Tuesday, December 22, 2009

KAIROS - Jason Kenney digs himself a deeper hole

Really, Jason, I didn't think you could make this any worse.

G&M, today : In a media release issued from Jerusalem, Mr. Kenney explained his decision to cut off funds to the church aid group KAIROS :
"Our government is working to dismantle the client relationship that existed between the government of Canada and organizations whose priority is seemingly to advocate for the legalization of banned terrorist organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah, as well as deny the Jewish people's right to a homeland."
KAIROS - as one might expect of a group comprised of the United Church of Canada, the Anglican Church of Canada, the Presbyterian Church in Canada, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, and the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops - is of course a very strong supporter of "the Jewish people's right to a homeland".
Its website also says it is opposed to boycotts and sanctions against Israel.

Back to the G&M :
Mr. Kenney's office referred - as did the Canada-Israel Committee, an influential Jewish body - to statements from NGO Monitor, an Israeli organization that says it analyzes "the misuse of development aid funds in the Israeli-Arab conflict zone by highly partisan Canadian NGOs such as Kairos."
And previously, on Dec 17th in The Sun :
"Kenney’s office pointed to critical comments made by an Israel-based group. The NGO Monitor said KAIROS is a “main supporter of the anti-Israel divestment movement in Canada..."
Ok, that's twice now Kenney's office has cited NGO Monitor as the source of his intel on KAIROS and for his decision to libel and defund KAIROS from the podium at a conference in Israel.

So who is NGO Monitor? ... *google google google* ...
A rightwing US-funded Israeli lobby group which has been agitating against Canadian government funding for KAIROS since 2004 as part of their 'name and shame' program.
NGO Monitor board members include Alan Dershowitz, James Woolsey, and Elliot Abrams, and coincidentally, the president of NGOM Gerald Steinberg is chair of a panel at the same anti-Semitism conference in Israel from which Jason Kenney denounced KAIROS.

NGOM sure don't like KAIROS :
"KAIROS demonizes Israel through accusations of “war crimes” and “collective punishment."
...they write, while curiously providing a link to a KAIROS letter to Stephen Harper which condemns the attacks on civilians by both Israelis and Palestinians.

They also don't much like Oxfam, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Ford Foundation, the BBC, numerous Israeli human rights groups, the Israeli soldiers who testified about Israel's atrocities during the Gaza seige, or the Goldstone Report.

Well done, Jason. Really.
NGOM is free to carry on its support for the policies of Israel's military as it chooses, while occasionally getting smacked down for its embarrassing biases .

But you, you made it Canadian government policy and then you announced it on foreign soil.
.
Dec 24 Update : Jason Kenney sends word that since all the major churches in Canada are royally pissed with him for announcing in Israel last week that KAIROS had its funding cut off for anti-Semitism, he would now like us all to forget what he and his spokesweasel said and blame Bev Oda instead.
.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

NGO Monitor only ever goes after peace-related NGOs and their funders so really it's a feather in Kairos' cap to be singled out.

One would have expected your government to be aware of this.

Prof David Newman from Ben-Gurion University demolishes them here in JPost :
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1259243045210&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/Printer

Alison said...

Thanks, Anon.
Anon's link

I'm appalled Kenney's office is depending on this group for policy advice.

Unknown said...

The Con men will fund other groups with different agendas. Check this story: Canadian Government Funding Climate Change Denial Lobby Group
http://mostlywater.org/canadian_government_funding_climate_change_denial_lobby_group

Another Voice

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the post, links! Jason Kenney blows my mind.

thwap said...

Kenney eats too many shit sandwiches. He's gonna get fat again.

900ft Jesus said...

these international statements show time after time how the CONs think Canadians don't pay attention to what's said outside of the country. They try so hard to control their messages here, fail horribly, yet somehow think they can control what reaches us from their ass kissing little talks in other countries.

Minister of curry in a hurry. Effing asshole.

skdadl said...

Elliot bricklefritzin' Abrams? Convicted and pardoned Elliot Abrams? That guy?

Alison said...

Elliot Likudnik Iran-Contra PNACer Abrams, yes.

For all you young 'uns :
Oliver North brokered an arms deal of weapons from Israel to Iran.
Some of the money went to fund Reagan's illegal attempt to overthrow the Sandanista government of Nicaragua. Abrams was Reagan's assistant Secretary of State at the time. He pled guilty to avoid jail, was indicted, and fined $50.
Pardoned by George Bush Sr.

His entry in the Project For a New American Century, a 2000 blueprint for US empire-building, reads :
"We should not permit the establishment of a Palestinian state that does not explicitly uphold U.S. policy in the region."

Along with fellow neo-cons Richard Perle, Douglas Feith, and Frank Gaffney, he formed the Committee for U.S. Interests in the Middle East to ensure US foreign policy was aligned with that of the Likud party of Israel.

IMHO any increase in real anti-Semitism in the world can be laid directly at their feet.

900' J : I think they rely on the confusion they cause to keep afloat. Bastards.

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