Gross Political Incompetence

Trudeau speaks with the media in the foyer of the House of Commons Wednesday. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)

Gross Political Incompetence

"In just the past few days on the trade diversification file, our government has met both the outgoing and incoming Mexican administrations, rallied momentum within the Pacific Alliance trading bloc [comprised of Chile, Peru, Colombia and Mexico], and charted a course to ensure Canada becomes the most trade-connected country on the planet."
Jim Carr, Minister of International Trade Diversification, Canada

"It is highly unusual, after more than a year of three-party talks, for Canada not to participate in the new discussions between U.S. and Mexican negotiators."
Chris Sands, head, Center for Canadian Studies, Johns Hopkins University

"Until Canada signals to the White House or tells them even privately, 'We're going to give you something that you want', they're going to be on the outside looking in."
"The negotiating style of the Trump administration is so kind of balls to the wall, just being prepared to sit down earnestly and roll up their sleeves isn't close to enough at this stage."
"Their whole charm offensive, which I think was a good idea, Lighthizer views as an end-run. In his mind, she [Canada's Chrystia Freeland] went around his back all over Capital Hill."
Unnamed insider NAFTA negotiation source

"I know that Canada continues to implore the Americans to get the table restarted, but as of yet, they've been rebuffed."
"We really have been pens-down from a trilateral point of view since May."
Flavio Volpe, president, Canadian Automotive Parts Manufacturers Association

Canada and Mexico are dealing with a volatile, spontaneously impetuous deal-maker who despite ignorance of the devil's details believes implicitly that his brain is crammed with superior knowledge unknown to others; above all the capacity to strike a deal benefiting himself or, in his capacity as President of the United States, one of huge benefit to those who voted him into office. He is also a man devoted to fulfilling his campaign promises, one of which was to tear up the three-way trade agreement between his country, Canada and Mexico because, as he put it, it 'cheats' the U.S.

The U.S. is not and never has been on an altruistic streak in trade, willing to forego some benefit to itself in favour of giving a hand up to less powerful and less economically stable states, even if they're its neighbours. Under any American administration there has always been trade tension with Canada, from lumber, steel, poultry and eggs, dairy products, shingles and any other number of issues. There are times when American negotiators have allowed themselves to relent in favour of their trade partners but not many,

The United States, after all, is significantly wealthier, more internationally powerful and certain of its exemplary presence on the world stage as a democratic powerhouse, a military power, a global financial giant for whom trade is not an absolute necessity, given its huge population able to consume whatever it produces. Trade is secondary where for Canada, trade is essential to its well-being as a trading nation in natural resources. It is a natural outcome that in negotiations the powerful become bullies, while those dependent on its largess must prepare to be supplicants.

The realities of politics demand that those who are less powerful submit to the demands of their overlords, as it were. Unless their arrogance and political naivete convince them that they need not, and in the case of Canada and Mexico, the intention to defend themselves from predatory trade practices upsets the balance if the bully decides to give no quarter. In the face of which Canada's Prime Minister unwisely rejected a bone flung to him by President Trump, leaving Trump furious with little Justin Trudeau, intent on 'pulling his weight' and in so doing leaving Canada in the lurch.

And nor is Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs (oops, Global Affairs) a study in diplomatic niceties, managing to convey the impression that she is as trade-ignorant and politically naive -- leavened unfortunately with the arrogance of the ignorant who feel righteously entitled -- a step above Trudeau. The previous Conservative-led Government of Canada under Prime Minister Stephen Harper paved the initial way for free trade agreements benefiting Canada. The current prime minister, Justin Trudeau, banking on personal charm, launched a global pledge for union entitlements, linking feminism, gay and transgender rights, religious freedom with free trade agreements.

The free trade agreement with China Trudeau was prepared to sign, inserting all these non-trade, 'human rights' demands persuaded China not to advance let alone sign such an agreement. The Trans Pacific Partnership went the same route, with Trudeau insisting on a name change that would incorporate human rights into the trade deal's nomenclature. A deal with India went south when Trudeau made a fool of himself and Canada in his Bollywood-costumes charade, making him the globe's laughing stock.

And now, the United States rebuffed a request by Canada to be allowed to attend a scheduled meeting between the U.S. and Mexico to capitalize on the bi-lateral progress made by both in earlier discussions. By flouting Canada's 'independence' and superiority, Trump saw himself given a back-handed insult by his former pet Trudeau, now viewing him as an ingrate. And the launching of a political appeal directly to sympathetic American Senators and Congressmen opposed to Trump failed to endear Freeland to her U.S. trade counterpart; an initiative that should logically have taken place before, never during discussions.

The Liberals, to save face at home at a time when the U.S. economy is booming and Canada's is slumping, portray themselves as defending Canada's most vital interests. And they point a razor-sharp finger of accusation at their Conservative opposition for not supporting the self-harming stance the Liberal government has taken, while at the same time excoriating the previous government for its failure in signing onto free trade deals, the deals the Conservative government did all the preliminary work on, leaving it to the Liberals to sign. To no avail.

It has come to this! Biting the hand that feeds you has led to a dilemma that the hard-pressed current Liberal government and Canadians will likely regret for some time.

Rather than reinforce the good fortune of Canada’s co-location to the U.S. which accounts for our economic well being, time and again successive Liberal governments have played the canard that we are superior to the United States. This false superiority for domestic political gain has finally come to a shuddering halt.

Due to the Kennedy round of multilateral trade negotiations (The GATT; General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade), now the WTO (World Trade Organization) I was hired as a so-called expert on U.S. tariffs and trade by the Trade Department to help analyze the ongoing U.S. Kennedy round submissions. As the head of the special projects unit of Canada Customs I had just completed the U.S. and Canadian adoption of the updated harmonized code of the GATT. Until then the U.S. and Canada were the lone holdouts. The rest of the developed world had adopted the harmonized code for some time back. The reason for this was that the U.S. would dictate to the GATT what it was willing to accept to protect its industries. As all trading countries were interested in preserving and enhancing their trade with the world’s most lucrative market, those US. grandfather provisions are, for the most part, still in place. If you wish to continue to play in the U.S. market, you will do what the U.S. wants, regardless of the so-called rules.

When Pierre Trudeau was prime minister, his intense dislike of Americans and the particular president, Richard Nixon, resulted in his attempted third option or trade diversification strategy. This turned out to be a complete and utter failure. When I arrived at Foreign Affairs and International Trade I was amused at the continual churning of the efforts consumed in signing on to all the useless ‘protocols’ and agreements which involved route countries of no international clout and mainly representing third world economies who wished to convey the notion that they are important, and to ‘punch above their weight’, which plays nicely to the home crowd. Many of us trade commissioners would smile at the endeavours of our political colleagues. The U.S. has never signed on to these shams.

Jim Carr thinks that momentum generated by Chile, Peru, Columbia, etcetera, will “provide momentum for us in the Pacific-Alliance trading block to ensure Canada becomes the most trade-connected country on the planet”. In other words, more churning. Mr. Carr does not realize that our absorption of bananas and other fruits and vegetables from these countries must be at a choking point.

Former Prime Minister Chretien at an open microphone once quipped that it was good for his party to bash the Americans. A long time behavioural trait of Liberal governments which American officials had in the past recognized and mentioned to me in a benign manner over the years. I guess this predilection has reached its zenith with this administration.

It is sad to see Canadians continually demonstrating against the United States concerning their purely domestic business. Pity that Mr. Trudeau and company have bought the hype that ‘punching above your weight’ at balloons has heft.

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland gestures to photographers following a photo op with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in Ottawa. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)

Israel, the Nation State of the Jewish People

Israelis wave Israeli flags as they parade around Jerusalem's Old City on May 24, 2017 to commemorate Jerusalem Day, marking the reunification of the city following the Six-Day War of 1967. (AFP PHOTO / Menahem KAHANA)

"The main problem with the bill is not what is in it but what is missing from it – which is that Israel is democratic and committed to the full equality for all its citizens."
"When the democratic component is missing, rather than strengthen Israel as a Jewish state, it provides ammunition to the enemies of Zionism who want to harm Israel’s right to self-determination."
"There is a real struggle over the soul of Israeli democracy. There has been major success in diluting problematic legislation."
"[The practical impact of the bill was currently merely] symbolic and educational. [It] won’t have immediate concrete implications."
IDI (Israel Democracy Institute) President Yohanan Plesner

"Building a Jewish homeland — through sovereignty, through culture, and through settlement — has always been the core purpose of the country."
"The bottom line is that Israel is the Jewish State, and this law tells us what that means, just as other Basic Laws tell us what goes into its democratic foundations."
David Hazony, founding editor, The Tower magazine

"We are enshrining this important bill into a law today to prevent even the slightest thought, let alone attempt, to transform Israel to a country of all its citizens."
"When I listened attentively to the Joint List MKs, it was impossible to miss their clear words: 'We, the Arabs, will win, we are in our homeland, we were here before you and we’ll be here after you'." "This Basic Law is the clear-cut answer to those who think that and it is clear: You were not here before us and you will not be here after us."
Avi Dichter, Likud party Knesset member, bill sponsor

"A hundred and twenty-two years after [the founder of modern Zionism Theodore] Herzl made his vision known, with this law we determined the founding principle of our existence."
"Israel is the nation state of the Jewish people, and respects the rights of all of its citizens."
Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu

Benjamin Netanyahu says the Palestinians must recognize Israel as a Jewish state   AFP

The land of Israel, the country was established with a sound view to recognizing a return of the Jewish people from exodus imposed upon them by the inexorable forces of territorial domination in its ancient history. Banished from the land that give Judaism its presence and purpose, the following millennia were not kind to the existence of Jews who struggled over the ages in various points of the geographic compass to endure the isolation, assaults, hostility and deadly attacks hurled against them by a world unwilling to accommodate their existence.

Jews had never, over the thousands of years that distanced them from their heritage and memory of their homeland, forgotten where they came from. Return was forever in mind, its yearning a healing mindset for those who suffered humiliation, rejection and violence, the hope always there that return was possible and when achieved it would represent salvation from slander, recrimination, threats and mass murder. The price paid before return was deemed possible by the world at large was horribly steep; six million lives for the assent to return to Zion.

Even then, the supreme world body that gave its assent,  divided the land once totally dedicated to the presence of Israelites, offering a slice to be returned, after a majority portion was allotted to Hashemites whom the British Mandate mollified with TransJordan after their ouster from Arabia when it was handed over to the Saudis. The Palestinian settlers on the land, offered an even portion to Israel's refused, fused to the fixation that the entire area was theirs alone. That fixation has never deviated; their continued refusal to recognize a Jewish state in the midst of Arab and Muslim tribal majorities still speaks to their goal.

The State of Israel has a majority Jewish population, diluted with the presence of Arabs, Christians, Druze, Kurds and others all of whom share citizenship and equal rights. The Palestinian Authority has made it quite clear that not only would they never recognize Israel as a Jewish state, nor would they ever permit the presence of a single Jew living among them within a proposed sovereign Palestinian state. Yet there are elected Arab members of the Israeli Knesset who in concert act in opposition to Jewish interests in a Jewish land that offers equality rights to all.

Israel remains a nation spurned by those whose values, culture and politics it shares in Europe who, despite Palestinian terrorism inflicted on Jews throughout the past 70 years view Israel as an 'occupier' for its forced position of military defence against a neighbouring population invested in its destruction. The move by the government of Israel to finally install formally into state law the prevailing reality that Israel is a Jewish state -- was meant to be one and has always been one that accepted within its borders a pluralist presence -- alters nothing.

The reality is that Jewishness reflects the purpose of the state. Its language is Hebrew, though it gives special considerate status to Arabic spoken by close to 20% of its population. Terrorist attacks by Palestinians against Israeli Jews accompanied the original declaration of Israel's re-founding in 1948, and the focus on 'resistance' of the 'occupation' has never deviated; threats and attacks continue, from rockets fired across from Gaza, to infiltration by Arabs into Jewish settlements to murder Jews -- to the PA authorities inciting the populace to violence and rewarding them for their efforts.

Jews have been existentially challenged for thousands of years, and those challenges continue without abatement. What better way to respond than to declare themselves in final possession of their ancestral geography from which they will never more be evacuated under violent force? Despised simply because of their ethnic origins and religious devotion, customs and traditions, the world has always been an unfriendly place for Jews. Now, back in their homeland, the world, both close by and at a distance, continues to view Jews and Israel with cynical skepticism.

At home, within themselves, psychologically secure, Israelis long accustomed to their role as strangers in the outside world, are not strangers in their inner world. Israel's ethnonationalistic existence is sound and reflective of its existential need. A quote from the nation's foundational text reflecting the United Nations' General Assembly recognition of Israel "is irrevocable. This right is the natural right of the Jewish people to be masters of their own fate, like all other nations, in their own sovereign State".

So it is. So be it.

The opening lines of the Declaration of Independence. (photo credit: Ilan Ben Zion/Times of Israel staff)

 

The Unstoppable Force of the Migrant Tide

Moroccan migrants are seen on a dinghy as they cross the Strait of Gibraltar sailing from the coast of Morocco before disembarking at 'Del Canuelo' beach in Tarifa on Friday

"The Spanish government’s actions when it came to the Aquarius were good given all that’s happening in the Mediterranean right now."
"You can’t let people die and that’s why we needed that symbolic act of humanity and solidarity from the government. But the Aquarius also showed us what needs to be done in terms of intervention and reception. And that isn’t happening here."
"If they’d had the foresight to build a centre in all the years that have gone by, we wouldn’t have men, women and children – including babies – sleeping on the floors of sports centres in different cities, in the waiting room at Algeciras port or in police stations. This is a really awful situation.”
"I’ve seen what the wire [razor wire topping border fences at Melilla and Ceuta] does to people: it doesn’t cut you; it rips you."
“I’ve served as a chaplain at the CIEs [foreign internment centres] and it broke my heart every week when I went. They should not exist. Migrants who arrive have committed an administrative offence by arriving in Spain without the necessary documentation but they’re being locked up in a place that’s guarded by police and which, in many cases, has bars. They’re being detained."
Father Gabriel Delgado, Cádiz, Spain

"We’re taking them in on a daily basis [migrants off ships]. They’re just not called the Aquarius and they’re little boats. It may not be as striking as a boat drifting in the Mediterranean, but it’s the reality of what we’re seeing on the coasts of southern Spain on, sadly, a daily basis."
"[The maritime rescue service and NGOs are doing an extraordinary job]. Where we need help is with economic resources to improve and widen these capacities."
"But what’s fundamental is the need to come up with measures on development, dialogue, cooperation and improving things in the countries of origin and countries of transit."
Spain’s new prime minister, Pedro Sánchez

Spain's humanitarian dedication to welcoming migrants from Africa to its shores is now placing it in the position that Greece and Italy were mired in for years. When Italy's new government decided that enough was more than enough and refused to accept the Aquarius with its latest invasion of migrants to Italy, Spain stepped up and offered to take them in. That kind of selfless compassion has its cost; word spreads and Spain has become the latest easy entry point for those seeking to improve their prospects by leaving their failed countries of origin.

The first migrants from the Aquarius, a ship that was turned away by Italy and Malta sparking a major migration row in Europe, disembarked at the Spanish port of Valencia on June 17, 2018. (PAU BARRENA/AFP/Getty Images)

Europe is drowning in refugees and economic migrants; its generous impulse to share the advances it has made in providing a decent life for its populations suddenly in high demand by the world's less fortunate. There are, needless to say, official entry points where applications for asylum or immigration are formally made and considered by authorities of the host countries. But none of the tens of thousands of 'refugees' and asylum seekers have any interest in law and order and fairness, in acknowledging that there is an existing waiting list that their impulsive demands are complicating.

Spain's coast guard union is "overwhelmed", in their words, by the steep and never-ending rise in migrant crossings. A human tide requiring rescue from the flimsy rafts floating them over the Strait of Gibraltar, others coming overland in a violent spree of breaching borders. And in the last day, Spanish beachgoers were suddenly jerked out of their complacent enjoyment of a summer day when their beach was suddenly a little more crowded when a flimsy boat arrived to unload fifty Africans who speedily ran off after asking the beachgoers for food.

The Maritime Rescue agency urgently calls on aid so it can continue to cope with the "massive arrival of immigrants" on Spain's unprepared shores. More crew required to save lives afloat in an unfriendly sea. "An absolute overflow of work" for maritime resource centers has resulted from the "extraordinary upturn" in arrivals, cries out for more help for crews already operating with "insufficient" crew levels went the plea.

On Friday morning alone 35 rafts bursting with 627 people came in off the Strait of Gibraltar, raising the number that arrived in this week alone to 2,000. Spain is now considered to be the gateway of choice for migrants crossing the Mediterranean to access Europe. Over 20,000 such individuals breached Spanish shores this year, figures reached by the International Organization for Migration. Italy no longer can boast or groan, that it takes in larger numbers, and, in fact, no longer will agree to.

Thursday's violence at Ceuta, the outpost in Morocco, where over 600 migrants forced entry into Spain stands out for the vicious event it was, when once across the breached fence, migrants attacked the Guardia Civil stationed there with weapons and chemicals and fire. Despite which the attackers were not turned back, not arrested but ushered toward an migrant intake station to make their claims for haven, even while their forced entry was described by security forces as "unprecedented violence".

Reception centres in Spain are beyond saturated, and Spain now blames Italy's refusal to accept any longer those leaving Libya to cross the Mediterranean, where the new government has barred the docking of rescue ships. And while Spain mulls over the necessity of helping the countries that are bleeding citizens to transform them into places where their nationals will want to stay and aid in the building of nations where opportunities to flourish and human rights are respected, in Africa and the Middle East, the concerned nations themselves remain oblivious to any need to transform themselves.

Spanish beachgoers amazed at the sight of migrants spilling out of a boat and sprinting off.

Under Violent Invasion

"In an attempt to stop the Guardia Civil getting close to the break-in area, the migrants … [pelted] officers with plastic containers of excrement and quicklime, sticks and stones, as well as using aerosols as flame-throwers."
Guardia Civil statement

"I hope the EU is working on a global policy on this: it may be our problem initially, but tomorrow, or in a week’s time, or a month’s, it’ll be at the heart of Europe."
"We’ve never, ever, ever had 1,000 migrants arriving in Spain each weekend. And all this could just be for starters: there’s a lot of the summer left and there are thousands and thousands of migrants arriving on the coasts of north Africa and thousands and thousands more who have been waiting to cross for months or years."
Algeciras mayor, José Ignacio Landaluce

"Migrants are sleeping wherever they can: the police stations are full, the converted sports centres are full and the reception centres are full."
"There’s a reception centre for minors in La Línea de la Concepción that’s meant for 30 people. Right now there are 200 little kids there, sleeping on the floor. You’ve even got people sleeping on the decks of maritime rescue boats because there’s nowhere else for them."
Carmen Velayos, secretary general, United Police union, Cádiz

"We’re working on an emergency plan to reinforce the system and give more help to the NGOs working on arrivals."
"I know this is a problem and that the apparatus is being overwhelmed."
Magdalena Valerio, minister for work, migration and social security

Police officer keep watch over some of the people who managed to jump off the border fence between Spain and Morocco, in Ceuta, on Thursday. Photograph: Reduan/EPA

Ah, the sensibilities and sensitivities of Western nations. To them falls the responsibility of succouring the dissatisfied citizens of the failed nations of the world, those truly third-world 'authority' figures incapable of, or unwilling to stop stuffing their personal bank accounts in favour of responsibly administering the affairs of the countries they lead, in civil infrastructure, order and good government, education, health and the environment required for business to flourish, establishing trade with their neighbours and overseeing a future where their populations can aspire to advance their interests.

Spain, Greece and Italy, with their vulnerable, reachable shores in overland journeys and Mediterranean crossings, both risky to human life, have opened Europe to an invasion of economic migrants, heavy on young men prepared to undergo hardships for the prize of establishing themselves, not necessarily in Spain, Greece or Italy, but further along, in wealthier Europe with established social welfare programs and a humanitarian conscience urging them to open their doors wide and embrace those who now strain those generous welfare programs; in the process failing the needs of their indigenous populations.

When Italy stood its ground under a new administration, refusing to take in any more of the haven seekers, migrants and professed refugees that have burdened it beyond the capacity to manage the unstoppable surge, Spain stepped in magnanimously offering to take in the spurned sea voyagers. Generosity of spirit such as this through the universal humanitarian impulse that appears to have stricken Western Europe in particular speeds its welcome message through the grapevine of informal communication, spurring even greater numbers to head for that impulsively generous nation.

Police help people down from the the border fence between Morocco and Ceuta, Spain. Photograph: Reuters Tv/Reuters

Those countries with a conscience as wide as the world, with an economy struggling to catch its breath, and a culture, heritage and social life based on religious devotion remain oblivious to the long-term sea change they have invited, to transform themselves from what is familiar, comfortable and routine in a well-oiled national community, to one that will be overwhelmed in due time to become grossly unfamiliar, uncomfortable and routine in a welter of change that will encompass law and order subservience to a theocratic ideology whose prospects to endure while all others fall, becomes insurmountable.

Had they but paid attention, the Thursday event where the Spanish enclave of Ceuta was stormed so Moroccans could swarm in the hundreds over the border, overwhelming the capacity of Spanish border police to govern and protect the border from incursion reflected in large part the psychosis of violence and defiance to authority that will inundate Spain in due time. What news sources describe as an 'incident' saw 800 people viciously throwing sticks, stones, bags of excrement at the Guardia Civil stationed at the border.

The intruders used quicklime, aerosols whose use is as flame throwers to make their point that no authority, no amount of precautions, no human agency, no fences however impervious, will hold them from penetrating a border they aim to conquer. With the use of angle grinders and shears men focused on mayhem and insinuating themselves as 'migrants' in a sovereign nation that has no need of augmenting their population with such as they -- lawbreakers, criminals, self-entitled thugs -- spurning normal, legal routes to emigration, forcing entrance through the fence. Many took care to protect themselves with homemade shields and body armour.

To further demonstrate their intentions, once having broken through the fence those seeking haven in Spain -- or Germany, Sweden, Norway -- continued to mount attacks on border agents and their security vehicles. Bags of hashish and Molotov cocktails were later removed from the possession of the migrants by the Guardia Civil. And civil they most certainly were, although ten had to be taken to hospital for treatment to wounds the attacks against them caused. These were ten Guardia Civil officers sprayed with "some type of acid, lime or white liquid" causing burns, respiratory and cognitive issues.

And as a consequence of the violence they caused, did Spain summarily boot the 602 men who did succeed in barging through and over the border fence? Actually they were politely escorted into Ceuta's migrant reception centre, meant to be a temporary structure for processing, but on the basis of this ongoing, unstoppable invasion, obviously permanent in purpose, to begin the journey to exercising the 'right' of foreign intruders to be welcomed by civilized societies prepared to accept an invasion that will eventually overturn all that is 'normal' in their societies.

Spain, so far this year, has had its resources strained by the entrance of close to 20,000 asylum seekers, economic migrants, refugees from their national homelands. A country like Canada whose borders are so distant from those of Africa for example, could never be imagined to be vulnerable to a similar situation. Next door to the United States of America which has shut itself away from illegal migration, it acts nonetheless as a conduit for those same illegals to enter Canada. And Canada is now desperately attempting to cope with a similar number of entrants this year, from Haiti and Nigeria.

The 602 migrants who crossed into Spanish territory were transported to a temporary migrant reception centre in Cueta, which had already been over capacity  Credit: EFE News Agency / Alamy Live News

Islamist Terrorism, ISIL-connected Or Not

Video posted on social media showed Hussain clad in black, firing at least three shots into a cafe or restaurant. (@ArielAnise/Twitter)

"The executor of the attack in the city of Toronto in Southeastern Canada this past Sunday evening is from the soldiers of the Islamic State and he carried out the attack in response to appeals to target citizens of coalition countries."
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant

"At this stage, we have no evidence to support these claims. Since Sunday evening, all areas of the Toronto Police Service have been involved in this investigation. We have received assistance from law enforcement partners at every level and I have been updated regularly."
"Accurate information about this investigation will only be released by the Toronto Police Service. We will continue to explore every investigative avenue including interviewing those who knew Mr. Hussain, reviewing his online activity, and looking into his experiences with mental health."
Toronto Chief of Police, Mark Saunders

"We have to be cautious on this. There are reasons to be skeptical."
"In this case, they haven't given any new information, there is no proof of a pledge of allegiance and so far, national security authorities have said there is no national security nexus."
"They [ISIL claims] are now much less cautious and much less disciplined [in the accuracy of their claims of involvement and credit-taking for international atrocities]."
Dr. Stephanie Carvin, professor of international relations, Carleton University

Faisal Hussain is seen in a 2008-2009 Victoria Park Collegiate Institute yearbook photo.
Handout

Dr. Carvin's expertise lies in domestic and international security, terrorism and technology; hers is, of necessity, an academic approach to interpreting motivation and involvement, leaning heavily on her research, which is to be expected. What those critical of ISIL claims of responsibility fail to acknowledge, however, is that it hardly matters whether their incitement to action in reaching out to Muslims ensconced in Western societies to do their duty in jihad links them not as motivators but as captains of the team.

In practical essence, it hardly matters whether or not a convinced Islamist clasping the fixation of jihad and martyrdom has sworn allegiance to ISIL. They served their purpose in demonstrating how it can be done, in offering encouragement and praise, urging the simplicity of simply attacking wherever they happen to be located to do their duty to the faith of universal Islam. To the corrupted minds of psychopathic Islamists for whom dedication to jihad motivates them to devote their lives to serving Islam, what the West views as terror, the jihadis grasp as courageous defiance.

As for the police and political authorities, their concern is to release as little incriminating-Islam information as possible for a twofold purpose; to uphold public security and minimize social backlash, and to suppress their own responsibility in helping through their stupendous lack of awareness and sense of justification in forestalling such atrocities. The news media, skilled in interpretive reportage and investigative journalism give this one a pass. They publish in support of the authorities' strenuous back-bending to direct the public thought away from 'blaming Islam'.

Julianna Kozis, left, and Reese Fallon, right, were killed in the shooting. (Toronto Police Service/Facebook)

Stewart Bell who had over a decade ago published a book on Islam's violent infiltration in Canada has now co-written a piece pointing out that Faisal Hussain, the 29-year-old loner with the "million-dollar smile" who stalked the Danforth on Sunday night likely obtained the handgun he used to such great effect, shooting 15 innocent people strolling Danforth Avenue or sitting in its many cafes, indoors and outdoors on a lovely summer evening, from his brother, a dealer in illegal guns. His brother who was also a drug dealer.

Terry Glavin, writing for Postmedia, has traded in his normally astute observations on his loathing for China, to berate the readers of his peerlessly limpid column on compassion lacking for the family of the Hussains who have undergone much tragedy in their lives, losing a daughter in a car accident, mourning an older son lying in a coma in a Toronto hospital. An enormous cache of the deadly carfentanil was discovered along with 33 guns at the home of a surety with whom Fahad Hussain was living while on bail for criminal drug charges.

A former high school teacher has explained why it was that he contacted police, concerned that Faisal Hussain was openly planning at some future date to commit murder because he thought it was "cool". A former schoolmate at the same high school, spoke of her horror, leading her to remonstrate with Faisal Hussain, when he revealed he wanted to kill his mother. While allegations of mental health problems surrounding this man have been grasped by authorities in his defense, it is far likelier that he was just a plain old psychopath imbued with passion for jihad.

"If the people cannot find it within themselves to discharge the same duty of solidarity and compassion in respect of the Hussain family, to enclose them as warmly within the embrace of their empathy as the families of Reese Fallon and little Julianna Kozis, then they should be ashamed of themselves", writes Glavin. This sanctimonious display of generous compassion, equating the deaths of two innocent young girls at the hands of a murderous felon with the anguish felt by their parents and that of the Hussain parents is grossly inappropriate.

Glavin faults Ezra Levant for his perfectly logical query whether police had deliberately withheld the name of the perpetrator of violence, mayhem and murder on Sunday evening. To withhold the name or any identifying feature of such terrorists has become a common tactic in Europe where many countries have been blessed with the settlement of huge numbers of Muslims; Germany, France and Belgium, Norway, Sweden and Netherlands come to mind, where suppression of Muslim crime sprees is now a feature of daily life.

Canada is heading in the very same direction. Protection of Islam as a religion of peace. Any who question that sensitivity on the part of government at every level are put in their place as disgraces to Canada, clearly "Islamophobic" in nature. And nor can it be pointed out that increasing numbers of Muslims in Western societies comes in lock-step with an increasing number of anti-Semitic attacks infusing society. Much less that gangs, guns, drugs and crime appear irresistible to a sizeable proportion of Muslim youth.

Is He Muslim? Was He Mad? Was He ISIL Besotted? Perish The Thought!

Video posted on social media showed Hussain clad in black, firing at least three shots into a cafe or restaurant. (@ArielAnise/Twitter)

"Is he Muslim? Yes. Does he probably know Muslim extremists? Yeah. Is he mentally ill? Yeah, probably."
"Does he have access to guns from the guys in his neighbourhood? Yeah. But be real careful what road you go down."
"We may never know what was going on in his mind."
Toronto Police Services source

"Friends of mine, who I respect, say I don't have enough sympathy for disturbed people who wreak havoc. And I'm sure they're right. But it's hard for me not to have those feelings."
"For every one of me there are 500 people who say, 'oh, it's the total explanation'. Maybe they're right. I don't know."
"But I tried to argue mental illness was not a very satisfactory explanation for this kind of thing and all it does is stigmatize the mentally ill."
Memorial University anthropologist, researcher, Elliott Leyton

Dr. Leyton, who wrote the book Hunting Humans: The Rise of the Modern Multiple Murderer, added his voice to the perplexing and inexplicable hatred that drives Islamists to erupt from time to time into warriors of Islamofascist jihad. It's doubtful he would use that nomenclature; as an academic he cannot afford to. He must retain some semblance of neutrality, not to condemn a sacred book, the Koran, and its instructions to the faithful to remember their duty to jihad, and to kill the infidels and the Jews.

But he gives little credit to the controversy steered toward discussions of gun control and mental illness by authorities careful not to stir the pot of Muslim clerics' Friday night sermons and the exhortations to remain faithful to Koranic precepts in honour of the exemplar of holy war, the Prophet Mohammad. Sunday night saw carnage on Toronto's Greektown when Danforth Avenue was turned into a killing spree leaving a ten-year-old girl and an 18-year old woman dead, with thirteen others wounded to varying degrees when Faisal Hussain stalked the streets coolly and with malice aforethought shooting the unaware and the helpless.

His firearms proficiency and studied demeanor indicate a well-planned execution. A 29-year-old loner, polite, restrained whom neighbours described as quiet, shy, reserved, having a "million-dollar smile", and whom his family described as someone who was forced to cope with a life of "struggle and pain" who decided to turn his contempt for others into a massacre, disrupting a quiet, warm evening crowded with passersby, cafe habitues, families out for an evening stroll.

In the process reminding 'pluralist' Toronto whose residents are 42% immigrant stock, that the city is not immune to the shocks that have roiled Europe.

It is undiplomatic, impolite, extremely rude-to-hostile, to make much of his heritage, a tribal, sectarian-infused, violence-inspired religion supported by cultural animus of non-believers and a sturdy anti-Semitism as having any import whatever on the atrocity he set out to burden Toronto with. Those hastening to remind shocked Canadians that they mustn't draw conclusions have no intention of sharing with them that intelligence forces have identified him on a list of suspected ISIS supporters, that he has flirted with that sinister claque of aspiring jihadists, and police surveillance was focused on his past unlawful activities.

We homespun Canadians who don't believe that evil exists, much less that a religious devotion to a Bedouin-inspired theocracy that lifted its infrastructure from Judaism which it holds now as a despicable conspiracy to control and corrupt the world while Islam is concerned with pacifying the world and bringing it to a state of universal peace under a guiding caliphate once those resistant to acknowledging the supremacy of Allah are summarily dealt with cannot conceive of such deep-seated anti-human conspiracy.

There are those among us who have given due warning over the years, their shout-outs of threats that hover over us, shunted aside, whose voices have grown more insistent, louder, as the threats intensified now sigh with frustration that the infiltration of Islamists in secular Canada, as elsewhere throughout the world is now fairly complete, having the sympathetic ear of government agencies recognizing them as the voice of that growing community. Ensaf Haidar and Tarek Fatah look on in disbelief and horror at the smooth manipulation Muslim Brotherhood representatives employ, succeeding in their mission to disarm and misinform.

For we mustn't submit to the unwarranted attitude that Muslims become an uncivil scourge among us though their criminal actions linked to crime, assault, drug gangs, murders of a sectarian nature, finding them overrepresented in numbers, betraying their cultural origins and susceptibility to violent action. And nor must we succumb to the fallacious belief that the Hussain parents who are "really good human beings" could possibly have a son who became an Islamist terrorist seeking to slaughter innocent Torontonians.

A teacher and a former classmate of the man who shot 15 people on a busy Toronto street on Sunday say he made disturbing comments that once prompted a call to police.
Faisal Hussain’s teacher at Victoria Park Collegiate says the school called the police nine years ago after a conversation he had with Hussain in class.
“I asked him, ‘What do you want to do? Like what do you want to do with your life?’” the teacher told CTV Toronto. “And (Hussain) said 'I want to kill someone.'”
The teacher, who wishes to remain anonymous, says he was stunned by Hussain’s comment, and asked him, “'Why, what did they do to you?'”
He says Hussain responded, “No, I just want to kill somebody ... I think it would be cool.”
Police took Hussain into custody and he was investigated under the Mental Health Act, according to the teacher.
CTV News

Faisal Hussain is seen in this Grade 12 yearbook photo.

The Public Relations Value in Islamofascist Terrorism Lunacy

"We are at a terrible loss for words but we must speak out to express our deepest condolences to the families who are now suffering on account of our son's horrific actions. We are utterly devastated by the incomprehensible news that our son was responsible for the senseless violence and loss of life that took place on the Danforth."
"Our son had severe mental health challenges, struggling with psychosis and depression his entire life. The interventions of professionals were unsuccessful. Medications and therapy were unable to treat him. While we did our best to seek  help for him throughout his life of struggle and pain, we could never imagine that this would be his devastating and destructive end."
Hussain family, Toronto

Faisal Hussain, 29, Toronto   Photo provided

"All of a sudden, he just started shooting. It seemed like he wanted to kill as many people as he could. He had this look in his face full of hate -- he was trying to kill people -- like a dog baring his teeth."
"He [Faisal Hussain] went back and finished her [18-year-old Reese Fallon] off. Obviously he wanted to do the most damage, kill as many people as he could. He was walking, stopped just a few steps from the corner, started shooting ... He went back, shot the woman, then started toward the corner, shooting."
Andew Mantzios, Danforth Avenue, Toronto

"They had been shot, so I brought them downstairs, put on some gloves and tried to take care of it [their bloody wounds] as best I could."
"I shut the lights off and locked the doors because I didn't really know what was going on and I didn't know if the person would follow them into where they ran [her tattoo shop ]."
Tanya Wilson, Skin Deep Tattoo studio

"[The gunman] just kept on walking. He ran across the street, and he did it like a first-person shooting game, like a Call of Duty kind of thing, where he just pulled it [handgun] out."
"He was yelling and just, Bam! Bam! He unleashed the whole clip."
"People started scattering, running everywhere."
Nick Balkos, Danforth restaurant

The 18-year-old woman who died in the Toronto Danforth shooting has been identified as Reese Fallon of Toronto. Facebook

Ali Demircan also witnessed the frenetic scrambling of the Sunday night crowds of people ambling along the Danforth, sitting in cafes, going for family outings, meeting with friends at a gentrified urban heart-of-the-city called Greektown, a popular inner-city gathering spot for those living nearby, a place of leisure, relaxation, places to eat and to linger on a summer Sunday evening. He and his friends came across a young woman shot in the arm, as they began fleeing after an initial shooting. "She was so young", he said, describing her confusion and shock.

"I think she was following me", he said later in his witness report after he had suggested she sit on a bench while he called 9-1-1. And then they heard more gunshots and hurriedly began leaving the area. Then he was grazed by a bullet in his back and slumped to the ground, dragging forward in an effort to hide behind parked cars. And then, and then, the police arrived. "I saw that girl who talked with me. She was lying down there and she was bleeding too much", he said of 18-year-old Reese Fallon, who will never become the nurse she planned to attend college for.

The killer took the life of a ten-year-old girl, as well. Two young girls dead, but if he had had his way, shooting methodically and randomly, aiming at people sitting on patios, seated in ice cream parlours, walking along the Danforth and adjoining streets in his wide-ranging rambling, covering ground, visualizing himself Avenging Angel of Death while discarding spent clips, replacing them, shooting again at panicked victims, injuring another 13, until police arrived and shots were exchanged and the terrorist was found dead, prompting a routine investigation to determine whether if he was shot by police, it was justified.

Dreadful, beyond imagination of those who set out innocently for a quiet and pleasant evening on a lovely summer evening. Reese Fallon was with several of her friends. Their futures looking bright before them, their present a bonding time of intimate and trusted friends. How could they ever imagine that death would stalk them on a street they were so comfortably familiar with? Well, the parents of the killer are remorseful that their son was responsible for that carnage. Wasn't that a remarkably erudite, smooth apology, regretful and pained? They suffered a great loss too, didn't they?

In fact, perhaps they hadn't the verbal or written skills to produce such a soulful message of compassionate caring for others. But if they hired a public relations firm a message of that calibre would certainly result. On the other hand, if someone involved in burnishing and covering up the occasionally troubling presence of Islamists amidst Toronto's vast Muslim community would step forward to tell the Hussains to just leave everything to him that would solve their dilemma. So Mohammed Hasim filled their vacuum most professionally, the man a driving force representing the National Council of Canadian Muslims.

So now we know, do we not, that the murder and mayhem was definitely not a thing involving Islam, jihad and terror, it was the construct of a poor man who struggled for equilibrium in his psychological confusion and dreadful burden of mental illness. Canada, where is your patience, Toronto, where your compassion for this poor loner for whom life has always been painful? Victimized by the circumstances of, well, just life, you see. How uncharitable of Tarek Fatah to say it made him feel like 'vomiting' to read and hear Canadian news media discussing gun control issues; no one uttering the word "Islamic" or "terrorism".

Mohammed Hashim was described in a brief biographical sketch at CanRoots 2016, left-wing activist conference thusly: "His groundbreaking political advocacy, public relations and media work has been widely credited by insiders as framing a new narrative for Muslims in Canada. His workshop ‘Progressive organizing in the Muslim communities’ will demonstrate how the GTA Muslim community mobilized in the previous federal election, and laid the groundwork to start building a national political movement."

Police escort civilians away from the scene of a shooting in Toronto’s Greektown neighbourhood. Canadian Press / THE CANADIAN PRESS

As for a man who might have been his protege but whom he is certainly cleaning up after, he was evidently on police radar. "He was fascinated with death and explosions. He also liked replica handguns", said a police source. This man lived with his parents in an apartment. They speak of their son having mental illness but themselves had no knowledge that he owned a firearm and plenty of ammunition and he was very relaxed and familiar with the use of a gun? It would be amusing if it were not so infuriating that Canadian news speak of the "alleged" Danforth attack. 

Canadians are shocked and traumatized. What has been happening in France, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Netherlands, the United Kingdom and elsewhere that Muslims have migrated to find a better life for themselves bringing with them their culture, their heritage, their religious devotion, their cleavage in Islamic sectarianism, their hatred of Jews and contempt for infidels, leading to outbreaks of violence attributed to mental breakdowns, is now happening as well in Canada.

Well, Canadians are civilized and patient and understanding. And we understand that Islam cannot be faulted for it is a religion of peace that just incidentally calls its faithful to their duty in jihad. Tarek Fatah testifies to Friday mosque prayers ending in a reminder to Muslims of their duty to despise the infidels and the Jews. This deep-seated pathology of hatred not only corrodes the sensibilities of the fundamentalists but those for whom Islamic ceremonials are no longer sacred; while jihad continues to be, answering the tribal heart of the believer.

Video screenshot of the suspected gunman who opened fire in Toronto’s Greektown. @arilanise/Instagram

The White Helmets Rescued: Thank You, Israel

"Several days ago, U.S. President Trump contacted me, as did Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau and others, and requested that we assist in evacuating hundreds of White Helmets from Syria."
"These are people who have saved lives and whose lives were in danger. Therefore, I approved their passage through Israel to additional countries as an important humanitarian gesture."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

White Helmet volunteers in Syria carry children out of bombed danger zones. Syria accuses the White Helmets of 'terrorism'. Photo: Sultan Kitaz, Reuters

And nor has this been the sole humanitarian commitment that Israel has been engaged in while Syrian President Bashar al-Assad mutilates and murders children and their Sunni parents, citizens of Syria who have protested their government's oppression of the majority Sunni population. Israeli medics have operated on Syrian children who have been wounded in the air strikes the regime has carried out against its civilian population. And as Syrians attempting to escape the bombardment by Russia's air attacks supporting the Syrian regime's barrel bombs, reaching the Golan Heights, Israel has delivered food, medical supplies and aid.

The selfless courage of the White Helmet volunteers throughout the latter years of this prolonged civil war in exposing themselves to danger while moving into bombed areas to rescue men, women and children buried in rubble. is well known. They have themselves fallen victims to those same attacks when the Syrian military has deliberately aimed at killing them. Hospitals, schools and medical clinics in areas where Sunni Syrians live have been deliberately targeted by both Syrian and Russian planes, to destroy the capacity of medical personnel to operate their facilities to save lives.

Now that the regime is recapturing areas of the country that had fallen to the Syrian rebels, all Sunni Syrians are regarded by their president as traitors. The White Helmets in particular are labelled 'terrorists' by the regime. Which is now excoriating the rescue of hundreds of White Helmet volunteers and their families from the Syrian side of the Golan Heights, bordering Israel. Israel, in a surprise, precise military action, has bused those they had escorted into the Israeli Golan Heights, on to Jordan which had agreed to accept them on a temporary basis.

The evacuation represents the first Israeli intervention (beyond bombing Hezbollah and IRCG transport of weapons) in Syria.  AP Syrian Civil Defense White Helmets

Germany, Canada and the U.K. have agreed to accept all those rescued as refugees. And they are indeed refugees from the carnage and certain death that Assad had planned for the the rescue service volunteers. Syria, in a vitriolic response to their rescue has characterized it as a "criminal operation" undertaken by "Israel and its tools". Also known as the Syria Civil Defence group, Assad accuses them of being a terrorist organization sponsored by the West. The White Helmets, he spits in fury, are joined with Al-Qaeda in Syria.

"98 male and female White Helmet volunteers, with 324 of their family members - mostly women and children - have arrived in Jordan through the occupied Syrian Golan Heights after being forced to flee their homes in southern Syria."
"The UNHCR participated in the coordination of the agreement to resettle the 422 rescue workers and their family members in countries including Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada, among others."
"As Syrians who love our country, it breaks our hearts to be forced to leave it, but it was the only alternative for our trapped volunteers who would otherwise have faced detention or death at the hands of the Syrian regime and its ally Russia."
"In the absence of the requested protection, we thank all governments who contributed to the success of this operation to rescue the rescuers, and we ask that they do more to help the hundreds of thousands remaining in southern Syria. We confirm that the Syrian Civil Defense will continue its mission to serve the Syrian people in all possible areas. 3750 White Helmets remain working on the ground in Syria to do so."
Syrian Civil Defense White Helmets statement 

Note the absence of any mention of Israel in this statement of appreciation.

People walk past Israeli soldiers as they board a bus during the White Helmets extraction from the Golan Heights   Israel Army handout via Reuters

"Israel has always lied claiming that it doesn’t have a relation to the war waged on Syria."
"[Israel] has smuggled hundreds of members of the ‘White Helmets’ terrorist organization and of the leaders of other armed terrorist organizations in cooperation with the governments of the U.S., Britain, Jordan and Germany."
Syrian foreign ministry, Syrian official news agency SANA

Confusing Facts With Propaganda

"We make sure that they are safe and we are taking care of them. I'm proud to be in this position."
"[The asylum seekers] crossed borders and we know it is very difficult. They've made hard choices. And just being there to help them and say, 'Hi, welcome to Canada, the Red Cross can take care of you, we're going to provide you shelter, food and just make sure you are safe, for now,' I know there were some volunteers who were there who were saying they are honoured to just help other humans, even for a short time."
"It wasn't very sad. They were saying, 'We're trying to find a better future for our families,' and I saw many smiles."
"They said, 'It's a hard time. We don't know where we're going, but we hope we have a better future.' That's what I saw on site."
Carl Boisvert, spokesperson, Canadian Red Cross, Montreal

Migrants from Somalia cross into Canada from the United States by walking down a train track into the town of Emerson, Manitoba, where they will seek asylum at the Canada Border Services Agency early Sunday, Feb. 26, 2017. (John Woods/The Canadian Press)

"It's certainly not something that we can't handle or incorporate."
"Most people can understand why there would be apprehensive individuals in the U.S. Because the increase [here] has coincided with what's happening under the Trump administration, it may seem more dire than it is."
Aris Daghighian, Toronto lawyer, executive, Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers

Lawyers always support and seem to take delight in matters where they specialize. And it's no surprise that when their bread, butter and caviar is linked to refugee access and the need to take on the services of lawyers skilled in the byways and wherewithal of refugee laws, both specific to Canada and of international agreement, why would they not be supportive of opening Canada's generous social services to all that aspire to enriching their lives in this uniquely Canadian way of open-arms acceptance?

The thing of it is, though, there is an obvious legally acceptable way to go about applying for refugee status. The opposite of which is clearly illegal and which in its deliberate side-stepping of normal steps to apply at established government posts in position for that very purpose flouts good order and sensibility in a show of arrogant entitlement to declare oneself needful of asylum. Bypassing official ports of entry should be enforced as an illegal assault on the civility that Canada offers.

On the other hand, it appears to be a matter of general knowledge that Canadian authority is soft-hearted and doesn't in fact, place much value in its own laws, much less the need to support security at Canadian borders. The Safe Third Country Agreement signed a dozen or so years ago with the United States represents a mutual agreement between neighbours recognizing that each represents a country of haven for legitimate refugee claimants, that once within the borders of one, it is unacceptable to approach the borders of another for like purposes. The E.U., in fact, holds a similar agreement.

What the illegal entrants are doing, however, is leaking across the borders of one country where their presence is due to temporary haven, temporary visitors' visas or illegal, undocumented entrance to begin with, compounding the issue by entering through an illegal crossing. By setting aside the contempt displayed by would-be refugee claimants through their deliberate and planned decision to avoid normal legal channels of entry, it is puzzling to figure how Canadian authorities might view these law-breakers as future good citizens, should their claims be accepted.

A sign warning asylum seekers is seen at the Canada/U.S. border at Roxham Rd., May 9, 2018 in Champlain,N.Y.    Ryan Remiorz / THE CANADIAN PRESS

Many, on the other hand, coming from countries not known to produce refugees, in other words where people are not faced with egregious discrimination, oppression, threats and conflict situations, will not be recognized as genuine refugees and they will be returned to their country of origin. But that process will take anywhere from a year-and-a-half to three years and perhaps longer given various appeals processes that denials of status may result in. Canada is not merely soft-hearted but soft-headed in this respect.

Thousands of illegal entrants have already strained the capacity of official Canada to serve the interests of those streaming across the border illegally, who are given legal status nonetheless because they claim to be refugees. These are not, however, refugees in the meaning of the status of those escaping threats to their existence, but migrants who seek the opportunity to find a better economic future for themselves, but haven't the decency to use normal immigration channels. In so doing they create not only havoc and expense for the host country, but tie up normal legal channels in long delays processing those who have applied with the courtesy of legal channels.

From East to West, Canada is strained to meet the challenges brought by this influx of illegal migrants. Canada Border Services struggles along with the Immigration and Refugee Board to deal with an existing backlog, let alone the current crush. There is polarization growing within Canadian society among those who instinctively support what they feel is the human right to a decent way of life that Canada can support for the millions whose lives have been disrupted by war and those resentful of the contempt which haven seekers show for law and order.

Having taken in tens of thousands of legitimate refugees Canada still struggles to settle them adequately.

Ahmed Hussen‏ @HonAhmedHussen

Thread: In #Winnipeg to meet with Provincial & Territorial counterparts. We discussed how to continue to use immigration to grow our economy and our government’s clear plan to manage irregular migration.

Refugee claimants legally making applications saw an orderly process taking place, with its own long waiting list for processing of 36,856 in 2008, 33,426 in 2002 and 44,640 back in 2001. Not to mention the estimated 50,000 Syrian refugees settled in Canada. These have not been "irregular migrants" as the current government insists the illegal entrants be addressed in respect of their 'humanity', but respectful applicants recognizing the internal authority of a legitimate government to have control over who enters their country.

Montreal and Toronto still cope with the effects of those streaming illegally into the country, putting them up temporarily in public buildings meant for other purposes, but having no room left at the shelters meant to house those seeking public services where Canadians themselves falling on hard times are desperately in need of assistance at every level of government, those social assistance avenues now having to cope with refugee declarants who have no respect for normal process or Canadian law.

A group of asylum seekers arrive at the temporary housing facilities at the border crossing Wednesday May 9, 2018 in St. Bernard-de-Lacolle, Quebec.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz

"It makes it illegal but also says it's not illegal at the same time", stated Janet Dench, executive director of the Canadian Council for Refugees, speaking of the 'irregular' crossings into Canada wherein Canadian law recognizes the right to claim refugee status, nullifying the illegal aspect of crossing the border at non-appointed entry points. In a history lesson she speaks of the 1951 U.N. refugees convention drafted in the bleak aftermath of the Holocaust in recognition of safe haven denied Jews attempting to flee Nazi Germany.

With all due respects, this was a targeted ethnic/religious group knowing the carnage that awaited them should they remain in Europe; denigration, dehumanization, threats, public humiliations, unemployment -- not yet in full possession of the facts yet to come that after ghettoization and dispossession would come the Final Solution. And even when the world was given notice through word to the League of Nations that a genocide was unfolding, there was no room at the stable globally -- including Canada -- for the presence of Jewish refugees.

To compare those terrified, frail and abandoned people who were refused entry anywhere, to those now being scattered worldwide in mostly Muslim, dysfunctional countries where lives are made desolately miserable and continually threatened, with Europe opening wide in acceptance until it occurred to them that what was happening was an invasion, and one that many wealthy Islamic nations were simply ignoring or encouraging, to the utterly terrifying disaster that afflicted European Jews is an insult to their memory.

A group of asylum seekers walk down the street as they are escorted from their tent encampment to be processed at Canada Border Services in Lacolle, Quebec, Canada August 11, 2017.
REUTERS/Christinne Muschi