PING!
Posted on 10/12/2006 6:21:14 AM PDT by GMMAC
Pandering to Israel's enemies
National Post: EDITORIAL
Thursday, October 12, 2006
A few months after the 9/11 attacks, Jacques Chirac, the French President, was asked by a reporter why French foreign policy tended to tilt in favour of Arab states. After all, France had once been Israel's staunchest ally and principal supplier of arms. His uncharacteristically candid response was that France was home to 6 million Muslims, but only 1 million Jews. He urged his questioner to do the math.
We suspect similarly crass considerations explain why Michael Ignatieff, the leading candidate for the Liberal party leadership, has accused Israel of committing war crimes in its recent conflict with Hezbollah. Until now, Mr. Ignatieff has been a reliable supporter of the war on terror and Israel's right to self-defence. But the dictates of partisan politics are pulling him in the other direction: Canada has under 400,000 Jews, compared to a Muslim population of about 600,000, and growing.
And let's not forget Canada's militantly anti-American, anti-Zionist Left, a significant constituency that comprises a traditional battleground between the NDP, the Liberals and, in Quebec, the Bloc Quebecois.
Until now, Mr. Ignatieff has been opposed by the left wing of the Liberal party. What better way to cadge votes among the anti-war supporters of Gerard Kennedy, Bob Rae and Stephane Dion than by recanting the values he's espoused for more than two decades?
Whatever Mr. Ignatieff's strategy, it is sad to see him surrender his previously principled stand for the sake of short-term political gain. Opportunism is too kind a word for it.
Interviewed Sunday in Quebec on the popular French-language television program Tout le monde en parle, Mr. Ignatieff apologized for having said last summer that he was "not losing sleep" over the Israeli aerial attack on Qana, Lebanon, which resulted in the deaths of about 26 Lebanese civilians, among them a score of children. "It was a mistake," he said, to use such a callous phrase. "I showed a lack of compassion."
Fair enough. If he wants to apologize for his earlier choice of blunt words, that is to Mr. Ignatieff's credit. But he went further. "I was a professor of human rights, and I am also a professor of the laws of war," he added, "and what happened in Qana was a war crime, and I should have said that. That's clear." What happened at Qana was not a war crime, though, and Mr. Ignatieff said so emphatically just two months ago.
During the height of the Israel-Hezbollah conflict in south Lebanon, the terror group was using civilian apartment buildings as cover for its rocket attacks on farms, malls, commuter train stations and civilian neighbourhoods in northern Israel. Israeli forces had no choice but to try to eliminate the rocket batteries, even as they did their best to minimize the loss of Lebanese civilian life. Owing to mistaken military intelligence collected in the fog of war, Israel misidentified one Lebanese apartment tower as a Hezbollah haven. After it had bombed the building, Lebanese authorities claimed to have found 57 civilians dead in the basement, among the 16 children. In the end, the confirmed death toll was less than half that, but the attack was nonetheless a tragedy.
Repeating an argument he has made often in the past, Mr. Ignatieff said at the time that Qana "was, frankly, inevitable in a situation in which you have rocket launchers within 100 yards of a civilian population."
Under the laws of war, Israel was not guilty of a war crime since it was Hezbollah's actions that had put the civilians in harm's way. No war crime could have been committed unless the attack in question was unprovoked and deliberately targeted civilians. Neither was the case at Qana.
So why does Mr. Ignatieff now insist it was?
Unfortunately, the only reasons we can think of for his conversion are unflattering to his character and judgment. He seems only to be concerned now for his political hide, rather than the rational approach to worldwide terror he has long advocated.
Mr. Ignatieff and his advisors may believe they are engaging in a clever bit of political triangulation. But we would urge them to study the example of the man Mr. Ignatieff seeks to replace. Paul Martin, too, sought to sacrifice principle for popularity. But in the end, his transparent attempts to ingratiate himself with voters gave him the air of desperation and insincerity -- fatal qualities for any politician.
Mr. Ignatieff should think long and hard about what became of Mr. Martin before he makes another lurid claim about Israel or any other valued Canadian ally.
© National Post 2006
PING!
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The article doesn't say how many Christians supporters of Israel there are in France.
I would conclude from all this, it doesn't matter how many Jews there are in the U.S., America supports Israel whether The Jews—or the Muslims—like it or not. 
If you'd like to be on or off this
Christian Supporters of Israel ping list,
please FR mail me ~
MikeFromFR ~
There failed not ought of any good thing which the LORD had
spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass. (Joshua 21:45)
Letter To The President In Support Of Israel ~
'Final Solution,' Phase 2 ~
Warnings ~
"The West has given more significance to the myth of the genocide of the Jews, even more significant than God, religion, and the prophets...."—Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
The Holocaust Chronicle ~
" ... It's time we recognized the nature of the conflict. It's total war and we are all involved. Nobody on our side is exempted because of age, gender, or handicap. The Islamofacists have stolen childhood from the world."—FReeper Retief
"Palestine is the wrong name for their State. It should be called Anarchy."—FReeper sgtbono2002
"Then let's wait and see what the Arabs do after they take Gaza. There's nothing like Arab reality to break up a Jewish fantasy."—FReeper Noachian
A student told his professor he was going to "Palestine" to "fight for freedom, peace and justice,"—Orwellian leftist code words that mean "murder Jews."
The Nature Of Bruce ~
Ahhhhh, you mean like....the homocide bombers?
John Ashcroft was on Rush the other day (10/11) and made a great point. (I'm paraphrasing here) If we extend the Geneva Conventions to those that do not abide by the Geneva Conventions, then exactly what value do the Geneva Conventions hold?
My apologies...He wasn't on Rush, He was on the Mike Gallagher show.
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