President of Green Party of Canada resigns over inappropriate Gaza comments

Paul Estrin, the president of the Green Party of Canada, tendered his resignation Tuesday evening after an outpouring of complaints over a 2,200 word blog posting concerning the Israel/Gaza conflict. The posting, on the Green Party's website, was of course removed but can be found on the site of the Centre of Israel and Jewish Affairs.

Estrin opposed the party line and made critical comments about Hamas, a recognized terrorist organization in Canada. He had the nerve to actually suggest Israel has a right to defend itself from terrorists. In his post he criticized neither the residents of Gaza, Palestinians or Arabs. His negative comments focused squarely on Hamas, the terrorists who currently govern Gaza. Estrin wrote that international aid flows to Gaza allowing the government to buy items such as cement to be used for infrastructure. Instead of providing that infrastructure, the cement was used to construct terror tunnels, the hell with the needs of the people. The former Green Party president even dared to mention the Hamas charter that calls not just for the destruction of Israel but for the obliteration of all Jews. He accused Hamas of giving grenades to children and leading their people like sheep to the slaughter. Estrin also dared to point out that progressives who constantly demonstrate against Israel are silent about the hundreds of thousands of people who have been killed in Syria. What was he thinking?

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" I condemn Hamas as a terrorist organization..."

What Estrin wrote was clearly against the principles of the Green Party. On July 19, leader Elizabeth May set out the Green Party's policy on Israel and Gaza:

" I want to at least touch on what's happening now in Israel and Gaza, and the Palestinian people and the Israeli people and say, from the bottom of my heart, that Israeli children and Palestinian children have the right to be free of bombardment. And I condemn Hamas as a terrorist organization..."

Okay, folks, you know what's coming now; here is the "but"...

"but the Israeli retaliation and the invasion of Gaza violates international law and humanitarian norms and any Prime Minister of Canada worth his or her salt would say as a friend and ally of Israel, 'You've gone too far--you must move to peace talks'"

The former president tried to weasel out of what he wrote by saying that the views he expressed in the blog post were his own opinions and not Green Party policy. As if anyone who has even paid even a little attention to the party would actually think it was their policy. In the end, it did no good and Estrin tendered his resignation. The propaganda arm of the Green Party of Canada stated Estrin was not forced out because of his remarks that criticized an organization that even leader May acknowledges are terrorists. No, no, no, no, no, no! In his resignation, Estrin this time followed the party line and apologized for the 'confusion' he caused members over his blog entry. Guess if you don't constantly accuse Israel of war crimes or say anything negative about Hamas, the poor little greenies get confused. Nowhere did anyone from the Green Party challenge what Estrin said about Hamas. Of course, facts are irrelevant to progressives and no matter how true Estrin's comments were, the party line is to only criticize Israel. It should be noted the two main leftist opposition parties, the Liberals and the NDP, have been fairly silent about blaming Israel for everything taking place in the Middle East. Liberal leader Justin Trudeau is way too busy visiting Wahhabi mosques that promote jihad to pay much attention to the real world. And NDP leader Thomas Mulcair has had party members demonstrate in front of the party's office, for not following the anti-Israel line. The Green Party always was, and will remain, one of the several fringe parties in Canada.