Liblogs.ca: the anti-Israel faction wins
Over the past couple of days I've been glancing through Liblogs.ca, the website that aggregates most Liberal bloggers in Canada. It's been an interesting battle there between those who support Israel and those who support Hamas.
The Hamas supporters have won.
If you look through the site, the anti-Israel bloggers outnumber those who support Israel.
Of course, it goes without saying that to be critical of Israel does not necessarily mean someone is anti-Semitic -- just like being critical of Barack Obama doesn't make someone racist. But if criticisms of Obama explicitly mention his race, or if criticisms of Obama are made that wouldn't be made against any other white politician, then it's fair to cry racism.
And, by that same test, a troublingly large number of blogs on the Liblogs site are anti-Semitic. I won't repeat the details now -- see my earlier posts for graphic examples, including the execrable James Curran who claimed that a Czech politician who supported Israel only did so because his great-grandfather was allegedly Jewish, and thus, as a Jew himself, the politician was biased and was not a loyal Czech.
(Curran is a bigot -- and he still hasn't revealed where he got his alleged fact that the politician in question is 1/8 Jewish. I have read three online biographies of Karel Schwartzenberg, and have not found it; my suspicion is that Curran got that false information from a neo-Nazi website, like "Jew Watch", that claims everyone they don't like in the world is Jewish. Curran has avoided answering the question of where he got his "fact", which speaks volumes.)
I don't feel like wading through the sewer of Liblogs again, going through line by line showing the extreme hostility to Israel, and where it crosses over from mere criticism to bigotry. Take a skim yourself -- and see what has become of the party of Jerry Grafstein, Irwin Cotler, Leo Kolber, Gerry Schwartz, Bob Kaplan, etc.
Look here, here, here, here, and here for a few more examples all along the anti-Israel spectrum.
(UPDATE: Blogger Scott Ross complains that I have inaccurately labeled him as anti-Israel, because of his opposition to Jason Cherniak, owner of Liblogs.ca, sending his own pro-Israel message to his fellow Liblogs members. I'll review Ross's blog again and report back.)
It's embarrassing -- and the mainstream media has noticed (classic headline: "Liberals need to deal with fruitcakes in their ranks"). And well they should: imagine the cries of racism if this bile were published on a site affiliated with the Conservative party. Hell, there'd be a human rights commission investigation.
It is simply not accurate to call the Liberal Party supportive of Israel, if its grassroots army of bloggers is any indication.
I actually find this sad; I hope it is merely the political equivalent of the medical phenomenon of an "opportunistic infection" -- that is, that the Liberal Party is so atrophied that it is easy pickings for riff-raff who would not find purchase in a party that was more vigorous and vibrant. The Liberal Party's decline -- their percentage of the popular vote has gone down four elections in a row -- is now an easy mark for those pushing a radical agenda. They used to go to the Greens or the NDP; now they've gone Liberal.
I don't wish Michael Ignatieff too much luck -- I'm a Conservative and a conservative. But I hope Ignatieff has enough luck -- and conviction -- to rescue his party from the 9/11 truthers, anti-Semites and Israel-haters that have swamped his party's netroots.
The Hamas supporters have won.
If you look through the site, the anti-Israel bloggers outnumber those who support Israel.
Of course, it goes without saying that to be critical of Israel does not necessarily mean someone is anti-Semitic -- just like being critical of Barack Obama doesn't make someone racist. But if criticisms of Obama explicitly mention his race, or if criticisms of Obama are made that wouldn't be made against any other white politician, then it's fair to cry racism.
And, by that same test, a troublingly large number of blogs on the Liblogs site are anti-Semitic. I won't repeat the details now -- see my earlier posts for graphic examples, including the execrable James Curran who claimed that a Czech politician who supported Israel only did so because his great-grandfather was allegedly Jewish, and thus, as a Jew himself, the politician was biased and was not a loyal Czech.
(Curran is a bigot -- and he still hasn't revealed where he got his alleged fact that the politician in question is 1/8 Jewish. I have read three online biographies of Karel Schwartzenberg, and have not found it; my suspicion is that Curran got that false information from a neo-Nazi website, like "Jew Watch", that claims everyone they don't like in the world is Jewish. Curran has avoided answering the question of where he got his "fact", which speaks volumes.)
I don't feel like wading through the sewer of Liblogs again, going through line by line showing the extreme hostility to Israel, and where it crosses over from mere criticism to bigotry. Take a skim yourself -- and see what has become of the party of Jerry Grafstein, Irwin Cotler, Leo Kolber, Gerry Schwartz, Bob Kaplan, etc.
Look here, here, here, here, and here for a few more examples all along the anti-Israel spectrum.
(UPDATE: Blogger Scott Ross complains that I have inaccurately labeled him as anti-Israel, because of his opposition to Jason Cherniak, owner of Liblogs.ca, sending his own pro-Israel message to his fellow Liblogs members. I'll review Ross's blog again and report back.)
It's embarrassing -- and the mainstream media has noticed (classic headline: "Liberals need to deal with fruitcakes in their ranks"). And well they should: imagine the cries of racism if this bile were published on a site affiliated with the Conservative party. Hell, there'd be a human rights commission investigation.
It is simply not accurate to call the Liberal Party supportive of Israel, if its grassroots army of bloggers is any indication.
I actually find this sad; I hope it is merely the political equivalent of the medical phenomenon of an "opportunistic infection" -- that is, that the Liberal Party is so atrophied that it is easy pickings for riff-raff who would not find purchase in a party that was more vigorous and vibrant. The Liberal Party's decline -- their percentage of the popular vote has gone down four elections in a row -- is now an easy mark for those pushing a radical agenda. They used to go to the Greens or the NDP; now they've gone Liberal.
I don't wish Michael Ignatieff too much luck -- I'm a Conservative and a conservative. But I hope Ignatieff has enough luck -- and conviction -- to rescue his party from the 9/11 truthers, anti-Semites and Israel-haters that have swamped his party's netroots.
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