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November 30, 2001
Envoy calls for more pressure Israeli ambassador
Haim Divon says John Manley's view is softening.
PAT JOHNSON REPORTER
Foreign Affairs Minister John Manley is on a learning curve regarding
Mideast affairs, but he is becoming more sympathetic to the Israeli
position, according to Israel's ambassador to Canada. Haim Divon,
the ambassador, spoke to an overflow crowd at the Jewish Community
Centre of Greater Vancouver Sunday night. Approximately 200 people
turned out to what was dubbed a "townhall meeting" to support Israel.
Divon has watched Manley's education on Mideast affairs, he said,
and has seen a greater awareness emerge in the time between the
minister's two trips to the region, in May and November of this
year. He said Manley is learning that Yasser Arafat does not subscribe
to the same diplomatic niceties with which North American politicians
are familiar.
"I've seen a difference between the two visits," said Divon, who
accompanied the minister while Manley was in Israel. Divon said
Manley told him in May that Arafat had assured the Canadian that
he was not behind the terrorist violence and Manley seemed to accept
the Palestinian leader's word.
When Manley was again in the region earlier this month, he was
more suspect of Palestinian statements, claimed Divon.
The ambassador seemed prepared to cut the minister some slack,
saying Manley quickly recanted on comments deemed offensive by Israelis
and Canadian Jews. Before leaving for Israel in November, Manley
told the Ottawa Citizen that Palestinian violence had to
be seen in the context of a nationalistic struggle, whereas the
Sept. 11 terrorist attacks had no such motivation. Manley backed
away from his comments when pressed by Jewish leaders, said Divon.
Dr. David Goldberg, the Toronto-based director of research for
the Canada-Israel Committee, was also at the meeting. He said Manley
clarified his comments quickly and efficiently.
"We were quite pleased about that," he said, adding that the minister
is coming to realize there is no acceptable "context" for killing.
"Terror is terror and murder is murder," said Goldberg. Goldberg
was in Vancouver this week encouraging Zionists to be more vocal
in pressing the Israeli cause. In addition to the meeting at the
JCC, he also met with Jewish students at the University of B.C.
and Simon Fraser University on Monday and Tuesday.
The visits were part of an on-going effort by the Canada-Israel
Committee and the Local Israel Action Team to spur Canadian Jews
to speak up for Israel.
Geoffrey Druker, city director for State of Israel Bonds and chair
for the Sunday night meeting, acknowledged the despair and loneliness
many Canadian Jews feel, but urged resolve.
"Sometimes you feel you have to do something, but you feel alone,"
he said. "But you're not alone. Look around you." The meeting overflowed
into an adjacent room and many people stood at the side as the guests
spoke.
Members of the local action team urged people to contact media
when they see inaccurate or biased reporting and to contact Manley
and Prime Minister Jean Chretien to urge Canadian support for Israeli
peace efforts. They repeatedly stressed that all correspondence
to those two top officials be copied to local members of Parliament.
The meeting was the first in what organizers hope will be a regular,
bimonthly event.
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