Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Freedom of speech is great, just don't criticize Israel. Right Harper?

According to a news piece in the Toronto Star, the reason Bev Oda provided funding for aid group Kairos "NOT", is because of their support for Palestinian aid groups that have been critical of Israel. (News Story)

The horror! Imagine, criticizing Israel, such temerity can not be tolerated.

I was incredibly surprised to see this information basically confirmed in The National Post of all places. THIS ARTICLE contains a transcript of a speech given by Citizenship and Immigration minister Jason Kenney while in Jerusalem. In his speech Kenney says:

"We have defunded organizations, most recently like KAIROS, who are taking a leadership role in the boycott".

The boycott Kenney refers to is against Israel, although apparently there is zero basis for this allegation in regards to Kairos. I'm pretty certain though it made Mr. Kenney a darling of the Israeli media.

Let's make things simple and just pass a law that says Israel is always right, and that freedom of speech is all well and good except when criticizing this one nation. You can even lie about a faith based aid group if you like, provided that in slandering them you stand up for this foreign country.

Why our minister of Citizenship and Immigration would even be in Israel is beyond me. According to Statistics Canada a grand total of just 4,950 people have emigrated from Israel to Canada between the years 2001 and 2006 (STATS CAN TABLE) with the total immigrant population being just over 20,000 all time.

Has the minister been to the Phillipenes? Canada has over 300,000 immigrants from that country. In fact there are 50 nations (according to StatsCan) that have immigrant populations in this country larger than that of Israel.

I realize the Jewish homeland is a cause celebre with Harper's Christian Conservative base, but this is getting ridiculous.


Can you help this blog out?

Canadian Soapbox is ranked at CANADIAN BLOGOSPHERE, help this blog climb the ladder by clicking on the icon below, then hit the green button to vote.

Thanks eh!
Canadian Blogosphere

No comments: