Stephen Harper, Nobel Peace Prize nominee

Not content with awarding Stephen Harper their Gold Medallion human rights award and pledging to create a Stephen Harper Centre for Human Rights, B’nai Brith Canada announced yesterday they will be nominating him for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Frank Dimant from their statement :

“Moral clarity has been lost across much of the world, with terror, hatred and antisemitism filling the void,” said Frank Dimant, CEO, B’nai Brith Canada. “Throughout, there has been one leader which has demonstrated international leadership and a clear understanding of the differences between those who would seek to do evil, and their victims." 

Yeah, about victims ... one minute of aerial footage of Al-Shejaiya in Gaza



B'nai Brith was a successful advocate of Canada cutting off funding to UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency - the only UN human relief agency willing to work in Gaza under fire. (Eight of their workers died in this last incursion). Last month B'nai Brith called for the disbanding of UNRWA altogether. Canada is no longer a donor country to UNRWA.

Back to Frank's presser, where he notes that as a 'professor' he is eligible to make a nomination to the Nobel Foundation : 

“In accordance with the rules of the Nobel Foundation it gives me great pleasure to nominate in my capacity as Professor of Modern Israel Studies at Canada Christian College, Prime Minister Stephen Harper for the Nobel Peace Prize in honour of the outstanding moral leadership he has demonstrated.”

Frank Dimant is a professor at Charles McVety's Canada Christian College because Charles McVety awarded him an honorary doctorate there in 2004 at a ceremony attended by Jason Kenney.
Texas millionaire televangelist and Christian Zionist Pastor John Hagee and his Christians United For Israel rents office space from McVety for his Canadian operations at Canada Christian College.

Dimant : "We [Jews] and Israel are not alone because of you and the tremendous leadership of Dr. McVety and Dr. Hagee." Dr. Hagee. Go on, click that last link.

Three years ago in this Christian College video at a Stand With Israel rally, Dimant, Jason Kenney (far left), and McVety (behind Dimant) , along with Nathan Jacobson (to the left of Kenney) shared the podium as Dimant courted his presumably mostly Christian audience. He praised Harper and the Cons as friends of Israel and called on God to protect Israel from the United Nations "as we await the messianic times which are just around the corner." 

In March 2014, in a more intimate setting in a synagogue, Dimant spoke about his relationship to Harper: 

" I happen to know Mr.Harper from the days he was in the opposition and the truth is we were on first name basis because the Jewish community was not in favor of Conservatives  - at that time they were called the Alliance Party and before that the Reform Party.  The Jewish community was traditionally liberals and the Jewish community was very much onside with the Liberal Party of the day.  When Mr. Harper and before him Mr. Stockwell Day wanted to get their message out to our community, all the doors were closed in their face.  It's very difficult to believe when today you see the world's premier friend of Israel - that when he wanted to speak about his attitude towards Israel, that door was shut. 

Only one organization at that time - and I was B'nai Brith and our publication The Jewish Tribune - gave them a forum, gave him a platform, gave them an opportunity to say : 'This is how we really stand on Israel; this is where we stand on anti-Semitism; and this is where we stand on the values that we share with you.'  

I've had the good fortune in my lifetime to work with many governments.  I've gone to Auschwitz with Prime Minister Chretien,  I've gone to Israel with Art Egglington, I've gone to Israel with Jean Chretien, and I went now with our Prime Minister again. [Note : Harper's visit this past January] 

And I saw the difference, saw the difference.  And the difference was that here you had a man like Harper who you can feel - FEEL - the love that he has for the State of Israel, the affection that he feels for the Jewish people. So you may ask why. Why? Good question. 

Mr. Harper is a religious Christian.  He believes. He believes when it says "Blessed are those who bless the Jewish people."  And he says Canada is blessed because we bless the Jewish people. He really deeply believes that. As does Jason Kenney, as do some of the other ministers - they are religious people. So they feel it."

As to the Nobel Peace Prize nomination, I'm blaming Michael Byers. 
Six weeks ago in The Harper Plan for unilateral Canadian disarmament , Byers suggested that despite all his tough military world stage talk, Harper might be eligible for one because he has "reduced defence spending to just 1% of GDP — the lowest level in Canadian history".  

Yeah, I know - you're still stuck back there at the idea of a Stephen Harper Centre for Human Rights.
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Ed Tanas' petition : Deny the Nomination of PM Stephen Harper for 2014 Nobel Peace Prize 
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G20 : Faith and Business Edition

Kady snagged this pic of the Inscribe the Bible bus parked outside Charles McVety's Canada Christian College at Karl Rove's speech for the G20 Faith and Business session on Friday.

Inscribe the Bible Canada is sponsored by B'nai Brith Canada and Texas millionaire televangelist Pastor John Hagee's Christians United For Israel. John Hagee Ministries rents office space from McVety for his Canadian operations at Canada Christian College, and McVety in turn is chair of CUFI Canada. B'nai Brith VP Frank Dimant chairs a department on Israel at McVety's college, where his appointment was attended by Jason Kenney. McVety, Hagee, and Dimant have all shared the podium at CUFI bunfests. End times are cozy times.

Anyway back to that bus and Inscribe the Bible.ca. According to the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who originally launched the project :

"People of the World Inscribe the Bible" is a project in which anyone can inscribe a verse from the Bible in his native tongue and in his own handwriting.

The project was launched recently in Ottawa, Canada. [December 16, 2008] A day prior to the launching ceremony, Prime Minister of Canada, Mr. Harper, inscribed the first verse."

Naturally there is a Canadian website with a bold if confusing graphic at the top :

Inscribe The Bilble informs us that all these hand-written bibles from all over the world will eventually be housed in the House of the Bible in the Bible Valley in Israel, where a full scale replica of biblical times with re-enactments of biblical stories and life 2000+ years ago is planned for a 15 mile valley.

Bible Valley :

"The Bible and Peace House will be the jewel in the crown of Bible Valley. The Bible Valley Project intends to develop an area of 25,000 acres adjacent to Jerusalem.

The Bible Valley Project will be composed of several sub-projects. Foremost will be the handwriting of 100 copies of the Bible in various languages by two million Bible lovers from around the world. This will be done in cooperation with the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Bible House is one of the elements in Bible Valley dedicated to bringing the Bible back to Israeli society and Israeli society back to the Bible.

Bring Israeli society back to the Bible? Develop 25,000 acres adjacent to Jerusalem to look like biblical times? Rapture outreach tourism? Take it away, Max ...

Next CUFI bunfest is in a month in Washington DC.
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Karl Rove Charles McVety bunfest this Friday

Charles McVety will be hosting Karl Rove at his own wee G20 Summit in Toronto on Friday. As McVety describes Rove on his G20.ca website, having purchased the URL two years ago :

Master architect of 75 presidential, senatorial, and gubernatorial campaigns with an almost perfect winning record

but just in case you've never heard of 'Bush's brain', McVety adds that he is "seen daily on television."

Nice line-up of sponsors there : B'Nai Brith Canada, Canada Family Action Coalition, Conservative Values of Canada, Institute For Canadian Values.

But all is not well in Valuesworld. Charles is pissed with Harper, who he refers to as "Chairman", for supporting "one-world government" and embracing that well known commie John Maynard Keynes. As McVety explains in his essay on the site:

Keynes was well known for agreeing with Vladimir Lennon on how to bring down free market based societies

presumably in conjunction with other noted communist world leader/songwriters.

And, in case you'd forgotten, Charles also tells us that "CO2 is a natural necessary part of air", Hitler was a "Socialist" and "Iran is building nuclear weapons and threatening to "wipe Israel off the map". More from B'Nai Brith's Frank Dimant about that in the Sunday session.

"Mr. Rove's common-sense approach is a voice that leaders should take heed" says Charles.

Steve must be so proud.

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First KAIROS, then UNRWA ... and Frank steps in it.

Last month Jason Kenney explained his government's decision to cut off funds to the church aid group KAIROS thusly:

"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."

Or, as Minister of International Cooperation Bev Oda put it, "the program didn't meet CIDA's current priorities".

Naturally enough, the churches comprising KAIROS -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 - did not much care for Kenney's insinuations.

This month Oda doesn't think the UN's Palestinian refugee agency meets CIDA's current priorities either :

Embassy Mag : Outcry erupts as Canada starts to move away from Palestinian refugee agency

"The government has quietly taken what many consider the first step to cutting ties with the UN agency responsible for supporting more than 4.67 million Palestinian refugees scattered throughout the Middle East."

While not cutting the actual amount of the aid, funding of UNRWA is being shifted away from its traditional core funding for food, clothing, health services, and schools - to food aid only.

"Jewish organizations have long alleged that UNRWA has been infiltrated by groups like Hamas" and "that funds given to the UN agency are being diverted to the group".

B'Nai Brith and the Canada-Israel Committee have both released statements applauding the government's decision, while pro-Israel websites and media have reported widely on the change. Mr. Dimant said his organization had been advocating in favour of moving away from UNRWA for a long time"

Frank Dimant, CEO of B’nai Brith Canada and a member of the Cross-Cultural Roundtable on Security at Public Safety Canada, is pleased the government has adopted his viewpoint:

"This is certainly a step in the right direction," he said. ... "I believe it's a very progressive step forward. ... I think that it is strange, to say the least, that there is a specific refugee agency just dedicated for the Palestinians and that all the millions of other refugees in the world are serviced in a different category."

Oh, good one, Frank.
I'm willing to bet you do not think it at all strange, to say the least, that there is a Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Antisemitism and that all the millions of other people in distinct minorities in Canada are not serviced by their own pet privately-funded parliamentary coalition.
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The National Post is having another one of its "Iran Eyes Badges for Jews" moments

You remember that one, no?

This time round the headline goes : Toronto Pride organizers ban anti-Zionist group
By Joseph Brean, National Post

"Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (QuAIA), an anti-Zionist protest group that made corporate sponsors squirm by flying banners at last year’s Toronto Pride parade, has been banned this year, along with any other group that would advance a political agenda.
“We will be very much more careful this year. We will make sure that we have a presence to ensure that people don’t slip into the parade,” Pride Toronto executive director Tracey Sandilands said today.

Her announcement came with a warning to grand marshall El-Farouk Khaki not to use his ceremonial position as a pulpit to promote an anti-Israeli boycott.

Frank Dimant, executive vice-president of B’nai Brith Canada, today called for disciplinary action against Mr. Khaki, a founder of the national support group Salaam: Queer Muslim Community, because he spoke to a QuAIA event on the weekend."

Yeah, whatever, Frank.


But what's this? In the comments section below the NaPo article, Pride Co-Chair Mark Singh shows up :

"In response to concerns about political messaging in the Pride Parade, Pride Toronto released a statement outlining its position on this issue. This article incorrectly claims that Pride Toronto has banned political messages from the Pride Parade. [snip]

We have asked the National Post to correct the inaccurate statements in this article to no avail.
We invite any who are concerned to read the statement posted in the Press Room of our website (www.pridetoronto.com)
Mark Singh
Co-Chair
Pride Toronto"

followed a few comments further on by a letter copied from Pride director Tracey Sandilands, source of the quotes for NaPo mischief :

"WE WILL NOT BE TAKING SIDES IN ANY POLITICAL ISSUE AND WILL NOT BE BANNING ANY GROUP that participates within the boundaries of the laws of Canada and our anti-discrimination policy. [snip]

Also, at no time in our interview did I say anything about ‘warning' El Farouk.
I would appreciate it if you could amend this before final publication.

Regards
Tracey Sandilands,

Executive Director

Well that would seem clear enough.
However, undaunted by requests from both a Pride Co-Chair and the Pride director he interviewed that his bogus article be fixed - and the picture gracing the front page of the Pride Toronto website clearing showing the "End Israeli Apartheid" banner, NaPo reporter Joseph Brean replies in his own comment section that he stands by his article :

"I am the author of this article. It was my decision, approved by editors, to use the term "ban" to mean that QuAIA, which marched in last year's parade, will not be permitted to do so this year.
[snip]
Anonymous accusations that this article, which presents comment from people on all sides of this issue, is "false" and that I am "intentionally spreading lies" are silly and wrong."

So there you have it - accusations from the source of his interview that his article is "false" are "silly and wrong".


Well done, NaPo. Some traditions die hard, don't they?

Bring on the Transparent Badges for Atheists !
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h/t Rabble, Mycroft in comments at the NaPo article, and the divine Ms Z posting at BreadnRoses, who promises a column on this at The Star tomorrow.
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Update : From Antonia Zerbisias column today, as promised.

"So it's pretty rich when the language of gay oppression is used against Toronto's Pride parade, to be held June 28, by another group that purports to champion human rights.
Especially a group that is openly aligned with anti-gay rights Christian fundamentalists such as Charles McVety, Canada's most vocal lobbyist against same-sex marriage, and John Hagee, who claimed God sent Hurricane Katrina to stop "a homosexual parade."
This is what happened last week when B'nai Brith issued a news release asserting that the gay community's "agenda" was being "hijacked by anti-Israel agitators."

So Napo got caught out carrying some editorial water for Dimant. Somehow I suspect this is not over.
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Antonia also blogged the background story : Banner Day
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