MONTREAL — International Trade Minister Stockwell Day last week delivered an ardent defence of Israel, lauded Canada’s relative good position in the world economic crisis, and pledged Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s unwavering commitment to upholding human rights.
Stockwell Day
Several times, audience members at the Chevra Kadisha B’nai Jacob Synagogue stood to applaud the Tory member of Parliament for Okanagan–Coquihalla.
The synagogue’s Rabbi Asher Jacobson and president Les Schiller praised Day before and after his April 2 talk.
Day delivered pre-Passover greetings and struck an informal tone in a 45-minute talk that covered a range of issues, from last week’s G20 summit to Canada’s role in Afghanistan and the war on terror.
Day got the most positive feedback when he talked about how the Conservative Party – both in opposition and in power – has not wavered in its support of Israel and when he spoke about the Tory stance against anti-Semitism, as well as for the government’s United Nations voting record and its position on terrorism.
It was the Tories who pledged to reverse decades of Canadian voting at the United Nations that either supported or abstained from resolutions critical of Israel, Day said.
“We said then, ‘If the government ever changes, that will, too,’” Day said.
The Conservatives under Harper have lived up to the promise by supporting Israel at the UN and refusing to attend “Durban 2” (the followup to the 2001 World Conference Against Racism, at which Israel was singled out as racist), he said.
Day has visited Israel three times and described his first visit with his wife, Val, about five years ago as “one of the most memorable of our lives.”
Unforgettable to him was his trip to the northern border, where on display just, on the other side, were billboards containing images of Israeli soldiers being tortured.
“You never see these things in the media,” he said.
Day wondered aloud why Israel is held up to standards that no other country is.
When he speaks at campuses, he said, students seem unaware of basic information on Israel, such as Israel being “an island of democracy surrounded by a sea of dictatorships,” or that Muslims in Israel enjoy full religious freedom and can even serve on its Supreme Court.
While in Israel, Day, a Pentecostal, wanted to go to church. The church’s Muslim caretaker had a key to the building. A Jewish Israeli friend joined Day and the caretaker, and the three of them struggled to get into the building.
“Where else in the world would a Jew and a Muslim help a Christian ‘break into’ a church?” he asked to laughter.
On his second trip, Day visited Sderot, which was under barrage by Hamas. “Why is it when someone attacks Israel it’s a ‘rocket attack,’ but when Israel responds, it’s ‘bombing,’” Day asked.
While the world has condemned Israel for responding, he said Harper has said that “every country has a right to defend itself.”
Day remembered that as public safety minister, he was accompanied by Jewish community officials to a Muslim school in Montreal that had been vandalized.
He said that “so often it’s members of the Jewish community who appeal on behalf of other religions because they know what it’s like not to be protected.”
It was while Day was public safety minister last year that he and Israeli Public Security Minister Avi Dichter co-signed a deal to co-operate on issues pertaining to border security, illegal immigration and organized crime.
He was incredulous that Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad – who has pledged to destroy Israel – was received with applause at the UN.
“How could this happen, to applaud the leader of a state who wants the destruction of Israel?” Day asked.
Day reported that at the recent G20 summit Canada was lauded in the media for being “the best prepared for the economic crisis” and that coming out of it Canada would emerge “in best shape” because of its conservative and prudent banking system.
The current economic stimulus plan will “accelerate” to two years, instead of seven, $30 billion worth of infrastructure projects, he said.
Day said Canada is still pledged to end its military involvement in Afghanistan by 2011, but remains committed to helping the country in other ways.
Few are aware, he said, that million of Afghans have been inoculated against polio, or of Canada’s work to educate Afghan children. But Day was highly critical of a law just passed by the Afghanistan government that “severely attacks the rights of women.”
Day was asked whether he thought Israel was doing a poor job of advocacy in light of negative media coverage. He replied, to laughter, that if the Jewish people control the media, as some people think, “they’re doing a very poor job.”
Day quoted Mark Twain, who said, “A lie is halfway around the world even before the truth has its boots on.”
