Via: PULSE.
Editor’s Note: This essay was written in response to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s speech at the Ottawa Conference on Combating Antisemitism on November 8th.
by Terry Greenberg
Blessed art the war mongers
For they are hastening the Second Coming;
Blessed art the ethnic-cleansers
For they are fulfilling the prophecy;
Blessed art the soldiers of Zion
For they are doing God’s Work;
Blessed art the enemies of free speech
For they are silencing the Devil.
On Parliament Hill in Ottawa on November 8, 2010 the Prime Minister of Canada delivered a sermon on good and evil to an international gathering of supporters of Israel in which he clearly articulated his view that all support for Israel is “good” and all animosity toward Israel is “evil”. In true Bible-thumper style he offered no middle ground, denouncing this as “moral ambivalence”. It was clear in his preaching that he believed Israel was God’s Plan, and any opposition to Israel was the Devil’s work.
It should be terrifying to Canadians that their Prime Minister would have such a fundamentalist and extremist world view. If we want to understand our current government’s foreign policy and the danger it poses to Canada’s welfare, it would be worthwhile to examine our Prime Minister’s “Sermon on the Hill”. All Canadians should read it for themselves and shudder.
Harper’s speech was remarkable in a number of ways which are outlined below:
1) Biblical eschatological thinking. This is the foundation to Harper’s speech and is partly evidenced in his repetitious use of evangelical code words; particularly “evil” (eight times) and “hope” (three times). “Evil” for evangelicals is anything that opposes God’s plan, and “hope” refers to the desire for an early arrival of the End Times. When both of these words are used in conjunction with Israel the coded implications are clear.
2) Harper out-Zionists the Zionists. He appropriates many of the most extremely absurdist claims of mainstream Zionist propaganda as his own, including the following:
a) That criticism of Israel’s policies is a new, more sophisticated form of anti-Semitism;
b) The Jewish people are faced with another imminent Holocaust;
c) That most criticism of Israel, including that made by Israel’s direct victims, the Palestinians, is motivated by anti-Semitism rather than legitimate grievances;
d) That people in the fields of human rights and international law are only interested in criticizing Israel because they are anti-Semitic. Continue reading
