Canada: Lebanese envoy makes no apologies

OTTAWA - Lebanon's ambassador yesterday did not retract controversial comments about the power of the "Zionist movement" in Canada, despite being summoned to a meeting with Foreign Affairs officials who told him they were "unacceptable and without foundation."

Bill Graham, the Foreign Affairs Minister, ordered Raymond Baaklini to appear before Canadian officials to explain remarks he made to an Arabic-language newspaper saying Canada was pressured by a "Zionist party" and Jewish-controlled media to designate Hezbollah as an outlawed terrorist organization.

Amid calls for Ottawa to expel Mr. Baaklini, the ambassador met yesterday afternoon with John McNee, the assistant deputy minister for Africa and the Middle East.

"Canada's concerns about the ambassador's interview were clearly expressed to, and understood by, the ambassador," said Rodney Moore, a department spokesman.

"The assistant deputy minister reminded the ambassador that his remarks were unacceptable and without foundation."

Ottawa will register further complaints with the Lebanese government in Beirut, but there are no immediate plans to revoke his diplomatic credentials.

The diplomatic dispute erupted after publication of an interview Mr. Baaklini gave to the Montreal-based Arabic-language newspaper Sada al Machric, in which he said the "Zionist movement" in Canada had the "number one role" in forcing Ottawa to outlaw Hezbollah.

The Dec. 31 edition of the newspaper asked the ambassador for his response to the "unfair" policy on Hezbollah.

"The most stubborn party benefiting from this subject is the Zionist party that exists in Canada," he was quoted as saying.

"As you know this party controls 90% of the Canadian media. It takes instructions and help from many Zionist organizations either in Canada or abroad. Therefore, if we don't say the Zionist movement had the number two role, it had the number one role and America comes second."

Mr. Graham indicated he may also personally speak with Mr. Baaklini to "set him straight" about the behaviour expected of foreign diplomats posted to Canada.

"I will make it clear to the ambassador, and anyone else, that in Canada, that we will not tolerate that type of activity in this country," Mr. Graham said in a telephone interview from Toronto.

"We are a country that is based on openness, tolerance, respect for one another, and we will continue to do that, and we certainly will not tolerate anti-Semitism in this country."

Jason Kenney, the Canadian Alliance foreign affairs critic, called for an immediate retraction and apology from Mr. Baaklini.

"They read like run-of-the-mill, anti-Israeli propaganda that almost always has some sort of Jewish conspiracy theory at the heart of it," Mr. Kenney said. "It is unfortunately a commonplace belief in parts of the Arab world that there is an international Jewish cabal which is responsible for American and Western support for Israel, and this is all tied up with very nasty, hoary old anti-Semitic conspiracy theories."

Israel Asper, the chairman of CanWest Global Communications Corp., which operates the Global Television Network and is Canada's largest daily newspaper publisher, called Mr. Baaklini's remarks "sickening." Mr. Asper said Ottawa should revoke his diplomatic credentials.

"Who is this 'Zionist party' that, according to Baaklini, owns 90% of the Canadian mass media and takes instructions from abroad? It is certainly not CanWest," Mr. Asper said in a statement. "It would be news to all the other media organizations in Canada, including our competitors in the private and public sector, that this so-called 'Zionist party' controls them also."

Mr. Asper, whose company owns the National Post, said the Lebanese ambassador "has defamed both Canada and the Canadian media but is not accountable by virtue of his diplomatic immunity and it is only appropriate that he be stripped of same and asked to leave the country."

Ottawa is also alarmed over Mr. Baaklini's statement that Canadians travelling in the Middle East should avoid wearing Canada T-shirts that advertise their nationality, because of the government's decision to ban Hezbollah.

"I am afraid the Canadian would have the urgency to wear a non-Canadian T-shirt in Lebanon and the Arabic world," the ambassador told the newspaper.

Mr. Graham said the statement would "certainly be factored into our thinking" in determining whether Ottawa should issue a travel advisory warning Canadians that it may be unsafe to visit Lebanon.

Canada froze the assets of Hezbollah's military wing following the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks in Washington and New York. But the federal government argued for months that the social and political wings of the group, which is based in Lebanon, were legitimate organizations that provided humanitarian assistance to Lebanon's poor. Hezbollah has elected several MPs to Lebanon's Parliament.

Ottawa reversed its position last month and outlawed the entire Hezbollah apparatus under Canada's Criminal Code.

Mr. Graham said the Lebanese ambassador was "completely wrong" to suggest Ottawa succumbed to political pressure from any group, although Jewish groups and the Canadian Alliance mounted a campaign over several months to have Hezbollah banned.

Mr. Baaklini was also "wrong to suggest that press in Canada is controlled by any one group," Mr. Graham said. "It is not true. We have an extremely diverse press in this country."

Mr. Baaklini has been the focus of diplomatic controversy before. He assumed his current position in 2000 after being transferred from his post in France under a cloud for undiplomatic comments on Franco-Lebanese relations.

The Lebanese government said at the time that his removal as ambassador to France after less than a year in Paris was to allow for a strengthening of relations with France.

French authorities took three months to agree on his nomination as Lebanon's ambassador, usually a purely routine process, because they were unhappy about remarks Mr. Baaklini made before his accreditation on "the poor state of Franco-Lebanese relations."

I would not take too seriously what any Lebanese official said because Lebanon is just a puppet state controlled by Syria.

That will change soon enough!!

Perhaps this will convince the Canadians that they just might have a problem. For years, it has been the practice of some Americans to call themselves *North Americans* while traveling, in the hope they can be taken for Canadians.

On the one hand, it's good that the Canadians are able to identify the fact that Hezbollah is a terrorist organization. On the other hand is the apparent fact that it took a year and a half to figure that out.

On the one hand, it's good that the Canadians "...certainly will not tolerate anti-Semitism in this country." And on the other hand, "We are a country that is based on openness, tolerance, respect for one another, and we will continue to do that...". It seems that to the Canadian government, words speak louder than actions.

Is there no limit to the relativistic political correctness.? You can't be open, tolerant, or have respect for people that want to destroy you and your country.

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