Liberal Moral Relativism
I was at Beth Shalom synagogue last night in Toronto, listening to Liberal MP Irwin Cotler speak and Liberal MP Carolyn Bennet stutter (Seriously, whatever her triumphs or faults, the woman is a terrible speaker. I wanted to claw out my own eyes and throw them at her. Get thee to a teleprompter, woman!) The subject was the rise of antisemitism, specifically on our campuses here in Toronto.
Cotler (we’ll focus on him, because he can speak) talked a good game about defeating this “new” antisemitism - Iran wanting to “excise the cancer” that is Israel, the UN passing resolution after resolution against Israel, kids at York university feeling threatened, etc. But during the Q&A at the end of the presentation, he kind of lost his cool.
A woman in the audience asked him how he could be such an advocate of Israel, and still be a member of the Liberal Party of Canada. After all, she pointed out, the immigrant voting block (i.e. Muslims) vote Liberal, so pandering must be done. Liberal MP Denis Coderre marched in Montreal in 2006 under the banner of Hezbollah. Michael Ignatieff himself is very critical of Israel, etc. So how could he reconcile having Mr. Harper’s unequivocal support of Israel and Canadian Jewry against the Liberal Party’s indifference to or outright bias against?
Mr. Cotler verbally punished the woman in the audience for even daring to say such a terrible thing. Told her that Denis Coderre had never marched beneath the Hezbollah flag in Montreal (he did). How dare this woman malign the Liberals, exposing such political polarization on such an important issue?!
One wonders if he was so strident in his opinions when he was asked the very same thing by his wife, Ariela:
I have been an active, involved and contributing member of
the Liberal party until yesterday, when I decided to give up my membership because of the statements from Michael Ignatieff, given in French to a Quebec radio station.I was hoping that with his background as a professor of human rights, Mr. Ignatieff would be able to make the distinction between the attackers and the attacked. I would remind Mr. Ignatieff that it was a Liberal government that placed Hezbollah on the international terrorist organizations list.
Must be rather tense in the Cotler household, no?
As an aside, Cotler was very open in denouncing “Ahmadinejad’s Iran” as the root of many of today’s problems with antisemitism. Possibly due to the aforementioned Islamic voting block, Mr. Cotler was unwilling to point to Islam itself as the political/religious force behind the rise in Jew hatred around the world today. It was only “Iran, Iran, Iran.” Which I found hilarious as he went on and on about how people are cloaking their antisemitism in the guise of Anti-Zionism and dislike for Israel.
Pot? It’s Kettle on the line.
Either come right out and say what everyone in the room already knows you’re thinking, or just let the subject drop altogether. The people marching in the streets of Toronto, New York, Islamabad, London, Beirut, Dearborn and other cities are not Iranian. They are from a “broad strata” (if you’ll forgive me) of Islamic society. Yes, Iran has been the only state to come out and specifically call for the obliteration of Israel, but they are not the be-all and end-all of Islamic antisemitism, any more than Israel itself is the be-all and end-all of Judaism.
Mr. Cotler, I respectfully request that you either put up or shut up.
In other news, Cotler attended Durbin II. Need we say more?
“Pot? It’s Kettle on the line.”
Sweet lord I can’t breathe….lol
I wish I had come up with that bit of sarcastic genius
Comment by Kevin — May 25, 2009 @ 1:10 pm
Kottler is the typical Canadian/American Jew who votes Liberal/Democrat because these were the parties in power when their families immigrated to North America. As a result, they have this unwavering gratitude to these parties even though Liberals/Democrats have clearly turned radically against Israel (both support the end of the settlements, return of the land to the 1967 borders, right of return, etc.).
All ridings in Canada with a heavy Jewish polulation (except Thornhill) are held by Jewish Liberal MPs and MPPs and this is not a coincidence.
Clearly, Kottler represents the “old” Jews in Canada (along with Bernie Farber (CJC) and most B’Nai Brith members. They mostly attend Conservative Synagogues (as opposed to Reformed or Orthodox) and are quickly losing ground to the more Orthodox Jews who are the fastest growing segment of the Jewish population and are increasingly voting for the Conservatives in Canada. As well, many Orthodox Jews in the US are voting for the Republicans as this party represents stronger family values and a stronger commitment to Israel.
Soon, thank G-d, the Kottlers of this world will be but a distant bad memory.
Comment by Andre — May 25, 2009 @ 1:49 pm
Iran is technically the only “state” that has called for the obliteration of Israel, but Hamas, the democratically-elected government of Gaza (and internationally-recognized terrorist organization), is also committed to forcing the Jews into the sea and claiming the land as Palestine. Hamas is also known as the “Islamic Resistance Movement,” which of course is representative of a much greater number of people in the world.
Cotler is right to say that anti-Semitism is working under the guise of anti-Zionism lately…but is this entire issue the fault of the current Iranian president? Uh, obviously not. Of course Cotler cannot appropriately address the issue of increasingly widespread anti-Semitism in Canada if he is dancing around “the M word”. You’d think it would be okay for him to name Islamic extremism (read: not “Islam”) as the umbrella cause…but I guess the terrorists are voting Liberal too!
This reaffirms the fact that every Canadian who supports Israel should be voting Conservative at this time.
Comment by The Girl in Blue — May 25, 2009 @ 3:38 pm
Thanks for this interesting report, Wendy.
The Girl in Blue: well said.
Comment by Josephine — May 25, 2009 @ 4:12 pm
Wendy, how can I change my nic?
Comment by Josephine — May 25, 2009 @ 4:13 pm
Thanks for this fine citizans Report on a Political event we would never have heard about otherwise including his wife. Ever notice in Canda that Politicians wives are almost as shut up as Soviet wives used to be. The same goes for Men of Female pol’s as well .
Great Job Wendy.
Comment by Revnant Dream — May 25, 2009 @ 8:21 pm
Ask Bob Rae’s wife as well what she thinks of the Islamist infiltration of the Liberal party of Canada.
Need we revisit the last Liberal convention where there was democracy? Ethnic Muslim voting blocks with whisper campaigns not to vote for Jews?
Cotler and Farber are the kind of men only to happy to sell the rope to the people that would hang them with it…and gentlemen please, don’t decry what you cannot bring yourself to condemn.
Comment by Kursk — May 26, 2009 @ 11:35 pm
have been waiting, ever so patiently, for Mr Cotler to cross the floor and sit with the Conservatives - who actually stand for what Mr Cotler SAYS he believes - you think I wait in vain ? - what a joke the party of Laurier has become
Comment by canadoo — May 28, 2009 @ 12:18 pm
Goes to show the true color of Liberals: They’re assholes.
Comment by winston — May 29, 2009 @ 3:52 pm
There’s a good reason why Cotler won’t cross the floor - even if he’s very pro-Israel, on domestic issues he is a total small-”l” liberal and a huge fan of Multiculturalism and the Charter, opposes mandatory minimum sentences, etc. I don’t think the Conservatives, if they have any principles, would even want him!
Andre is right to point to the generally small-”l” liberal views of Canadian Jews. I would dispute however that this liberal tendency is limited to older Jews. In the US Nixon and Reagan got a much higher percentage of the Jewish vote than Bush II and McCain did and I would attribute the slight inroads the Tories made in the Canadian Jewish community largely to the fact that the Libs just had their worst result ever in terms of popular vote, and also Harper shed any past socially conservative tendencies. Ignatieff even if it’s opportunistic is taking a very pro-Israel stance and I assume the Jewish Tory vote maxed out. Politically conservative Orthodox Jews still remain a small minority and younger secular Jews tend to be quite liberal.
Comment by MR — May 30, 2009 @ 3:39 pm
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