In the wake of yesterday’s bombings in London, one of the first announcements made from the G8 summit was a pledge of 3 billion in aid to the Palestinians.
Sure, because everyone knows the first thing we should do after being hit with a terrorist attack is give money to terrorists…
Native leader and vicious antisemite David Ahenakew, who praised Hitler for killing 6 million Jews, has been found guilty of promoting hatred under Canada’s hate crimes legislation:
Former aboriginal leader David Ahenakew, who called Jews “a disease” and justified the Holocaust, has been found guilty of wilfully promoting hatred.
Two and a half years ago, Ahenakew told a reporter that the Holocaust was a good thing and praised Adolf Hitler for having “fried” six million Jews during the Second World War.
The process has also been started to strip Ahenakew of his Order of Canada award.
Despite my mixed feelings on the hate trial in the first place, I’d said that once it was started, this was the only acceptable way for it to end. So I’m greeting this verdict with some relief.
As for the Order of Canada, it should have been stripped long ago. I can’t believe he’s kept it all this time.
While reading online reactions, listening to the radio and hearing people speak today, something kept nagging at me. And that was this:
We can all (well, those of us who aren’t of the terrorist persuasion anyway) agree to be shocked, horrified and sympathetic when something like this happens. As far as that goes, we’re all united for about 10 seconds.
But then the next question is “what now?” And that’s where the divisions start, because that’s where everyone starts telling people that today’s attacks “mean” that… (insert their political viewpoint here).
Some examples:
See what I’m saying?
The only thing that today’s bombings in London “mean” is that dozens of people are dead and hundreds more are injured in a cowardly attack. All the rest is just politics.
Britain has launched an intensive hunt for the terrorists responsible for today’s attacks to “bring them to justice”.
What would justice be for them, I wonder? A trial and sentencing to imprisonment or death? Torture? Mass murder?
No, I think justice – true justice – for them would be having to observe freedom persevere and win the fight.
These terrorists aren’t afraid of death and aren’t terribly bothered by imprisonment. Torture to them would be a propaganda tool. But what they truly fear – what they truly can’t stand – is freedom.
Justice would not be revenge, it would be victory.
London Mayor Ken Livingstone, in a statement this afternoon:
Finally, I wish to speak directly to those who came to London today to take life. I know that you personally do not fear giving up your own life in order to take others – that is why you are so dangerous.
To be fair, the rest of Livingstone’s speech was forceful and defiant in the face of terror. But I can’t help but wonder if he meant to stroke Al Quaeda’s egos with that statement, or if it was just an accident.
In the meantime, here’s CNSnews on why Livingstone is no Guiliani (via Israpundit):
London Mayor Ken Livingstone’s previous support of a Muslim cleric who advocates suicide bombings may cause him some embarrassment as he now must speak for the city in the wake of Thursday’s terrorist bombings.
Despite Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi’s support of suicide bombings and the targeting of American allies, Livingstone dubbed him a “man of peace” and a “moderate.”
The mayor invited Al-Qaradawi to London’s City Hall last year as an honored guest, and Livingstone appeared in a video shown at a solidarity conference for the sheikh on Feb. 17 of this year in Doha, Qatar. Livingstone has publicly defended the sheikh against critics in the media and various grassroots organizations.
Attacking Livingstone now may appear to be in bad taste. But in the coming days, as more people crawl out of the woodwork with their conspiracy theories, it’s useful to remember that appeasing terrorism can only ever lead to disaster.
A lot of bloggers are posting British flags on their blogs today, as a symbol of solidarity with the British people. In the wake of 9/11, millions of US flags appeared everywhere in a massive, resolute display of nationalistic pride and unity. It seems like posting a British flag is the thing to do.
But I’ve decided not to, and here’s why:
I don’t view today’s terorrist attacks in London as just an attack on Great Britain, just as I don’t view 9/11 as an attack only on the United States. On the contrary, those viewpoints are very risky because they allow others – including us Canadians – to divorce ourselves from the fight and think of ourselves as outside sympathizers instead of as members of what was attacked.
Make no mistake: we were attacked too today. All of us. Every time there’s a bus blast in Tel Aviv, it’s an attack on you and I. 9/11 was an attack on us personally, as was the Madrid train bombing, the blasts in Bali, and dozens of other terror attacks. They weren’t attacks on specific nations; they were attacks on general freedom.
If there were some sort of unifying symbol out there to represent our collective freedom that was attacked, I’d post it. But there aren’t any that I know of. So to the people of London, of England and of the UK: my thoughts and prayers are with you, but I won’t post your flag, because you’re not alone. An attack on freedom is an attack on each and every one of us.
Amidst world leaders expressing their sympathy and condemning the terror attacks in London, we see this quote from a leader of Hamas:
The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, responsible for many suicide attacks on Israelis, condemned the London bombings.
“Targeting civilians in their transport means and lives is denounced and rejected,” Moussa Abu Marzouk, deputy chief of the group’s political bureau told Reuters in Damascus by telephone.
Is that so? So all those bus bombings in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem and Haifa and Beersheva were what if not attacks on “civilians in their transport means and lives”?
Excuse me, I think I’m going to be sick.
Canadian Public Security Minister Anne McLellan’s news conference is on the radio right now. The bottom line from her remarks: Canada sends condolances to Britain, but don’t worry, nobody will attacks us cause we’re Canada and we don’t take stands on anything and therefore everyone loves us.
Okay, she didn’t say it exactly like that. But that’s essentially what the meaning was.
Us Canadians have been pretty smug this whole time, pointing fingers at our American neighbours as they try to fight a force that has yet to attack us on our soil. But if we think we’re exempt, then we need a serious reality check. I only hope people realize that before it’s too late.
In the meantime I had to shut off my radio in disgust, because the callers claiming that the terrorism would continue “until the US and Britain change their foreign policies” was making me angry and I was liable to punch something.
The casualty figures continue to mount. The latest numbers have 33 dead and over 300 injured. This does not include the people who were on the double-decker bus that was torn apart near Tavistock Square.
The claim of responsibility from an Al Quaeda group also contains threats against Italy and Denmark:
“We still warn the governments of Denmark and Italy and all the crusader governments that they will receive the same punishment if they do not withdraw their troops from Iraq and Afghanistan,” it said. “We gave the warning, so we should not be blamed.”
Right… And, of course, the statement said that this was an attack on the “Zionist British government”. I wonder if their version of the “Zionist British government” includes the likes of George Galloway or Jenny Tonge?
Update: Speaking of George Galloway, I didn’t have to wait long to find out what his reaction would be:
Respect MP George Galloway says: “We argued, as did the security services in this country, that the attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq would increase the threat of terrorist attack in Britain. Tragically Londoners have now paid the price of the Government ignoring such warnings.”
In other words, blaming Blair for the attacks. Pretty much what we’d expect from the likes of Galloway. (Via Democracy Guy and Instapundit).
Scenes like this are sadly and unacceptably almost commonplace in some parts of the world. We’re nearly numb to the news of terrorist attacks in Iraq these days. The scene is horrifyingly familiar to Israelis. But in London, despite the history of IRA attacks, this is not commonplace and it still has the power to shock the world.
A casualty is taken away on a stretcher at London's King Cross station in London (source: Reuters)
The phases will be familiar to people who have gone through it all before. Shock and horror at the news. Frantic checking on everyone we know who may have been in the area to make sure they’re okay. A wave of sadness and sympathy for the victims and their families.
And then, incredible anger at the terrorists and anger at the fact that their brand of terror is being allowed to succeed – at changing the G8 agenda, at getting people to point fingers the wrong way, maybe even at scaring other European countries into surrendering. What they don’t realize is that surrender isn’t an option; sooner or later there is a line that no country can cross, and by the time they reach it, it might be too late.
If the only defense against terrorism is its 100% failure rate, than what does it mean that it has been so incredibly successful as of late? What of the Gaza disengagement – agree or disagree, it is being interpreted by the Palestinian terror groups as a victory. What of Spain’s election of a leftist government that capitulated to the terrorist demands to withdraw troops from Iraq after the Madrid train bombings? What of small victory after small victory that has enabled the terrorists to isolate the US and Israel from the world, get other European countries to back down, and cause fear among millions of people?
Terrorism will contine as long as it keeps attaining victories. Tony Blair is vowing to stay resolute. But what will happen is anyone’s guess.
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