The Terrorists Among Us

An old political warhorse heard from. "Having a country, having armaments, raising armies to face the other armies and so on - it looks like the chances of that are less and less. the difficulty is the next wars ... will not be countries against countries. It will be fanaticism, extremists and perhaps financed and helped by some countries."

His usual fluent mode of expression. Jean Chretien, as the anniversary of 9/11 approaches, warns against complacency. For Canadians, without a doubt, are complacent. The Right Honourable Jean Chretien doesn't hesitate to overstep the bounds of diplomacy, warning that your neighbour might conceivably be a terrorist-in-waiting.

John Manley, formerly foreign affairs minister, doesn't mince words to speak of the risks Canadians, like other Western democracies face, with the ongoing reality of active, violent jihad. "There still tends to be a degree of complacency or naivete on the part of Canadians that this is really not our problem. Our false assumption "that this was a long time ago and it was far away in New York and Washington", that this is not a threat we need concern ourselves with.

"I think we continue to be a little bit too complacent. The primary role of government, before everything else, is to enable its people to live in a secure environment. But if you can't have the ability to walk safely or be secure in your home, then we may as well be living in the jungle", he averred. And the minister who introduced the Anti-Terrorism Act, Anne McLellen, spoke of her concerns:

"It was incumbent upon us not to scare Canadians but to bring them along and help them understand we had no reason to be smug about any of this. We absolutely should not live our lives in fear, but as the government of Canada we needed to be doing the things that we thought were reasonable within our constitutional structure to ensure the collective security of Canadians."

Canada and Canadians cannot be too careful. Nor, of course, too concerned. We're Canadians, after all. Balance, moderation in all things; the observance of the Golden Mean. We are civilized and tolerant as a nation. And we express this tolerant civility by embracing without reservation all those who have the discerning intelligence to make this country their home. Canada: immigration central.

And because we are so generously open, we don't want to pry too deeply into the minds and the values and the intentions of many immigrants who have settled here harbouring ancient and ongoing antipathies toward other ethnic and religious groups. Which explains why, for example, Arab and Muslim extremists can feel comfortable within Canada for it is their Canada, too.

It does not, however, adequately explain how it is that Hezbollah flags can be flown with confidence at public gatherings. Or that Hamas is defended as a legitimate government in Gaza. And that there are Canadians who support the Palestinian 'cause' and fault Israel as a brutal oppressor so fund a Gaza-blockade-busting flotilla in support of a terrorist group.

So that, on August 28, in downtown Toronto, an abusively noisy crowd of Islamists and their sympathizers were gathered to impugn Israel and inflame public opinion against the State of Israel's legitimacy. An al-Quds rally, to insist that Jerusalem belongs to Islam, and that the historical heritage of Jewish presence in Jerusalem is but a figment of history's fevered imagination.

You can watch an extended version here.
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs
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