Anti-Israel Boycott Fails Again - This Time Mountain Equipment Co-op

This passed weekend saw another attempt at expanding boycott efforts directed at Israel across Canada. The latest target was Mountain Equipment Co-op for having an Israeli supplier of under garments and water bottles. The boycotters felt this was in violation of their ethical purchasing standards. A boycott was called for Saturday with the Jewish community responding on Sunday with a buycott. Leading up to the week end the only major publicity was a few newspapers condeming the boycott.

The boycott got no attetion what so ever. It has been reported that the biggest turn out was in Vancouver with 20 supporters. Organizers didn't even bother to set up a protest in Toronto. Considering the amount of attention devoted to boycotting Israel at CUPE and other institutions, why was the campaign such a miserable failure?

One explanation is the protesters carefully examined what they were boycotting. They found that MEC carefully examines their suppliers and have already addressed concerns about the treatment of Palestinians. They realize that the boycott would hurt the incomes of Palestinians more than it will cause any shifts in Israeli government policy. Perhaps they have learned that every boycott rallies the Jewish community and it's supporters. The targeted victims come out ahead by support from the buycott campaign.

The simpler and most likely explanation is that Canadians really don't care that much about the Palestinians issues. There are number of reports from attendees at the boycotts that indicated even the people who showed up giving out pamphlets really didn't understand the issues. They were not interested in engaging in discussions with people with a different perspective.

Israel has a long history even before it became a state. There was a continuous Jewish community living in Hevron before a French flag was ever planted in the New World until they were expelled by the British in 1933. Jewish communities in East Jerusalem and Gush were expelled when they found themselves outside of Israel after the 1948 war of Independence. The demands of a Palestinian State are to have these communities once again free of Jews, while Palestinians can settle anywhere in Israel outside of a Palestinian State.

The Boycott campaign completely ignores the valid goals and concerns Israel is facing. At the same time it hits the Palestinian they are pretending to help the hardest with zero political benefit. It is time for the boycotts to stop and those who really care about the long term interests of the region start pushing solutions that are mutually beneficial to Palestinians and Israelis. Anything less is a waste of time.

Giving it the full 10%

Under Steven Harper the Conservatives have made a major shift in election strategy. Campaigning is no longer reserved for elections. Controlling their branding with aggressive marketing has insured they are well defined in the eyes of the public. This strategy minimizes the risk of political fallout from a mistake on the short campaign trail. Kim Campbell, Stephane Dion and John Tory have all learned the hard way that campaigns are not the time to discuss major policy shifts. This startegy also allowed the Conservatives to attack Dion at his weakest. The strategy was extra effective as the Liberals did not have the financial resources to proeperly respond to the attacks.

The Conservatives have been using a strategy called ten percenters. This allows an MP to send flyers to other ridings under certain conditions. This Junk Mail strategy has annoyed many but the Conservatives seem to believe they work. The most recent controversy was 10 percenters sent to 5 Jewish ridings outlining the holes in the Liberals Israel foreign policy. The facts in the flyer were technically accurate but did not reflect the complete Liberal policy. There has been debate as to how much the Conservatives meant to imply in their criticism.

A committee is now reviewing the rules regarding the use of the ten percenters. The approach being taken by the opposition parties is that the Conservatives are abusing the system therefore the rules need to be changed. While the Government has spent $6 million on the flyers the opposition parties have spent $4 million. The wrong approach is being taken for meaningful change.

Originally the 10 percenters were designed to inform specific groups of government programs that applied to them that they not be aware of. There is also a secondary consequence. During an election the advantage always goes to the incumbent. They have a track record in government. Government accomplishments are their accomplishments. Plus people don't vote for change unless there is a major reason to. MP send notices to their own riding letting them know the job they as individuals and the government is doing. 10 percenters allows mailings to go out to deliver a similar message even if the riding is currently controlled by another party. They can help balance the playing field already tipped in favour of the incumbent.

The questions that should be asked are in an today's age of communication are mailings really an effective way to MPs to communicate with constituents? What is the balance between communicating with constituents for effective governing versus building on the incumbent advantage? What limitations can be put in place to limit partisan nature of communication with the riding without damaging the ability to represent a riding effectively? Addressing these issues will produce a new set of guidelines to improve the MP to voter relationship. Taking an approach with the intent to simply stop Conservative Party propaganda will simply replace the current system with a different partisan based system.

Palestinian Authority Strategy for Chaos - FAIL

Palestinian leadership has always taken the same single minded approach into negotiating a peace agreement with Israel. They have always been willing to reach a compromise as long as all of their demands are met. Combining violence and diplomacy they have reached some degree of success with this strategy until this year.

The war in Gaza has acted as a deterrent to rocket attacks. The rockets have not completly stopped but it his reduced it to a minimum. Israel returns fire for every attack creating a tangible cause and effect. A new Israeli Government is now in power with a mandate to protect Israel's interests even if it makes the Palestinians unhappy. Economic conditions have improved in the West Bank as security check points have been removed. All of these developments have forced the Palestinians to have to agree to compromise if they want to move forward plus demonstrate the rewards for living peacefully.

The Palestinians beleived that Barak Obama could dictate Israeli policy. They were so convinced that Obama's declaration that settlements must stop would come to fruition, they made it a condition of bargaining with Israel. Israel responded with a definite no, leaving the Palestinians with the option to back down or put more pressure on Israel. The Palestinian Authority has lost support at home by botching the handling of the Goldstone Report. First they postponed it's review by the UNHRC followed by demanding the UNHRC hold an emergency session to have it passed. They have admitted to not having time to read the report plus they cannot follow up any allegations with the International Criminal Court because they have no evidence outside of the report. Judge Goldstone has admitted that the report does not meet the burden of proof for a criminal trial.

Since Hillary Clinton declared that they are satisfied with the compromise over Israeli settlements, the Palestinian leadership has been playing all kinds of political games to gain world sympathy. Elections have been called for January. Unsurprisingly Hamas has rejected the plan sighting the fact that Abbas should have already faced an election when his Presidential term expired. Abbas has threated not to run in the election. He has taken his threats as far as resigning from all of his positions within the Palestinian leadership and dismantling the Palestinian Authority in the process. He has promissed violence will be result of the leadership vacum. Chief Palestinian negotiaitor Saeb Erekat has come out and said that they are trying to gain support at the United Nations to have a Palestinian State recognized with 1967 borders.

The current strategy is to create absolute chaos. The United States and Israel will bend over backwards to make concessions to prevent them from happening. A Palestinian State as has been proposed this far would be suicide for Israel. Palestinians are not even willing to entertain the possibility of logical land swaps that would create a practical border for both sides. That is probably one of the simplest areas to work out. The only strategy that will work is the one they have been pretending to subscribe to. They must be willing to compromise with a solution that takes Israeli interests into consideration. Until that time the silly games will continue with no results.

By Election Supports Status Quo

By elections can be a good way to get insight into how voters feel about the current government. As the outcome will not change the balance of power, voters have more freedom to express their political feelings. They are often considered a referendum on the governing party more than a reflection of the outcome of a possible general election. The result of Monday's by elections were the Conservatives picking up 2 seats. One from the Bloc and one Independent (for all intensive purposes this was a Conservative seat). The Bloc and NDP each held a seat and the Liberals came in 3rd in every riding. Each party is trying to put a positive spin on the results.

The Conservative seats demonstrate that the can still compete for seats in Quebec and recent controversies have not hurt them too much. They are now only 5 seats short of a majority government putting them in good position to hold on to power in a general election. This should put to rest election fever that had been gripping the opposition parties at different points during the year. This could also give them a little more leverage as they continue to work in the confines of a Minority Government.

The NDP picked up popular support. While it does not indicate that they are ready to knock out the Liberals for Official Opposition status it shows that they do have support for not pulling the plug on the government. Canadians care more about results then swaying with the most recent poll.

The Liberals failed to compete in ridings that they didn't really have a chance to win. The fact that they didn't perform better does not indicate the party is in trouble. However, a strong showing would have been a huge boost for the Liberals.

The Bloc losing a seat just shows that the province will be wide open in the next election. They may still be able to dominate but they will need to be ready for a tough battle. Losing even a handful of seats could be enough for the Conservatives to form a majority government.

The Green Party could not break 5% in any riding. Considering the amount of attention enviornmental issues and it was a by election they should have put up a strong showing. This does not bode well for the Green Party dream to finally win a seat. They are probably going to need to revaluate their stratgey after the next election.

The message that has been delivered to Ottawa is that Canadian's are content with the current government arrangement. An election will not knock the Conservatives out of power. The NDP are doing an effective job in opposition. The Liberals are holding on based their history then the role they would like to play as Government in waiting. The weakness in Bloc support has been exposed. The Green Party continues to be insignifacant on the political landscape. Combining all these messages together is that the government should get back to work and put thoughts of election fever on the back burner.

US Administration backs down on settlement freeze

In his Cairo speech Barak Obama declared that Israeli settlements had to stop. The US Administration exerted a ton of political capital to make it clear that stop meant a full and permanent stop everywhere including East Jerusalem and the old city. Obama had broken away from previous understandings with Israel that while they wanted a freeze it was not realistic.

PM Netanyahu was firm in his resistance to the American pressure. Jewish settlements that were being being torn down by the IDF were immediately being rebuilt and named in honour of of the President. The end result was what the US Administration should have been aiming for in the first place. Israel would temporarily freeze new construction, allow construction already in progress to be completed and stick to previous agreements not to build outside of land already allocated for settlements. Construction could continue in Jerusalem.

Last night Hillary Clinton conceded the American position. She recognized that Israel had already made a huge concession and deserved credit. The unspoken flip side is that Israel once again got nothing in return for their change in policy. Clinton once again called for both sides to return to the negotiating table.

The reaction by the Palestinians to the Cairo speach was to make a settlement freeze a prerequisite to future negotiations. This was a brand new demand never imposed before on any other Israeli government. They thought Obama could bring them a major victory without having to give up anything in return at the bargaining table.

Once agian Obama's Nobel Prize winning strategy has backfired. The Palestinians will use this new excuse to avoid negotiations as they wait for more rewards just for showing up. Palestinians will now return to their strategy of sit back and wait until all of their demand are met, no matter how long it takes.

UK protestors want all Israelis charged with war crimes

On a recent trip to England attempts were made to have Defence Minister Ehud Barak arrested on war crimes. The petition came to the courts, as British law allows a private individuals to bring war crime and genocide charges against anybody irrelevant of normal jurisdictional considerations. The courts had an easy out. They ruled that Barak was a guest of the British government and was entitled to full diplomatic immunity.

While the ruling may have worked for Barak, the same cannot be said about lower ranking politicians and senior military officials, who fear being arrested abroad. The Foreign Ministry has been working closely to make sure they are not arrested on trumped up charges. The Goldstone report gives credability to these charges, even though Judge Goldstone has admitted that his report did not meet the burden of proof for criminal charges. The Palestinian Authority has also admitted that they lack proof outside of the report in order to get indictments from the International Criminal Court.

This week Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon visited the UK. There were protests and calls for his arrest on War Crime charges. There is one huge difference between Ayalon and others who now fear a trip to England. Ayalon was elected to the Government after Operation Cast Lead. He had no more control over the logistics of the war than any other Israeli on the street. Plus it has been years since he has had to do his army service.

Condemning Israel with alleagations that contradict facts on the ground is a common problem. Normally such tactics would reflect negativly on those making the allegations. Normal rules of reason and logic don't apply to Israel.

Guilty until proven guilty

The world stood by silently as Israel was constantly bombarded with rocket attacks from Gaza. The citizens of Southern Israel were tired of consantly running to their bomb shelters. They were tired of the children's playgrounds with built in bomb shelter, so kids could reach saftey in the 15 seconds they had before impact. The rest of the country sympathized. Israel took military action to stop the attacks.

The world could no longer be silent. The UNHRC held an emergency session to condemn Israeli aggression. They also set the mandate to find evidence of war crimes that Israel had committed. The wording of the mandate was clear that Israel was guilty and it was up to the panel to find evidence. Such a panel could never objectivly determine if the evidence lead to the conclusion they were supposed to find. Canada was the only country brave enough to vote against the resolution.

Judge Richard Goldstone was choosen to head up the panel. Aside from his experience prosecuting war criminals, he had the bonus of being South African and Jewish. Being Jewish was supposed to protect him from criticism of being anti-Israel. Being South African would give him credibility in falsly accusing Israel as an apartheid state. He insisted that he would not take the job until he was certain that he would have the ability to blame Hamas for their war crimes. His comittee composed of others who had publicly expressed Israel's guilt.

The final report was a harsh condemnation of Israeli with a footnotes worth of attention to the pain and frustration that lead Israel to take military operation. The mandate, methodology and analysis of the report were flawed. There has been a ton of analysis done to demonstarte it's flaws.

At the request of the Palesitinians, the UNHRC decided to delay consideration of passage of the Goldstone report until next sessions in March allowing time to come up with a resolution that would allow the added weight of unanimous approval. Jews visiting the Temple mount under a policy that has been in place for years was an excuse for Arab rioting. Israel banned Arabs under the age of 50 and all Jews from the Temple mount. This was the excuse to call an emergency session of the UNHRC to pass the Goldstone report.

The resolution easily passed on Friday. The text of the resolution should eliminate any doubts that the intention of the resolution was political and had nothing to do with human rights. The resolution only passed the recommendations in sections A,B and C leaving out all references to Hamas aggression of rocket fire at civilian populations or the plight of Gilad Shalit. Israel was condemned for not protecting and providing access to Muslim and Chirstian holy sights and the Judaizationing of Jerusalem. Have the Christians ever complained about the administration of their sights in Israeli control? The Arabs have a horrible track record of protecting and providing access to Jewish holy sights. The UNHRC also condemned the non-existant excavation of in and around Jerusalem that posed a threat to Al Asqa Mosque.

The next step is for the report to be handled in UN offices in New York. It should easily be passed by the automatic majority in the General Assembly leading to prosectuion by the ICJ (International Court of Justice). A guilty verdict should be easy to obtain but as an advisory court they don't hold much power. It is unclear if it will be passed by the UNSC leading to prosecution by the ICC (International Criminal Court). This court has some power to enforce their judgements. A guilty verdict here could open the door to prosecution of British, Pakistan, American, Canadian troops for their invovlement in Afghanistan, Iraq and attempts to fighting terrorism. PA officials have asked for patients, as they are not prepared to follow through with the ICC. They have no evidence on their own, outside the Goldstone report. They have no actually gotten around to reading the Goldstone report.

Canada saw the mess that was going to come out of this biased investigation. The UNHRC has once again show they care about attacking Israel and little else. This report and the UNHRC needs to be buried, not because of the problems they pose for Israel but because of the damage it can cause to countries that concern themselves with Human Rights.