Cotes Iran’s nuclear program and incitement against Israel.
TORONTO — Canada’s Conservative government said Friday it is shutting its embassy in Tehran and severing diplomatic relations with Iran, which Canada says is providing military assistance to Syria.
Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said that the Canadian embassy in Tehran will close immediately and Iranian diplomats in Canada have been given five days to leave.
Baird, who serves in a government that is a staunch ally of Israel, said Iran is the most significant threat to global peace and security in the world today.
“The Iranian regime is providing increasing military assistance to the Assad regime; it refuses to comply with UN resolutions pertaining to its nuclear program; it routinely threatens the existence of Israel and engages in racist anti-Semitic rhetoric and incitement to genocide,” Baird said in a statement.
“It is among the world’s worst violators of human rights; and it shelters and materially supports terrorist groups, requiring the Government of Canada to formally list Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism under the Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act.”
Baird said he was worried about the safety of diplomats in Tehran following attacks on the British embassy there.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the Canadian government’s decision, saying Ottawa ”adopted a bold and leader-like step that sends a clear message to Iran and the entire world.”
“This practical step should serve as an example of morality and international responsibility to the international community. It is important for the international community to join this pressure by setting clear red lines for Iran,” Netanyahu said.
Britain downgraded ties with Iran following a major attack on its embassy in Tehran in November 2011, which it insists was sanctioned by the Islamic republic’s ruling elite. After the attack, Britain pulled all of its diplomats out of Iran and expelled Iranian diplomats from U.K. soil.
Canada’s relations with Iran have been strained since former Canadian ambassador Ken Taylor helped rescue six Americans from Iran during the hostage crisis in 1980.
Relations became even rockier in 2003 after Zahra Kazemi, a freelance photographer with dual Canadian-Iranian citizenship, died in custody after being arrested while taking photographs outside a Tehran prison in 2003. Canada then recalled its ambassador. Iran also ordered Canada’s ambassador to leave the country after trying unsuccessfully to come to an agreement on an exchange of ambassadors for some time.
All Iranian diplomats in Canada have now been declared “personae non gratae,” Baird said. He also told Canadians to avoid traveling to Iran.
@ Michael Devolin:
By your use of “native,” do I understand you to mean what we used to call “Indian”?
Variety’s the spice o’ life. Somebody should have told those boys that being “on top” THAT way isn’t nearly so much fun — all the way ’round — as it COULD be when alternated with the occasional reverse arrangement between the same parties. (No doubt the ladies would’ve explained if they’d been asked.)
One man’s opinion of course.
@ CuriousAmerican:
From the standpoint of sheer functionality — every govt’s FIRST responsibility is the security of its existing citizenry. (That goes without saying. Still, there will always be those who need reminding.)
In Israel’s case, there is the added responsibility to see that the country remains — as it was originally constituted to be — a Jewish state, viz., the state of the JEWS.
“It has long been recognized that being a minority is not necessarily a tragedy. All nations have their minorities.
“The tragedy is to be EVERYWHERE a minority. This was precisely the situation of the Jews before creation of the State of Israel.”
[Benj. Netanyahu, A Durable Peace: Israel and Its Place Among the Nations (Warner Books, NY, 2000), p. 166]
To the extent that Arab citizenship does not jeopardize either of those two above prerogatives, enfranchisement as a proposition, in principle, is not necessarily off the table.
It obviously could not be a blanket enfranchisement.
Nor would its granting be automatic — even to those who were offerred it.
It would probably entail putting those who were interested in citizenship on an “enfranchisement track,” as it were — with the goal of citizenship 12-15 years down the road. And during the interim they’d probably have to be “watched” (howsoever discreetly), for obvious reasons.
Remember that, absent treaties of peace, Israel REMAINS — to this day — in a formal state of war with most of those sovereign elements of the Arab League that declared war on her in 1948 — some of which states [Iraq, Yemen, Sa’udia] never even signed an ARMISTICE with her after the ’48-49 fighting (let alone, a Treaty).
Yep. These tend to be shy of government affiliation, considering it a corruption.
The Baptists were actually persecuted by both Catholic and Protestant in Europe.
@ CuriousAmerican:
Would “non-ritualistic, non-traditional, non-liturgical” just happen to correspond to those churches/denominations/confessions/etc which have never at any time in their histories (thus far) constituted the State Church of any country?
Likely so.
All-the-same though, there are those of us who would give it a hearing. . . .
Orthodox Judaism is heavily tradition-reliant, certainly. But that’s at least PARTLY because the various elements of Liberal Judaism (arguably an oxymoron) have become in recent decades — quite demonstrably (and increasingly) — degenerate.
Under such circumstances, tradition tends to offer (at least to the perception) a bulwark against further decay.
@ CuriousAmerican:
Most ironic.
But a very perceptive observation. You scored on that one.
@ CuriousAmerican:
I think the IRA support for the palestinians developed after the Six Day War, previously they had been supporters of the Israelis and specifically the Irgun and Lehi. I had heard thet Begin’s memoirs of the Irgun, “The Revolt” was required reading among the IRA leaders.
But there is one difference. The Irish have offered to give the vote to all the Orangemen when Ireland is re-united, if it ever is.
The Israels, or at least some of them, do not want to enfranchise the Arab.
The present dose of Irish-anti-semitism stems from
1) a misapprehension of their history.
2) a misapprehension of Israel’s history.
3) a parochial attitude embedded in the Irish which is a product of 800 years of British oppression where the Irish were actually forbidden to learn at times
There are some glaring differences between the Irish and the Arabs.
1) The Arabs claim Jerusalem (Israel’s capital) as their own
2) The Irish never claimed London (England’s capital) as their own. In fact it was London who tried to claim Ireland
3) The Irish never wanted to eradicate all of England. They only want Ulster back.
4) The Arab do want to eradicate Israel.
You cannot blame all of this anti-semitism on the Catholic Church. Northern Protestant Europe is not much better, except maybe for a few Pentecostals in England; but they are a minority.
It is a cultural European trait, not given to any Church. Catholic Spain ran the Inquisition; but Protestant Germany ran the death camps.
Mr. Devolin, the Protestant/Catholic divide is artificial. Both have clerics who read the bible to the people rather than encouraging them to read the Bible themselves and coming to their own conclusions.
The real divide is between the non-ritualistic, non-traditional, non-liturgical Churches (the Pentecostals, some Baptists, and Independents) vs everyone else. This place less authority on the preachers and encourage people to read the Bible themselves.
These tend to support Israel even more than most Jews.
It is odd that Jews, who hew to tradition, are hated by Christians who hew to tradition.
But Christians who despise tradition tend to support Israel.
There is a theological reason for this; but most Jews would reject my explanation, and I doubt you would accept it to.
The Protestant/Catholic divide was artificial from day one. The real divide is between those who embrace Christianity as individuals and those who trust their clerics.
Judaism has yet to arrive at that understanding because it depends on tradition. Israel has embedded the rabbis. Jews look to accepted traditions.
Yet it is odd that it is the anti-traditional Churches which support traditional Israel. There is a reason. Yamit would not accept it. It might re-align your present disgust at Christianity, if you heard it.
‘Never seen it before with the “o,” however. It was always “Devlin.”’
You are correct, Dweller. It used to be O’Devlin (it’s something like O’Doibolin in Gaelic), but they changed the spelling immediately my grandfather and his family, during the Famine, arrived in Canada. (Two of my ancestors fought with Wahl’s Texas Legion on the Confederate side in the American Civil War.) My grandmother of that unlucky generation (the Famine) died on a “coffin ship” in Kingston Harbor (Ontario, Canada) having been refused entry because of disease. My ancestors in Ireland were famous horse breeders and IRA graduates (or so I’ve been told). My grandfather told me I think too much because “your head is full of fiddle tunes.” We were from Armagh and Down, but also from Sligo and Cork.
My mother’s family is French (from France), but we discovered that before they came to Canada (also during the famine, we suspect), they lived in Ireland. So I’m a purebred Irish without the French appreciation of wine. My mother told me there is Native background in her family, but her mother destroyed all records of it because she thought Native Canadians were below us (they were “below” my male ancestors at one time or another, and that’s why we have a Native Canadian blood in our family).
Sorry I got off topic here.
“I have never understood the Irish identification with the PLO. Their quest to get Ulster back is similar to Israel’s quest for Judea and Samaria.” “The Irish have more in common with Israel than the Arabs.”
Exactly my point in the article. I’m impressed.
“…other than a few drunks throwing punches because a nutty priest set them off”
This is how eastern Europeans were impressed upon to join the Einsatzgruppen so to assist the Nazis in liquidating Jewish communities (Lithuania included).
“But the present IRA is nutty.”
The Protestants have their idiots too. Ian Paisley is a prime example.
I have Irish ancestry. Half my family are drunks.
Not all Irish drink, and not all who drink are drunks; but enough are to create a stereotype.
What separates the Irish is not so much their drinking – though it is above average.
The Poles, Russians, and Balts drink more. Even some Hasids are known to drink a lot.
What separates the Irish is their glorification of drink. They sing more about booze than love
Whiskey your the Devil
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yPIC-o1O3k
Nancy Whiskey
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZ8lT4aGqh0
Whiskey in the Jar
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46EXY4oP1Do
The Moonshiner
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PSf3yfKYIU
Whiskey on a Sunday
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyByCDRX6gw
The Mountain Dew
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Do2G5ACkWSg
FINNEGAN’S WAKE (about as drunken brawl at an Irish funeral)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7yR-U4m_dw
BEER BEER BEER
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJVtFpZl7-Y
SEVEN DRUNKEN NIGHTS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CWIIoSf4nw
No other ethnic group sings so heartily about getting hammered.
The Irish drink a bit more than the Germans and British but the Irish actually brag about it.
Nothing is worse, however, than a teetotaling Irish person who looks down on the others.
If I call the Irish drunks it is from experience with my Irish-American family. One cousin used to bring booze to grammar school.
They are all wonderful people; but they drink. Smart and witty, but they drink.
I have never understood the Irish identification with the PLO. Their quest to get Ulster back is similar to Israel’s quest for Judea and Samaria.
The problem is that Ireland sees the Israelis as imperialists like the British rather that seeing the Israelis as similar to wanting all of their ancient homeland back, just like the Irish want Ireland re-united.
Name me one death camp in Ireland, or one serious pogrom in Ireland; other than a few drunks throwing punches because a nutty priest set them off.
The IRA ran guns to the Irgun in the 40s. Shamir took his code name from Michael Collins. When the British were pro-Arab, the Irish were pro-Israel. Now, the British are perceived as anti-Arab so the Irish are pro-Arab.
In a way, the British still control Irish thinking.
The present Irish idiocy stems from a misreading of the paradigm. The Irish have more in common with Israel than the Arabs.
It goes back to a false reading of imperialist vs native paradigms which does not apply to Israel.
The problem is that the IRA became politically correctly leftist in the 60s.
The IRA has no policy except throw the British out, so their ideology can shift bizarrely.
Rather than having a vision for their country, the IRA blends its ideology according to convenience.
I think Ireland should be reunited. But the present IRA is nutty. The British recalcitrants in the North are no less nutty.
But I am just an American. I confine my opinion to opinions.
@ Michael Devolin:
Yes, I thought so — from the name, Devolin.
Never seen it before with the “o,” however. It was always “Devlin.”
Is there a peculiar regional connection, or family history, that explains it?
It wasn’t always that way. . . .
In fact, Robert Briscoe, longtime friend & associate of Jabotinsky — and Irish-Jewish parliamentarian who eventually became Lord Mayor of Dublin — was an early and earnest advocate on behalf of Sinn Fein.
I have an Irish background dating back past the Famine (when my family came over here) to the 17th century, but I am ashamed to say that many of Sinn Fein are pro-Palestinian and anti-Jewish. It’s a matter of fact. I had an article published in the Irish Sun a while back that pointed out the similarities between Ireland’s history and Israel’s history, and the anti-Jewish/anti-Israel reaction in the comments was a shock to me. Not so long ago, Ireland tried to remove Israel’s ambassador from their country (which I also wrote about) because of one of Israel’s attack on terrorists. That was something very ugly too. I am ashamed to say that the Irish have a history of anti-Semitism. This is also a matter of fact for anyone who has studied anti-Semitism.
Not all Irish are drunks and “half-tanked”, by the way, myself included. I’m surprised to see you make such an imprudent generalization when otherwise you obtrude into each discussion here as intellectually and morally superordinate (a latent attitude synonymous with Christians and Christianity).
I could easily believe that a vast majority of Lithuanians are neo-Nazis. My study of the history of anti-Semitism has led me toward publicly and insouciantly proclaiming such generalizations.
Again more stupidity. I thought the Ukraine, with its revisionism.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/jewish-groups-protest-revisionist-plaque-at-babi-yar/
http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/ukraines-nationalists-protest-jewish-pilgrimage-113522.html
The Lithuanians have Neo-Nazi marches.
And you are worried because a few half-tanked Irish wear a Palestinian flag?
No sense of proportion. Find a death camp in Ireland where Jews were exterminated and then tell me about the anti-semitism of the Irish.
@ Michael Devolin:
I remember seeing a newspaper picture of Trudeau riding around on a motor bicycle wearing a German soldiers steel helmet. caused quite a surprise, but many thought it showe that he was “just an ordinary joe like us”…..
@ Eric R.
It may have to share that position with Ireland. Others are rapidly getting there.
“But just like so many great western cities is being destroyed by liberalism and the influx of muslims.”
I couldn’t agree with you more, Laura.
Sorry for my messed up typing, I meant to say I am PROUD
I am proud of the Canadian government, I want the USA government to do the same
That’s a shame. Toronto was once a great city. But just like so many great western cities is being destroyed by liberalism and the influx of muslims.
I love Stephen Harper. I envy the Canadians having a leader they can be very proud of.
I agree with Mr. Devolin. I lived most of my life in Toronto but three years ago I moved to the small suburb city of Burlington. While living in the “big city” I heard and experienced instances of anti-semitism frequently. That “multi-cultural” Eden was a hot-bed of prejudice. Here in Burlington I have not experienced one instance of anti-semitism. Sorry, should qualify that. Two years ago at a world events lecture given in the local senior centre, an American retired professor in political science gave a talk on the Middle East that reflected the anti-Israel leftist bias of his home milieu. I soon set him straight, an act that obviously shocked him as I am sure in his university classes no one had ever critiqued him.
At any rate I am a Canadian and proud to Have Harper as my Prime Minister.
“We must also keep in mind that the large majority of Canadians do not like Jews.”
Do you really believe this, Canadian Otter? I live in rural Ontario, and I’ve never heard in all my life here maybe a couple of instances of anti-semitism. Toronto and Montreal, now that would be a different story. But Toronto and Montreal do not represent the rest of Canada. I actually consider the City of Toronto to be a separate entity from the rest of Canada and the anus of the universe. I do not consider it a Canadian city. You can thank Pierre Trudeau and multiculturalism for this negative tragedy. What an asshole.
@ CuriousAmerican:
David Bedein is an investigative journalist. He has been researching Middle East issues for many years, particularly those that concern the PA and Gaza. He has a very good website too. – http://www.israelbehindthenews.com/
He used to have an excellent radio show on A7, and that’s where I heard that PA-TV rents air frequencies from Israel.
Why doesn’t the Israeli government protest the Nazi-style propaganda coming from PA-TV, or that on PA textbooks? One can only speculate.
DAVID BEDEIN: Israel’s leaders may be among those making it possible for the Palestinian Authority to teach hate and violence to a new generation of children. Officials in the White House explained that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu had asked the U.S. to continue providing aid to the PA, including to PA schools and to UNRWA, one of the primary sources of incitement.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/148208
Reluctance by Israeli government officials to call attention to PA-Nazi propaganda may be due to a fear of upsetting the carefully cultivated Israeli myth of the “moderate Fatah”, which is needed to hand them over large swaths of Jewish land in exchange for “peace”.
Or there could be other reasons. Trade between Israel and the PA is thriving. “According to a study released by Globes, Israel’s daily business paper, Israeli firms export 2.7 billion shekels of products to the Palestinian Authority.” http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/10720
What Canadian laws do the Americans want to “harmonize” with theirs? And whatever the Americans have done in trade negotiations to treat us badly (I’m not sure what you’re referring to), we’ve more than made up with NAFTA (remember the panic 4 years ago when Obama said he’d renegotiate the treaty?) and the Auto Pact.
Oh! Come on. There are lots of countries in Europe.
Hungary?! Poland? The Baltic states?! The Ukraine? France?!
Get serious.
@ CuriousAmerican:
Norway is self-sufficient in oil and it is the most anti-Semitic country in Europe.
I cannot give the current government of Canada enough credit. The insane leaders of Iran have been at war with the US and others since 1979. But every US president including Ronald Reagan never stood up to these insane Nazis wannabees. It took the Canadians to have the courage to do what all Western countries should do, break off relations with the Islamic Nazis in Teheran. It’s hard to believe that there is a government in the world that is led by people who are truly moral, decent human beings. Harper is the total opposite of the miserable excuse for a leader the US has in the White House.
I have no idea why Israel allows this on TV.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSEFQh88s5w
But renting frequencies. Does the PA rent frequencies? Literally rent?!
@ CuriousAmerican:
True, we don’t need Iranian oil. But the US government has a long history of disrespecting and bullying the Canadian government. They’ve treated us badly, particularly in trade issues. And American governments have been determined to “harmonize” our laws with theirs. It’s been devastating!
~~~~~~~~~~~~
We must also keep in mind that the large majority of Canadians do not like Jews. The old Anglos, old French, old Ukranians, and new immigrants from Asia, Africa and Latin America have no sympathies for Israel or the Jews. The Conservatives’ pro-Israel policies cost them votes!
So PM Stephen Harper and his government deserve our admiration and gratitude for standing up for what is right.
Can we get tough with PA Arab Nazis too?
Perhaps the Canadian government could reconsider its support for the Palestinian Authority. Although the PA doesn’t have sovereignty yet, or the military means of the Iranians, they are at least as viciously anti-Semitic as the Iranian government.
PA-TV (using air frequencies rented from the Israeli government) continues to spew the worst kind of hatred and incitement against Jews and Israel. Their clerics, secular leaders, and children-TV programs call openly for the murder of Jews and the destruction of the state of Israel. Arabs have already killed thousands of Jews.
Calling for the killing of Jews:
http://www.palwatch.org/site/modules/videos/popup/video.aspx?doc_id=6357
Daily cartoon demonizes Jews
http://www.palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=7285
More than 2000 terror attacks in Israel this year – on the roads alone!!!
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/159537
Perhaps if the Israeli government led by example in denouncing Arab violence and anti-Semitism, we could get other governments to follow suit.
Canada is self sufficient in oil. Europe is not
See, World? It isn’t so hard to do what’s right.
Canadian government statement: Iran “routinely threatens the existence of Israel and engages in racist anti-Semitic rhetoric and incitement to genocide; it is among the world’s worst violators of human rights; and it shelters and materially supports terrorist groups, requiring the Government of Canada to formally list Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism under the Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act.” http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/159747
This tree-hugging Otter votes Conservative too!
🙂
I was going to say that … BUT THEN I REALIZED, America has not had an ambassador to Iran since 1979.
@ CuriousAmerican:
So should America. But we will have to change Presidents first.
We can assume Harper has your vote.
Yes. It wasn’t always like that.
Must make you proud, Ted.
It was the right thing to do.
Europe should follow up.