Last Friday night, swastikas, most of them backwards, were painted on at least five houses in Calgary SE. And, as in the case of the July 18 pro-Palestinian demonstration where the cops failed to show up while a family of pro-Israel demonstrators were punched, kicked, knocked to the ground and had their Israeli flags stolen, the police have once again downplayed what happened.
While anti-Semitic graffiti can and does appear in a lot of places throughout Canada and the world, once again it is the position of the Calgary Police Service and the local media that once again is telling.
After the July 18 demonstration, one first at the scene police officer is alleged to have told a pro-Israel demonstrator that what happened was expected because he wore an Israeli flag. Another officer told the media that police refused to intervene because the incident, which left a woman on the ground and others injured, was just a mutual pushing and shoving match. Later, Chief Rick Hanson admitted the police were not prepared or present; seems the thought of violence never occurred to Calgary police brass.
After the swastikas were discovered, another high-ranking Calgary police officer downplayed the incidents to the media. Insp. Jason Bobrowitz told
QMI Agency, "
Obviously, the swastika image has a number of different connotations so that will have to be investigated."
In a further bow to political correctness, the inspector added there is no indication the painting of swastikas on at least five Calgary homes had anything to do with the recent Middle East conflict.
As bad as the police are, the Calgary media was even worse
A number of different connotations? Okay, much like Jew killing, the swastika was not something invented in the 1930s by the Nazis. The word comes from the Sanskrit word "svasti" meaning "good luck" or "all is well." The swastika is a Hindu symbol in use today mainly in India.
Perhaps some happy Hindus decided to wish the homeowners good fortune by painting swastikas on their home. That is certainly a more politically correct explanation than daring to guess the graffiti had anything to do with Friday's pro-Hamas rally in Calgary or anti-Semitism.
The police will attempt to distract blame away from Muslims and onto neo-Nazis although one would hope that admirers of Hitler and the Nazi party would have enough pride in their beliefs to know not to draw a swastika backwards.
As bad as the police are, the Calgary media was even worse. Anyone who looks to the
Calgary Herald for their news would not have a clue about what happened at last week's pro-Israel demonstration. Fortunately, we live in a YouTube era where people can see and hear what happens without the filter of people like Erika Stark who purports to be a journalist.
Stark, writes for the
National Post as well as the
Calgary Herald and on July 31, the Herald
published an article written by her about the large pro-Israel rally held last week. The rally was held to protest the inaction of the police in the July 18 demonstration and the fact Calgary's mayor, Naheed Nenshi, refused to specifically condemn the beating of pro-Israel supporters, saying only "
We must condemn all violence."
There were a small number of pro-Palestinian supporters demonstrating against Israel. Of those people, Stark wrote one Palestinian supporter yelled, "
Stop killing our kids. Give us food, give us water, give us shelter. Put religion and politics to the side. Kids are dying. That's the main thing why we're here."
What Stark refused to put in her article and what was apparent in recordings of the Palestinians that appear on the Internet is that some of the pro-Hamas supporters were yelling "Heil Hitler!"
To right-thinking people and journalists who have even minimum reporting skills, yelling "Heil Hitler!" was the most significant factor in all the recent events in Calgary. These shouts definitively take what was said out of the realm of criticism of Israel's war with Hamas and into unabashed anti-Semitism. And it's not as if Stark didn't hear it.
Stark later
tweeted, "
Pro-Palestinian are here across the street. Tensions rising. They're shouting things I shouldn't tweet."
Shouts of "Heil Hitler!" were found by a journalist with a major Canadian publication not only too terrible to tweet about but not worthy of publication in her newspaper column. There may be worse examples of journalism but they would be difficult to find.
Anyone who wishes to write the
Calgary Herald to compliment them on their thorough unbiased coverage can write to
letters@calgaryherald.com.
