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Wednesday, it became clear: Justin Trudeau’s divisive, identity-obsessed politicking has provided a perfect opportunity for antisemites — and their useful idiots — to attack the Liberal party from within.
A group of 52 Liberal ministerial staffers are threatening to quit their jobs unless Trudeau’s party meets their numerous demands about the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict. The group sent their unpublished letter directly to the Prime Minister’s Office, though the CBC also managed to obtain a copy. Let them quit.
Among the staffer demands: that the Liberal Party condemn Israel for “numerous war crimes” and “genocidal rhetoric”; that the party both recognize the state of “Palestine” and “acknowledge anti-Palestinian racism as a unique form of hate and work to address it in Canada”; and finally, that the party end all arms export permits to Israel, ensure Canadian arms are not shipped to Israel via other countries, and end all military research collaboration with Israel. The staffers, who are, according to CBC, all Muslim or Arab, are backed by a Liberal party donor group called Network 100-GTA, which represents Muslims and Arab Canadians.
Their antics — clearly designed to manipulate a prime minister coming to terms with his unpopularity—come two weeks prior to a by-election that could see the Liberals lose yet another stronghold riding, this time in LaSalle-Émard-Verdun. Both groups have been unhappy in the months leading up to this by-election; they were incensed over the Liberal party’s withdrawal from Ottawa’s pro-Palestinian Capital Pride parade and, more generally, by what they have perceived as the party’s soft stance towards Israel, and the alleged silencing or reprimanding of vocal pro-Palestinian Liberal MPs.
Are the Liberals violating a fundamental principle of their party and its platform with their actions regarding conflict in Gaza? And do the Liberal staffers have a valid point? No, and not really.
The Liberal party has historically supported Israel and condemned Hamas — including under Trudeau. Guess which year Trudeau made the following statement: “Israel has the right to defend itself and its people. Hamas is a terrorist organization and must cease its rocket attacks immediately.” That was in 2014, after Hamas refused an Egyptian ceasefire proposal that Israel was willing to accept.
The Liberal stance on Israel and Hamas has not fundamentally changed — before or since. What has changed, however, is the party’s rhetoric around race, hate, and Canadians’ “feelings” of safety. In the past decade, the Liberal party has pandered to the young, the highly educated, and the most privileged of Canadians via their embrace of divisive intersectionality, victimhood, and identity politics. There isn’t a single issue that the party won’t turn into an opportunity to spout off about feminism, racism, or discrimination — all the while positioning one side as a blameless victim versus their evil — and often “colonial” — foil. Trudeau has accused his own country of being actively genocidal — during his rule. The Liberal Party’s official platform, meanwhile, calls for “a Canada where everyone feels safe.”
While Trudeau’s government insists that it’s somehow a right for Canadians to “feel safe,” the party has also claimed that hate is everywhere: “Around the world, there has been a troubling rise in hate-motivated crimes and, tragically, Canada is no exception. Canadians have been devastated by recent crimes driven by Islamophobia, antisemitism, homophobia, transphobia, and anti-Black, anti-Asian, anti-Indigenous, and anti-Arab racism. This is not who we are. We need to take a strong stand to make sure all Canadians feel safe.”
Trudeau made promises to maintain the emotional safety of his citizens while simultaneously making vapid, unfounded statements about rampant hate living beneath every rock, behind every tree, and underneath every roll-up-the-rim Tim Horton’s cup across the land. In this context, it’s not surprising that his staffers are demanding that our country recognize a brand-new type of hate. It would be hateful not to, right?
It is no wonder that the 52 staffers — who I would assume are all quite young — are revolting. He has been selling a vision of a divided, ugly Canada where the highest form of morality is to profess that you are hard done by, hated, and oppressed. And where the highest value work takes the form of calling others out, making untenable demands with ultimatums, and accusing anyone who disagrees with you of being on the side of hatred. It has clearly been a winning strategy, until now — when leftist movements across the Western world are imploding over their own peoples’ inability to see in shades of nuance. You can only point at others and accuse them of hate for so long before the only person you have left to point at is yourself.
When the “pro-Palestinian” movement showed up in Canada, it echoed the familiar vernacular of the left: genocide, colonialism, oppression, etc. It only made sense that leftists would adopt the cause, often as the puppets of orchestrated campaigns led by anti-Israel organizations.
Trudeau led us here. He encouraged the type of thinking that makes one blind to — or unfazed by — our now rampant, domestic antisemitism in favour of watermelon emojis and “Queers for Palestine” sloganeering. When people believe that being on “the right side of history” — and letting everyone else know that they’ve picked the “correct” side — is their primary moral purpose in life, they are highly susceptible to manipulation. Of course, some of the angry staffers are probably just your average, run-of-the-mill antisemites, too — emboldened by today’s political climate to openly do what they do best.
If Liberal staffers really want to influence party politics, they should run for office instead of issuing ultimatums to elected officials — or perhaps start their own party. They knew — or should have known — the party’s stance on Israel when they joined. As unelected staffers, they’re not in a position to make such policy demands of the party.
And anyways, we all know that Trudeau could have a lineup of 100s of temporary foreign workers around the block, begging to replace them all, within hours.
National Post
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