I have to say that I find the issue of the anti-Semitic remarks being made during the Liberal leadership convention -- aimed at Bob Rae, or more accurately, aimed at his wife, who is Jewish -- fascinating. Not just because of the creepy view into Liberal Party groupthink -- this is about power, and nothing is off limits when it comes to achieving power -- but also because the main player in this, Khaled Mouammar, has a long history with the Liberal Party.
Khaled Mouammar came to my attention in August of 2005, when he was in the papers when he demanded an apology from various Canadian police chiefs who went to Israel on a week-long trip, arguing that the trip reinforced the idea that Arabs and Muslims were terrorists.
Of course, it could be said that instigating riots also tends to reinforce that perception. Perhaps the question could be put to Leila Khaled Mouammar, who was suspended for four months from Concordia University after she led a violent riot against the appearance of Benjamin Netanyahu on September 9, 2002, when he came on invitation to deliver a speech. Words met with violence -- another unfortunate stereotype associated with Palestinian radicals.
I encourage you to read the whole post. In particular, family life in the Mouammar household is fascinating.
But when it comes to the events at the Liberal leadership convention, recall the nasty business involving Bob Rae's wife and anti-Semitic smears:
Bob Rae was the target of anti-Semitic attacks during the Liberal leadership contest, motivated at least in part by the fact that his wife is Jewish.
Sources close to Rae say that his wife, Arlene Perly Rae, was approached during last weekend's convention by a delegate who didn't realize she was the candidate's wife. The delegate told her not to vote for Rae "because his wife is Jewish."
Perly Rae stonily informed the delegate that she was the wife in question. The delegate beat a hasty retreat.
A flyer was circulated electronically among convention delegates denouncing Rae for having once delivered a speech to the Jewish National Fund, a group the flyer said was complicit in "war crimes and ethnic cleansing."
"Rae's wife is a vice-president of the CJC (Canadian Jewish Congress), a lobby group which supports Israeli apartheid," said the flyer in bold letters superimposed over a close-up of Rae's face.
So who defended the Rae flyer, while bravely denying having anything to do with it? Khaled Moammar:
The Canadian Jewish Congress has condemned the flyer and blamed Khaled Mouammar, president of the Canadian Arab Federation for circulating it. The federation has, in turn, accused the CJC of making "a pitiful attempt to discredit" it and has denied producing or distributing the flyer.
Nevertheless, in a release Thursday, the federation supported the content of the flyer.
"CAF believes that Canadians have the right to know the factual information provided" in the flyer, the federation said.
It went on to say that the Jewish National Fund manages all state lands in Israel and allows only Jews to live on such land, a "practice that amounts to ethnic cleansing," and added that "Canadians have the right to know who supports the JNF in Canada."
The flyer was produced and e-mailed to all MPs by Ron Saba, editor of an obscure magazine called Montreal Planet. But The Canadian Press has obtained an e-mail from Mouammar, in which he forwarded the flyer to others. Several days before Saturday's leadership vote, it wound up being posted on a website operated by an immigrant advocacy group.
Here's a thought. I wonder if the flyer was posted on No One Is Illegal, the premiere immigrant advocacy group in Canada. Why? Because Khaled Mouammar's daughter, Leila, is a senior member of that group.
Wouldn't that be quite the coincidence?
So how does the patriarch of a family of Palestinian radicals and anti-immigration activists become a member of the Immigration and Refugee Board for over 10 years?
Ask members of the previous Liberal governments who appointed him. And while you're at it, ask if anyone in the Liberal Party has had recent dealings with their old friend Khaled Mouammar. Not that it would have anything to do with this flyer that no one is willing to take credit for.
