Vive Le Canada

Harper Courts Jewish Voters

Posted on Saturday, July 22 at 09:51 by bracewell
Harper's stand on Israel could get Harper his majority government, even if he does not break through in Quebec. Harper has condemned Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran for not abandoning terror and for refusing to recognize Israel. His support for the war on terror and Afghanistan is entirely compatible with his 100 per cent support of Israel and 100 per cent denial of Israel's enemies. Harper agrees with Israel that it faces threats from Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran and Syria.

Harper's Zionism will also guarantee that the Jewish community will sympathize with Harper's war in Afghanistan, and Canada's Jewish community is an influential one in Canadian media and business circles. Harper's Mideast policies also reflects his sense of political strategy.




Liberal leadership camps split over Lebanese-Israeli conflict
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2006/07/17/1689414-cp.html

Bob Rae: argued that Harper's government has missed a chance to follow in the hallowed footsteps of Lester Pearson by playing peacemaker.

Scott Brison: "Israel does have a right to defend itself against unprovoked attacks from Hezbollah," Israel also should take precautions to avoid civilian casualties - but said that's difficult to do since Hezbollah often disperses its fighters among the civilian population.

Lloyd Axworthy: (former Liberal foreign minister & president of the U of Winnipeg) argued that Harper is abandoning the traditional Canadian role of honest broker in the Middle East. "He's almost at the forefront of a very small group of nations who say whatever Israel does is right. ... We're becoming part of the problem, not part of the solution."

Ignatieff: refused to get involved Monday.

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Archived with better formatting at: http://bracewell.livejournal.com/222995.html

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Comments

  1. by RPW
    Sun Jul 23, 2006 8:17 pm
    Harper is (I think) courting the urban vote, more so than the Jewish vote. But as most people of Jewidh extraction live in our cities, it just follows.............

    Just wait until he starts eating pizza to get the Italian vote.....

    ---
    "We can have a democracy or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of the few. We cannot have both."
    - Justice Louis Brandeis

  2. by leftnationalist
    Sun Jul 30, 2006 12:04 pm
    I don't think Harper is going to make any significant inroads in the Jewish community at all. The most pro-Israel PM prior to Harper was Mulroney and he didn't come close to winning the Jewish vote - though he probably did poll the best for the Conservatives. In contrast, Chretien was perceived as "anti-Israel" and that didn't stop him from winning the lion's share of the Jewish vote.

    Jews are probably the most small-l liberal ethnic group in Canada and are suspicious of any hint of social conservatism. The Conservatives are naive if they think trying to be more pro-Israel than most Israelis will them the Jewish vote, esp. given that many of the rightwing "friends" of Israel are Christian fundamentalists who support Israel because of their belief in the Armagedon.

    In the US, Bush was seen as a great friend of Israel and that didn't get him more than 25% of the Jewish vote in 2004. I suspect the Conservatives got no more than 20% of the Jewish vote last time around; it wouldn't surprise me at all if the NDP gets more of the "Jewish vote". Most don't vote on Israel and Harper's Israel is always right is already preaching to the converted (i.e. the orthodox and a few neocon types).

  3. by avatar SphinxMontreal
    Mon Jul 31, 2006 5:20 am
    More than anything, Harper wants the shady and dishonest mainstream media on his side, which pretty much explains his decision to kiss some serious Jewish ass. Since most Canadians have excellent reasons not to trust big media, Harper's positions may end up backfiring on him.

  4. by Roy_Whyte
    Mon Jul 31, 2006 5:32 am
    Many Jewish Canadians are very outspoken about the conflict in the Middle East and don't agree with the neo-conservative view of the world nor their actions.

    ---
    If there was ever a time for Canadians to become pushy - now is the time - for time is running out on this nation called Canada.

  5. by leftnationalist
    Mon Jul 31, 2006 10:00 pm
    I should also add that Larry Zolf is one of the most incompetent journalists around. After the last election he devoted a whole column claiming that the Tories won Winnipeg South because Jewish voters in River Heights, etc. were upset with the Liberals on Middle East policy. Problem was that Winnipeg South has no "Jewish vote" to speak of; River Heights is in Anita Neville's riding, she won by a very comfortable margin.

  6. by leftnationalist
    Mon Jul 31, 2006 10:04 pm
    I agree with Roy Whyte, most Jewish Canadians aren't neocons at all and if Harper thinks this will win him the Jewish vote he is greatly mistaken. They're overwhelmingly small-l liberal and are more progressive than their US counterparts. The neocons may have a lot of rich prominent people like the Aspers backing them but in terms of actual masses of people they are tiny. As Jordy Cummings pointed out in his blog, when David Frum spoke at Holy Blossom in Toronto he drew about 100 people. In contrast, a meeting of Israeli and Palestinian peace activists drew over a thousand.



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