Legislature never looks at the real issues
Progressive Conservative Peter Shurman asked the legislature to approve a motion condemning “Israeli Apartheid Week” organized annually by students in several universities, and it did so without a dissenting voice.
Shurman, whose riding has more than 40 per cent Jewish residents, pointed out the term apartheid was used to describe South Africa, when its white minority ruled and discriminated in many ways against blacks. He argued it should not be applied to Israel, because that state gives full rights to all citizens, and unnecessarily inflames debate.
New Democrat Cheri DiNovo, a minister in the United Church, which has led charges that Israel mistreats Palestinians, would be highly critical of Israel in any discussion of the whole issue, but seemed relieved that she could escape merely by agreeing the word apartheid is inflammatory and supported the motion.
Liberal David Zimmer, with many Jews in his riding, said people of all races in Israel are free to come and go as they please, and Mike Colle, another Liberal with many Jewish voters, said those who claim Israel practices apartheid hate it.
Shurman and fellow Conservatives Ted Arnott and John O’Toole contended Ontarians should support Israel because it is a democracy, meaning different from Arab countries that surround it.
The issues the debate ignored are that western countries designated a small part of Palestine as a state for Jews, trying impossibly to atone for the Holocaust, in which 6 million Jews were murdered by Europeans, and which should never be forgotten.
The Israeli Jews expanded this territory through wars, some forced on them, expelled hundreds of thousands of Palestinians and told them they can never return, brought in several million Jews from other countries, continue admitting more and show no signs of giving up the land they occupy by force.
In more than four decades, the legislature has never discussed these issues fully, and only two MPPs, a New Democrat and a Liberal, have said the Palestinians have some ground for feeling mistreated.
There is evidence many Ontarians share this view and common sense suggests they include some MPPs, but the latter keep silent to avoid incurring the wrath and losing the votes of the aggressive pro-Israel lobby, which labels anyone who raises the slightest concern about Israel as anti-Semitic.
News media, churches, the United Nations, Amnesty International and the Red Cross among others have said Israel has jailed Palestinians without cause, tortured them, demolished their homes to provide houses for Jews and humiliated them in many ways, including forcing them to wait, sometimes for days, at hundreds of road checkpoints Jews can ignore.
Those who have said this amounts to apartheid include South African Bishop and Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu, so respected Ontario invited him to be among the handful of non-residents ever to speak in its legislature, admired South Africans with experience of both countries and United Nations investigators, who are more balanced than MPPs looking for votes.
Those who pushed to condemn Israeli Apartheid week seemed determined to stick to shouting narrow slogans rather than discuss all the issues.
The three Conservatives said the legislature should support Israel because it is a democracy, unlike Arab states. But democracies do not always have worthy motives, a recent example being when U.S. president George W. Bush attacked Iraq, causing many deaths, on the false claim it hid nuclear weapons.
Arab dictators also usually are sustained by western nations, who sell them the latest military equipment to keep their citizens in line and safeguard their interests.
Shurman repeated the frequent cry that Israel has a right to defend itself, which seems self-evident until it is asked whether a nation has a right to defend land it has seized and occupies by force.
These are among the many questions that should be asked in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, but the legislature wanted to answer only what seemed an easy one.
Post new comment