Liberal anti-Semitism?

Editorial

As we noted last week, the Liberal leadership convention that elected Stéphane Dion was a great piece of television and a spectacular moment of history. Now, we find out, there was an undercurrent of something we didn't see on our TV screens: anti-Semitism.

Verbally and through written messages, Bob Rae was targeted by some opponents based on his wife's Jewishness.

A flyer circulated electronically told delegates that "Rae's wife is a vice-president of the CJC (Canadian Jewish Congress), a lobby group which supports Israeli apartheid." Rae himself was condemned for having once delivered a speech to the Jewish National Fund, an organization the writer said was complicit in "war crimes and ethnic cleansing."

The message was summed up: "Bob Rae supports Israeli apartheid. Don't elect a leader who supports apartheid."

According to CTV News, Khaled Mouammar, president of the Canadian Arab Federation, was fingered by CJC as having been the source for the material.

The Canadian Arab Federation stood by the flyer, issuing a post-convention statement declaring that: "CAF believes that Canadians have the right to know the factual information provided" in the flyer.

Rae's wife, Arlene Perly Rae, was herself approached by an unsuspecting activist warning her not to vote for Rae because his wife is Jewish.

Such baiting was apparently widespread - at least more widespread than it should be in a legitimate political party in this country. In its aftermath, the new leader, Dion, issued a harshly worded statement about the incidents, saying they were "reprehensible and will not be tolerated within the Liberal Party of Canada."

The incidents were most remarkable, perhaps, because they were the most tangible indication yet that an anti-Israel and anti-Semitic fixation is creeping into the Liberal party – a party with a legitimate chance of forming government.

Interestingly, the conflict at the convention was not all inter-group. Muslim delegates were apparently divided between the followers of Mohamed Elmasry's Canadian Islamic Congress and the relatively more moderate Muslim Canadian Congress. At the outset of the convention, the MCC condemned the CIC (the Jewish community is hardly alone in its alphabet soup of acronyms) for alleging it could deliver hundreds of Muslim delegates to the most favorable candidate.

"Muslim delegates at the convention are not a herd of cattle for sale to the highest bidder," said Muslim Canadian Congress vice-president Salma Siddiqui in a media release.

Elmasry said the CIC held a breakfast meeting with the top four candidates on the day of balloting, a statement which, if true, should itself raise concerns. Elmasry's views, some of which have been widely publicized and condemned, should have set off alarm bells among candidates invited to dine with him. Among other contentions, Elmasry has said that every adult Israeli is a legitimate target for Palestinian terrorists. He was later forced to apologize and offered his resignation as head of the organization, but his resignation was rejected. Nonetheless, Elmasry's diverse and repugnant views are easily accessible on the CIC's website and elsewhere.

These comments and actions deserve extensive attention. The Liberal party, if history is any guide, will be back in office within a few years. Has the party dug deep enough into these incidents? Will it?

In the Dec. 8 release from the Liberal party, the new leader declared: "There is no room for abhorrent comments such as these within our party. The individuals who made these despicable and prejudiced comments are condemned by myself and Liberals throughout Canada."

Condemnation of these individuals is a good start. But are they still in the party?

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