheartened by the rocket-and-bomb violence that began in June. Each
side should now more easily recognize it in the other. And perhaps with that
can come some hope of a shared response to despair – and its paralyzing effect
on resolving Israeli-Palestinian differences.
This
possibility was heard in a Tel Aviv rally Saturday in which about 7,000 people
chanted “Jews and Arabs refuse to be enemies.” And in a noted speech there, Ben
Kfir, an Israeli whose daughter was killed by Hamas, said: “In Gaza they are
digging concrete tunnels and we are erecting a separation fence. How sad it is
that we can’t channel these efforts for peace.”
It was
also heard at a July 8 peace conference sponsored by the newspaper Haaretz in
which writer David Grossman offered these words:
“We cannot afford the luxury and indulgence of
despair. The situation is too desperate to be left to the despairing, for
accepting despair amounts to an admission that we’ve been defeated. Defeated
not on the battlefield, but as human beings. Something deep and vital to us as
humans was taken away, was stolen from us, the moment we agreed to let despair
to have a dominion.”
Addressing
despair itself should now be the top priority among Israelis and Palestinians,
for two reasons:
1. When
each side talks about possible details of a compromise, it becomes all too easy
to bring up past grievances, current injustices, or future threats. How much of
Israel’s blockade of Gaza should be lifted? Should Hamas be totally disarmed?
Often such issues quickly descend into questions of Israel’s 1948 founding, the
Holocaust, and even the biblical origins of Jews and Arabs. Word choices alone
-- such as defining occupation, civilian, or terror – can become flash-points
for feuding. Better to start by acknowledging that each side is fed up with
despair and wants to exchange it for hope.
2. Many
leaders on each side have learned to exploit or encourage public despair in
their competition for power with political rivals. Despondency becomes an
excuse to militarize, hunker down, or stall for time. The past failures of
peace deals, such as the 1993 Oslo peace accords, are used to sow pessimism
about the potential for new ones. The breakdown of the recent American-led
peace negotiation becomes an opportunity for radicals to deny hope of a deal.
Despair
can be abused but it can also be used as a point of empathy. After the 1973 war
between Israel and Egypt, a shared despair helped drive talks that led to the
Camp David accords and a long peace between the two countries. That old despair
is largely forgotten. This lesson – that despair can quickly end when simply
confronted as a self-imposed obstacle to peace – should now be applied to make
sure this latest Hamas-Israel war is the last.
----------------------
HALIFAX PRIDE PARADE
Music, colour ful pageantr y highlight event
An estimated 80,000 spectators line streets; about 2,500 participate
Music, colour ful pageantr y highlight event
An estimated 80,000 spectators line streets; about 2,500 participate
EVA HOARE STAFF REPORTER
ehoare@herald.ca @CH_EvaHoare
It was mixed in among the colours of the rainbow, bubbles, water guns, the blasting Cher music and drag queens — and it was called acceptance.
That’s what many people who lined the streets of Halifax on Saturday for the annual pride parade noted amid the screams, hoots of joy and laughter as countless floats passed by.
It’s estimated the parade drew 80,000 people, a far cry from the first one in 1987 when participants were greeted with derision. About 2,500 people directly participated in the parade, which featured 106 floats, organizers said. Streets along the parade route, from Upper Water onto Barrington, Spring Garden Road and South Park to its end point at the Garrison Grounds, were lined with people of all ages, including children in strollers and family pets.
“It’s unbelievable the difference," said Michelle Gillard, who was among dozens stationed along Upper Water Street just after the parade began at about 1:30 p.m.
Gillard and her friend, Linda Furlought, both of Dartmouth, said they’ve been coming to the parade for the last
six to eight years and marvel at how much the event has grown.
“It’s very much mainstream,” said Gillard.
She and Furlought say they hope young people today realize how much others “suffered” in years past to get to this point.
Sabrina, a 19-year-old who didn’t give her last name, came out to her friends and family three years ago. She said she was there to show support for those in the LGBTQ community.
Letting people know her sexual orientation at 16 went more smo othly than it likely did for others years ago, said the young Dartmouth woman. “I think it’s much easier to come out now,” she said from her perch on Spring Garden Road.
She said she had to show up in solidarity. “It’s important because I’m gay, too.”
Another group of young people, dress ed in tutus and tights and wearing in-line skates, said they were thrilled to be there and be boosters for the community.
“We happen to like dressing up,” said Hillary Nette, dressed identically to the two friends who accompanied her.
“We’re part of Halifax and we’re proud of pride,” Nette said.
The three, who stood at the beginning of the parade route on Upper Water Street, cheered on the floats as they passed by.
Businesses and labour unions participated, as well as some political parties and leaders, churches and other religious groups. Several non-profits also had floats or a parade presence, including youth groups that help young members of the local LGBTQ community.
The festival atmosphere was amped up by drag queens, thumping music, p eople walking and doing stunts on stilts, hula hooping, and the periodic streams of water from water guns fired off at the crowd from some floats. Dogs with festive rainbow colours were also on hand, and SPCA members pushed puppies in crate-style strollers.
Many from the crowd danced and sang along to songs like Pharrell Williams’ hit Happy, which blared from a loudspeaker on one float.
Dylan White, communications director for Halifax Pride, said the parade was a su ccess.
“The parade was seamless. People really got creative,” he said in an interview early Saturday evening .
It was wonderful to see so many people support the community, White said. “There were so many allies out. I know that my parents came down from Amherst; it was their first pride parade.”
Halifax Regional Police were out in full force lining the route, and some motorcycle officers had their vehicles festooned in rainbow decorations. By late in the afternoon, it appeared there had been no major incidents to report.
White said it’s been encouraging to see societal attitudes changing. “That’s exactly what we want. We want people to be comfortable here.” There have been many strides but there’s “always a long way to go,” he said.
“There are a lot of groups . . . that are really working toward growing acceptance. There’s a lot of groups out there that are really fighting for equality.”
The pride festival drew to a close Sunday.
A participant painted in rainbow colours takes part in Saturday’s pride parade. CHRISTIAN LAFORCE• Staff
U PROTEST IN OUR CANADA WITHOUT ONE CANADIAN FLAG!!!
and... here's the proof....... MUSLIM NATIONS ARE SICK OF HAMAS, HEZBOLLAH BLAH, BLAH, BLAH AS WELL....... THEY ENJOY KILLING THEIR OWN SISTERS AND BROTHERS 2 MUCH......
IT’S NOT THE SAME HAMAS
Hamas rode relatively high in 2009, in its own particular way. Dan Perry-AP July 26 2014
The Islamic militant group had legitimately won Palestinian parliamentary elections in 2 006, was denied the share of power it wanted by Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, and in a little over a year had battled its way to full control of Gaza. It promised cleaner government than the Palestinian Authority and was relatively popular as a result. Israelis and much of the world, remembering suicide bombings and bus attacks, rejected Hamas as a terrorist group, to be blockaded and shunned. But in the Arab world at least, there was a veneer of legitimacy. Hamas had powerful supporters in Iran and the Gulf, and neighbouring Egypt was not openly an enemy back then .
Much has happened since in the Arab world, and it hasn’t helped Hamas. The Arab Spring brought a wave of Islamist successes, followed by a widespread sense of their misrule. In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood, which largely spawned Hamas, is now outlawed; its leaders are on trial and the group is portrayed by media as terrorists. Jihadis cut from a similar cloth as Hamas are considered in leading Arab circles to have brought destruction and disgrace in Syria, Iraq, Libya, Yemen and Egypt’s own Sinai region .
There is not much love for Israel in the Arab world, and growing horror at the civilian deaths in Gaza. But many in the region seem nonetheless pleased to see Hamas get hammered, and some would be happier still to see it gone.
-----------------
JULY 27 2014 updates
By Aron
Heller | 01:15 PM
-------------------
Oh 4 f**k's sake.... rockets have been found 2 times in UN SCHOOLS!!!!! ... AND UNITED NATIONS.... CANNOT PLACE THE ROCKETS FOUND.... AND STOLEN AGAIN????- oh come on....3.4 billion Christians are NOT buying this sheeeeet anymore...well NDP and Green party support HAMAS TERROR AND HEZBOLLAH.... SYRIA AND IRAN..... AND ISIS.... WHO WANTS 2 CASTRATE WOMEN AND GIRLS..... how's that 4 a proud political party or two of Canada.... we knew NDP don't really consider women equal 2 men..... and Green Party doesn't give a sheeet unless ur gay.... but seriously... supporting HAMAS??? 26 July 2014
NDP wants Tories to fund UN agency that housed terrorist rocket launchers
OTTAWA — The NDP wants the government to give money to the United Nations agency in Gaza that Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird rebuked this week because terrorist rocket launchers were found in one of its schools.
In a letter Friday, the party's foreign affairs critic, Paul Dewar, urged the minister to help the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
"UNRWA has warned that its supplies could run out at any time, and is requesting an urgent contribution of $60 million from the international community to continue providing food, medicine and shelter," Dewar wrote.
Baird has been critical of UN agencies for ignoring the thousands of rockets Hamas has fired and Israel's right to defend itself against indiscriminate attacks.
He says the UN won't acknowledge Hamas is responsible for the violence in Gaza.
On Thursday, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said he was outraged rockets were discovered in the UN-administered school and that the rockets later vanished.
On Tuesday, when reports first surfaced, Baird called for an independent body to investigate whether UN officials returned the weapons to Hamas.
Over the past six years, the government has cut Canada's overall annual contribution to UNRWA to zero from $28 million.
The government had no comment Friday.
The U.S. has pledged $15 million.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2014/07/25/21832961.html
-------------------------------
AUGUST 2014-
video
It's Over for Ukraine
Kiev fired 3 ballistic missiles at separatists. CNN
claims. War crime can no longer be disputed.
comment: REBLOG: Yet another escalation, by Ukraine. The “good guys”. They introced into the conflict: tanks, artillery vs cities, and now: ballistic missiles. Anyone care to imagine what happens if Russia were to supply the rebels with the means to make this a fair fight?
------------------------------
UKRAINE
UKRAINE- A democratic President was hijacked and democracy stolen under the guidance of EU/Canada/USA ..... and now the beautiful people of Ukraine (67% Russian speaking and historical background are being horrifically treated on the world's stage of a white man's war... just 3 keep NATO $$$ flowing- Syria has 6 million homeless.... Africas have thousands slaughtered in the face of world's media and little girls are being castrated 2 appease evil old men...... WTF happened 2 our planet.... we need humanity back please.... imho
In Canada- Women -Men = EQUAL RIGHTS
CANADA BILL OF RIGHTS- 1960
Canadian Bill of Rights
R.S.C. 1985, Appendix III
An Act for the Recognition and Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms [S.C. 1960, c.44]
Preamble
The Parliament of Canada, affirming that the Canadian Nation is founded upon principles that acknowledge the supremacy of God, the dignity and worth of the human person and the position of the family in a society of free men and free institutions;
Affirming also that men and institutions remain free only when freedom is founded upon respect for moral and spiritual values and the rule of law;
And being desirous of enshrining these principles and the human rights and fundamental freedoms derived from them, in a Bill of Rights which shall reflect the respect of Parliament for its constitutional authority and which shall ensure the protection of these rights and freedoms in Canada:
Therefore, Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:
PART I
BILL OF RIGHTS
1. It is hereby recognized and declared that in Canada there have existed and shall continue to exist without discrimination by reason of race, national origin, colour, religion or sex, the following human rights and fundamental freedoms, namely,
(a) the right of the individual to life, liberty, security of the person and enjoyment of property and the right not to be deprived thereof except by due process of law;
(b) the right of the individual to equality before the law and the protection of the law;
(c) freedom of religion;
(d) freedom of speech;
(e) freedom of assembly and of association; and
(f) freedom of the press.
2. Every law of Canada shall, unless it is expressly declared by an Act of Parliament of Canada that it shall operate notwithstanding the Canadian Bill of Rights, be so construed and applied as not to abrogate, abridge or infringe or to authorize the abrogation, abridgment or infringement of any of the rights or freedoms herein recognized and declared, and in particular, no law of Canada shall be construed or applied so as to
(a) authorize or effect the arbitrary detention, imprisonment or exile of a person;
(b) impose or authorize the imposition of cruel and unusual treatment or punishment;
(c) deprive a person who has been arrested or detained
(i) of the right to be informed promptly of the reason for his arrest or detention,
(ii) of the right to retain and instruct counsel without delay, or
(iii) of the remedy by way of habeas corpus for the determination of the validity of his detention and for his release if the detention is not lawful;
(d) authorize a court, tribunal, commission, board or other authority to compel a person to give evidence if he is denied counsel, protection against self-crimination or other constitutional safeguards;
(e) deprive a person of the right to a fair hearing in accordance to the principles of fundamental justice for the determination of his rights and obligations;
(f) deprive a person charged with a criminal offence of the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to the law in a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, or of the right to reasonable bail without just cause; and
(g) deprive a person of the right to the assistance to an interpreter in any proceedings in which he is involved or in which he is a party or a witness, before a court, commission, board or other tribunal, if he does not understand or speak the language in which such proceedings are conducted.
3. (1) Subject to subsection (2), the Minister of Justice shall, in accordance with such regulations as may be prescribed by the Governor General in Council, examine every regulation transmitted to the Clerk of the Privy Council for registration pursuant to the Statutory Instruments Act and every Bill introduced in or presented to the House of Commons by a Minister of the Crown in order to ascertain whether any of the provisions thereof are inconsistent with the purposes and provisions of this Part and he shall report any such inconsistency to the House of Commons at the first convenient opportunity.
(2) A regulation need not be examined in accordance with subsection (1) if prior to being made it was examined as a proposed regulation in accordance with section 3 of the Statutory Instruments Act to ensure that it was not inconsistent with the purposes and provisions of this Part.
4. The provisions of this Part shall be known as the Canadian Bill of Rights.
PART II
5. (1) Nothing in Part I shall be construed as to abrogate or abridge any human right or fundamental freedom not enumerated therein that may have exist in Canada at the commencement of this Act.
(2) The expression "law of Canada" in Part I means an Act of the Parliament of Canada enacted before or after the coming into force of this Act, any order, rule or regulation thereunder, and any law in force in Canada or in any part of Canada at the commencement of this Act that that is subject to be repealed, abolished or altered by the Parliament of Canada.
(3) The provisions of Part I shall be construed as extending only to matters coming within the legislative authority of the Parliament of Canada.
------------------
CANADIAN CHARTER OF RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS
Being Part I of the Constitution Act, 1982
[Enacted by the Canada Act 1982 [U.K.] c.11; proclaimed in force April 17, 1982. Amended by the Constitution Amendment Proclamation, 1983, SI/84-102, effective June 21, 1984. Amended by the Constitution Amendment, 1993 [New Brunswick], SI/93-54, Can. Gaz. Part II, April 7, 1993, effective March 12, 1993.]
Whereas Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law:
Guarantee of Rights and Freedoms
RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS IN CANADA.
1. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.
Fundamental Freedoms
FUNDAMENTAL FREEDOMS.
2. Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:
(a) freedom of conscience and religion;
(b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;
(c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and
(d) freedom of association.
Democratic Rights
DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS OF CITIZENS.
3. Every citizen of Canada has the right to vote in an election of members of the House of Commons or of a legislative assembly and to be qualified for membership therein.
MAXIMUM DURATION OF LEGISLATIVE BODIES / Continuation in special circumstances.
4. (1) No House of Commons and no legislative assembly shall continue for longer than five years from the date fixed for the return of the writs at a general election of its members.
(2) In time of real or apprehended war, invasion or insurrection, a House of Commons may be continued by Parliament and a legislative assembly may be continued by the legislature beyond five years if such continuation is not opposed by the votes of more than one-third of the members of the House of Commons or the legislative assembly, as the case may be.
ANNUAL SITTING OF LEGISLATIVE BODIES.
5. There shall be a sitting of Parliament and of each legislature at least once every twelve months.
Mobility Rights
MOBILITY RIGHTS OF CITIZENS / Right to move and gain livelihood / Limitation / Affirmative action programs.
6. (1) Every citizen of Canada has the right to enter, remain in and leave Canada.
(2) Every citizen of Canada and every person who has the status of a permanent resident of Canada has the right
(a) to move to and take up residence in any province; and
(b) to pursue the gaining of a livelihood in any province.
(3) The rights specified in subsection (2) are subject to
(a) any laws or practices of general application in force in a province other than those that discriminate among persons primarily on the basis of province of present or previous residence; and
(b) any laws providing for reasonable residency requirements as a qualification for the receipt of publicly provided social services.
(4) Subsections (2) and (3) do not preclude any law, program or activity that has as its object the amelioration in a province of conditions of individuals in that province who were socially or economically disadvantaged if the rate of employment in that province is below the rate of employment in Canada.
Legal Rights
LIFE, LIBERTY AND SECURITY OF PERSON.
7. Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of the person and the right not to be deprived thereof except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice.
SEARCH OR SEIZURE.
8. Everyone has the right to be secure against unreasonable search or seizure.
DETENTION OR IMPRISONMENT.
9. Everyone has the right not to be arbitrarily detained or imprisoned.
ARREST OR DETENTION.
10. Everyone has the right on arrest or detention
(a) to be informed promptly of the reasons therefor;
(b) to retain and instruct counsel without delay and to be informed of that right; and
(c) to have the validity of the detention determined by way of habeas corpus and to be released if the detention is not lawful.
PROCEEDINGS IN CRIMINAL AND PENAL MATTERS.
11. Any person charged with an offence has the right
(a) to be informed without unreasonable delay of the specific offence;
(b) to be tried within a reasonable time;
(c) not to be compelled to be a witness in proceedings against that person in respect of the offence;
(d) to be presumed innocent until proven guilty according to law in a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal;
(e) not to be denied reasonable bail without just cause;
(f) except in the case of an offence under military law tried before a military tribunal, to the benefit of trial by jury where the maximum punishment for the offence is imprisonment for five years or a more severe punishment;
(g) not to be found guilty on account of any act or omission unless, at the time of the act or omission, it constituted an offence under Canadian or international law or was criminal according to the general principles of law recognized by the community of nations;
(h) if finally acquitted of the offence, not to be tried for it again and, if finally found guilty and punished for the offence, not to be tried or punished for it again; and
(i) if found guilty of the offence and if the punishment for the offence has been varied between the time of commission and the time of sentencing, to the benefit of the lesser punishment.
TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT.
12. Everyone has the right not to be subjected to any cruel and unusual treatment or punishment.
SELF-INCRIMINATION.
13. A witness who testifies in any proceedings has the right not to have any incriminating evidence so given used to incriminate that witness in any other proceedings, except in a prosecution for perjury or for the giving of contradictory evidence.
INTERPRETER.
14. A party or witness in any proceedings who does not understand or speak the language in which the proceedings are conducted or who is deaf has the right to the assistance of an interpreter.
Equality Rights
EQUALITY BEFORE AND UNDER LAW AND EQUAL PROTECTION AND BENEFIT OF LAW / Affirmative action programs.
15. (1) Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination and, in particular, without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability.
(2) Subsection (1) does not preclude any law, program or activity that has as its object the amelioration of conditions of disadvantaged individuals or groups including those that are disadvantaged because of race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability.
Official Languages of Canada
OFFICIAL LANGUAGES OF CANADA / Official languages of New Brunswick / Advancement of status and use.
16. (1) English and French are the official languages of Canada and have equality of status and equal rights and privileges as to their use in all institutions of the Parliament and government of Canada.
(2) English and French are the official languages of New Brunswick and have equality of status and equal rights and privileges as to their use in all institutions of the legislature and government of New Brunswick.
(3) Nothing in this Charter limits the authority of Parliament or a legislature to advance the equality of status or use of English and French.
ENGLISH AND FRENCH LINGUISTIC COMMUNITES IN NEW BRUNSWICK / Role of the legislature and government of New Brunswick.
16.1 (1) The English linguistic community and the French linguistic community in New Brunswick have equality of status and equal rights and privileges, including the right to distinct educational institutions and such distinct cultural institutions as are necessary for the preservation and promotion of those communities.
(2) The role of the legislature and government of New Brunswick to preserve and promote the status, rights and privileges referred to in subsection (1) is affirmed.
PROCEEDINGS IN PARLIAMENT / Proceedings of New Brunswick legislature.
17. (1) Everyone has the right to use English or French in any debates and other proceedings of Parliament.
(2) Everyone has the right to use English or French in any debates and other proceedings of the legislature of New Brunswick.
PARLIAMENTARY STATUTES AND RECORDS / New Brunswick statutes and records.
18. (1) The statutes, records and journals of Parliament shall be printed and published in English and French and both language versions are equally authoritative.
(2) The statutes, records and journals of the legislature of New Brunswick shall be printed and published in English and French and both language versions are equally authoritative.
PROCEEDINGS IN COURTS ESTABLISHED BY PARLIAMENT / Proceedings in New Brunswick courts.
19. (1) Either English or French may be used by any person in, or any pleading in or process issuing from, any court established by Parliament.
(2) Either English or French may be used by any person in, or any pleading in or process issuing from, any court of New Brunswick.
COMMUNICATIONS BY PUBLIC WITH FEDERAL INSTITUTIONS / Communications by public with New Brunswick institutions.
20. (1) Any member of the public in Canada has the right to communicate with, and to receive available services from, any head or central office of an institution of the Parliament or government of Canada in English or French, and has the same right with respect to any other office of any such institution where
(a) there is a significant demand for communications with and services from that office in such language; or
(b) due to the nature of the office, it is reasonable that communications with and services from that office be available in both English and French.
(2) Any member of the public in New Brunswick has the right to communicate with, and to receive available services from, any office of an institution of the legislature or government of New Brunswick in English or French.
CONTINUATION OF EXISTING CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS.
21. Nothing in sections 16 to 20 abrogates or derogates from any right, privilege or obligation with respect to the English and French languages, or either of them, that exists or is continued by virtue of any other provision of the Constitution of Canada.
RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES PRESERVED.
22. Nothing in sections 16 to 20 abrogates or derogates from any legal or customary right or privilege acquired or enjoyed either before or after the coming into force of this Charter with respect to any language that is not English or French.
Minority Language Educational Rights
LANGUAGE OF INSTRUCTION / Continuity of language instruction / Application where numbers warrant.
23. (1) Citizens of Canada
(a) whose first language learned and still understood is that of the English or French linguistic minority of the province in which they reside, or
(b) who have received their primary school instruction in Canada in English or French and reside in a province where the language in which they received that instruction is the language of the English or French linguistic minority population of the province,
have the right to have their children receive primary and secondary school instruction in that language in that province.
(2) Citizens of Canada of whom any child has received or is receiving primary or secondary school instruction in English or French in Canada, have the right to have all their children receive primary and secondary language instruction in the same language.
(3) The right of citizens of Canada under subsections (1) and (2) to have their children receive primary and secondary school instruction in the language of the English or French linguistic minority population of a province
(a) applies wherever in the province the number of children of citizens who have such a right is sufficient to warrant the provision to them out of public funds of minority language instruction; and
(b) includes, where the number of those children so warrants, the right to have them receive that instruction in minority language educational facilities provided out of public funds.
Enforcement
ENFORCEMENT OF GUARANTEED RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS / Exclusion of evidence bringing administration of justice into disrepute.
24. (1) Anyone whose rights or freedoms, as guaranteed by this Charter, have been infringed or denied may apply to a court of competent jurisdiction to obtain such remedy as the court considers appropriate and just in the circumstances.
(2) Where, in proceedings under subsection (1), a court concludes that evidence was obtained in a manner that infringed or denied any rights or freedoms guaranteed by this Charter, the evidence shall be excluded if it is established that, having regard to all the circumstances, the admission of it in the proceedings would bring the administration of justice into disrepute.
General
ABORIGINAL RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS NOT AFFECTED BY CHARTER.
25. The guarantee in this Charter of certain rights and freedoms shall not be construed so as to abrogate or derogate from any aboriginal, treaty or other rights or freedoms that pertain to the aboriginal people of Canada including
(a) any rights or freedoms that have been recognized by the Royal Proclamation of October 7, 1763; and
(b) any rights or freedoms that now exist by way of land claims agreements or may be so acquired.
OTHER RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS NOT AFFECTED BY CHARTER.
26. The guarantee in this Charter of certain rights and freedoms shall not be construed as denying the existence of any other rights or freedoms that exist in Canada.
MULTICULTURAL HERITAGE.
27. This Charter shall be interpreted in a manner consistent with the preservation and enhancement of the multicultural heritage of Canadians.
RIGHTS GUARANTEED EQUALLY TO SEXES.
28. Notwithstanding anything in this Charter, the rights and freedoms referred to in it are guaranteed equally to male and female persons.
RIGHTS RESPECTING CERTAIN SCHOOLS PRESERVED.
29. Nothing in this Charter abrogates or derogates from any rights or privileges guaranteed by or under the Constitution of Canada in respect of denominational, separate or dissentient schools.
APPLICATION TO TERRITORIES AND TERRITORIAL AUTHORITIES.
30. A reference in this Charter to a province or to the legislative assembly or legislature of a province shall be deemed to include a reference to the Yukon Territory and the Northwest Territories, or to the appropriate legislative authority thereof, as the case may be.
LEGISLATIVE POWERS NOT EXTENDED.
31. Nothing in this Charter extends the legislative powers of any body or authority.
Application of Charter
APPLICATION OF THE CHARTER / Exception.
32. (1) This Charter applies
(a) to the Parliament and government of Canada in respect of all matters within the authority of Parliament including all matters relating to the Yukon Territory and Northwest Territories; and
(b) to the legislature and government of each province in respect of all matters within the authority of the legislature of each province.
(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1), section 15 shall not have effect until three years after this section comes into force. [Section 32 came into force on April 17, 1982; therefore, section 15 had effect on April 17, 1985.]
EXCEPTION WHERE EXPRESS DECLARATION / Operation of exception / Five year limitation / Re-enactment / Five year limitation.
33. (1) Parliament or the legislature of a province may expressly declare in an Act of Parliament or of the legislature, as the case may be, that the Act or a provision thereof shall operate notwithstanding a provision included in section 2 or sections 7 to 15 of this Charter.
(2) An Act or a provision of an Act in respect of which a declaration made under this section is in effect shall have such operation as it would have but for the provision of this Charter referred to in the declaration.
(3) A declaration made under subsection (1) shall cease to have effect five years after it comes into force or on such earlier date as may be specified in the declaration.
(4) Parliament or the legislature of a province may re-enact a declaration made under subsection (1).
(5) Subsection (3) applies in respect of a re-enactment made under subsection (4).
Citation
CITATION.
34. This Part may be cited as the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
.jpg)
http://www.novanewsnow.com/News/Local/2014-07-23/article-3810239/Pride-flag-flies-in-Berwick-for-the-first-time/1
----------------
FINALLY, TRUTH IN THE NewAgeMedia Ruins.......actually humanity is seeing this 4 what it is.... a NATO enhanced White Man's War.... that is destroying beautiful Russian Ukraine people..... the audacity is astounding.....
The rush to make Russia a pariah
HENRY SREBRNIK
Published July 25, 2014 - 4:52pm
The tragic downing of a civilian Malaysian airliner over Ukraine on July 17, resulting in the loss of 298 lives, presumably by so-called pro-Russian “rebels” or “separatists,” has, predictably, intensified hostility towards Russia.
On July 21, an editorial in the Washington Post carried the headline “The West needs a strategy to contain the world’s newest rogue state — Russia.” Calling Moscow’s policies regarding Ukraine “barbaric,” it asserted that Vladimir Putin now heads a “dangerous outlaw regime that needs to be contained.” Two days earlier, an article in England’s Daily Telegraph by John Kampfner called Putin a “pariah” who “must now be treated as such.”
But such rhetoric is truly alarming, the tropes reminiscent of anti-Soviet statements at the height of the Cold War. Is Russia now to be consigned to a new “axis of evil,” in the company of regimes such as the one in North Korea?
The Russians are being accused of presenting propaganda to justify their actions, but we’re not getting the whole story.
The Ukrainians are bombing civilians in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kramatorsk, and Slovyansk. There are probably several hundred thousand refugees that have left these cities. The Kyiv government’s “anti-terrorist” campaign against its own citizens is virtually unreported in the U.S. media.
So the airplanes the “rebels” have been shooting down are Ukraine’s military warplanes that have come to bomb the women and children of these cities; hence the Malaysian Airlines disaster.
In 1999, an American-led alliance bombed Serbia for 78 straight days, in order to stop ethnic cleansing in Kosovo. In 2003, the United States invaded Iraq, to topple Saddam Hussein, accused of harbouring “weapons of mass destruction.” These countries were thousands of miles from American shores, nor were any Americans there in danger.
I don’t recall any American newspapers calling the U.S. a rogue state.
Eastern Ukraine, on the other hand, borders Russia, and has a substantial population of ethnic Russians who fear the new nationalistic regime in Ukraine. And they have reason to do so.
The Russians must rue the day when they allowed NATO to move eastward after the collapse of the Soviet Union, incorporating not just former Warsaw Pact countries but even the Baltic states, formerly part of the U.S.S.R. itself.
While the Ukrainian military shells towns and drops bombs in eastern Ukraine, the West considers the “separatist” militias in the east Moscow’s pawns and holds Putin responsible for the carnage. Double standards, anyone?
Henry Srebrnik is a professor of political science at the
University of Prince Edward Island.
http://thechronicleherald.ca/opinion/1225391-the-rush-to-make-russia-a-pariah
---------------------
God bless our troops, and God bless our beloved Canada....
blogged:
CANADA
MILITARY NEWS: South Pole Wounded Warriors Allied Challenge-Incredible story
and victory of 4 counries of Wounded Warriors - Antartica 2 South Pole- Victory
run/walk success- in harshest climates- UK/Canada/Australia and USA- The
Journey and success proving 2 a billion folks proudly- disabilities are
abilities in disguise- did we make u proud- u surely did and do..Environmentalists
could NOT make it.... u ran and walked it.... the world rejoiced and Santa and
NORAD hugged u along the way.The Journey 2 Victory blogged daily- December
2013/O CANADA TROOPS- we love u so- honour
and...
BLOGGED
Clara
Hughes Finishes Bike Ride -July 3 update-from the mouths of the children- JUNE
26 UPDATE- CANADA DAY'S COMING-JULY 1- GET UR CANADA ON -4 CANADA OLYMPIAN
CLARA HUGHES BIG RIDE 4 MENTAL HEALTH FOLKS- send her tweets of support and
love- Hey it’s Canada –Mental Health matters. NEWS
UPDATES-Teen/Youth/PTSD/Abuse/Bullying stuff /Our Olympian Clara's completes
journey 4mentalheal-let's talk-July 1- Clara's in Ottawa CANADA DAY 2014
---------------------
BLOGGED:
CANADA MILITARY NEWS: OMAR KHADR - Killer -XBox-GameBoy YOUNGBLOODS of 'civilized nations'???- 2 many Young and youthHereticMuslims butchering innocents in Muslim on Muslim wars return home 2R 'civilized' nations ??? Seriously- we posted this last year.... WTF Canada/US/EU/Asias/Africa/Australia-NewZealand/Europe/Russia/UN??? (1st published Jan.2014)
Friday,
25 July 2014 - Updated at 1235 hrs EDT
Canadian News
Financial Post
Cold Lake heats up as oil boom beckons
Cold Lake heats up as oil boom beckons
The Canadian Press
Sunwing Airlines Flight 772 forced to return to Toronto
Sunwing Airlines Flight 772 forced to return to Toronto
The Telegram
Critics decry job cuts at CFS St. John’s
Critics decry job cuts at CFS St. John’s
The Chronicle Herald
Tears flow as HMCS Toronto sails
Tears flow as HMCS Toronto sails
The Chronicle Herald
No charges in military police cruiser crash in Halifax in June
No charges in military police cruiser crash in Halifax in June
CBC News
CF-18 struck by lightning - More - More - HHAS
CF-18 struck by lightning - More - More - HHAS
Postmedia News
Canada urged to beef up security at border
Canada urged to beef up security at border
The Calgary Herald
Israeli supporters turn out for peaceful Calgary rally
Israeli supporters turn out for peaceful Calgary rally
The Edmonton Journal
‘Support Our Troops’ licence plates available in Alberta for $55 - SOT
‘Support Our Troops’ licence plates available in Alberta for $55 - SOT
The Calgary Herald
Reminders of soldiers who didn’t come home
Reminders of soldiers who didn’t come home
The Calgary Herald
Brothers in arms, scarred forever by the battlefield
Brothers in arms, scarred forever by the battlefield
The Windsor Star
Many veterans face low-income levels, poverty after service
Many veterans face low-income levels, poverty after service
CBC News
Mohamed Hersi sentenced to 10 years
Mohamed Hersi sentenced to 10 years
The Ottawa Citizen
Defence Watch
Defence Watch
Ottawa Researchers
On This Day: July 25
On This Day: July 25
Le Quotidien
Saguenay demande un CF-18 - Plus
Saguenay demande un CF-18 - Plus
Le Droit
C’est arrivé un 25 juillet
C’est arrivé un 25 juillet
Canadian Commentary
Stephen Blank | The Globe and Mail
If Putin isn’t punished, Europe risks a wider war
If Putin isn’t punished, Europe risks a wider war
Barry Cooper | The Calgary Herald
Don’t expect an end to European power struggles
Don’t expect an end to European power struggles
Jeffrey Simpson | The Globe and Mail
No facts please, it’s cellphone policy
No facts please, it’s cellphone policy
Michael Den Tandt | Postmedia News
John Baird has facts on his side
John Baird has facts on his side
Father Raymond J. de Souza | National Post
Others won freedom through non-violent means. Why not Gaza?
Others won freedom through non-violent means. Why not Gaza?
Lisa Goldman | The Globe and Mail
The Gaza war has done terrible things to Israeli society
The Gaza war has done terrible things to Israeli society
Matthew Fisher | Postmedia News
The clock is ticking on America’s unchallenged supremacy of the High Seas
The clock is ticking on America’s unchallenged supremacy of the High Seas
Editorial | The Globe and Mail
Are the police soldiers or social workers?
Are the police soldiers or social workers?
International Commentary
Monica Crowley |The Washington Times
The good-time president
The good-time president
Leader | The Economist
Russia, MH17 and the West: A web of lies
Russia, MH17 and the West: A web of lies
Lucja Swiatkowski Cannon | The Washington Times
With Russia, different airline crash, same results
With Russia, different airline crash, same results
Analysis | The Economist
The war in Gaza: No one is winning — yet
The war in Gaza: No one is winning — yet
R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr. | The Washington Times
The birth of a new alignment in the Middle East
The birth of a new alignment in the Middle East
Tammy Bruce | The Washington Times
Winging it in the Middle East
Winging it in the Middle East
Wesley Pruden | The Washington Times
The Democratic-wannabe mice under Hillary Clinton’s feet
The Democratic-wannabe mice under Hillary Clinton’s feet
International News
The Associated Press
U.S. Army War College to investigate plagiarism allegations - More - More - More
U.S. Army War College to investigate plagiarism allegations - More - More - More
The Associated Press
Navy secretary: Cost for littoral combat ships will decline
Navy secretary: Cost for littoral combat ships will decline
The Associated Press
Childhood traumas more common in military members, veterans
Childhood traumas more common in military members, veterans
The Associated Press
Dole, veterans groups join senators in pressing ratification of disability treaty
Dole, veterans groups join senators in pressing ratification of disability treaty
The Associated Press
Historic Civil War battle sites have a mobile app
Historic Civil War battle sites have a mobile app
Bloomberg News
Boeing profit rises, but tanker program worries analysts
Boeing profit rises, but tanker program worries analysts
The Associated Press
Skydiver dies during WWII-style jump in Oklahoma
Skydiver dies during WWII-style jump in Oklahoma
The Associated Press
Norway: group from Syria en route to commit terror
Norway: group from Syria en route to commit terror
The Associated Press
Poland ordered to pay damages to tortured terror suspects - More
Poland ordered to pay damages to tortured terror suspects - More
The New York Times
Ukraine disaster in search of an investigation
Ukraine disaster in search of an investigation
The Associated Press
Ukraine accused of targeting civilians in east
Ukraine accused of targeting civilians in east
The Associated Press
Planes with Ukraine bodies arrive in Netherlands
Planes with Ukraine bodies arrive in Netherlands
The Associated Press
Dutch sending unarmed police to Ukraine crash site
Dutch sending unarmed police to Ukraine crash site
The Associated Press
Australia readies 90 police for Ukraine crash site
Australia readies 90 police for Ukraine crash site
The Washington Post
Recalling MH17’s downing: The debris fell slowly, slowly
Recalling MH17’s downing: The debris fell slowly, slowly
The Associated Press
Ukrainian PM Arseniy Yatsenyuk announces resignation - More
Ukrainian PM Arseniy Yatsenyuk announces resignation - More
The Associated Press
Ukraine reports overnight rebel attacks on border
Ukraine reports overnight rebel attacks on border
The Washington Times
Russia firing artillery into Ukraine: Pentagon
Russia firing artillery into Ukraine: Pentagon
Thomson Reuters News
Russia seeing an exodus of ‘the most educated, most active, most entrepreneurial’
Russia seeing an exodus of ‘the most educated, most active, most entrepreneurial’
ITAR-TASS News Agency
Russian Defence Ministry ready to hold world tank biathlon
Russian Defence Ministry ready to hold world tank biathlon
Thomson Reuters News
Flight AH5017 crash: no survivors in crash
Flight AH5017 crash: no survivors in crash
The Associated Press
Black box found at site of Air Algerie crash - Photo
Black box found at site of Air Algerie crash - Photo
The Associated Press
Very bad week: Airline disasters come in a cluster
Very bad week: Airline disasters come in a cluster
The Associated Press
Air travel a leap of faith for passengers - More
Air travel a leap of faith for passengers - More
Stuff News
Flying? Blood clots still a bigger risk - More
Flying? Blood clots still a bigger risk - More
The Ottawa Citizen
In age of technology, how can airliners simply vanish?
In age of technology, how can airliners simply vanish?
The Globe and Mail
Is 2014 one of the worst years in civil aviation history?
Is 2014 one of the worst years in civil aviation history?
The Associated Press
Jordan shoots down flying object near Syria
Jordan shoots down flying object near Syria
The Associated Press
German airlines cancel more Tel Aviv flights
German airlines cancel more Tel Aviv flights
The Associated Press
Hamas tunnel threat at center of war with Israel
Hamas tunnel threat at center of war with Israel
The Globe and Mail
Confusion over who was behind strike on UN shelter in Gaza
Confusion over who was behind strike on UN shelter in Gaza
The Associated Press
Israel hits 30 Gaza homes, kills senior militant
Israel hits 30 Gaza homes, kills senior militant
The Associated Press
Israeli border towns empty, adjust to new threats
Israeli border towns empty, adjust to new threats
The Ottawa Citizen
Israelis and Palestinians fight public relations war as well
Israelis and Palestinians fight public relations war as well
The Associated Press
Israeli cabinet mulls offensive in closed-door meeting
Israeli cabinet mulls offensive in closed-door meeting
Postmedia News
ISIS orders all women and girls in Mosul to undergo FGM - More
ISIS orders all women and girls in Mosul to undergo FGM - More
The Washington Times
Iraq welcomes Russian fighter jets, helicopter gunships into ISIL fight
Iraq welcomes Russian fighter jets, helicopter gunships into ISIL fight
The Associated Press
Iraq elects Kurdish politician as president
Iraq elects Kurdish politician as president
The Washington Times
State Department: al-Maliki’s days numbered as Iraq‘s PM
State Department: al-Maliki’s days numbered as Iraq‘s PM
The Washington Times
U.S. squandered $34 million on failed Afghan soybean project
U.S. squandered $34 million on failed Afghan soybean project
The Associated Press
Taliban kill 14 Shi’ites in Afghanistan road attack
Taliban kill 14 Shi’ites in Afghanistan road attack
ITAR-TASS News Agency
Russia will end Mi-17B-5 helicopters supplies to Afghanistan
Russia will end Mi-17B-5 helicopters supplies to Afghanistan
The Associated Press
Sri Lankan asylum seekers to be taken to Australia
Sri Lankan asylum seekers to be taken to Australia
The Associated Press
Malaysia to send officer to face NZ sex charges
Malaysia to send officer to face NZ sex charges
The Associated Press
Philippine soldiers clash with Abu Sayyaf militants
Philippine soldiers clash with Abu Sayyaf militants
BBC News Magazine
When time stood still: A Hiroshima survivor’s story
When time stood still: A Hiroshima survivor’s story
BBC News
Eva Peron’s Cadillac goes on sale - More - More
Eva Peron’s Cadillac goes on sale - More - More
The Associated Press
Former head of Venezuelan military intelligence detained in Aruba on U.S. request
Former head of Venezuelan military intelligence detained in Aruba on U.S. request
The Washington Times
Central American leaders blame U.S. for border crisis
Central American leaders blame U.S. for border crisis
The New York Times
On This Day: July 25 - More - MoD - AP
On This Day: July 25 - More - MoD - AP
Journal Sud Ouest
L’éphéméride du 25 juillet
L’éphéméride du 25 juillet
-------------------
Canadians shouldn’t be allowed to fight for other countries, no matter the cause, historian argues
Smoke rises in Syria REUTERS/Khalil AshawiTwenty-five-year-old Hasibullah Yusufzai of Burnaby, a suburb of Vancouver, has been charged under Section 83.201. The Mounties allege the young man, who apparently came as a child with his family from Afghanistan, left the country in January with plans to join an Islamist militia fighting in the Syrian civil war.
On Thursday, an Ontario judge sentenced Mohamed Hersi of Toronto to 10 years in prison for attempting to leave Canada to become a "terror tourist" under a different Criminal Code section. He was arrested at Toronto's Pearson International Airport in 2011 on allegations he was headed to Somalia to join the Islamist al-Shabab group, though he never actually did.
At the same time, the National Post reported more than 100 Canadians are serving in the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) despite having no direct ties to the country. Other Jewish Canadians with family connections and dual citizenship have served in the IDF over the years but the so-called "lone soldiers" are simply drawn to defend the Jewish homeland. Two American lone soldiers were among those killed in the IDF's Gaza offensive this week.
[ Related: Mohamed Hersi sentenced to 10 years for attempting to join al-Shabaab ]
Hersi's lawyer, Paul Slansky, told Yahoo Canada News he intends to file an appeal to the conviction, which was made under an anti-terrorism law passed in 2001 by the former Liberal government in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks.
Hersi was convicted in part because the Supreme Court of Canada, in a 2012 decision in the case of terror suspect Mohammad Khawaja, ruled essentially that even though elements of terrorism in his case were inchoate – not substantive crimes like theft or murder but more like conspiracy– they should still be treated that way.
The high court ruling allowed Hersi to be convicted and imprisoned even though he had not done anything except head to the airport for a flight.
The new law, which is tougher and carries a maximum 14-year sentence, is even more vague, the lawyer said. It reaches the level of a thought crime in that it punishes intent without having to prove someone had tried to carry out that intention.
"It's clearly unconstitutional," said Slansky. “Any competent lawyer who knows anything about constitutional law would challenge it and I would think would have an excellent chance at succeeding with such a challenge.”
Even if Yusufzai was headed to Syria, which some relatives deny, how will police prove he intended to engage in terrorism as opposed to fighting on the Syrian battle lines, Slansky wondered.
“Because somebody’s going to join a group that has both terrorist aspects and conventional civil war aspects doesn’t mean they’re going to join it for terrorist purposes," he said.
It raises a question of whether a double standard exists. What separates young Muslims who leave Canada in an arguably misguided desire to defend their faith from young Jews who leave to defend Israel?
One big difference is that Israel and Canada are close friends, while the Islamists in Syria are trying to overthrow an admittedly nasty regime but also gain control in other countries of the region such as Iraq and Jordan, said historian and commentator Jack Granatstein.
Authorities fear Canadian jihadis – it's estimated there are about 130 fighting in various conflicts – will one day return to foster terrorism at home.
“There’s no hard evidence jihadis going overseas and coming back and doing things, yet," Granatstein told Yahoo Canada News. "But there is a legitimate concern that they might.
“Sure, there’s a kind of double standard. But in my view no one who is a Canadian should be able to enlist in some other country’s military and keep his Canadian citizenship.”
[ Related: Hasibullah Yusufzai, of Burnaby, B.C., faces terror-related charge ]
Canadians have been leaving to fight in foreign armies since before Confederation, Granatstein wrote in a Globe and Mail op-ed piece earlier this month. That includes both sides of the American Civil War and the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s.
Spanish Civil War (Getty Images)The law is still on the books, unenforced, Granatstein noted, though its wording suggests serving in the army of a friendly state is okay. Many Canadians joined the U.S. military to fight in Vietnam.
But even that should not have been allowed, Granatstein argues.
“If they’re going off to serve somewhere else, in some other army, they’re switching their allegiance," he said. "That is, in my view, improper."
Canadians, even those born here, should forfeit their citizenship if they join a foreign army, no matter how just the cause, Granatstein said. He'd apply that even to those who ended up on the right side of history in the Spanish Civil War.
“I understand the pull of the old country," the historian said. "That’s a large thing for a lot of people. We take in a quarter-million immigrants every year from all over the world. Of course they’re going to have ties elsewhere.
"But one of the beauties of this country is that you can come, be accepted, you can make it here, you can adjust to life in Canada and once you’ve been here it seems to me your allegiance should belong here, especially when you’ve acquired citizenship. That’s the key.”
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/dailybrew/canadians-shouldn-t-allowed-fight-other-countries-no-002730536.html
----------------------
Hamas tunnel threat at center of war with Israel
By TIA GOLDENBERG
Associated PressJul 25, 3:22 AM EDT
JERUSALEM (AP) -- A network of tunnels Palestinian militants have dug from Gaza to Israel - dubbed "lower Gaza" by the Israeli military - is taking center stage in the latest war between Hamas and Israel.
Gaza's Hamas rulers view them as a military game changer in its conflict with Israel. The Israeli military says the tunnels pose a serious threat and that destroying the sophisticated underground network is a key objective of its invasion of Gaza.
Israel has known about the tunnels for several years, but has been hard-pressed to find an effective way to block them. Now it is counting on its ground war to at least reduce the threat.
"Israel knew there was a problem with the tunnels, but it didn't internalize their significance," said Shlomo Brom, a retired Israeli general. "At any given moment, Hamas could send dozens of militants through separate tunnels to attack communities in Israel."
Gaza has two sets of tunnels - those reaching Egypt and those reaching Israel.
The underground passages to Egypt are meant to bypass a border blockade on Gaza that was tightened by Israel and Egypt after Hamas seized the territory in 2007. The tunnels provide an economic lifeline and are used to deliver building supplies, fuel, consumer goods and even cattle and cars.
In some of those tunnels, Gaza militants received weapons and cash from their patrons abroad, particularly Iran. Egypt has destroyed virtually all of the tunnels over the past year, driving Hamas - which was taxing the smuggled imports - into a severe financial crisis.
Separately, Hamas significantly expanded its network of tunnels from Gaza to Israel after a major Israeli ground offensive that ended in January 2009.
Several senior Hamas officials have told The Associated Press that the expansion of those tunnels was part of a broader shift in military tactics after 2009, with input from the Hezbollah guerrilla group in Lebanon, which has fought Israel repeatedly.
"There are thousands of resistance fighters working underground and thousands others working above the ground, to prepare for the upcoming battle," Ismail Haniyeh, a top Hamas leader in Gaza, said earlier this year. "No one can imagine what the resistance is ready to do to confront the occupiers."
In addition to the tunnels, Hamas also boosted its arsenal of anti-tank rockets, which had proven effective in Hezbollah's battle with Israeli ground troops in Lebanon in 2006, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not permitted to discuss military strategy with reporters.
Hamas also moved many of its rocket launching sites and storage sites underground, making it more difficult for Israel to target them. Since the current round of Israel-Hamas fighting began on July 8, Gaza militants have fired more than 2,000 rockets at Israel and repeatedly tried to sneak into Israel through tunnels.
Such attempts have stoked new calls in Israel to destroy the tunnels, something that can only be done by ground forces. This helped rally widespread public support for the Israeli invasion of Gaza, despite the rising number of Palestinian deaths.
More than 800 Palestinians have been killed, three-fourths of them civilians, and most since Israel's ground operation aimed at hitting the tunnels began eight days ago, according to U.N. figures. Thirty-four Israelis, including 32 soldiers, and a Thai worker have been killed.
Israel says Hamas has dug dozens of tunnels, linking them to each other as well as to rocket manufacturing sites, maintenance facilities, launch sites and command and control centers. It says the tunnels are meant to facilitate mass attacks on Israelis as well as kidnappings, a tactic that Hamas has used in the past.
In 2006, Palestinian militants burrowed under the border to an Israeli army base, killed two soldiers and captured a third, Sgt. Gilad Schalit. After being held captive in Gaza for more than five years, he was exchanged for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in 2011.
Soldiers have uncovered 31 tunnels in the current round of fighting, the military said Thursday.
Palestinian militants trying to sneak into Israel through the tunnels have been found with tranquilizers and handcuffs, an indication that they "intended to abduct Israelis," according to the military.
"Hamas has dug terrorist tunnels under hospitals, mosques, schools, homes, to penetrate our territory, to kidnap and kill Israelis. Now, in the face of such wanton terrorism, no country could sit idly by," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told visiting U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon this week.
Israelis countrywide have been granted a front-row seat to the rising threat thanks to footage released by the Israeli military, which has shown heavily armed militants, toting rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons, lying low in the weeds as they are spotted by army lookouts.
In some cases they have been forced back into the tunnels and in others they have been killed in shootouts with Israeli forces or airstrikes. While a number of troops have been killed in the altercations, militants have not reached nearby communities.
The visuals have spooked the country and fueled public support for the latest incursion, which is backed by a majority of Israelis.
Still, some Israelis have questioned how Israel, which has minimized casualties and damage from Hamas' rocket threat with its Iron Dome missile defense battery, has been unable to stanch the infiltrations. Beyond the casualties, the incidents have led widespread road closures and forced thousands of residents to lock themselves inside for safety.
Brom, an analyst at the Institute for National Security Studies think tank, said he expected a greater push in Israel following the war to find a comprehensive remedy to the tunnel threat.
Atai Shelach, a former commander of the military's combat engineering unit, Yahalom, said ground forces could inflict some damage and deter Hamas, but that more is needed for the longer term.
Shelach said Israeli companies are working to find a defense against the tunnels, but have not yet succeeded in developing an adequate solution.
Ideas that have been floated in the past include digging a canal filled with sewage along the border meant to thwart infiltrations, but the task would be expensive and may not suit the sandy soil around Gaza. A variety of technologies could help detect tunnel activity through acoustic or seismographic readings, but none are foolproof.
"We need a game changer like Iron Dome," Shelach said. "It's not a question of money or resources. It just needs to be made a national priority."
Associated Press writers Ibrahim Barzak in Gaza City and Mohammed Daraghmeh in Ramallah, West Bank, contributed to this report.
http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/ML_ISRAEL_PALESTINIANS_TUNNEL_THREAT?SITE=TXNEW
-----------------
Israeli supporters turn out for peaceful Calgary rally
Albina Shuman is hugged by a friend after speaking about her daughter, who is currently serving with the Israeli military, at the Calgary Jewish Federation.
Photograph by: Stuart Gradon, Calgary Herald
At 18, Stephanie Shimonov is serving as a grenade launcher with Israeli forces on the front lines of the conflict in Gaza.Her family in Calgary nervously awaits news, knowing that communication will be sparse.
Her mother, Albina Shuman, last heard from her three days ago. She worries, but she’s proud.
“All she said, ‘You have no idea what people are going through here’,” Shuman said.
“And I have no words to say; only it’s a silence between us. And all I said, ‘We all pray for you, our prayers are for you; the whole community’s praying for you.’”
A graduate of Henry Wise Wood High School, Shimonov decided on her own to enlist with the Israeli forces, not knowing she’d be thrust into the conflict’s front lines.
“Living in such a sheltered childhood and being protected and suddenly come out from that protected zone and not trusting, not knowing what’s going to be happening with you, within a minute, a second, that’s major,” her mother said.
Hundreds of Israel supporters gathered at the Calgary Jewish Community Centre in the southwest in support of Israel’s role in the Middle Eastern conflict.
More than 200 packed an auditorium to listen to speakers, while perhaps hundreds more listened in an adjoining room.
The indoor rally was peaceful, with all guests being asked to sign in at the door. Media were asked for identification.
An uninvited guest, who is well-known to police, was arrested after he tried to gain entry to the community centre with an Airsoft gun in his backpack. At a security check, he was asked to open the bag and forced to reveal the weapon. Police, who were nearby, were dispatched. Charges are pending.
Last Friday, a pro-Palestinian rally in front of City Hall turned violent when tensions escalated between members of the crowd and some Israel supporters who were demonstrating nearby. No arrests have been made.
At the Jewish community centre, Shuman said it was important to have people at home show support for those, like her daughter, who are putting themselves in harm’s way overseas.
“She said she’s experiencing horrible things.”
Shuman said her daughter will try to call when she can.
“She tries her best. I know she does.”
rsouthwick@calgaryherald.com
http://www.calgaryherald.com/story_print.html?id=10057039
------------------
Many veterans face low-income levels,
poverty after service (With video)
By the numbers
Reserve force A/B veterans are more likely to face low-income levels-Most served between 2 and 9 years
-The majority enrolled in 2000s
-More than half have a chronic physical condition
-1 in 10 have a chronic mental health condition
-One third are considered heavy drinkers
-This group is the least likely to access Veteran Affairs Canada services
Regular force veterans have highest prevalence of health and well-being problems
-1 in 4 have chronic mental health condition
-3 in 4 have chronic physical health condition
-1 in 5 have both physical and mental health condition
-27 per cent found it very or moderately difficult to adjust to civilian life
Bruce Cameron says after seeing soldiers die, saving lives in Bosnia, and focusing on survival, it was hard to understand someone upset over a lost tip at a casino.
“We would go on an operation and get shot at, get ridiculed, get broken glass thrown at us, bombs dropped on us,” he said. “I started working at the casino and to come to understand that what’s important there was somebody didn’t get a tip – they wanted a dollar and they didn’t get a dollar – was tough.”
He said some days he just wanted to tell people to smile, go home and hug their families, and be grateful.
Cameron, like many veterans in the Windsor area, said adjusting to life after military service was difficult – and there were few supports to help him make the transition.
One in three veterans who left service between 1998 and 2012 said they found it very or moderately difficult to adjust to civilian life, according to a report released by Statistics Canada. About 1 in 7 veterans spent at least one year post-service at a low income level. Nearly 40 per cent received employment insurance.
Const. Mike Akpata speaks during a service to
commemorate the hiring of Alton Parker at Alton C. Parker park in Windsor on
August 3, 2012. (The Windsor Star / TYLER BROWNBRIDGE)
Cameron, who served in combat arms for 21 years in Bosnia and Central
America, retired in 2002 with a $20,000 pension – not enough to pay the
mortgage and look after his daughter.“I didn’t want to retire from the military; I was still relatively young. But I was forced to leave the military because I couldn’t deploy anymore as a single parent,” he said.
For a man who once was a warrant officer commanding a fleet of tanks and jumping out of helicopters in a war zone, there were few options in Windsor’s job market. He was forced to take part-time work at the casino, until he was laid off after about 10 years. He says now he’s training to be a truck driver.
“There wasn’t a lot of support for people that are leaving the military. It’s pretty much, thank you very much, goodbye and see you later,” he said.
Julian Fantino, minister of Veterans Affairs, wrote in a letter to the editor that there are many services available to veterans, including career transition services and support for those who are injured. Many of those programs require an application within the first two years after they leave service.
Mike Akpata, an Afghanistan veteran and Windsor police officer, said two years may not be enough time for people to be ready to seek help.
“It is the stress of what you have done. It is the shutting the adrenaline pump off when you get home. It is the trying to explain to people who are close to you whether you want to talk about it or don’t want to talk about it,” he said. “You’re carrying that weight and now you go to a (potential employer) and they say to you, thank you very much, you don’t have the skill set we need.”
He said it can become easy for those people to feel useless.
The survey suggested that nearly 1 in 3 reserve veterans were heavy drinkers. About 20 per cent of all veterans said they experienced high levels of stress.
“These kids have so much potential. They were so good at their job, but it’s not transferable to civilian life,” said Michael Blais, president of the Canadian Veterans Advocacy. He said while senior-level officers or specialized staff may find work easily afterwards, often those who served in combat find it most difficult – especially if they have medical or mental health issues as well as low income levels.
The Statistics Canada survey suggested that veterans who left service voluntarily, such as Cameron, or through a disciplinary action, often face harsher economic realities post-service. As well, lower level employees and those working in the reserves were most likely to see their income reduce after service, and to face low income levels.
Adam Vasey, director of Windsor’s poverty reduction strategy Pathway to Potential, said veterans may be reluctant to seek help out of a sense of pride.
Canadian Army veteran Bruce Moncur, right, chats with
Bob Williams in downtown Windsor, about the formation of Afghanistan Veterans
Association of Canada with hopes to assist war veterans who have returned home
July 14, 2014. (NICK BRANCACCIO/The Windsor Star)
Vasey said while the regional strategy considers several vulnerable groups,
veterans have not been one discussed in the past. He said poverty reduction
programs often try to work with associations or grassroots movements that
empower the people who need their services – but some veterans are lacking
representation because of the difficult transition to civilian life.That’s one of the reasons that Afghanistan veteran Bruce Moncur is forming an association for Afghanistan veterans nationwide. The Afghanistan Veterans Association of Canada will provide veterans with a presence in front of the federal government and offer support and a network of people going through the same transition.
“You lose that when you separate from the army,” said Akpata, vice-president of the group. “The association’s goal is to try to make sure that we can provide that warm feeling.”
Moncur said there are about 140 members already, with more than 30 from Windsor.
ctthompson@windsorstar.com
After the War
Advances
in prosthetic limbs have come a long way since the Great War
PHOTO: Pat McGrath, The Ottawa
Citizen
The first time Jody Mitic ran five kilometres on his carbon-fibre feet he couldn’t wait for it to end. It was like watching his two-year-old run.
“She can run, kinda,” said Mitic, a retired master sniper who lost both legs below the knee when he stepped on a landmine in Afghanistan in 2007.
“Every now and then she’ll just fall over for no reason because she hasn’t figured exactly how to move her legs and feet together. That’s kind of how I felt when I was running.”
When Mitic runs he uses J-shaped blades similar to those used by sprinter Oscar Pistorius (the “Blade Runner” now on trial for the shooting death of his girlfriend.) Mitic has run half-marathons and competed in The Amazing Race Canada.
Extraordinary advances in prosthetic limbs have made it possible for amputees to do the once unimaginable — advances that have been largely driven by the horrors of war.
Legs and knees have advanced from heavy, unwieldy wooden “peg legs” with no moving parts to microprocessor or computer-controlled knees and ankles that can read a person’s gait. Metal hands and hooks have evolved to computer-controlled hands that can close and grip objects as delicate as an egg without cracking it, all using muscle signals from the residual stump.
In the past it was all about making artificial limbs look real. “The younger generation is preferring to make it their own,” said Karen Valley, director of the War Amps National Amputee Centre who was born missing her left arm below the elbow.
“A lot are going without their covers. They’re happy to show off the mechanics.” Some vets have their regimental logo painted on their prostheses.
Demand for artificial limbs exploded with the First World War. In Canada alone, of the more than 172,000 Canadians who reported wounds during the war, 3,461 had a limb amputated, according to the Canadian War Museum.
Many amputations were caused by infections and gangrene that festered in gunshot and shrapnel wounds. Machine guns caused new and horrific damage. “They were in hand-to-hand combats, often in muddy and dirty environments. They didn’t have the same kind of quick evacuation techniques or antibiotics,” said Valley. The wounded had to be taken from the battlefield by stretcher-bearers “and moved by a combination of people, horse cart, and, later on by motorized ambulance ‘down the line,’’ according to the British Library. By the time they reached medical help, arms and legs had to be cut off in order to save lives.
A prosthetic right arm issued to a wounded American
soldier is on display at Kansas City’s National World War I Museum.
File photo, Associated Press
With today’s advanced warfare as well as improvised explosive devices
designed to do maximum damage, “there are a lot more spontaneous amputations,”
said Valley, of the War Amps, which started in 1918, originally as the
Amputation Association of the Great War.File photo, Associated Press
With newer veterans many amputees are bilateral — two legs lost. “The most common after Afghanistan is the landmine injuries — both legs and often above the knee,” said Dr. Amanda Mayo, a physiatrist with the amputee program at Toronto’s Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.
“They’re just more severe injuries, with greater amounts of limb loss.”
Today, advances in robotic technology is pushing the field closer to prosthetics that function as close to the real thing as possible, perhaps even better.
Last year, scientists at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago announced the world’s first “thought-controlled” bionic leg. The test patient was a lower-limb amputee who had surgery to direct nerves from damaged muscle in his amputated limb to healthy hamstring muscle above his knee, according to a press statement. The robotic leg responds to tiny electrical signals from the redirected nerves in his hamstring that are picked up via sensors on the skin, and routed to a computer program that “decodes” the type of movement the amputee is trying to make and then loops that information to the robotic leg.
Already on the market are knees that have microprocessors and sensors “that are figuring out way in advance what the amputee is trying to do,” said Mark Agro, president and CEO of Otto Bock Canada, the German-based company and Paralympic sponsor.
Terry Fox ran on Otto Bock components that were simple, unsophisticated hinges, Agro said.
“Today, if Terry was running, he’d be running on one of our microprocessor knees constructed of carbon-fibre and electronics that measure his speed — whether he’s walking quickly or running, whether he was slowing down. And it would dial into the knee what the amputee needs.”
Terry Fox demonstrates for Prime Minister Trudeau how
his artificial limb works during a brief meeting on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
St. Bregg, Canadian Press
Sensors in the prosthesis act as strain gauges that tell the software what
phase of gait the person is in — heel-strike, foot flat or toe-off. A gyroscope
tells whether the amputee is moving forwards or backwards.St. Bregg, Canadian Press
There were two reasons why Terry Fox had a little hop in between each step, Argo said. One was to wait for the prosthesis to catch up, the other to cushion the blow on his stump. Today there are liners and cushions for comfort and skin protection.
“What amputees say after using a microprocessor knee is, ‘I don’t have to think anymore about walking,’” Agro said.
They are not inexpensive. A microprocessor knee can cost anywhere from $50,000 to $100,000.
The company’s myoelectric Michelangelo Hand features four movable fingers and a thumb and a multi-positional grip.
Myoelectric refers to voltage generated by muscle activity that’s measures on the skin surface. Like the “bionic” leg, electrodes placed on the residual limb transmit muscle signals to the prosthesis. Microprocessors and electric motors convert the signals into movements.
A sensor in the thumb can detect if something is about to slip out of the person’s hand before the amputee even notices, and grips harder.
In February, a Swiss and Italian team of researchers announced they had restored the sense of touch to a hand amputee by surgically wiring a sensory-enhanced artificial hand to the nerves in the man’s upper arm. “I could feel things that I hadn’t been able to feel in over nine years,” amputee Dennis Aabo Sorensen, who lost his hand in a fireworks accident nine years ago, told the Associated Press. “It was the closest I have had to feeling like a normal hand.”
Most amputations today are due to diabetes or circulatory problems, as well as traumas such as burns or car crashes.
For warriors who have had legs blown off, the healing process is difficult. “Early on they can be a little bit hostile. They can have difficulty accepting the state where they’re at,” said Todd Waite, a certified prosthetist at Hamilton Health Sciences Centre.
“But once they get to the acceptance stage of what their body is, they’re a great group to work with. They’re very goal-oriented — their ability to overcome these types of things is incredible.”
skirkey@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/sharon_kirkey
Den Tandt: In debate over Israel’s war with Hamas,
Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird has facts on his side
By Michael Den Tandt, Postmedia
NewsJuly 24, 2014
Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird speaks at the
Rally for the People of Israel at the Soloway Jewish Community Centre in Ottawa
on Wednesday, July 16, 2014. Justin Tang/Ottawa Citizen
John
Baird, the foreign affairs minister, has elicited the usual outrage from the
usual quarters over his recent declarations about Hamas’ war with Israel,
currently in its third week. In particular Baird has raised eyebrows with his
blunt assertion that Hamas, the terrorist organization that holds power in
Gaza, is solely responsible for the now more than 700 deaths on the Palestinian
side. It’s more fodder for those who are convinced Prime Minister Stephen
Harper is a foreign-policy Neanderthal, and John Baird his senior club-wielder.
But
weighing against all that, is this: The facts are on Baird’s side. And the test
of that is simply to pose this one question: What can Israel logically do,
other than what it is now doing?
There
is no minimizing, explaining away, looking away from, or justifying the horror
of what is unfolding in Gaza. Thursday, The Associated Press reported, Israeli
shells hit a United Nations school. At least 15 people died and many more were
injured. The dead and wounded, according to reports, were fleeing the violence
outside. Gaza is crowded, poor, with ramshackle and shoddy services, even in
times of relative peace. For Palestinian families trapped between Hamas
rocketeers and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), with water and food running
short, the suffering is unimaginable.
That
is why, virtually since the conflict began 17 days ago, there have been efforts
towards a ceasefire. The first, brokered by Egypt, was accepted by Israel but
rejected by Hamas. This week Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal torpedoed the idea
again by insisting, from the safety of his perch in Qatar, that there can be no
truce before Israel’s eight-year economic blockade of Gaza is lifted, a border
crossing with Egypt is opened, and Palestinian prisoners are released, the BBC
reported. That slams the door on any ceasefire plan, because these are
conditions Israel cannot accept.
It
is clear today, as it has been since Hamas launched its first volley of
rockets, that the organization’s leadership wants the conflict to continue. It
is also clear that it is seeking precisely the outcomes we’re now seeing, that
is to say the bombing of schools by the IDF. Its strategic goal is to isolate
Israel internationally. The fact that such schools are being used by Hamas to
stockpile rockets is sure to be eclipsed by photos of the carnage.
Why
can’t Israel accede to Hamas’ demands? The first part of the answer is quite
simple: Hamas wants all Israeli Jews dead, and an Islamist theocratic
dictatorship established over all the current territory now encompassed by the
State of Israel. The organization says so explicitly in its founding charter,
which dates back to 1988. “The time will not come until Muslims will fight the
Jews (and kill them),” reads Article 7 of the charter, “until the Jews hide
behind rocks and trees, which will cry: O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind
me, come on and kill him!”
There
is no negotiating with Hamas; no two-state solution; no land for peace.
Part
two of the answer is linked to part one. Hamas is not a government, as
westerners typically understand the term. It cannot really even be categorized
among thuggish governments or garden-variety dictatorships. It is a terrorist
group, with some of the powers of a state. It has launched numerous suicide
bombers against Israel, successfully, killing hundreds of Israeli civilians in
mass murders on buses and in restaurants or hotels.
Hamas
has habitually sent dogs and donkeys laden with explosives towards Israeli
targets, and continues to do so, according to a report from Britain’s London
Daily Telegraph. It has built an extensive network of assault tunnels into
Israel. And, Hamas deliberately fires rockets from densely populated areas,
knowing most of these will be shot down, apparently in the hope of drawing
return fire, which furthers its propaganda aims. In other words, Hamas appears
to be deliberately provoking and perpetuating the killing of its own people. To
that long list of barbarities we can now add the strategic targeting of
international civilian aviation, with rockets aimed at Ben Gurion Airport.
Can
Israel stop the barrages of rocket attacks by means other than those it is now
employing? If so, no one has yet properly explained just how. To belabour the
point, the rockets are launched from densely populated areas in Gaza. There is
no desert outpost or collection of empty tents or mostly deserted factories to
symbolically target with Cruise missiles, as U.S. president Bill Clinton did in
Afghanistan and Sudan in 1998.
Horrible
though the reality is, Hamas has put Israel in a position where it has no
choice but to defend its citizens. Canadians, Americans, and Europeans would
not tolerate for a day the terror Israelis are being subjected to now. Baird
has been among the clearest voices internationally in describing this situation
for what it is. For that he deserves credit, and not the reflexive brickbats of
“human rights” advocates who have grown far too accustomed to casting Israel as
the villain, regardless of the facts.
------------------
BLOGGED: DISABILITIES ARE ABILITIES IN DISGUISE
CANADA MILITARY NEWS: South Pole Wounded Warriors Allied Challenge-Incredible story and victory of 4 counries of Wounded Warriors - Antartica 2 South Pole- Victory run/walk success- in harshest climates- UK/Canada/Australia and USA- The Journey and success proving 2 a billion folks proudly- disabilities are abilities in disguise- did we make u proud- u surely did and do..Environmentalists could NOT make it.... u ran and walked it.... the world rejoiced and Santa and NORAD hugged u along the way.The Journey 2 Victory blogged daily- December 2013/O CANADA TROOPS- we love u so- honour
http://nova0000scotia.blogspot.ca/2013/11/canada-military-news-nov24-true-patriot.html
blogged: CLARA'S BIG RIDE - RAISING MENTAL ILLNESS - LET' TALK ABOUT IT... 2 MILLIONS
Clara Hughes Finishes Bike Ride -July 3 update-from the mouths of the children- JUNE 26 UPDATE-
N
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.