Mideast policy mambo

Editorial

While doubts fly about the Obama administration's Mideast policy, no such qualifications greeted Canada's prime minister when he addressed Jewish leaders recently.

U.S. President Barack Obama's address to the Muslim world has been greeted with confusion and derision in Zionist circles. Obama's criticism of Israeli policies, which we still suspect is a necessary attempt at an appearance of balance, nonetheless raises doubts about the special relationship between the two countries under his leadership.

Of course, the surprise defeat of the Hezbollah-led coalition in the Lebanese elections this week may have owed something to Obama's visit, which could suggest the president's mild criticism of Israel was crazy like a fox.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, on the other hand, has recently had awards and accolades heaped on him by the Jewish community. On the same day that he received the Simon Wiesenthal International Leadership Award, he was presented with a major award by Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC).

Canadian parliamentarians have also made important steps in addressing mounting anti-Jewish prejudice and discrimination, creating the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition for Combating Anti-Semitism. Mostly Conservatives and Liberals, the coalition is part of an international effort to confront the worrying trend. The relationship between anti-Semitism and the global dog-piling on Israel is a point of contention, of course, with Israel's enemies pretending to be unsullied by any hint of prejudice. But if the politicians hope to get to the nub of this vital issue, a deep, thoughtful and comprehensive analysis of the interrelation between the two will be necessary.

As the Jewish community's response demonstrates, Harper's party gets it. Liberal MP and former justice minister Irwin Cotler reiterated his logical assertion that support for Israel should not be seen as a Conservative (or Liberal) value, but a Canadian one.

Then, of course, there is the New Democratic party. Kudos to their leader, Jack Layton, for having the guts to show up at the CJC's biennial meeting, knowing his position on Israel ranges from unpopular to reviled among those assembled. (The Bloc Quebecois didn't even show.)

But while Layton tried to make nice with the community, his party's foreign policy position, like the United Nation's, is irrationally obsessed with Israel and driven by an extremist tail wagging the mainstream dog. While NDP policy officially supports a two-state solution, its every statement seems to betray Israel's right to exist and defend itself from attack. Many party activists, including MPs, trade unionists who hold senior positions in the party, commentators and bloviators who support the NDP, seek the destruction of Israel's Jewish majority through support for a so-called "binational state." This is not a legitimate political position. It is extremism that puts "death to Israel" in slightly more polite language.

Confronted on this, Layton tried to distance himself from the extremists in his party, saying he doesn't support them or such actions as boycotts against Israel. But his choice of words was unintentionally telling. Layton has tried to walk a fine line between the rump of extremists who crowd his party's backrooms and the mainstream Canadian public who can smell bigotry where it festers. The silence of the good people in the NDP has allowed a core group of zealots to seize control of the party's foreign policy and, at risk of offending the fastest-growing demographic of potential NDP supporters – Muslim Canadians – Layton consistently misses the "teachable moments" through which he could promote tolerance and mutual understanding. Instead, when pressed, he makes mild statements about not supporting those who seek to make Israel disappear. What he consistently has not done is actually condemn them or expel them from his party.

The indignation members of the NDP summoned when a few members of the late Reform party promoted racist, homophobic and misogynist policies was admirable. But now that the extremists are in their own party, the NDP dudgeon is more subdued.

It may seem reasonable to members of the NDP that, as the Conservatives and Liberals seem to trip over each other befriending Israel, the NDP should take an alternative position. But Cotler is correct. Support for the only democracy in its region, for the only country that demonstrates respect for women's equality, collective bargaining, religious and ethnic pluralism, gay rights and, well, Canadian values, should not be a Conservative or Liberal (or NDP) position. It should be a Canadian position.

Until Layton explicitly condemns the extremists in his ranks and, as Reform leader Preston Manning eventually did, makes clear that extremists are not welcome and expels them from his party, the federal NDP deserves to be quarantined from legitimate political discourse in this country.

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