This week, the Canadian government made a distinct change in our policy towards the war in the Middle East. Finally, we have come down on the side of a ceasefire. It’s about time.
Who To Listen To?
A Canadian reporter in a news conference accused the Minister of Foreign Affairs of catering to the Arab voters in Canada. It’s a tough question. What’s the difference between catering to a group and listening to your voters? The vocal supporters of Israel and Palestine have made it very clear that there’s no middle ground. Which is the ideology keeping the war going.
The governing parties in all countries are divided between pleasing the Israeli sympathizers and the Palestinian supporters in their populations. It’s pretty obvious who Joe Biden supports. But in the US system it’s not the votes, it’s the money that talks.
Canada’s governing Liberals seem to have a more difficult choice, but in reality, the Zionists of Netanyahu’s government have made it easy for them. Israelis have gone so far into the realm of war crimes that only fourteen out of all the countries of the United Nations still support their actions. The whole world has said, “Enough is enough,” and Justin Trudeau is happy to fall in line.
On the Other Hand
Supporters of Netanyahu’s actions have constantly framed “cease fire” as denying Israel the right to defend itself. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is an accepted precept that all humans have the right to defend ourselves. However, every society has found it necessary to draw a line as to how violent that defense is allowed to be.
North American societies have only recently made it clear that you are not allowed to kill someone for the crime of trespassing on your property, and I’m sure that message has not filtered down to the rigid brains of some of our more conservative countrymen and women.
In wartime shades of grey disappear. Netanyahu’s government has stated flatly that Hamas must be completely destroyed. Logic shows that, since it is impossible to separate supporters of Hamas from the general Palestinian population, it is thus necessary to destroy all the Palestinians. Which is exactly what Netanyahu wants. In case you missed it, that’s called genocide, and it is generally frowned upon these days.
In the Long Term
Everyone you hear on the media pretty much agrees that Netanyahu’s government will not survive this war. In fact, the simplest solution to the whole situation is that he loses power, and whoever takes over will start the real peace talks.
But after that, it is necessary for the future of humanity that he and his top advisors be arraigned before the International Criminal Court in the Hague and be charged with war crimes. I’m not saying whether he should or would be convicted, but we cannot in all fairness condemn Vladmir Putin for his war crimes in Ukraine and let Netanyahu free when he has committed worse. (About 10,000 Ukrainian civilians compared to about 17,000 Palestinians, if anyone’s counting.) It goes without saying that some Hamas leaders need to walk the same path, but finding them is a more difficult job.
The Bottom Line
It is an unfortunate truth that humans who have been abused often turn into abusers. The horrible treatment of the Jews in WWII has resulted in an echo of authoritarianism in the victims. The Zionists are continuing the chain of abuse against the Palestinians, who have resorted to similar actions in their own defense.
It is up to the international community to come together and bring pressure on these countries to end their violence, and then to provide aid to solve their problems. We can’t expect them to do it themselves. Unfortunately, that’s not human nature.
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