A Tempest in Parliament ... the Liberal Agenda

"Before the Holocaust, Jews were hated because they were poor and because they were rich; because they were communists and because they were capitalists; because they kept to themselves and because they infiltrated everywhere; because they clung to ancient religious beliefs and because they were rootless cosmopolitans who believed nothing."

British Rabbi Jonathan Sacks (deceased), then-head of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth

 

"[I had] never experienced more anti-Semitism and Jew hatred from people I thought I knew well ... The progressive and climate communities have displayed, at some points this week, overt and virulent anti-Jewish behaviour [including from some] Green MPs."

Noah Zatzman, adviser to Green Party leader Anamie Paul

 

"[There should be] an immediate de-escalaton in the violence and a return to dialogue as a means to seeking a peaceful solution [to the 11-day May conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza]."

Anamie Paul, leader, Green Party of Canada

 

"Canada is calling for a ceasefire [and will work to] de-escalate the situation."

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

 

“I stand with Palestine and condemn the unthinkable airstrikes in Gaza. End Apartheid!” May 11 tweet

"[There are] no two sides to this conflict, only human rights abuses [by Israel] pursuing a policy of apartheid]."

Jenica Atwin, Green/Liberal Party Member of Parliament 

MP Jenica Atwin speaks in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill on Sept. 29, 2020. Atwin has crossed the floor to join the Liberals, after being elected as a Green Party member in 2019. Photo by Justin Tang/The Canadian Press/File

Dissatisfied with Green Party Leader Anamie Paul's diplomatically political statement referencing the conflict between Hamas in Gaza, lobbing over four thousand missiles at civilian targets in Israel, and the Israel Defence Forces' bombing raids in Gaza pinpoint-targeting Hamas-owned targets, the newly-elected leader Ms.Paul, spoke of restraint on both sides to avoid further casualties. In essence, equating both adversaries as equals, bypassing the reality of Hamas as a terrorist group, outlawed in many countries, including Canada.

But even that non-accusatory statement failing to acknowledge the cause of the conflict and the entirely defensive response to the war-crimes-level action of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza, infuriated Jenica Atwin, who slammed her party's leader for not outright condemning Israel for defending itself. Atwin's statements condemning Israel, and supporting 'the Palestinian cause' has not changed; she reaffirmed her contention that Israel is an 'Apartheid' state, irrespective of the fact that 20 percent of Israelis are Arab Palestinian citizens, and no Jews are permitted to live in a 'Palestinian State' by diktat.

Citing the failure of her leader to condemn Israel, Ms. Atwin announced her decision to cross the floor and join the Liberal Party of Canada, which welcomed her with open arms -- after having conducted lengthy discussions over her leaving the Green Party for the Liberals far in advance of her controversial anti-Semitic statements. Anamie Paul was elected to lead the Green Party by a wide margin of votes and she is recognized as the first Black, Jewish leader of any Canadian political party, even a tiny, struggling one like the Greens whose focus is mostly environmental.

In crossing to the Liberals to great fanfare, Ms.Atwin retracted the heat of her words; they were quite simply misunderstood; that old 'taken out of context' conundrum. So misunderstood that listeners/readers of what she wrote and said totally failed to understand that her words were intended to "send strength and love" to people she recognized requiring support. So Jews in her New Brunswick riding and throughout the country who vote Liberal are to feel love, courtesy of Ms.Atwin despite the venom of her sentiments.

"Palestinians are suffering. Israelis are also suffering as well as their loved ones in Canada and around the world", the new, amended statement emphasized, encouraged without doubt by the Liberal Party apparatus to fall more in line with the more opaque position of the Liberals and Prime Minister Trudeau on the matter of Israel and Jewish sensibilities. "No one wins with war. I regret if my choice of words caused harm to those who are suffering."

 In point of fact, this woman's clear and consistent defamation of Israel has not changed; she re-emphasized on a later interview opportunity that she would not disavow her statement of Israel as an Apartheid state, despite that it clangs deafeningly with the official line of the Liberals who much prefer discreet rather than brash statements that require explication to offended voters. 

Until fairly recently, Canadian Jews who have a natural tendency to identify with liberalism and thus are generally supporters of the Liberal Party, could be assured that Canada would always view Israel as a fellow democracy with values similar to Canada's own. Under the new Liberal administration headed by Justin Trudeau that assurance no longer has currency. This is a prime minister who enjoys apologizing for past wrongs in Canadian history, a man whose sensitivities and assurances are beyond shallow.

 

Which had him apologizing for the rejection by the government of Canada of the plea in 1939 that the MS St.Louis carrying 900 German Jews desperately attempting to flee Nazi Germany, be accepted as refugees. Like all other countries that refused them, Canada, their last resort, did likewise, the ship forced to return to Europe where the passengers faced their deadly fate. Yet when the official opening of the Holocaust Museum in Ottawa took place to great fanfare nowhere to be seen in the dedication plaques or heard in the speeches, any mention that the victims of Nazi genocide were Jews.

 

The previous government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper made it clear both to Canadians and to Israel that Canada stood in solid support of Israel's right to exist, denied it by Arab Palestinians in their insuperable demands. The position of the Liberals under Justin Trudeau is more 'nuanced', so much so that it saw fit to vote against Israel on several United Nations resolutions, geared as always to elevate the Palestinian 'cause' and denigrate the Israeli reality.

 

With the understanding that UNRWA, the UN refugee body dedicated to the welfare of Palestinian 'refugees' works in quiet tandem with Hamas, and that UNRWA school texts are rife with anti-Semitism and anti-Israel propaganda, the Conservative government cut off funding to the body. With the very same knowledge available to the Liberal government, funding for UNRWA was restored, even though it is also well known that Hamas runs UNRWA in Gaza, and the funding is funnelled through to Hamas.

 

That Justin Trudeau and his Liberal apparatus has wooed and welcomed into the party a blatant anti-Semite as a new Liberal Member of Parliament, bringing with her coveted votes from New Brunswick for the Liberal Party, speaks volumes of the new left-progressive values of this government. Whose judgement and principles have long been in doubt in so many areas of governance; carrying on the tradition of the Liberal Party of Canada's susceptibility to corruption, and outdoing its predecessors on every imaginable file, from currying favour with Quebec, and the same with China, neither of which have the best interests of Canada in mind.

 

Liberal MP Dominic LeBlanc and Jenica Atwin arrive at a news conference in Fredericton on June 10, 2021, after it was announced that Atwin was leaving the Green party for the Liberals. Photo by Kevin Bissett/The Canadian Press