Aryeh Green, an expert on Israel, media issues, human rights in the Middle East, spoke about media bias at a breakfast meeting I attended in New York. At the end we talked about the election of Justin Trudeau as Prime Minister of Canada. Mr. Green had read that Trudeau’s policies would not be that different from Prime Minister Harper.
Perhaps he read the opinion of Myer Siemiatycki, a professor of politics and public administration at Ryerson University, who said Trudeau “has signalled his commitment to the security of Israel, and he has also signalled, in a way that may prove to be more beneficial to Israel, a kind of openness to dialogue and to Canada playing something of a mediating, honest broker role, and significantly promoting a two-state solution. That might actually prove to be much better in Israel’s interests in terms of getting to a point of security, peace, etc.”
Justin's brother Alexandre has been an advisor since Justin entered the fray for the leadership of the Liberal Party. Justin has been well aware of his brother's views on Iran. I fear the public was not so fortunate. Main stream media said little about him.
Alexandre has stated that Iran's atomic ambitions are for "defensive purposes only-a "deterrent" against Israeli "aggression." He said "While there is no proof that Iran has even made the decision to start a nuclear arms program, Israel's nuclear arsenal will largely out-gun whatever weapons Iran might acquire. From the vantage point of Iran, it is the one being threatened, not the one doing the threatening."
Alexandre presented these views in The Great Game, a three-part "special documentary for
The National," on CBC, Canada's national tax-payer-funded broadcaster. Alexandre included interviews with Noah Chomsky who claimed Iran's "strategic doctrine is defensive... What country in the world could have a greater need for a deterrence?" Chas Freeman, described as having an "irrational hatred of Israel" was also quoted. His comments about Israel were so egregious that he had to withdraw his name for the top U.S. intelligence position at the National Intelligence Council
Previously, in 2004, before he became his brother's senior advisor, Alexandre produced another documentary called The Fence. He profiled
Zakaria Zubeidi, then leader of the terrorist group Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and portrayed him as a Robin Hood-like "leader of the resistance." He left out the fact that Zubeidi's organization had murdered Arabs, Israeli Jews and foreigners, including a Canadian citizen killed in a bus bombing.
Alexandre has also praised
Fidel Castro
Regarding Alexandre's controversial views,
Justin said: "On the issue of Iran, and Israel specifically, we disagree significantly." Justin claims he is a strong supporter of Israel, and believes Canada's position would be the same, no matter who is in power. Yet, he keeps his brother close.
Meanwhile, in 2011, Justin visited the Al-Sunnah Al-Nabawiah mosque in Montreal, which was
identified by U.S. intelligence officials as a site where "known al-Qaeda members were recruited, facilitated or trained." During the campaign Trudeau explained that he'd been at the mosque prior to the release of this information and added "I think I've probably been to every single different mosque in my riding." The
Al-Sunnah Al-Nabawiah mosque website contained this gem: "We hold that whoever claims that there is, besides Islam, a religion in existence today that is acceptable to Allah - whether it be the religion of the Jews, Christians or others - is an unbeliever (kaafir). His repentance should be sought; if he refuses to repent, he is to be killed as an apostate (murtad) because of rejecting the Qur'an." How did Justin miss that? Or is he fine with it?
In 2013 Justin attended Canada's largest Islamic Conference called '
Reviving the Islamic Spirit.' sponsored by IRFAN [International Relief Fund for the Afflicted and Needy], which was
stripped of its federal charity status because of its ties to the terrorist group, Hamas and Human Concern International. Two years earlier the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) had revoked IRFAN's charity status having concluded that between 2005-2009 it transferred $14.6 million to Hamas
GMBDR. Justin shared the podium with three Muslim Brotherhood "heavyweights"
Tariq Ramadan,(a follower of founder of Jamaat-e-Islami, Syed Maududi, who supported a "universal Islamic revolution), Jamal Badawi and Mustafa Ceric
Is it that Justin was unaware of these connections to Islamists or that he knew and was not disturbed by it?
Following the election of Justin Trudeau, cijnews reported. "The Canadian Palestinian leadership, that publicly sided with the 'Palestinian Intifada' (also called 'al-Quds Intifada' and the 'Knife Intifada'), congratulated Trudeau and the Liberal Party for the sweeping victory in the federal elections expressing its hope that the newly elected Muslim members of parliament succeed in their efforts to reform Canada's foreign policy."
Nazih Khatataba, a board member of the Mississauga-based Palestine House, expressed his joy over the elections' results
saying on his Facebook page (originally in Arabic): "We anticipate that they [Muslim MPs] will change Canada's policy particularly with regard to the positions towards global issues, the Palestinian problem and the repealing of the oppressive Bill that was passed by the parliament during the Conservative government."
Samir Jabour, adviser to the editor of the Mississauga, Ontario based bi-weekly magazine Al-Watan that officially endorsed the Liberal Party,
justified the motives of the Palestinian Knife Intifada and warned that the Israelis should expect more knife attacks as long as the "occupation" continues.
Omar Alghabra, a long-time personal friend of Trudeau, who won the Mississauga Centre seat for the Liberals helped recruit more than 12,000 volunteers across the country to work for Trudeau's campaign and after the election was proud of the "ousting of the right-wing Conservative Party" the "racist government that was more Zionist than Netanyahu's government."
Alghabra said "I believe that he represents and carries with him the values that are not only in sync with my values, but the fresh energy and new ideas that Canadians are looking for." I wonder what values they hold in common? What values in Islam are "in sync" with western values? Women in niqabs? Husbands who hold total control over their wives? The belief that non-Muslims are "lesser than" Muslims.
Who is this new Prime Minister? Is he the one Aryeh Green heard about; the one whose policies will reflect the Harper government regarding Israel? Or are his views closer to the views of the people whose company he keeps, particularly Alexandre? Time, as always, will tell.
