It seems to me that those people angry about the antisemitic remarks made by the Lebanese Ambassador to Canada, Raymond Baaklini, are missing the point.
Baaklini made widely-criticized remarks in a local Arabic newspaper about the media being “controlled by Zionists”, and blamed the “Zionist party” for being responsible for pressuring the Canadian government to outlaw Hezbollah. His remarks ended with a not-so-subtle threat that “Canadians travelling in the Arab world shouldn’t wear Canada T-shirts.”
He repeated his disgustingly racist and threatening comments several times before issuing a so-called “apology” that was really nothing even remotely apologetic.
I am disgusted by these comments – but I don’t understand why people are shocked. It’s a pretty common accusation of Israel’s enemies, and Izzy Asper, owner of CanWestGlobal, is a favourite target of these morons. Just open any edition of the Link to see that accusation made – in print – dozens of times.
If Baaklini’s remarks are unacceptable – which they are – then they should be equally unacceptable for all the other idiots who say the exact same thing, day in, day out.
I’ve blogged a bit on the bizarrity of Izzy Asper denying he is a Zionist. Jonathan Edelstein at HeadHeeb grabbed the ball and ran with it, truning it into a much longer series on the uses of language.
Baaklini is likely the most undiplomatic Diplomat in Canada. He’s a damn poor Ambassador, and a conspiracy minded nut. But Asper’s a bigger fool to waste this opportunity and run away from the term “Zionist”. As I said elsewhere, he’s acting like Dukakis running from the term “liberal”.
Asper is a Zionist. All the paper’s he owns are Zionist (putting aside the influence CanWest has on editorial policy). The CBC is Zionist. So is Le Devoir. Hell, even the Guardian is Zionist. It’s not a conspiracy, it’s a reasoned postion.
Is Shinui Zionist? I’m not sure.
CBC is zionist? Le Devoir is zionist?
The Guardian?
Which planet are you living on?
Hazak: Yes. They’re all Zionist. A Jewish state for a Jewish people. I doubt any of those papers would disagree with Herzelian Zionism.
Zionism is not Sharonism. It is not racism. It isn’t support for Greater Israel. You don’t have to be a Likudnik to be a Zionist.
Baaklini is right. Asper is a “Zionist party” and he controls most of the important English dailies in Canada. Where he’s wrong is in suggesting taht this is a conspiracy, or that there is anything wrong with being Zionist.
Asper is an idiot. Instead of standing proud, shouting, like a Jewish Molson ad, “I am a Zionist”, he hid. All Asper did is make it seem that there is something shameful about Zionism.
(I will qualify that strictly, there may be some non-Zionist pro-Israel papers, and that it may be that Shinui -or Meretz- is not strictly Zionist. That’s another discussion.)