Israel: Case Study in How Not to Control a Coronavirus Epidemic

"A lot of parents were overwhelmed [during lockdown] with trying to handle schooling their kids. Many families might not have enough computers."

"Canadians have a much different idea of personal space. A lot of teachers in Israel don’t think it will be enforceable to keep kids separated because they haven’t grown up that way."

"There are a lot of questions out there and not many answers yet. But there is no perfect solution until there is a vaccine."

"I think it’s a cautionary tale [Israel's large numbers of coronavirus cases] of a rushed, naïve and overconfident start-up."

Marina Milner-Bolotin, education professor, University of British Columbia

Israeli school children wear face masks to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus as they walk in Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday, July 6, 2020. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

 

A population of nine million people reports four thousand new cases on one day alone. A trend of upward spurting cases in Israel which had been confident in the early stages after its initial round of cases when SARS-CoV-2 first entered the country and surged then responded to action taken to lockdown, urging self-isolation, mandating against meeting in groups and persuading the population to wear masks. When the caseload became manageable and the government felt it had managed to effectively control the outbreak, a relaxation of the rules took place and jubilant Israelis went about life as normal.

Schools were re-opened and the pace of life and spontaneity returned as summer heated up and the population flocked to beaches while the orthodox returned to worship in synagogues; mosques and churches wee released from lockdown because, after all, COVID-19 had been nicely tamed, and the prime minister, smiling benevolently, assured the population that all is well and go and enjoy summer. Naive indeed. Although Israel's medical community no doubt felt qualms of what next to expect, chafing against a government decision that failed to consult as it should have.

Over the past two months cases maintained that surge of daily counts of 3,000 and 4,000 new cases overwhelming hospitals and leaving the indelible impression among the Israeli population that their government had spectacularly failed them. A government teetering on the brink of dissolution and prospects of yet another election, focusing on politics, viewing the pandemic as a mere side-issue. One that has in fact taken control of the country as it takes a deadly toll of public health.

 

A technician carries out a diagnostic test for coronavirus in a lab at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv on August 3, 2020. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)

 

The display of national discipline during round one of COVID-19 imbued both government and the people with confidence; they were doing the right thing. But then, lockdown was onerous and people got fed up with it all, and looked for ways to relieve the tedium, as cases tumbled and the future looked good. Late March succeeded in its persuasive need to be vigilant and isolated. By mid-May, fewer than 20 new cases were being reported daily. Everyone looked for release as restaurants re-opened.

It took until June to realize that the situation was reversing and case numbers were escalating even as children were exposed at school and community infection soared. By July, public health expert, epidemiologist Prof.Ronni Gamzu was appointed to the post of coronavirus czar, his mandate, to develop and implement a national strategy for containment. The public dreaded an order to lockdown again; resentment and anger toward their government built to a crescendo and public displays of dissatisfaciton became loud and demanding.

 

Store owners at Jerusalem's Mahane Yehuda market scuffle with police during a protest over the continued closure of open-air markets, April 25, 2020. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

 

 

 

The real and actual threat to the entire population was well enough known; ultra-Orthodox and Arab municipalities were never as amenable to precautionary moves that other citizens assented to. In those communities people live closer together; attendance at synagogue and mosques by congregants was viewed as vital, despite government orders. Those municipalities became hot-spots of infection. Orders to isolate went ignored and infections soared.

"The haredi political parties have a highly motivated voter base that consistently delivers enough Knesset seats to hand the leaders disproportionate leverage [in relation to their population] when it comes to negotiating coalition agreements. And so, as happned in March, haredi leaders told Netanyah recently that they wuld not accept being locked down unless the whole nation was and, as they did in March, when the mere notion of targeting haredi communities arose again in August, the ultra-Orthodox parties threatened to quit the colaition. Netanyahu, as he so often does, capitulated."

Vivian Bercovici, former Canadian ambassador to Israel

The large families typical of Arab and ultra-Orthodox Jews live in cramped, crowded quarters, and what they share is a negligent attitude toward authority in general, and directions to change the imperatives of their lifestyles directed toward worship and close physical association in particular. But those same communities, under Israel's system of electoral governance, often hold the balance of power; minority elected governments need the support of such groups and tend to cave in to their demands, for ongoing political gain.

The curfews imposed on 40 "red" municipalities throughout the country from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m., the orders not to hold large weddings and other group events went largely ignored and these typically super-spreader social events have created a disastrous situation of rampant infections. The medical authority's orders are spurned and cast aside; no one can tell these communities what to do; and the government is more concerned with the support it needs in the Knesset than enforcing the rules for the safety of all.

"A recently compiled list of 40 "red hot" municipalities are virtually all majorityArab or haredi [ultra-Orthodox]. And therein lies the problem. As they did in March, medical professionals, public servants and some politicians advocated early on this time that more stringent measures must be applied to affected municipalities on a targeted basis. This caused both constituencies -- but particularly the haredim -- to protest vigorously. They accused politicians and public health officials of discrimination."

Vivian Bercovici in Tel Aviv

The plan to place the ultra-Orthodox communities under lockdown reflecting this is where COVID cases are skyrocketing, while leaving the rest of the country under semi-lockdown conditions offends the Haredi populations who refuse to go into lockdown unless the entire country does. Even at a time when the country as a whole went into lockdown, these same communities exercised a relaxed attitude to the need to self-isolate and angrily rebuked the government when their communities were designated as "red hot" requiring special lockdown even as the rest of the country began relaxing theirs.

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men pray behind a plastic screen during morning prayers in a Jewish seminary in Bnei Brak, Israel, on Sept. 9. Photo by Amir Levy/Getty Images

Prudently Tried-and-True

"These are bad, mad and uncertain times — for all of us humans. To stop a virus that scientists acknowledge they do not yet fully understand, all of human interaction is being remade."

"And as it happens, here in Israel, this rapidly, radically altering framework for our daily existence happens to coincide with an ongoing political crisis, in which our war on the coronavirus killer is being directed, and directed well we broadly think, by a deeply controversial politician. Netanyahu is a leader who has always been divisive, who the state legal hierarchy alleges is corrupt, and who has led an assault on core institutions of our democracy in the past two years as he faced off against police investigators and state prosecutors. Netanyahu is also a leader some of whose reasonable measures to thwart the spread of the disease — the closure of most court functions, for instance is not unique to Israel — just so happen to serve his narrow interests as well."

"When his carefully selected ministers and party allies send most of our judges home, when they introduce the monitoring of all our phones, and when they suspend the activities of the parliament that is meant to provide at least some oversight of his government, Israel finds itself in the midst of two crises."

"I think it’s the virus we should be more worried about."

David Horovitz, founding editor, The Times of Israel

In this Saturday, March 14, 2020 file photo, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives for a speech from his Jerusalem office amid the coronavirus crisis. (Gali Tibbon/Pool via AP, File)

This is a prime minister fighting for his political life and his legacy. As the longest-serving prime minister Israel has ever had in the short history of its re-emergence from the historical record, no one can deny that this is a man whose acumen and intelligence has served the country extremely well. That old adage warning about the dangers inherent in changing horses midstream certainly applies here, as Israel, accustomed to facing existential challenges on an ongoing basis, is now faced with a dread and sometimes deadly virus threatening to diminish lives, destroy the economy and compromise its already-complicated politics. 

The emergence of the noval coronavirus out of Wuhan, China, its spread throughout the east and in this world of interlocking globalization and communication, its swift contamination in Europe, Oceania, North America and the Middle East, fast approach in Africa, has spelled out unforeseen panic out of a situation that had been foreseen by science, but ignored by politics. Since mid-January, news of mass quarantines in China alerted Israeli political leaders, public institutions and other officials to an oncoming storm.

The focus was how to manage a crisis that would migrate globally and hit Israel just as it would most of the countries on Earth. Nothing quite fixes the mind, individual and collective, as does a threat to longevity. And it is not as though this country in particular hasn't faced many such events heralding doom, which resolve, skill and the will to endure allowed Israel to subdue those threats, time and again. Living on the cusp of threatening disaster has hardened its population against vulnerability and fear, made it more resolute and capable of surviving.

The response was rapid and rude to the very idea of a nation united in adversity, with some believing the reactions were too emphatic, and others that they failed to go far enough. As Israel's second largest trading partner after the U.S. with a flow of goods and people between the two countries significant, three weeks before the first case was diagnosed in Israel, direct flights between China and Israel were suspended. Then, a woman repatriated from the cruise shop off the coast of Japan brought the first case of COVID-19 to Israel.

Health officials re-directed passengers on a flight from South Korea, sending them home when it became evident that among the tourists were individuals who were coronavirus positive. Proactive responses to the anticipated arrival of the novel coronavirus were exercised, with each day new announcements, recommendations, even while Israelis were in the throes of a tense third election in a year. When the government understood that the virus was firmly established in the U.S., issues of the economy, security, family connections arose.

In stepped U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence managing the U.S. domestic coronavirus response, asking Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to impose a global ban on all travellers entering Israel; handing the administration an avoidance of singling out the United States. Leading to Israel's ban on entry of all foreign nationals; the first country to enact such a preventive step. Directives requiring all Israelis to remain at home with limited exceptions, and surveillance will ensure that they will. The measures taken by Singapore and Hong Kong, quite similar in nature, proved hugely successful.

Israel was intent on 'flattening the curve', the best scientific medical advice in getting a step ahead of the infectious novel coronavirus. "We want to be like South Korea, not Italy", said the prime minister, in defending his directives. The intention, to control the rate of contagion to ensure overload is avoided and with it the breakdown of the national health-care system. Community transmission prevention is a critical tool in flattening the curve, controlling the spread, not preventing something that cannot at this stage be 'prevented'.

"This is a war. We have to adapt to a new way of life", Mr. Netanyahu has informed his public. And wars are what Israelis are all too familiar with. This is a man who has many enemies, detractors whose deepest wish is for the prime minister to be convicted of the charges pending against him. This is also a man who had distinguished himself as a brilliant manager of crises, an eloquent public speaker. This man's intuition bolsters an impressive intelligence capable of assimilating complex detail, then to translate it into terms anyone can understand.

As a tactician he has few peers to manage diplomatic issues and the nation's security. So what a shock when in the aftermath of three inconclusive elections, President Reuven Rivlin tasked Benny Gantz, the Blue and White party leader, intent on unseating Mr. Netanyahu, to make an effort to form a governing coalition, effectively sidelining Benjamin Netanyahu and his 'right wing' bloc. In the intensity of the coronavirus crisis, Prime Minister Netanyahu has appealed to Mr.Gantz, to form a coalition government. The measure of the man will be seen in Mr. Gantz's response.

People wave Israeli flags, inverted Israeli flags and banners during a protest outside the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, Thursday, March 19, 2020, accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government of exploiting the coronavirus crisis to cement his power and undermine Israel's democratic foundations. (AP Photo/Eyal Warshavsky)

On The Cusp of Another Mandate to Govern

"Benny Gantz does not deserve to be prime minister, he is weak, he has the most dictatorial party in the Knesset. I go to the citizens of Israel with a huge democratic majority. They hide his collaboration with Tibi [Joint List Israeli-Arab Knesset member Ahmad Tibi] from the public."
"I make the most cautious decisions and do not go to unnecessary wars. If we have no choice, we’ll hit Hamas in Gaza. I’m very, very careful before going to war because it’s a last resort."
"Since I am in charge of security, I decide on everything and take responsibility for it."
"Israel will do whatever it must do to defend ourselves and secure out future. I guarantee you, as long as I’m prime minister, Iran will never have nuclear weapons."
“I actually have faith in the Israeli courts, but the state’s witnesses against me have been blackmailed by threats."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

"I understand that people are sick of this [negative campaign] slime. … I intend to lead them on a new path."
"People understand that they cannot take the risk that Netanyahu will remain in power."
"I really hope the election result will be one that will allow me to form a unity government. This is the preferred alternative because this is what this society needs. Society is divided and needs healing."
"We will not establish a government with the Joint List or with its support — we have no agreement with anyone."
Benny Ganz, Leader, Blue & White party

The results of the exit polls are shown on a screen at Benny Gantz’s Blue and White party headquarters, following Israel’s parliamentary election, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Sept. 17, 2019. Photo: Reuters / Amir Cohen

"There is no sense of the end of times for Netanyahu -- he is fighting like someone who is still hungry."
"Wearing my academic's hat, I can tell you this: he is the best politician Israel has seen for a long time now."
Tamar Hermann, director, Guttmann Center for Public Opinion and Policy Research

"He's always been a political animal, and he has always fought tooth and nail for every possible vote."
"But he seems more motivated now -- with a real fire in his belly, perhaps because of his legal situation."
Dahlia Scheindlin, public opinion expert

He has served Israel well, in every Cabinet position he has ever held. Bearing in mind what a critically difficult task it is to steer and lead a country highly identifiable as different in a geography known for its prickly unrest, its monarchies and its tyrants, its sheikdoms and its plutocratic draw and its theocracies. Above all a geography held in thrall to Islam, tribal antipathies, sectarianism, ancient feuds, violence and jealousies and hatreds. And there is no discounting the fact that no other nation on Earth is faced with the double existential risk of Palestinian jihad.

Somehow, through four Likud administrations led by Benjamin Netanyahu he has managed to play his hand well on Israel's behalf; politically, socially, economically. Doing whatever has been necessary to ensure that the United States remains the power broker that Israel hugely depends upon at the United Nations yet brokering influence with Russia in maintaining a balance between the two world powers with their consuming interests in Middle Eastern and South Asian affairs.

He was to the campaign trail born, a challenge to whet his appetite for the balancing act of reaching out to hostile neighbours and not averse to any methods that prove useful, even while recognizing the dangers inherent in seeking peace with the Arab ruling class who themselves continue to foment hatred of Israel and Jews among their populations. He is dead-set determined to serve a fifth term as prime minister of Israel. Just as determined is the 20 percent of Israelis that are Arab, in removing him from office.

Accused of racism, of denigrating Israel's non-Jewish population, he is simply delivering an obvious message; although the country has accepted and given full equality under the law to non-Jews as Israeli citizens, Israel is by definition and intent, in reflection of its heritage and its modern history, a Jewish state. It represents a haven for Jews wherever they live; in Israel or within the vast diaspora. Knowing of Israel's existence assures Jews that another Holocaust cannot so easily re-occur.

 Trump and Netanyahu  Jan. 28, 2020, Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Its enemies speak of it as an 'apartheid' state, but nowhere in the Middle East are Jews welcome to live among Arab Muslims; their heritage as Arab Jews was worthless when they were exiled by the Arab nations where they were born, lived and worked for a thousand years, only to return by forced necessity to their ancestral home in Israel. The Middle East, outside Israel, is Judenrein. But Israel, a Jewish state, has accepted non-Jews as citizens; the absolute and utter antithesis of apartheid.

Steps Netanyahu took through the Israeli Supreme Court to pass legislation to re-emphasize Israel's status in reality and intent as a Jewish state, is just one of many irritants to its Arab communities, and the Joint List -- comprised primarily of Arab-Israeli political parties joined by the Israel-Jewish left, both of which empathize more with the perceived needs of Palestinians than with Israel's security -- plot to remove him from power.

Yet speak to Palestinian Israelis of trading land with the Palestinians to give them Palestinian status and they're quick to assert continued Israeli status despite espousing Palestinian victimhood accusing Israel of 'occupation' resulting from ongoing Palestinian intent to destroy Israel. Palestinian Arab MKs have not been averse to conspiring on occasion with and supporting Hamas and Fatah, both of whose focus is on violently displacing Israel and killing Jews.

At age 70, Netanyahu has many good years of experience and intelligent moves to make on behalf of Israel. The criminal charges against him reflect poor judgement in some areas of his personal life linked to government, but look no further than Canada, or France, or Britain, and instances of criminal misdemeanor on the part of the ruling elite place them in questionable odour. Yet it is only in Israel where the law is applied with equal distinction at all levels of society that includes the head of government.

In the words of one member of Netanyahuy['s central committee of Likud, his "mood is exuberant -- bring another election, it's fine. At least  he lives to fight for another day", and Israel is the beneficiary. Israelis are understandably tired of elections; Tuesday's will be the third in the space of a year where the results left no clear winner and the excruciatingly difficult politics of building political alliances failed. In a way, this is in and of itself typical of Jewish individualism; quarrelsome and steeped in disagreement over sundry and all matters.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks from Israel via video link at the annual AIPAC conference in Washington on March 26, 2019. (Jim Watson/AFP)

Making Friends and Influencing Governments

"In two years, Beijing has grown its [diplomatic] network by five diplomatic posts ... it's ascent to the top spot has been rapid. In 2016, China was in third place behind the U.S. and France, and by 2017 it had moved to second place ahead of France."
"At the same time, the United States' diplomatic presence has been marginally eroded since 2017."
"With a hollowed-out Statement Department -- only 73 percent of key positions are filled ... American diplomacy is looking rudderless."
Bonnie Bley, Lowy Institute research fellow, Australian think tank report

Chinese President Xi Jinping chats with President Donald Trump during a welcome ceremony in Beijing on Nov. 9, 2017.

AP Photo | Andy Wong

Beijing has focused on growing its presence around the world as a nascent Big Power, striving to make contacts in the proverbial expression of 'making friends and influencing people' to give it the leg up it wants to challenge the United States -- or even replace its status as the world's premier power. Its ambitious, costly and widespread "One Belt, One Road" initiative whereby it has invested enormous sums in various countries around the world to emphasize trade and communications to enable it to impress, influence and gain global support in its aspirations for greater economic and political and military power has seen its rapid rise.

Beijing's increase in its diplomatic missions around the world have a definite purpose, to support political relationships and economic cooperation. China and Xi Jinping have a way to go yet before they can present China as having the same global respect and admiration that the United States enjoys, however. China remains "a distant second by  wide margin" to the United States in the global esteem in which the U.S. remains; held as the most popular geographic political-trade-social locus for other countries to maintain embassies and consulates.

Louis Huang of Vancouver Freedom and Democracy for China holds photos of Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, who are being detained by China, in Vancouver on March 6, 2019. Jason Redmond/AFP via Getty Images

In Canada's experience, Chinese envoys have been uncircumspectly intrusive in Canadian affairs. In the affair of the arrest of Huawei's CFO on an extradition warrant by the U.S. through a Canada-U.S. extradition agreement, two Canadians were arrested in China on trumped-up charges of espionage, resulting in China's former ambassador to Canada accusing Canada of racism and white supremacist arrogance, flouting the international rule of law. Now, the newly accredited, Cong Peiwu, on a visit to see Meng Wanzhou, stated that Beijing "will continue to urge the Canadian side to correct its mistake".

"I am writing to express my concern regarding the diplomatic relationship between Canada and China falling into the bottom of a cold valley."
"[The definition of] endangering national security [used as a threatening charge by the Chinese Communist Party, was being applied to human rights activists, dissidents and people] lighting a candle and showing empathy to the victims of the June 4, 1989 Tiananmen event."
"When they're [Canadian government] dealing with China they should be aware that Canadians concerned about human rights could be treated this way. That's the message I would like to tell."
"I asked [on a trip to Shanghai where he and his wife were apprehended] if I could go to Hong Kong instead. They said, no, I have to go back where [he] came from [Canada].  Certainly I didn't endanger national security of PRC (Peoples' Republic of China]."
"I attended [memorial events for Tiananmen Square] every year. It's my commitment to remember the people who died."
"Eventually they [Chinese officials] said, 'You coming here is considered endangering the national security."
Richard Lee, former provincial Liberal member of Parliament, Burnaby, B.C.

Richard Lee says he suspects his 2015 detention in Shanghai was related to his participation in Tiananmen massacre commemorative events.Douglas Quan/National Post

As a 30th wedding anniversary the former member of the B.C. legislature and his wife took a trip to Shanghai in 2015. At Shanghai's Pudong International Airport they were sequestered by Chinese officials, separated, Mr. Lee's phones confiscated and he was interrogated for hours. Finally his Chinese travel visa was cancelled, and both he and his wife were barred from entry to China. Predating his detention and interrogation at the Shanghai airport, Mr. Lee was aware he was under China's scrutiny as a malefactor.

At a social event Liu Fei, the former Chinese consul general in Vancouver informed him "that elected officials should not participate" in commemorative events that affect China, such as the Tiananmen Square memorials. After he and his wife landed in Shanghai he explained, his name was called, he was escorted to a booth, then into a room with bright lights to which his wife was excluded. His interrogators asked for his Blackberry password. "I didn't want to give out the password. I recall I actually -- I put in the password under their close watch."

When he asked why he and his wife were being detained and not being permitted to go forward to their planned destination, the response was "You know what you have done." Some of his own Liberal colleagues in the British Columbia legislature had informed him the Chinese consul general was "not happy" about his attendance at Tiananmen-related events. "It's an open secret -- [Canadian] politicians receiving warnings from the [Chinese] consul-general [in Vancouver]."

As for returning to his homeland for a visit any time soon; it's not likely. "But it's OK. I can live with it", he said.

The Chinese government has denied the existence of re-education camps, but experts say as many as 1.8 million Uighurs are or have been in them over the last three years. (Thomas Peter/Reuters)

Do Unto Others

"I have doubts about that [that Canada represents a much safer place than New Zealand for Muslim security]."
"These attackers are not too many, but they are sleeping wolves and you never know when they will attack."
"The threat is there and it's real."
Abdel Feifel, trustee, Ottawa Muslim Association

"As details [of the New Zealand shootings] became clear this morning, the first reaction is of feeling very unsafe as a Muslim. Especially considering that Canadian Muslims today are going to Friday prayers and that means going to a space here they might not feel safe."
"It's difficult to find words to explain what my community is going through. It's difficult to find an explanation for why this happened. It's more important, however, to be here, to stand against this."
"We need to start calling it out for what it is. I think of [Conservative Leader] Andrew Scheer when I say this and it's really important for me to call it out. When you go to a rally with a white supremacist, it says something to me. It says that Muslim women like me don't mean much to you."
Shahad Khalladi, vigil organizer, Ottawa

"My first reaction was that I was horrified by the number of people who lost their lives. And my second reaction is today is Friday for a lot of the Western countries, and that meant a lot of Muslims across the country are going to go to their Friday prayers with this being first on their mind."   CBC

"We're deeply disturbed that today's terrorist act in New Zealand was actually inspired by the Quebec City shooting."
"Our children are emotionally distraught and afraid to return to school after the March break. It's extremely difficult to explain to them what has happened and why."
Ottawa Muslim Association trustee Charles Ghadban

"Today it's in New Zealand, but two years ago it was in Quebec City. Who knows, God forbid, what would be the next place?"
"[While some mosques use entry fobs and passwords for access] ... It is ridiculous, in a way, because these are sanctuaries."
Monia Mazigh, Board member, Ottawa Muslim Association

 Monia Mazigh, right, wife of Maher Arar, Syrian-Canadian imprisoned in Syria, awarded $10-million 'compensation' by government of Canada -- a member of the board of the Ottawa Mosque. Julie Oliver / Postmedia

"I was at the mosque earlier today and I was talking to our Muslim brothers and sisters whose children are too scared to come to the mosque. Some of them are too scared to go to school next week."
"So to everyone here that's Muslim, we stand with you. And to people of all faiths, you should be free to practise your faith ... and you should not be scared to go to wherever you practise your faith. We need to call out Islamophobia, we need to call out hatred of all kinds."
Catherine McKenna, Member of Parliament for Ottawa-Centre, Cabinet Minister for Environment and Climate Change

People speak with Ottawa Centre MP Catherine McKenna outside the city's main mosque on Friday, March 15, 2019. McKenna was among those who gathered at the mosque to offer support and condolences following fatal shootings at two mosques in New Zealand earlier in the day. (Stu Mills/CBC)

Anything can be politicized for advantage. And the current Liberal-led government of Justin Trudeau is immensely thankful that there is no cessation of dire, gruesome events on the world stage that can be used to divert public attention and politically polarize Canadians at a critical time for the prime minister and his cabinet, facing down charges of political interference in Canadian justice, among other instances of a government that feels entitled under the Liberal banner to exercise its eternal penchant for corruption.

No one would deny that the horrible death of 49 innocent people and the wounding of scores more at the hands of a hateful racist does not qualify as an atrocity that all decent people decry. In the Western zeal to prove how compassionate we are, news media fill their pages with mournful stories of the losses of ordinary people going about their ordinary lives peacefully only to have those lives violently interrupted, a community left in grief and disbelief. The inordinate focus on an event that occurs daily in the Muslim world in fact, but because it happened in a Western setting, outrage is spontaneous.

Grief and disbelief is without doubt how communities in Egypt, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria, Somalia, Sudan, Nigeria and elsewhere in the world of Muslim-majority countries feel when Islamists target Muslims and Christians and ethnic groups and other religions whom they find offensive to Islam in a jihadist blow to fulfill obligations of their faith. So the very people of Muslim faith in Ottawa who claim disbelief that a 'sanctuary' can be defiled by slaughter appear not to give a thought to fellow Muslims targeted by Islamist terrorists while themselves at prayer.

New Zealand is a long way away from Canada. Psychotic incidents of hate-filled non-Muslim psychopaths are rare. Similar events carried out by Islamist fundamentalists the world over are somewhat less rare, their victims far more numerous. While jihadists target those of their own faith in their ongoing sectarian dissonance of violent hatred, they also target Western non-Muslim communities and therefore represent a threat to the entire globe. Jihadist assaults throughout Africa, Asia and the West are numerous.

Yet to point this out, to criticize Islam for being a base of religion-inspired violence in the name of an ancient pledge to conquer the world on behalf of the Prophet Mohammad's Allah, is to engender accusations of 'Islamophobia'. Relatively few courageous Muslims exist around the world who will commit themselves to efforts to initialize a global move by Islam to reform itself, to search for a much needed enlightenment, to turn its followers away from the violence that its sacred writings espouse.

But those that do, become instant traitors to Islam, they are besieged with hatred, they become victims of assassination, they have fatwas issued against them, and they must employ security measures such as bodyguards to ensure their deaths not be hastened as punishment for the clarity of their thoughts on human rights and justice. Their very presence on earth is viewed as anathema to the clerics and intellectuals, and leaders of Islam.

When Islam no longer reminds its followers of their divine obligation to martyrdom on behalf of Islam, when Muslims understand that non-Muslims are just as worthy of living as they are, when Muslim-majority countries permit other religions freedom to practise the tenets of their faith without persecution, isolation and threats of violent attack, and finally when the Muslim majority rejects the current status of jihad as the major thrust of their faith and demands it be withdrawn, they will diffuse the suspicion, resentment and fear their religion has aroused in others.

Chinese-Canadian 'Splitism'

"The reason I came here [to Canada] personally was because of what Canada stands for. I feel free to speak up, I feel free to live the life I want to live without fear."
"As a Canadian, I want to focus on people from China, Chinese-speaking residents to [help them] understand what this country is all about."
Meena Wong, founder, the Civic Engagement Network, Vancouver

Meena Wong is an immigrant from Beijing who openly criticizes her mother country’s government.   Nick Procaylo/PostMedia

"Our goal is to tell them, 'Do not be afraid'. If more and more people speak out, say no to the Chinese Communist Party, we can make progress, one by one, step by step."
"Canada is a country that welcomes all the immigrants, but all the immigrants have a responsibility to respect Canadian values, to respect human rights, the Charter, our culture."
Louis Huang, leader, the Alliance of the Guard of Canadian Values, Vancouver

It's not as though Canada has suddenly realized it has a growing contingent of immigrants from China who are under the influence of Beijing. Chinese immigrants have lived in Canada for a  hundred years. Shamefully, Canada once imposed a 'head tax' on immigrants from China, in an effort to slow down their entry to the country; effectively penalizing them for not being of European stock. The early Chinese-Canadians took menial jobs that other Canadians spurned. They were railroad construction workers, they opened laundries and restaurants, they worked on farms.

There have been large urban communities of Chinese-Canadians populating the centres of Canadian cities for many generations. Most large Canadian cities have a "Chinatown" where Chinese-Canadian residents cluster. In essence, Chinese-Canadians have reproduced in their communities Canadian versions of what Chinese life looks like in China, celebrating their unique culture in the country they have adapted to and which has adopted them.

Newer emigrants from mainland China bring with them the influence of the Communist Party. Years ago when Britain surrendered their rule of Hong Kong to Beijing, wealthy Chinese from Hong Kong, fearful of Chinese government intrusion on their way of life under colonial British rule, envisioning a clampdown by Beijing on Western-style commerce and freedoms, sought to migrate to Canada, buying properties in Vancouver, ensuring they had a second home and an escape route should their fears be realized.

Beijing's government at the time realized the utility of a market economy designed on the free market system and decided it would suit them well to adopt a Chinese-style free enterprise system to encourage entrepreneurial enterprise and control it through communist-style oversight. Which led China to its current status as a manufacturing and trade giant at the top of the world economy, second only to the U.S.

In its zeal to overtake the U.S. on every index of production, trade and influence, it has reached out its tentacles all over the world, offering its technology and construction infrastructure upgrades and loans leading to indebtedness and control through their giant initiative they have titled One Belt, One Road, a modern-day silk road with accompanying power and influence.

China's record on human rights continues to earn it censure, and its ongoing ventures into espionage, stealthily obtaining other countries' trade, political, military and production secrets have earned it constant condemnation. Mr. Huang of the Alliance of the Guard of Canadian Values, a former Shanghai pediatrician, argues that the Chinese Communist party has succeeded in infiltrating "deep in our political, social and economic system", a reality that exists across the globe, but one that most governments seem to choose to ignore.

Through the Civic Engagement Network, Ms. Wong has been active in criticizing her country of birth's government and attempting to influence as many Chinese immigrants as she can reach that as citizens of Canada their obligation is to their new nation, not the one they left behind. "What does being Canadian mean?" events are scheduled for that purpose; to inform and/or remind Chinese Canadians of the importance of Canadian values and human rights.

Mr. Huang speaks of Chinese leaving China for Canada to escape the communist system. In the same token once in Canada new immigrants take care not to criticize the system they have escaped for to do so is to draw attention to oneself by Chinese authorities who have willing informers everywhere. Once held in suspicion, relatives still living overseas can be threatened or their businesses impacted deleteriously by a government that brooks no slights.

Louis Huang of the Alliance of the Guard of Canadian Values says he speaks to Chinese students studying in Canada who know virtually nothing about the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. Jeff Widener/AP, File

Where There's Smoke, There's Fire

"The statements, to me, are totally ridiculous. They exaggerate and distort stuff that I wrote like 15, 20 years ago and they take citations out of context to make me say things that I did not say."
"And especially implying that I'm some kind of neo-Nazi. It's just, like, totally crazy."
"I did attack LGBTQ groups, because I don't think they represent me as a gay man. They imply that I'm anti-gay. No. This is crazy. I'm gay."
"It's not a question of pandering [Mr. Bernier's defence of Mr. Masse] to anyone today. It's a question of, we've been working together very closely for 15 years. That's why he's [Bernier] defending me."
Martin Masse, friend and adviser to Maxime Bernier, leader, The Peoples' Party

"As a non-profit, nonpartisan human rights organization, B'nai Brith is well known for regularly identifying the promoters of hatred, racism and anti-Semitism from all sectors of Canadian society."
"One would expect that the leader of a federal party would immediately expunge senior staff members who have expressed such radical and repulsive views when it is called to their attention."
"We were shocked that, upon presenting this information to Mr. Bernier, he defended his top adviser, Mr. Masse."
Michael Mostyn, CEO, B'nai Brith Canada

"I think Max is pandering to the wrong people by defending the exposed hateful prejudices of his policy adviser."
"Unfortunately it does seem to be a confirmation of sorts that perhaps it's a reflection of desperation for votes, perhaps it's an unwillingness to make hard decisions in a party which is struggling to find its feet."
Peter Kent, former Conservative cabinet minister

"The racist people are not welcome in the party and that won't change. That's crazy. I'm not surprised, [at the charges] because our party's doing very well (in fundraising and fielding candidates)."
"Maybe they [B'nai Brith] want to do that [charge Masse with bigotry] because they’re supporting another party. I think, doing that, they are not doing a favour to their organization. Because it’s [their charges] not credible."
Maxime Bernier, leader, People's Party of Canada

People's Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier in January.   Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press

Sooner or later, intense sleuthing from any source looking to unearth the true, underlying intentions, impressions and beliefs of political operatives find what can only be classified as 'incriminating evidence' of beliefs and thought-processes that do betray the presence of prejudice and bigotry and plain old misinformed conclusions on the part of those running for public office or working behind the scenes to aid those politicians whose agendas they support by delving into the record -- often through the Internet, sometimes through otherwise-published commentary -- to dig up old statements.

Every party seems to attract the occasional presence of individuals with ideas, preconceptions and beliefs that are decidedly unsavoury and the revelations that those statements exhibiting their social and political positions identifying them as unsuitable for the position they hold, bring opprobrium to the party they belong to. Generally, any political party that discovers in their midst the presence of those with unacceptable ideological strains of illogic or discriminatory beliefs will make short shrift of distancing themselves.

The "independent investigation" undertaken by B'nai Brith Canada, a Jewish-Canadian group whose focus is on defending human rights and unearthing instances of public abuse against minority groups, in particular Jews, found commentary by Maxime Bernier's right-hand man and personal friend that offended the standards of equality and human rights. In a review of his work for a now-defunct online media outlet, Le Quebecois Libre, the views expressed by Martin Masse failed to pass the standard test of social decency.

His commentary on Israel and U.S. interventionism in the Middle East while defending notorious right-wing ideologues failed to sit well with B'nai Brith, leading them to publish a press release with links to over a dozen articles from the outlet, written by this man in which his prejudices were revealed. In response Messrs. Bernier and Masse speculated that an underlying political agenda motivated the human rights group to accuse Mr. Masse of deceit and bigotry; presumably that B'nai Brith was working to support the Conservative Party of Canada against the breakaway PPC.

B'nai Brith itself is in full denial, holding a "lengthy dossier" reflecting Mr. Masse's sentiments and comments apart from those linked and referred to in their media release. Mr. Masse's defence, for example published in 2002, of France's Jean-Marie Le Pen (since superceded by his more moderate daughter) a man who was convicted several times of denial of the Holocaust, a crime under French law, identifies Mr. Masse's sympathies as linked with those of Mr. Le Pen.

Writing on the same forum about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict his views, sympathetic to the Palestinians, accused Israel of co-opting Zionism as "just another fancy justification for killing and displacing Palestinians", a whopping libel if there ever was one. He accused countries of the West of interventions making the situation in the Middle East even more egregiously violent. The philosophy of libertarianism (the ideological bent of the Internet site he wrote on) should not mitigate toward a pro-Israel position, he averred.

A 2008 article he wrote decried "femi-fascists" in expressing opposition to forcing men-only drinking establishments in Quebec to relent and permit women entry, referring to women's gyms barring men representing a double standard. an absurd equation of unsupportable equivalency. He also characterized groups such as B'nai Brith back in 2000 as "ethnic barons" for which political power is a preoccupying concern. His character revealed by his own words.

Bernier with longtime friend and adviser Martin Masse, who has helped Mr. Bernier to set up his new political party after the parting with the Conservative Party of Canada. (Submitted )

The Bigotry in Islam

"I was a Muslim refugee once. I know what it's like. I know what it's like to fear rejection, deportation and the dangers that await you back home."
"[Her achievement of a graduate degree at University of Leiden in the Netherlands was a journey] from the world of faith to the world of reason."
"[The Trump administration would do well to oppose Dawa -- Islamist proselytization] which is already well established right here in the United States; [a movement which has] for too long been going on with impunity."
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Somali-born writer, anti-Islamist, human rights activist

Aayan Hirsi Ali, Twitter

It is strange beyond words how it has always been historically that the elite of many societies choose to distinguish themselves by allying their personal ideals with the ideologies of fascism, from the right and the left. During the rise of Nazi Germany's fascistic Third Reich, the British nobility seemed fascinated with the phenomenon and many among them supported Adolph Hitler, as did people known as celebrities in the United States, as did figures of high repute and respectability.

And the love affair among academics for 'socialism' and the adulation they dispensed upon Marx and Lenin, their respect for the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics for their theses on social equality and totalitarian politics served as yet another example of how strangely wired people's thought processes can be in evaluating systems presenting as a clear threat to the pursuit of freedoms, liberty and human rights as a common good.

Now, a religion that spreads its lifestyle, theocratic and political message through intimidation, force, fear and carnage, has become the latest focal point for the liberal left to support and make common cause with. A religion meant to captivate the loyalty of Bedouin in the medieval Middle East whose drive for conquest in the 7th Century forward led to countless deaths in North Africa, India, Spain and wherever the jihad could gain forced entry has reinvigorated itself with a resumption of conquest by force of arms.

"Allah is our objective; the Prophet is our leader; the Quran is our law; jihad is our way; dying in the way of Allah is our greatest hope", is the proud declaration of the Muslim Brotherhood. Which scorns the Western thought of death needing to be avoided rather than courted. The Brotherhood takes itself as being of superior mind and purpose in its view on death when the Almighty will gather the faithful to him, relegating all others to Hell. But the Brotherhood is content enough to hasten the process for Jews and Christians.

"The mosques are our barracks ... The domes our helmets ... The minarets our bayonets ... And the faithful our soldiers", declares the irascible, volatile Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, proudly. A member of NATO, an aspirant toward membership in the European Union, a sworn, deadly enemy of the Kurds, the Armenians and the Greeks, and never should one forget the accursed Jews...

The Muslim Brotherhood, as Ayaan Hirsi Ali declares, has been singularly successful in inveigling itself into the trust of the United States, never so greatly as with the administration of Barack Obama. Its offspring terror group Hamas, has similarly infiltrated itself into North America and Europe, using the enabling academic community, unions, and liberal church groups to further their interests, all decrying "Islamophobia!" to the great satisfaction of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, itself well positioned and guiding the United Nations.



While it is dismaying that Americans voted for and brought into office an egotistically vulgar man whose intelligence and ethics have called into question the wisdom of the electorate's choice in their backlash against their nation backtracking on its traditions, Ayaan Hirsi Ali is satisfied that Donald Trump viewed realistically "the hateful ideology of radical Islam" and the threat it poses to democracy. She abhors Barack Obama's delicacy in avoiding the phrase "Islamic violence", to sidestep the appearance of bigotry.

Yet, her stance is decried while the well-entrenched men and women who support and advance the interests of violent Islam by portraying themselves as loyal to American interests even while their words and actions are transparently dismissive of Western values, as they are feted and honoured for their consummate skills in manipulating the easily-led minds of those dedicated to 'equality', shutting their eyes and ears to the threats that surround them.

The zeitgeist of the times is such that this new American president, dismissive of allies and of the associations that have represented the best interests of democracies, while oafishly pursuing his personal interests alongside that of the public he now represents, has brought down well-earned accusations of calumny on the position he holds. He is now held in so little respect internationally that the positions he takes are condemned, and those positions which have merit are given short shrift.

Chris J Ratcliffe via Getty Images

Muslims march in a pride parade in London. June 25, 2016.

Wherein the Green Party of Canada Clamours for BDS

WHEREAS the JNF practices discrimination against non-Jews in Israel through its bylaws which prohibit the lease or sale of its lands to non-Jews;
WHEREAS the JNF is complicit in the continued dispossession of Palestinians from their lands by creating forests and parks on this land in the name of ‘environmentalism’;
WHEREAS the JNF’s ‘Ayalon Canada Park’ sits in occupied Palestinian territory, covering up the lands of the depopulated and demolished Palestinian villages of Yalu, Imwas and Beit Nuba;
WHEREAS Israel’s Attorney General and the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights have charged the JNF with practicing institutional discrimination against non-Jewish citizens of Israel;
WHEREAS “the CRA is aware that the JNF’s activities contravene Canadian public policy;”
WHEREAS many civil society groups across Canada, including Jewish groups, have called for an end to JNF charitable status;     

BE IT RESOLVED that the Green Party of Canada calls on the Canada Revenue Agency to revoke the charitable status of the Jewish National Fund for contravening public policy against discrimination and for its failure to comply with international human rights law.

The Green Party of Canada is primarily an environmental group just as its counterparts internationally are; their focus is on the environment and the green movement that has captured the concern of nations across the world as the symptoms of Climate Change become more evident through the frightening instances of hugely unusual weather systems wreaking havoc throughout the globe, threatening agriculture and the very existence of small island states through gradually rising ocean levels.

Canada's Green Party, with one elected parliamentarian sitting in the House of Commons, its leader, Elizabeth May, has seen fit to entertain a few resolutions at their upcoming national convention; resolutions approved and endorsed by its leadership, including Elizabeth May. One might think that if one nation's rump party is so dedicated to environmental stewardship, the issues brought up of more historical and complex political dimensions pertaining to another nation entirely would be of scant concern.

On the other  hand, there are countries of the world whose cultural habits add to environmental degradation, through the unstable harvesting of forests leading to desertification, or those countries addicted to burning coal which sends vast amounts of carbonized materials into the air, and other countries where the demand for rare animal parts in traditional medicines threaten the existence of vulnerable animal species. But no, as is typical in so many other instances, the Green Party has busied itself in a riff on the usual Boycott/Divestment frenzy of the State of Israel.

There will be a host of resolutions debated at the convention and two of them relate to foreign policy, not environmentalism. The two targeting Israel only, condemn it for being an 'occupying force' oppressing Palestinians. Resolution number one calls on boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israelis, a blacklist for scientists, academics, politicians, unions, etc. The second resolution focuses on canvassing Revenue Canada to revoke the charitable status of the Jewish National Fund of Canada.

This is a reputable charity whose work is entirely that of environmental preservation, an occupation that has been ongoing for a century in Israel, supported by donations from abroad. Their work represents a hundred years of planting trees in a desertified geography which had been abandoned to bleak uselessness. The environmental protection undertaken in Israel benefits everyone in the region with the building and management of water reservoirs, parks and green spaces that provide haven for birds and animals.

Even while Green Party leader Elizabeth May has agreed with the observation that the resolutions are rife with false allegations, she is complicit with them. In deference, perhaps, to the element within her political party who view Israel through the lens of anti-Semitism. The environmental projects taking place in Israel benefit everyone irrespective of ethnicity, culture or religion. For a Canadian political party to take such an incendiary stance on another country is extraordinary.

It is reflective in substance with the declaration made by one of its former candidates for election who stated her opinion that the Holocaust represents "the biggest and most pernicious and persistent lie in all of history ... there were no gas chambers". Iranian ayatollahs would be proud of this woman's historical ignorance. And the assured vehemence of her moral abandonment.

No Obligation To A Predecessor : Canada Is Back!

Under the recently-past Conservative government led by the inestimable Stephen Harper as Prime Minister of Canada, the plan was to rapidly accelerate refugee screening and selection with a view to resettling 20,000 government-assisted refugees by the end of 2016. A reasonable aspiration, giving the enterprise sufficient time to ensure that screening would be properly managed and reliable in its outcome. As for privately sponsored refugees brought to Canada by community, church groups or relatives, no limit would be set.

Along with the millions in funding already allocated in aid of Syrian refugees an additional $100-million was to be set aside to support further the United Nations' Refugee Agency helping Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey to manage their burgeoning refugee camps. When the Conservatives lost the October 11 election and the Liberal Party of Canada came in, the new government distinguished itself immediately by efforts to upstage whatever the previous government had done.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau greets newly-arrived Syrian refugees Lucie Garabedian, centre, her father Vanig Garabedian, second left, mother Anjilik Jaghlassian, second right, and sister Anna-Maria Garabedian, right, at Pearson International airport, in Toronto, on Friday, Dec. 11, 2015. (Nathan Denette / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

It would sponsor refugees and bring them into Canada before the end of 2015. "Canada is back!" chortled the new prime minister to his adoring admirers and to the international community, enthralled itself by the vision of a youthful, celebrity self-boosting prime minister. In point of fact, without the two previous Ministers of Immigration, Jason Kenney and Chris Alexander, who meticulously performed all the preliminary work with distinction, the government of Justin Trudeau would have had no starting point.

Minister Kenney acted as a  trail-blazer in setting a new standard for Canada's resettlement of gay Iranians, Syrians and Iraqis years ago. Canada has been known to take in more immigrants and refugees than most other developed countries on an annual basis, irrespective of which political party was in the ascendancy of power. And, as it happens, the new Liberal government's declaration during the election of its intention to bring everyone in by year's end had to be altered, given two additional months.

Canadians, it must be said, are open-heartedly welcoming Syrian refugees. Even from among Jewish congregations sponsorships of Syrian refugees have emerged. In the Yukon an impressive fundraising dinner succeeded in raising enough funds to sponsor a Syrian family. An interfaith and community group effort to sponsor 50 Syrian families has been led in Guelph by the president of a home-appliance manufacturer and retailer. That retailing president, Jim Estill, will himself contribute the bulk of the $1.5 million project cost.

The University of Albert and the University of Ottawa are both offering scholarships for Syrian students. The former Conservative government had already brought in about 1,800 Syrian refugees before the election. These are Syrians whom the international community mostly cites Islamic State atrocities as bearing down on them leading to their flight, but in actual fact in the last year alone Baathist President Bashar al-Assad had over 20,000 barrel bombs unleashed on his citizens.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human rights those bombs killed about 7,000 civilian Sunni Syrians, with an additional 400 killed by Russian bombs since September alone. The new Prime Minister of Canada is averse to having the Canadian military act in any combat role against the Islamic State, and nor has he been heard to state any considered condemnation of Bashar al-Assad for creating millions of Syrian refugees.

But he is up front and centre, beaming for the cameras as the saviour of Syrian refugees because Canadians, at least almost forty percent of them, had the good sense to throw out his predecessor and bring in the champion among champions, a man of rash decision-making who never seems to consider long-range consequences, but whose photogenic likeness nauseatingly appears everywhere.

 

Why Are Londoners Uncomfortable with a Muslim Mayor?

by Raheem Kassam
Breitbart
August 13, 2015

^{Originally published under the title, "Londoners 'Uncomfortable' with Muslim Mayor, but Don't Blame Xenophobia, Blame Muslim Politicians."}

Labour MP Sadiq Khan has declared his candidacy for mayor of London.

One-third of Londoners are said to be "uncomfortable" with the idea of a Muslim mayor, according to a new YouGov poll for LBC radio. What seems to have especially excited some is the revelation that 73 percent of UK Independence Party (UKIP) voters in London feel the same way. But can they really be blamed?

The reason some of the people are "uncomfortable" is undoubtedly going to be a level of xenophobia. But the majority, I believe, are subconsciously internalising the public performances of Muslim politicians in the United Kingdom and are rightly concerned by them.
Critics might point to the fact that UKIPers, across the board according to the poll, are less "progressive," leading the field in discomfort for the idea of a female mayor (12 percent), a homosexual mayor (26 percent) and an ethnic minority mayor (41 percent). Well, yes, UKIP is a party of traditionalists and conservatives first and libertarians second. I don't think anyone should try to hide from that or try to explain it away. But the discomfort about a Muslim mayor (73 percent) requires some deeper thought.

Sayeeda Hussain Warsi (left) resigned from Prime Minister David Cameron's cabinet, calling his Israel policy "morally indefensible." Former Tower Hamlets Mayor Lutfur Rahman (center) fell due to corruption charges. MEP Amjad Bashir (right) was kicked out of UKIP for "grave" financial irregularities.

Look at the shining examples we have of high profile Muslim politicians in the United Kingdom: Baroness Warsi, former Mayor Lutfur Rahman, ex-UKIPer Amjad Bashir, and of course one of the people tipped to challenge for the Labour candidacy, Labour MP Sadiq Khan.

"But wait! What about Syed Kamall? Sajid Javid? Khalid Mahmood? Rehman Chishti?" I hear you ask.

Quite. But what about Humza Yousaf, Rushanara Ali, Shabana Mahmood, and Yasmin Qureshi?

By and large, Muslim politicians in the UK tend to be far more ... divisive, to be polite. There are several camps. Some, like Lutfur Rahman and Baroness Warsi, have Islamist links. Some have questionable backgrounds, such as the defence of Louis Farrakhan or Guantanamo Bay detainees (Sadiq Khan), and one let UKIP down in a big way, while being investigated for improper behaviour (Amjad Bashir).

Humza Yousaf (left), a member of the Scottish parliament, was previously media spokesman for a radical Islamist charity. Labour MPs Shabana Mahmood (center) and Yasmin Qureshi (right) are more concerned with boycotting Israel than serving their constituents.

Others engage in sectarian politics at a whim. George Galloway, though he doesn't claim to be a Muslim (others claim he converted), divided and conquered in Bradford West and was, as a result, turfed out.

Politicians like Ali, Mahmood, and Qureshi are united by their demonisation of Israel and tolerance of extremism.

And Tory-elected officials like Kamall, Javid, and Chishti are precisely why Conservative voters in London are more comfortable (39 percent against) with a Muslim mayor. One of their leading candidates is a practicing Muslim – they'd have to be.

Perhaps the argument can be made that UKIP voters are not xenophobic or anti-Muslim – although one might argue they are more likely to be anti-Islam, and that's a discussion for another time – but rather that they have simply been paying attention.

When you couple the backgrounds of a lot of leading Muslim politicians in Britain with the more objective, black-and-white worldview that UKIP voters have, they are naturally predetermined to be more sceptical.

You might argue that UKIP voters shouldn't see things in such a clear-cut way and shouldn't attribute the failings of one Muslim politician to others. There are evident trends, similarities, and commonalities, but that contention would be a decent compromise approach.

Unfortunately, while there are a handful of decent Muslim politicians in Britain, I can't help but think that the highest-profile ones have let people with my name and background down. It's no different than UKIPers being sceptical of a Conservative mayor, or Labour being sceptical of a Tory one.
Maybe I should run for London mayor on a UKIP ticket? Or maybe not.

Raheem Kassam is a fellow at the Middle East Forum and editor-in-chief of Breitbart London