Angry in the Great White North

Canada's Liberal Party has been knocked back on its heels.

Liberal MP Boris Wrzesnewskyj goes to Syria, then comes back declaring Israel guilty of state-sponsored terrorism, and demanding that Hezbollah be taken off the Canadian government's list of terror groups.

Thomas Hubert, the VP of Communications for the Young Liberals (British Columbia) and a volunteer on Gerard Kennedy's Liberal leadership campaign, posts a comment arguing for the purge of violent Zionists (that is, any Jew who thinks Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper was right to support Israel) from the Liberal Party, and throws in the blood libel for good measure. He has been forced to resign.

Another communications director, this time for Liberal leadership candidate Martha Hall Findlay, Mohammed Hashim, praises Sid Ryan, the head of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), writing "The man is awesome. Especially his views on Palestine. BTW I firmly believe that CUPE taking that stance and Sid promoting it was an excellent move. Great work Sid!".

For the record, Sid Ryan equates Israel with Hezbollah, and has made that official CUPE policy, not just his personal opinion. Sid Ryan is demanding a world-wide boycott of Israel. But when Jewish leaders suggested a counter-boycott of CUPE, Sid Ryan hit the roof:

Boycotts are a peaceful form of protest.… The Canadian Jewish Congress has told their members to go into their synagogues to denounce us. Rabbis have even instructed their members to disaffiliate from CUPE. That's union busting!

I thought it was just a peaceful form of protest. But Hashim thinks Sid Ryan is on the right side of the issue:

Got to meet Sid Ryan there, the Irish man was delightful. I love the fact that CUPE has taken such a strong position on the matter of Palestine. All the power to him.

He also thinks Carolyn Parrish is just great, also on issues regarding Palestine. I suppose this includes Parrish's refusal to sign a petition denouncing the comments of Mohamed Elmasry, who declared that all Israeli civilians (or perhaps all Israeli civilians over the age of 18 -- it's a bit confusing) are valid targets for terrorists:

Then on Sat. went to a campaign kick-off BBQ for Carolyn Parrish. This lady is fantastic. You know everyone blasts her for stomping on the Bush doll, or her rather strong views on Palestine, but I applaud her for her courage and having such conviction. If she needed any help with her campaign, i'd definitely help her out.

So what of Hashim? What does he think of our concerns about the opinions he holds? He thinks this is all just so much noise:

Geez. Looks like saying a nice thing about someone like Sid Ryan is causing a little ruckus. I still think Sid's a good guy. and this is not Martha's position at all...dont people start blogs to share their own "personal" thoughts with a few friends. And where in this world are people making up such insane talk of anti-semitism or being anti-Israeli. btw, just to clarify this is not a campaign website.

Not a campaign website? To the left of the "not a campaign website" comment, in the "About Me" box:

I currently work for MADD Canada, managing all their youth programs from the National Office. Have done a ton of political work and am currently working on Martha Hall Findlay's Leadership Campaign as her Communications Director.

Below that, blog entry after blog entry with descriptions of campaign events, pictures of the campaign bus, pictures of the candidate...

Hashim, a bit of advice, if you want to share thoughts with just your friends and no one else, use the phone. And if you want your opinions to not be associated with Martha Hall Findlay's campaign, blog under a pseudonym and stop mentioning the campaign.

But then that seems to be the pattern, doesn't it? Liberals babbling away in public forums and doodling their positions on blogs or on election websites, but when someone calls them out on it, the dissembling begins. He was misinterpreted. He apologizes only if someone was offended, but carefully forgets to apologize for his actual statements. His opinions are private and not connected to his work in politics, suggesting he has an entirely different, and presumably diametrically opposed, set of opinions to use in his official capacity.

Which leaves the rest of us in an awkward situation when listening to members of the Liberal Party. Are the ones who seem to be supportive of Israel using their "public" faces, while secretly harbouring thoughts as extreme as Elmasry's? How can we tell? Then maybe this isn't even our problem. We can simply assume they are all lying when one of them says he supports Israel and does not tolerate anti-Semitism, at least until the party makes a concerted effort to deal with Wrzesnewskyj and Hubert and Hashim and their kind. Of course, it might be too late for that. It really depends on how deep the rot goes.

[Jason Cherniak is leading the pack on much of this, and small dead animals has more on Hashim]