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Harper True Ally to Israel
Calgary Herald, Sunday, March 15, 2009
In a world where Israel is demonized for defending itself and where Jewish students on Canadian campuses find themselves harassed during the sham known as Israel Apartheid Week, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's strongly worded condemnation of anti-Semitism represents a principled stand and is a beacon of leadership.
Harper spoke this past week at a ceremony in Ottawa hosted by Chabad Lubavitch, a sect of Orthodox Judaism that does outreach work among Jews in 50 countries. The gathering commemorated the Jewish victims of last fall's attacks in Mumbai, but Harper's remarks cast a broader net over troubling incidences of anti-Semitism elsewhere in the world as well.
He called it a "pernicious evil that must be exposed, that must be confronted, that must be repudiated." Anti-Semitism is "fuelled by lies and paranoia . . . we have learned from history it is an evil so profound . . . that it is ultimately a threat to us all." Harper then promised that Canada would be "a staunch supporter of a secure and democratic state of Israel."
Those are refreshing and reassuring words, not only to Canadian Jews who gaze aghast upon the anti-Semitic demonstrations on campuses, but to all who look with trepidation on the resurgence of neo-Nazi groups here and abroad, the rise of anti-Semitic violence in France in the past decade, and the overt demonstrations in support of Hamas terror campaigns against Israel. Harper with his refusal to equivocate is truly a friend to the Jewish people at a time when they rely more than ever on that support in their struggle on so many fronts.
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