JPOST has an editorial, Canada the Brave, in which they comment on the recent resolution of the UNHRC which singled out Israel
[..] This is certainly true, but the question remains who is to blame for this mess and what can be done about it. The answer lies in two small flashes of moral courage that should be recognized and built upon.
The first is the laudable pluck of Canada, the single nation that fought to the end against the outrageous “consensus” that was reached. First Canada opposed the package deal that included the singling out of Israel and the rewarding of Cuba and Belarus. The council chair ignored this, moving the item forward as if consensus had been reached.
Next, Canada, unbowed, called a point of order against the chairman’s action, forcing a vote. Finally, the council voted 46 to 1 (Canada), in effect retroactively and falsely deciding that consensus had been reached and blatantly violating, as Canada’s ambassador put it, “more than 60 years of established practice of the UN, which is based on the fundamental principle of equality of all of its member states.”
We can only hope that all who care about human rights and the integrity of the international system, for that matter, come to Canada’s defense. To their shame, democracies such as Germany, the UK, France, the Czech Republic, Poland and Japan were among the 46 nations who did not.
Some of them, such as Germany and the UK, explained themselves by criticizing the singling out of Israel, while claiming amorphous “achievements” that are, like the promise of the council itself, unlikely to pan out. Indeed, the skewering of Israel was done in violation of express commitments made in similar package deals that led to the council’s formation.
The other ray of light was the criticism of the council’s action by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who accused the council of “picking on Israel.” A statement said further that he was “disappointed at the council’s decision to single out only one specific regional item given the range and scope of allegations of human rights violations throughout the world.”
Once again, a band of dictators has hijacked the UN body that is supposed to stand up for the defenseless the world over. They are using Israel as their flak jacket, and in the process making a mockery of the concept of human rights and the institutions that free nations created and supposedly hold dear.
For what possible principle or gain do free nations allow their values to be so brazenly trampled? Why didn’t these nations, as was threatened along the way, simply walk out? Why, when Canada had the temerity to object, did they, in former UN ambassador Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s timeless phrase, “join the jackals?”
Speaking as an immigrant to Canada, I have to echo what Bill Narvey says. I’ve always been grateful for what Canada has offered me but after 24 years, the Harper government has engendered real pride in my adopted country.
Fianlly, with Stephen Harper’s Conservative government there is reason to be proud to be a Canadian and I am. Israel is now finding Canada a good friend along with her good friend, the U.S. That is something for Israel to build on, one friend at a time.