Politic?

This is a blog dedicated to a personal interpretation of political news of the day. I attempt to be as knowledgeable as possible before commenting and committing my thoughts to a day's communication.

Friday, April 26, 2024

Final Show-Down Between Israel and Hezbollah?

"Hezbollah’s continued threats to target all of Israel with missiles show how egregiously the Iranian-backed terrorist group exploits Lebanon as a base for its illegal rocket arsenal."
"Hezbollah has stockpiled masses of rockets, armed drones, anti-tank missiles, and precision-guided munitions in recent years."
"Hezbollah has fired more than 2,000 rockets at Israel since it chose to back Hamas’s brutal attack in October."
"Hezbollah’s continued threats show that it is not deterred and is willing to risk catastrophic escalation in the region."
"The terrorist group must be deterred, and Israel should be supported in operations against Hezbollah."
Seth Franzman, ME Analyst, Journalist, Fellow, Foundation for Defense of Democracies 
https://i0.wp.com/jcpa.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/hizbullah_training.jpg?fit=1280%2C720&ssl=1&resize=900%2C506.25
Screenshot of Hezbullah military exercise in southern Lebanon  (RT Arabic)

Cross border fire between Israeli forces and the Iranian proxy terror group Hezbollah in Lebanon in almost daily exchanges dating from Israel's campaign against Hamas in October, have reached a pitch and plans are underway that this escalation of conflict will inevitably led to full-scale war between the two forces. Preparations on Israel's side include additional military exercises for ground, naval and aerial forces in the country's north, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
 
The IDF stated that area leaders with the IDF have been briefed "on the processes to accelerate readiness for continued fighting", while storage facilities are installed for the purpose of a quick and broad mobilization of IDF troops to the front lines.  About 40 targets linked to Hezbollah in southern Lebanon were struck by Israel this week, representing an escalation of hostilities following Hezbollah's deepest attack within Israel, the day before.

Active and frequent clashes have led to the evacuation of tens of thousands of civilians on both sides of the Lebanese border. Hezbollah is considered to be the most dangerous militia in the Middle East, in possession of 150,000 missiles and rockets, among them those with a long enough range to reach virtually anywhere in Israel. About 17,000 rockets, missiles and artillery shells have targeted Israel since October 7; that fateful day of the terrorist invasion of southern Israel with its savage outcome in the massive death count, mutilation, rape and hostage-taking of Israeli civilians.
 
https://csis-website-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/styles/1200x522/s3/2024-03/GettyImages-1256829885_cropped.jpg?VersionId=pkBN5PjufHa5SVZXL_noqxj8LYl2f_p7&itok=zGrv0l3q
Photo: Anwar Amro/AFP/Getty Images
 
Israel estimates a baseline scenario, should a fully fledged war erupt, of up to 5,000 missiles daily entering Israel from Lebanon, over and above several hundred fired by other Iranian proxies in Yemen, Iraq and Syria. The very volume of which could potentially test Israel's air defence systems to a breaking point, resulting in increased numbers of casualties. It is anticipated that Hezbollah would attempt to hit infrastructure facilities such as power plants and water pipes; sea ports airports and communication sites.

A situation that during wartime, would fully justify Israel striking deep enough into Lebanon to  hit major cities and their critical civil infrastructure; Beirut included. Israel developed a National Emergency Authority to coordinate its various agencies in government in preparation for a surprise attack; the blueprint known as "the compass", a classified document laying out Hezbollah's capabilities and the maximum harm that could result from an all-out war with Hezbollah.
 
https://www.newarab.com/sites/default/files/styles/large_16_9/public/2136563028.jpeg?h=a5f2f23a&itok=-ruZ2tEn
Israel and Hezbollah have been exchanging fire since 7 October [Getty]

Labels: , ,

Thursday, April 25, 2024

American Universities Under Command of Palestinian Demands

"[Protesters over the weekend were] calling for Hamas to blow away Tel Aviv and Israel [while some protesters shouting out antisemitic slurs were not students]."
"Jews are scared at Columbia. It's as simple as that."
"There's been so much vilification of Zionism, and it has spilled over into the vilification of Judaism."
Nicholas Baum, 19, Jewish freshman, Jewish Theological Seminary
"We saw signs indicating that Israel should be destroyed", reported U.S. Rep. Kathy Manning who had visited Columbia along with three other Congressmen, as she spoke with reporters following her tour of the Morningside Heights campus. At Columbia University an email was forwarded to staff and students that many classes at its Morningside campus would be hybrid for the rest of the semester where possible.
Amid Gaza protests, Cal Poly Humboldt closes campus for rest ...
Cal Poly Humboldt closes classes for rest of semester
 
"Safety is our highest priority as we strive to support our students' learning and all the required academic operations", the email explained. Facing intense scrutiny over whether they are seriously involved in protecting their students, faculty and staff against antisemitism since the deadly October 7 terrorist attack in southern Israel, college leaders also deal with criticism from others claiming students' right to speak is being denied, political protests being censored.

A New York University encampment was cleared by the NYPD as anti-Israel protesters continue their riotous protests and police across the United States are called in to deal with them. Students barricaded themselves within a building at California State Polytechnic University Humboldt, following dozens of arrests at Yale University, reflecting the surge in anti-Israel, 'pro-Palestinian' demonstrations getting out of hand and endangering Jewish students on campus with threats and isolation.

Students have set up encampments on university property, moving into tents as part of their dedication to protesting against Israel and for terrorism as a form of freedom and liberation from oppression. Students demonstrating that they can form opinions and mount protests without the least idea of what it is they are protesting. Called in by university administrators, police were busy clearing out the protesters only to have them return and once again set up their tents and encampments despite students and faculty members' arrests.

In desperation, universities locked down buildings so that "key cards will not work". People are urged to stay away from the "dangerous and volatile situation" at Siemens Hall, Cal Poly Humboldt, explaining they are "deeply concerned about the safety of the protesters", urging them to "listen to directives from law enforcement ... and to peacefully leave the building." Humboldt for Palestine posted that students had "taken" Siemens Hall, listing demands, including the university divesting from any associations with Israel.

"The barriers were breached by protesters, many of whom we believe were not affiliated with NYU [who exhibited] disorderly, disruptive and antagonizing behaviour [refusing to leave when told the protests would be disbanded. Assistance was then requested from the NYPD", explained NYU spokesman John Beckman adding that 'several antisemitic incidents' had been reported.

Video shows NYPD Assistant Chief James McCarthy and his officers being chased and surrounded by protestors on Monday night while trying to get inside the NYU Catholic Center after arresting one of them.
NYPD Assistant Chief James McCarthy and his officers being chased and surrounded by protesters Monday night while trying to get inside the NYU Catholic Center after arresting one of them. Peter Hambrecht

Labels: , , , ,

Wednesday, April 24, 2024

Disrupting a Workplace Leads to Deserved Termination of Employment

"Google's aims are clear; the corporation is attempting to quash dissent, silence its workers and reassert its power over them."
"In its attempts to do so, Google has decided to unceremoniously, and without due process, upend the livelihoods of over fifty of its own workers."
Jane Chung, spokeswoman, No Tech For Apartheid

"[We carefully confirmed that] every single one of those whose employment was terminated was personally and definitively involved in disruptive activity inside our buildings."
Google response 
A sign for Google Cloud offices is seen in Sunnyvale, California, U.S. on April 16, 2024.
 
The mystery here is that employees of Google and those purporting to represent their interests feel entitled to job security even while they engage in disruptive, company-harmful, and clearly political activities and although the company does not agree with their contentious demands and has repeatedly asked them to desist in their actions, also feel entitled to continue regardless. Imposing their views on the company despite their views running counter to Google's business interests and perhaps their sympathies. 
 
Private companies have every right to have on their workforce employees who value their jobs enough to respect the company they work for.

Chief executive Sundar Pichae informed Google employees through a company-wide memorandum that they should not use the company as a "personal platform" or "fight over disruptive issues or debate politics." In other words, a reasonable caution. Those who chose to ignore his instructions to employees made the choice between employment and job loss. And job loss is precisely what at least fifty people working for the giant company have experienced, deservedly.

At least twenty additional workers were fired by Google resulting from their protests over the technology being supplied to the Israeli government. That brings the total to date of terminated staff to over fifty. The latest episode of internal turmoil at the tech giant revolving around a $1.2-billion contract signed in 2021 for Google and Amazon to provide the government of Israel with cloud computing and artificial intelligence services for "Project Nimbus".

These were workers who felt justified by their personal moral compass to hold sit-in protests at Google offices in New York and Sunnyvale, California. The response of the company when employees chose to ignore their requests to desist, was to call police who thereupon made appropriate arrests. Last week the company fired 30 workers and followed it up a day ago by firing "over 20" more staffers, "including non-participating bystanders during last week's protests", according to a spokesperson for No Tech For Apartheid.

Google's explanation was that additional workers were fired following its investigation that gathered details from co-workers who had been "physically disrupted", identifying employees who wore masks and failed to carry their staff badges, in an effort to shield their identities.
"This is a business, and not a place to act in a way that disrupts coworkers or makes them feel unsafe, to attempt to use the company as a personal platform, or to fight over disruptive issues or debate politics." "[Google has a] duty to be an objective and trusted provider of information that serves all of our users globally,"
"[Workers should put disruption aside and put the] mission first [at this critically important time]."
"When we come to work, our goal is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. That supersedes everything else and I expect us to act with a focus that reflects that."
Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai
A person rides past the Google sign outside the Google offices in Sunnyvale, Calif., on Thursday, April 18, 2024. Google has fired 28 employees who were involved in protests over the tech company’s cloud computing contract with the Israeli government. The workers held sit-ins at the company’s offices in California and New York over Google’s $1.2 billion contract to provide custom tools for Israeli’s military. (AP Photo/Terry Chea)
A person rides past the Google sign outside the Google offices in Sunnyvale, Calif., on Thursday, April 18, 2024. Google has fired 28 employees who were involved in protests over the tech company’s cloud computing contract with the Israeli government. The workers held sit-ins at the company’s offices in California and New York over Google’s $1.2 billion contract to provide custom tools for Israeli’s military. (AP Photo/Terry Chea)

Labels: , ,

Tuesday, April 23, 2024

Never Put Off Until Today What You Should have Said Yesterday

"There is a difference between peaceful protest and hateful intimidation."
"It is unconscionable to glorify the antisemitic violence and murder perpetrated by Hamas on October 7th."
"This rhetoric has no place in Canada. This is not who were are."
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/nationalpost/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Ottawa-protest-1.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1128&h=846&type=webp&sig=GX8Cpt3j8csyj2hyCncdKg
A message of condemnation. From the Prime Minister of Canada. After months of often more muted messages of hate, threats, viral antisemitism. At no time did this man who for too long has been the executive leader of Canada see fit to condemn antisemitism without linking it to his cautions against 'Islamophobia'. Puzzling, given that Muslims in Canada face very few obstacles to living an inclusive, normal life of acceptance and equality. While at the same time Palestinian agitators have sought every opportunity to slander Israel, deny that Hamas is a terrorist entity, and harass Jewish-Canadians.

And nor is he the sole politician in Canada to look the other way and murmur approval of Canada's laws justifying free speech, even though there are other laws that condemn and criminalize the deliberate spread of racism, hate expressed against an identifiable group as an indictable offence. The steady growth of a Muslim demographic in Canada make them an impressive voting bloc, one recognized all too readily by politicians more concerned over their re-election than representing basic security issues.

This past Saturday downtown Ottawa saw swarms of masked anti-Israel protesters marching, waving banners, and flags, chanting directly before Parliament Hill to support the terrorist attacks in southern Israel that took place on October 7, 2023, killing over a thousand innocent civilian Israelis, mass-raping girls and women, mutilating their tortured bodies and slaughtering them, then taking hundreds of children, women and the elderly as hostages back with them to Gaza where it became a celebratory event.
 
https://thumbnails.cbc.ca/maven_legacy/thumbnails/861/6/ST_MCKENNA_OTTAWA_PROTEST_MPX.jpg
Ottawa police’s hate crime unit is investigating allegations of hate speech at a pro-Palestinian rally on Parliament Hill over the weekend, where some participants were heard chanting in support of the deadly Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack in Israel.
 
"Our resistance and attacks are proof that we are almost free. October 7 is proof that we're almost free. Long live October 7. Long live the intifada. Long live every form of resistance", shouted one of the speakers. So, after all, this is Canada. The Canada that we never realized existed. But it does. And Jews in Canada are being hounded, harassed, threatened while their places of worship are vandalized, Jewish children entering their parochial school are cursed and shouted at, Jewish university students ostracized.

There was a time, early on, long before that fateful October 7, when a strong leader would have expressed his condemnation of rising antisemitism and acknowledged its source, and taken steps to criminalize the burgeoning racism splitting Canadian society. Having done nothing of the kind, even when Palestinian 'students' in Canada began organizing 'pro-Palestinian' marches celebrating the savagery visited on Israelis by Palestinian terrorist groups starting the very day following the carnage in southern Israel, the haters took it as tacit approval.

The prime minister who cannot condemn the scourge of rising and rampant antisemitism emanating from within the Canadian-Muslim demographic, without also parenthetically mentioning 'Islamophobia' has, in very fact, supported the antisemitism he has done nothing to tame, to adequately censure, to reassure Canadian Jews that their place in Canada is assured, safe and secure because Canadians care and Canadian politicians are determined to ensure that Canada remains a nation where justice and equality are not just words but conditions applicable to all its citizens.

To them a badge of dishonour by their lack of concern, by their lack of remedial action, by their lack of assurances to Canadian Jewry that Canada is their home, a place of origin where they are appreciated, where they are safe and free from threats and violence.

https://i.cbc.ca/1.7181536.1713820502!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/16x9_780/april-20-protest-on-parliament-hill.jpg
Police are investigating allegations of hate speech used at a pro-Palestinian rally in downtown Ottawa on Saturday. (Radio-Canada/Maxim Saavedra-Ducharmes)

Labels: , , , , ,

Monday, April 22, 2024

Jews Under Violent Duress

"There is widespread bipartisan support for aid to Israel in the House of Representatives, yet this legislative branch is being held hostage from within, undermining both American and Israeli national security."
"Our members are compelled by their faith to act on this issue, and at we shall."
Sandra Parker, chairwoman, Christians United for Israel

"I chose to speak from my heart and from my experience as an immigrant whose family escaped from the most brutal, radical Islamofascist regime in the world: the terrorist Islamic Regime in Iran."
"We came to Canada because we wanted to live a better life."
"We embrace Canadian values."
Ontario MPP Goldie Ghamari
Palestinian supporters hold a rally in downtown Toronto on Oct. 9, 2023.
Palestinian supporters hold a rally in downtown Toronto on Oct. 9, 2023. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)
 
Canadians in general have seen their society upended in disagreements and they have witnessed the strange phenomenon of their government hesitating in its support for a Democratic state that has always had the support of democracies throughout the world, including Canada, in recognition of the legitimacy and the need for the existence of a Jewish State, to preserve and protect embattled Jews from the Middle East to North Africa, after the near-destruction of the world's Jewish population in Europe.

Worse, a government that no longer appears to feel there is any need to support its own Criminal Code laws against promoting hate and violence against an identifiable group, as week after week Muslim-Canadians who have immigrated to Canada, along with refugees and migrants fleeing Sectarian and tribal violence in their countries of origin march through the streets of Canadian cities celebrating the Palestinian Hamas terrorist group's incursion from Gaza into Israel to commit horrendous acts of savagery on Jews.

The explosion of antisemitism and the growing violence against Canada's Jewish community inexplicably has drawn no level of government to declare the hate-filled marches advocating for the destruction of Israel and a 'final solution' for Jews intolerable, prepared to instruct police to apprehend those involved and outlaw such displays of sheer, unadulterated celebration of vicious atrocities committed against southern Israel's farming communities where 1,200 Israeli civilians were slaughtered.

When Jewish lives were in peril during the Second World War, the Catholic Church among others did nothing to admonish the leaders of the Third Reich that their increasing acrimony, threats and final solution to rid the continent of the presence of Jews represented a wholesale atrocity of genocidal proportions. The Protestant Branch of the Church did no better. Now, it is the evangelical Christians that have committed to supporting the Jewish State, at a time once again when Jews are threatened.

If it is true as many would like to believe that not all Muslims subscribe to the hate manifested by those who mask themselves with keffiyehs, claiming Israel to be committing genocide against Palestinians by responding to the mass rapes, murders, mutilations and hostage taking by Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Palestine Liberation Organization and ordinary civilian Palestinians on October 7, and that the majority are peace-supporting and hate no one, there is no evidence of it. That there is an absence of Muslim-Canadian voices protesting the violence on the streets, the criminal acts perpetrated against Jewish parochial schools, synagogues, social centres, and businesses is the reality.

We see and hear only those Muslim-Canadians who bear signage accusing Israel and Jews of genocide for fighting back against terrorism, advocating for the destruction of the Jewish homeland, persecuting Jews on the street, at universities and blocking access to areas where Jews tend to live in groups. Nowhere do we see protesting Muslim-Canadians who accept Jewish-Canadians as equals, entitled to live in peace and security among the steadily growing demographic of Muslims in Canada. Why is that?

Member of Provincial Parliament in Ontario Goldie Ghamari and other expatriate Iranians who fled the Republic for a life of freedom, finding it in Canada, openly support their Jewish counterparts. Theirs is a rare commitment among the Muslims who have settled in Canada for a better life, yet are adamant in denying that life of security, social comfort and prosperity to their Jewish neighbours. Jews, under duress by fellow Canadians whose antisemitism is audible and terrifying to the Jewish-Canadian population never resort to vilifying Muslims for being Muslims, threaten them, bomb their mosques.

The Liberal government of Justin Trudeau is prepared to invite Palestinian Gazans to find refuge in Canada, adding to the already large contingent of Palestinians living in the country who foment hate and violence against Jews. Justin Trudeau cannot find it in himself to condemn the rampant antisemitism and criminal acts committed against Jewish houses of worship without linking antisemitism as a proscribed and hateful symbol of discord, to 'Islamophobia'. The infinitely larger number of Muslims now living in Canada as opposed to a relatively small Jewish population mitigates against this man of authority's responsibility to protect Jews in the greater need to placate the larger voting bloc.

Illustrative: Holding US and Israeli flags, a crowd of largely Evangelical Christians pray during the Christians United For Israel (CUFI) 'Night to Honor Israel' during the CUFI Summit 2023, in Arlington, Virginia, at the Crystal Gateway Marriott, July 17, 2023. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)
Holding US and Israeli flags, a crowd of largely Evangelical Christians pray during the Christians United For Israel (CUFI) 'Night to Honor Israel' during the CUFI Summit 2023, in Arlington, Virginia, at the Crystal Gateway Marriott, July 17, 2023. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP

Labels: , , , , , ,

Sunday, April 21, 2024

Nothing to See Here, Folks

"Neither side is ready to jump over the brink."
"Probably we're going to go back to the proxy war. [But now it's a proxy war with the risk of] that sudden eruption of state-to-state war."
"Which we didn't have to worry about before."
Alex Vatanka, director, Iran program, Middle East Institute Research Centre, Washington

"The explosion this morning in the sky of Isfahan was related to the shooting of air defence systems at a suspicious object that did not cause any damage."
"[Air defence batteries fired over reports of airborne drones, crews targeting several flying objects]."
Iranian army commander Gen. Abdolrahim Mousavi
 
"[Israel appears to have carried out the attack to] check off a box [by sending a message to Iran without doing anything too provocative that might upset the U.S. urging restraint or to spark any further retaliation from Iran]." 
"It seems very limited, to send a message that 'we can strike you inside of Iran'."
Yoel Guzansky, senior researcher, Institute for National Security Studies, Tel Aviv
https://static01.nyt.com/images/2024/04/20/multimedia/20mideast-crisis-header-pfhc/20mideast-crisis-header-pfhc-superJumbo.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp
An anti-Israel parade in Tehran on Friday  The New York Times
 
Neither the sender of the message nor the message target appeared inclined to linger on what appeared to be a restrained Israeli rebuke referencing the 300 drones and Ballistic Missiles that Tehran sprinkled toward Israeli airspace a week earlier. Message delivered. Message received. A signal for Middle East political experts analyzing the interplay as both enemies preparing to prevent the latest violent eruption from ballooning into a full blown regional war.

"It appears we're closer than ever to a broad regional war, despite the fact that the international community will most likely make a great effort to de-escalate tensions", commented Amos Harel, military-affairs commentator at the daily Haaretz in Israel. The Islamic Republic of Iran has never made any secret of its willingness to one day destroy Israel. Its furtive but obvious nuclear program and focus on ballistic missile upgrades testament to that oft-stated ambition.
 
https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/t_fit-560w,f_avif,q_auto:eco,dpr_2/rockcms/2024-04/240415-israel-UN-mb-0929-24467b.jpg
The speech notes of Gilad Erdan, the Israeli ambassador to the U.N., during a Security Council meeting.  Charly Tribbaleau / AFP via Getty Images
Nor is it unknown that Iran is a major sponsor of proxy terrorist groups in the Palestinian territories, Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen and Syria all of whom have become involved in attacking Israel from its borders following the Israel Defense Forces' incursion into Gaza with the express and well-expressed purpose of destroying Hamas's operations and extinguishing as many of its operatives as possible, to defang one of the deadly serpents spawned from the Republic's IRGC al-Quds division.

Rising tensions in the wake of the October 7 flood of terrorists representing Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the PLO backed by Iran that saw their operatives, along with ordinary Palestinian civilians attack Israeli border farming communities where their sadistic savagery gave vent to the hatred for Jews consuming their venom-patterned minds by committing unspeakable atrocities against Israeli civilians in an organized, well-rehearsed orgy of rape, mutilation and mass murder.

When Israel mounted its offensive in Gaza, Hezbollah saw it as an opportunity to strike Israeli targets opening a second front in the north of Israel, necessitating the evacuation of Israeli villages around the Golan Heights. Iranian-backed Shiite militias in Iraq, Syria and Yemen fired missiles and drones throughout the conflict in lethal, distracting moves obviously meant to exhaust Israel's military reserves.

For its part, Israel has, over time, conducted airborne raids by its fighter jets in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq to destroy arms shipments from Iran to its proxies, focusing mostly on Syria in an effort to dislodge Iran from a planned permanent presence on Israel's border. On April1st an airstrike killed two Iranian generals in the Syrian capital Damascus at an Iranian diplomatic compound for which Iran named Israel as being responsible -- vowing a response.

On the 13th of April Iran calculated a first-time direct attack and launched a rain of missiles and attack drones toward Israel, virtually all of which were intercepted by an international coalition of preventive partnership that included fighter planes and missile interception by the United States, France, United Kingdom, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, working in tandem with the IDF, resulting in one human casualty in Israel and a minimally affected Israeli airbase.

Israel's response to Iran's attack arrived a week later with Iranian authorities claiming their air defences fired at a major airbase near Isfahan, home to Iran's F-14 Tomcats, an ageing fleet of American jets predating the Islamic Revolution. Sites associated with Iran's nuclear program are also established in the Isfahan area, including the underground Natanz enrichment site, featuring in previous Israeli sabotage attacks. That response by the IDF coincided with Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's 85th birthday.

Both the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency and Iranian State television declared all Iranian atomic sites in the areas in question to be "fully safe"; "no damage" resulted. On the other hand, it would seem that satellite imagery later revealed evidence of probable damage at the Iranian air base following the Israeli strike. BBC Verify analyzed two images that showed part of an air-defence system at an airfield in Isfahan had been damaged.
SAR Images show the probable damage of a S-300 air defence system located at the north-western corner of the Shikari airbase, Iran.

Labels: , , , ,

Saturday, April 20, 2024

Ontario Premier Doug Ford: Out of Order!

"It's extremely politically sensitive, obviously, but procedurally I believe I made the right decision in the sense of past rulings of speakers and precedents and traditions."
"In my opinion, having done the research, it appeared to me that the keffiyeh is being worn to make a political statement."
Speaker of the Ontario Legislature, Ted Arnott
 
"I think [Speaker Arnott's ruling] is the correct decision, in the same way we can't use other kinds of political clothing."
"We can't wear T-shirts that say 'Free the hostages', or wrap ourselves in a flag or whatever."
"We have to follow the rules of the legislature. Otherwise, we politicize the entire debate inside the legislature and that's not what it's about ... we use our words to persuade, not our items of clothing".
Progressive Conservative backbencher Robin Martin
 
"It really comes down to uniting Ontarians and communities."
"We see the division right now that's going on. It's not healthy, and this will just divide the community even more."
Ontario Premier Doug Ford
https://i.cbc.ca/ais/7f91d02b-d1b7-402a-8b40-2f6f04e1c9e0,1713479031455/full/max/0/default.jpg?im=Crop%2Crect%3D%280%2C570%2C5470%2C3076%29%3BResize%3D%28620%29
Keffiyehs remain banned in the Ontario Legislature after a motion to overrule House Speaker Ted Arnott’s prohibition failed to pass at Queen’s Park on Thursday. CBC

One would think and hope that someone of the political stature and influence of the premier of Canada's most populous province would be more aware and sensitive to the implications of permitting an iconic symbol of Palestinian 'resistance' against the 'occupation' of Gaza and the West Bank by the State of Israel would be recognized as throwing political weight in the Palestinian-occupied wing of slanderous propaganda. Worse, that seeing that symbol worn in the provincial parliament, the impression that the provincial government agrees that Palestinians and their terrorist hordes have the right to raid Israeli territory to threaten, to rape, to torture, and to murder Jews in Israel.
 
The Speaker of the Ontario legislature appears to be courageously standing on principle alongside the legislature's own rules when he defied the popular (unanimous) decision of the Members of Provincial Parliament when they opted to allow keffiyeh-clad individuals to display their obvious rancor against Israel, bringing the conflict that rages in the Middle East into Canada and its levels of government as an entitlement to slander the Jewish State and propagate for its destruction as a 'final solution' to their struggle to destroy the ancestral Jewish presence in the Middle East. 

The keffiyeh is emblematic of Palestinian rejection of sharing the geography that the United Nations General Assembly in 1947 partitioned, offering Jews one portion of their traditional geography upon which to declare a modern state, and the other to the Palestinians who claim the entire territory as uniquely and solely theirs, rejecting the reality of history that reflects a Judaean presence from antiquity to the present; in fact the original 'Palestinians' as named by the Roman occupiers of the Middle East during that era.

There is a long-standing rule in the legislature that members may not make use of props, signage or accessories with the intention of expressing a political statement, and it is that rule that the Speaker of the Legislature relied upon to refuse to permit that resonating political symbol to make its appearance in the Legislature of Ontario. Having established the facts through his own "extensive research", the Speaker was confident in the applicability of his ruling.
 
The unanimous consent of the legislature is sought by members of provincial parliament when they wish to express solidarity with a specific theme or event. Provincial NDP leader Marit Stiles had moved a unanimous consent motion days earlier claiming the keffiyeh to be a culturally significant item of clothing in Palestinian, Muslim and Arab communities and as such should be given permission to be worn in Parliament. Some of those present in the Legislature demurred, the loudest "no" emanating from another Progressive Conservative MPP.
"Speaker Arnott is the longest serving MPP in the legislature and has spent three decades upholding the rules and procedures of the House."
"As the longest serving woman at Queen’s Park I support his ruling because it keeps with tradition and reminds members to keep our debates focused on words rather than on political props."
"Arnott chose parliamentary convention over political weather [vanes]."
Ontario Conservative MPP Lisa MacLeod
https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/content/dam/ctvnews/en/images/2023/10/24/queen-s-park-1-6615626-1713453940615.jpg
Queen's Park, Toronto   Frank Gunn, The Canadian Press

Labels: , , , ,

() Follow @rheytah Tweet