Canada Praised For What Israel Should Have Done

Licia Corbella is the Editorial Page Editor for the Calgary Herald.

Why different rules for Israel?
If you need yet another example of how the world expects Israel to play by a different set of rules, it has occurred in the last several days.

Last week, many of the world's democracies, led by U.S. President George W. Bush, who is growing ever more desperate to establish a positive legacy, strong-armed Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert into agreeing to enter into "peace talks" with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas at the Annapolis Peace Summit in Maryland.

That Abbas is the founder of the terror organizations Fatah and the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade was roundly ignored.

That the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade claimed responsibility for the shooting death just days earlier of Ido Zoldan, an Israeli father of two, was likely never broached either, even though the terrorist group's statement on the murder said the shooting was its way of protesting the upcoming summit and the "crimes of Israel against the Palestinians."

Contrast that with what happened this week in Ottawa and Tehran.

On Monday, Iran expelled Ambassador John Mundy after Canada had previously rejected two Iranian candidates for the position of ambassador to Canada because it's believed they were involved in the U.S. embassy hostage-taking incident in 1980.

Canada has been praised for rejecting these diplomats and rightly so.

In other words, when it comes to Israel, what's good for that goose is entirely different than what the rest of the ganders will put up with.

And Corbella is just getting warmed up:

Yes, it's true, that in the wonky world of the Middle East, Abbas -- who is also linked to the murder of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics in 1972 -- is considered a moderate.

At least he has grudgingly acknowledged that Israel has the right to exist, even if he does deny that six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust.

At the Annapolis summit, more than 40 other states were invited, including Saudi Arabia and Syria, which are among the top sponsors of Palestinian terror against Israelis carrying out such threatening behaviour as eating pizza or taking the bus to school.

What's really troubling about the latest peace talks seeking Palestinian statehood, is that the division of Jerusalem is on the table, again. It is an utter absurdity. Jerusalem is a Jewish city. Always has been, always will be. It is mentioned thousands of times in the Torah, or Old Testament and is mentioned exactly zero times in the Qur'an.

The world seems to forget that, before 1967, Israel's borders were disputed.

Now the Palestinians say, all they want is pre-1967 borders and half of Jerusalem.

But if pre-1967 borders weren't good enough prior to 1967, is there any guarantee that half of Jerusalem will be good enough the day after any potential deal is struck?

You don't read editorials like this every day.

By the way, the Calgary Herald is owned by CanWest Global. Do you remember CanWest from back in 2004 when they defied Reuters? Back then, HonestReporting related what happened:

CanWest, owners of Canada's largest newspaper chain, recently implemented a new editorial policy to use the 'T-word' in reports on brutal terrorist acts and groups.

So when CanWest's National Post published a Reuters report on Sept. 14, they exercised their right to change this Reuters line that whitewashes Palestinian terror:

... the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which has been involved in a four-year-old revolt against Israeli occupation in Gaza and the West Bank. (Jeffrey Heller, 9/13 'Sharon Faces Netanyahu Challenge')

to this, more accurate line:

... the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a terrorist group that has been involved in a four-year-old campaign of violence against Israel.

At the time, David A. Schlesinger, Reuters' global managing editor, defended what he did on the basis that, "My goal is to protect our reporters and protect our editorial integrity"--which puts him at 0 for 2.

CanWest is still telling it the way it is.
And so is Licia Corbella

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

Technorati Tag: Israel and Licia Corbella.