By David Frum
Michael Ignatieff used this week’s English-language leaders’ debate to send dog-whistle signals to anti-Israel voters.
One occurred at about the 20-minute mark:
“Canada has lost its seat on the Security Council of the United Nations. First time it ever happened … ”
Another at minute 29:
“The fact remains, Mr. Harper, that you are the first Prime Minister in the history of Canada to lose the seat that we were eligible to occupy on the Security Council of the United Nations … Talking about [the aid group] Kairos, talking about aid agencies who work in Africa, you’ve muzzled them, you’ve shut them down … For ideological reasons, you shut them down. When Rights & Democracy, an independent organization trying to represent human rights around the world, gave you a little trouble, you basically destroyed the organization.”
The word “Israel” does not appear in these remarks. Friends of Israel who want to vote Liberal can continue to remind themselves that Ignatieff condemned “Israel Apartheid Week” in a speech at the global anti-Semitism conference a year ago.
But people who follow the issues more closely will hear a very different message encoded in Ignatieff’s remarks.
Kairos and Canada’s Center for Human Rights and Democratic Development did not become notorious by “working in Africa.” They became notorious because of their attacks on Israel and their too-close associations with anti-Israel extremism. Read more
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