MEDIA-OCRITIES OF THE WEEK
How Truck Convoy Supporters Like Pierre Poilievre Have Weaponized ‘Freedom’: Gary Mason, The Globe and Mail, Feb. 8, 2022
“. . . Freedom is a word that gets bandied about a lot these days, but has mostly been co-opted by the alt-right, both here and in the United States. . .Freedom, as an ideology, has been appropriated by the Make America Great Again (M.A.G.A.) wing of the U.S. Republican Party [and] with Trump signs. … [has] been ubiquitous at the Freedom Convoy occupation in Ottawa. . .For most it’s a word that has become code for white-identity politics. . .a concept used for selfish, malicious purposes [to] promote bigoted, racist, and anti-democratic ideas. … [Today] hard-right movements use the language of freedom as a cudgel to erode democratic governance and civil rights [and to] expand the creep of authoritarianism. [Conservative MP] Pierre Poilievre’s support for the protesters reflects his association with the worst elements of the Republican Party. … a massive gamble. Then again, freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.” – [A good example of the paper’s almost unrelievedly negative and hostile attitude, in both its news coverage and opinion pieces, to the Freedom Convoy protesters—Editor.]
WEEKLY QUOTES
“Who is destroying the rule of law in Israel? After years of hearing a particularly shrill choir scream about the existence of one enemy to the justice system, the arch-Satan, demon of destruction, Benjamin Netanyahu by name, suddenly we learn that the true enemy comes from within the system….The scope of the rot is yet to be fully revealed, as is the degree of involvement by the prosecution and the scope of malicious surveillance. The lies of the police, its officers, and the minister overseeing them are a grave matter, but one conclusion is already clear: The police, and perhaps the prosecution as well, have decided to incriminate Netanyahu by nearly any means necessary. It is becoming clear that his and his supporters’ claims were true, at least to some degree. …” – Left-leaning Israeli political commentator Gideon Levy writing on the Pegasus revelations. (Haaretz, Feb. 6, 2022)
“Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s unjustified invoking of the Emergencies Act is deeply problematic and will have long-lasting consequences for the country. … The Liberal government appeared to be hoping for some sort of Jan. 6 style event as happened in the United States last year … It never did. The convoy has been peaceful throughout. The only real violence so far has been a vehicular ramming conducted against protesters, which sent four people to hospital. …Trudeau never condemned it. Instead, Trudeau has called protesters every name in the book even though they are a diverse crowd in every sense of the word. Now he is giving himself extraordinary powers to deal with these protests. One of the most disturbing parts is how they can now dictate that banks freeze people’s accounts without a court order….” Editorial. (Toronto Sun, Feb. 15, 2022)
“The federal government has not met the threshold necessary to invoke the Emergencies Act. This law creates a high and clear standard for good reason: the Act allows government to bypass ordinary democratic processes. This standard has not been met. The Emergencies Act can only be invoked when a situation ‘seriously threatens the ability of the Government of Canada to preserve the sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of Canada’ & when the situation ‘cannot be effectively dealt with under any other law of Canada.’ ” — The Canadian Civil Liberties Association’s response to Trudeau invoking for the first time in history the Emergencies Act. (WSJ, Feb. 15, 2022)
“What’s a prime minister to do? If good sense demands de-control, as it now seems to do, does he resist de-control merely because [alleged] swastika-wavers want it, too? Has he talked himself into a corner? ’I won’t act until they stop the siege, even if, absent the siege, I probably would be acting.’ ‘Avoid self-righteousness like the devil’, advised British military historian Basil Liddell Hart, ‘nothing is so self-blinding’. Self-righteousness is pretty much endemic, it seems. The headline over [former Bank of Canada head] Mark Carney’s piece in the Globe this week was ‘It’s time to end the sedition in Ottawa by enforcing the law and following the money’. I guess he’s getting into politics!” – columnist William Watson arguing for diversity of opinion freely expressed as regards the Freedom Convoy. (Financial Post, Feb. 10, 2022)
“What’s happening in Ottawa is not a protest against vaccine mandates. It’s a protest against Prime Minister Trudeau. The organizers. . .are anarchists who want to overthrow the government. It is why the federal conservatives are so comfortable crawling into a proverbial bed with these losers. . . Mandates? Nice cover story.” – Liberal columnist Gary Mason. (The Globe and Mail, Feb. 10, 2022)
“Two weeks ago, I called on convoy organizers to disassociate themselves from symbols of hatred displayed by a small number of people. They did so. Today pro-lockdown counter protestors displayed Communist flags & signs in Ottawa, but the media has been predictably silent about it. The continued romanticization of Communism by some on the Canadian left is vile & is consistently ignored by mainstream media.” – Alberta Premier Jason Kenney on the “legacy” media’s coverage of the Freedom Convoy. (Twitter, Feb. 13, 2022
REVEALED: MOSSAD FOILED 12 TERROR ATTACKS AGAINST ISRAELIS IN TURKEY (Ankara) — The Mossad has thwarted 12 terror attacks against Israelis in Turkey over the past two years. Most of the planned attacks were Islamic State plots targeting businessmen and other Israelis. Despite the strained relations between Ankara and Jerusalem, ties between the Mossad and Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization have remained strong. (United With Israel, Feb. 13, 2022)
JARED KUSHNER NOMINATED FOR NOBEL PEACE PRIZE (Oslo) — Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of former President Donald Trump, has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for his role in brokering the Abraham accords. The accords normalized Israel’s ties with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Morocco. Sudan is also a signatory but keeps its relations with Israel limited — at least publicly — to security and intelligence issues. (United With Israel, Feb. 14, 20220
AS MANY AS 20,000 VEHICLES PARTICIPATE IN ISRAELI COVID ‘FREEDOM CONVOY’ (Jerusalem) — Despite nearly blackout by much of the Israeli press, as many as 20,000 vehicles participated in a “Freedom Convoy” to Jerusalem on Monday, culminating with large protests outside Israel’s parliament and Supreme Court. Vehicles set off on Monday morning from forty cities across Israel, calling on the government to lift the state of emergency declared due to the coronavirus pandemic. Laypeople organized the project, which was funded via a crowdfunding campaign. (Jewish Press, Feb. 15, 2022)
ISRAELI COMPANY UNVEILS FIRST UNMANNED HYBRID HELICOPTER OF ITS KIND (Jerusalem) — Israeli rotary-systems company Steadicopter Ltd. unveiled the first unmanned hybrid helicopter of its kind, which relies on a combination of gas and electricity propulsion. The Black Eagle 50H can carry up to 12 kilograms (26 pounds) of payloads and has an “extremely long endurance for its category,” Steadicopter said in a statement. (Cleveland Jewish News, Feb. 8, 2022)DIRECT POLLS: BENNETT CIRCLING THRESHOLD, SA’AR WIPED, RA’AM WEAK, BIBI’S COMEBACK SCRATCHING 60 VOTES (Jerusalem) — Since the political revolution of the last election, the Bennett-Lapid coalition has settled down with a small but stable majority in the polls. Over the past six months, every mainstream poll has indicated that after about 5 seats had migrated from Naftali Bennett’s Yamina and Gideon Sa’ar’s New Hope back to the right-wing bloc, the remaining small majority of Israeli voters support the coalition parties. Not anymore. This week, a Direct Polls survey showed that close to two whole votes have switched from the coalition parties to the right and that the trend for Bennet et al. is down. Yamina is losing its centrist, middle-class voters critical of the government’s inability to provide their sector with sound support in facing the economic pain during Corona. Many national-religious voters are disappointed in the party’s kashrut and conversion reforms. (Jewish Press, Feb. 15, 2022)
PRINCE CHARLES TO UNVEIL STATUE OF INFLUENTIAL JEWISH BUSINESSWOMAN IN MEDIEVAL ENGLAND (London) – Prince Charles will unveil a new statue of an influential and successful Jewish businesswoman who lived in 13th century England. The life-size bronze monument of Licoricia and her son Asher will be erected on Jewry Street in Winchester, the city where she lived. Asher is seen holding a dreidel in his hand, and on the plinth of the statue is a biblical quote in Hebrew and English from Leviticus, which reads, “Love thy neighbour as thyself.” (Algemeiner, Feb. 9, 2022)
DUTCH UNIVERSITIES ORDER STAFF TO DISCLOSE TIES TO JEWISH, ISRAELI GROUPS (The Netherlands) — Administrators at more than a dozen Dutch universities are instructing their staff to list their interactions with Israeli and Jewish organizations. The order followed a request sent last month by The Rights Forum, a pro-Palestinian advocacy group, to the offices of multiple universities. It is unclear whether the universities will complete the full request by passing the information to The Rights Forum. (Jerusalem Post, Feb. 11, 2022)
CLINTON CAMPAIGN PAID TO ‘INFILTRATE’ TRUMP TOWER, WHITE HOUSE SERVERS TO LINK TRUMP TO RUSSIA, DURHAM FINDS(Washington) — Lawyers for the Clinton campaign paid a technology company to “infiltrate” servers belonging to Trump Tower, and later the White House, to establish an “inference” and “narrative” to bring to government agencies linking Donald Trump to Russia, a filing from Special Counsel John Durham found. Durham filed a motion on Feb. 11 focused on potential conflicts of interest related to the representation of former Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann, who has been charged with making a false statement to a federal agent. Sussmann has pleaded not guilty. As well, a survey by TechnoMetrica Institute of Policy and Politics indicated that a surprisingly large number of Democrats want to see Clinton investigated over her possible role in manufacturing dirt on Donald Trump. (Fox News, Feb. 13, 2022; NY Post, Feb. 13, 2022)
DECLASSIFIED AFGHANISTAN REPORTS BACK U.S. COMMANDERS WHO SAID BIDEN TEAM WAS INDECISIVE DURING CRISIS(Washington) — Declassified U.S. military analyses of the disastrous exit from Afghanistan detail repeated instances of friction between American troops and diplomats before and during the evacuation. It concluded that indecisiveness among Biden administration officials and initial reluctance to shutter the embassy in Kabul sowed chaos and put the overall mission at “increased risk.” (Washington Post, Feb. 12, 2022)
TRAVELERS WILL NO LONGER NEED A PCR COVID TEST TO GET INTO CANADA (Ottawa) — Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos says vaccinated travelers will no longer need a molecular COVID-19 test to enter Canada starting Feb. 28 because the COVID-19 situation in Canada has improved. Travelers can instead opt for a rapid antigen test approved by the country they are coming from. (CP 24, Feb. 15, 2022)
CANADA TO SEND ‘LETHAL’ WEAPONS TO UKRAINE, PM SAYS (Ottawa) — Canada will send $7.8 million worth of lethal weapons to Ukraine, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said. The move is in response to “Ukraine’s specific request,” with the intent of deterring “further Russian aggression.” Other countries including the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Netherlands, are also sending arms. (National Post, Feb. 15, 2022)
OIL SOARS 3% TO 7-YR HIGHS ON UKRAINE JITTERS, TIGHT SUPPLIES (Moscow) — Oil prices ended 3% higher on Friday at fresh seven-year highs as escalating fears of an invasion of Ukraine by Russia, a top energy producer, added to concerns over tight global crude supplies. Russia has massed enough troops near Ukraine to launch a major invasion, Washington said, as it urged all U.S. citizens to leave the country within 48 hours. (Reuters, Feb. 11, 2022)
PUZZLE IN UKRAINE CRISIS: WHERE’S THE U.S. AMBASSADOR?(Washington) — It is a puzzle at the heart of the crisis over Russia’s threat to invade Ukraine: Why has President Biden, more than one year into his presidency, failed to name an ambassador to Kyiv? Neither the Biden administration nor Ukraine’s government is providing a clear explanation at a moment when the U.S. relationship with Ukraine is as consequential as it has ever been. (NY Times, Feb. 11, 2022)
FOR FURTHER REFERENCE
WATCH: Palestinians in Gaza Protest Hamas Abuse: United With Israel, Feb. 9, 2022 — Since Hamas has taken power in Gaza, the terror organization has prioritized its terror activities over anything that would improve the lives of the Palestinian people.
The Palestinian Authority’s Child Soldier Strategy: Itamar Marcus, Algemeiner, Feb. 9, 2022 — If you want to know what is really at the heart of the Palestinian conflict with Israel, don’t ask the politicians or the diplomats. Go to the real experts: Palestinian children.
