Free Republic

"Canwest is shamelessly pro-israel"
The Aspers are proudly pro-Israel. Canwest is a whole collection of newspapers and other media, each with its own editor and editorial dept. I'm familiar with only one of them.

Re. "Confrontation at Concordia" I haven't seen it.

I do know that at Concordia U, the thugs are all on one side of the issue and it's not the Israeli side.

"What is wrong with suggesting terrorism should not apply to people under occupation?"

First, there is no absolute right to resist occupation.
Israel occupied the West Bank & Gaza during a defensive war. It has absolutely no obligation to hand over sovereignty until the Palestinians agree not to repeat their past aggression.

Second, armed resistance to any occupation should always be a last resort. But the current Palestinian war against Israel is not a reaction to the occupation at all; it's a reaction to the peace offer that would have ended the occupation.

In short the Palestinians have no right to any kind of armed resistance.

Next, I agree that targeting civilians is always wrong. MacDonald is saying an exception should be made for people under occupation. They should be allowed to target civilians - men, women and children.

If you don't know what's wrong with it, I have a great sweatshirt I can send you. On the front it says: "I support terrorism" On the back it says: "Target civilians" above a big bull’s-eye.

"how on earth are McDonalds comments anti-semitic?"
You're getting my comments mixed up with someone else's. I've never said MacDonald is antisemitic. My jury's still out on that.

MacDonald is obviously prejudiced against Americans, though.

You write:
"He goes on to say that “if Palestinians have committed terror, the Israelis have certainly committed war crimes.'"

I think this is a fair statemnt."

I don't think MacDonald's position is fair at all. There are laws against certain acts committed in war. That's why we have the term "war crime." MacDonald is arguing against the UN adopting an enforceable definition of terrorism - in other words, he is arguing that non-state actors should be exempt from the rules of war (i.e. terrorism is okay for people "under occupation").

Under the rules MacDonald wants, if an Israeli soldier deliberately (or perhaps even accidentally) kills a non-combatant, that's a war crime. If Palestinians blow up a city bus or shoot children while their mother reads them a bedtime story, that's legitimate resistance.

Also, Israel does not commit war crimes. We do know that individual Israeli soldiers do sometimes commit crimes against Palestinians. We know this because Israel investigates reported abuses, prosecutes when there is sufficient evidence and convicts soldiers who are guilty.

Does the Palestinian leadership prosecute "militants" who murder Israeli civilians? Hardly. The leadership is directing the attacks. Their entire strategy has been to commit an on-going crime against humanity.

There is no equivalency between what Israel does and what the terrorists do. Israel attempts to minimize civilian casualties. The Palestinians attempt to maximize them.

The CBC is a publically funded broadcaster.
By law, it's required to provide balanced and accurate covereage of the news. It doesn't. It has a bias against Israel.
The Toronto Star, the Toronto Sun and the National Post all have their biases, too. This is unfortunate, but they're not breaking any laws and my tax dollars aren't helping them put their own slants on the news.
As for most papers in the Canwest group, I have no idea what kind of coverage they provide, because I don't read them.
You say they're all biased toward Israel. I doubt it. Probably you're mistaking an editorial position for a bias. But that's something completely different. An editorial is meant to give an opinion. Bias is when the news itself is slanted.
If you want unbiased news, read the Globe and Mail.
As for my "bias," I'm a private citizen in a democracy. I not only have a right to a partisan position, but an obligation to stand up for what I believe.
You might say that Neil MacDonald has a right to his partisan views, too. I agree. If he wants to argue in a bar that Israelis and Americans are evil and that terrorists have a right to murder, he can. It just makes him an assh*le.
But when he slants the news toward his bizarre worldview and uses the CBC as his personal soapbox, this is an appalling abuse of his position, and he should be fired.
yours,
cb

Thanks!
Now I'm going to reveal the full extent of my ignorance -
What's a ping list?
yours,
cb

Ernest,
Thanks for the reference.
I heard about this book awhile ago but then promptly forgot the title and author.
yours
cb

In a recent piece for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (http://www.cbc.ca/news/viewpoint/vp_macdonald/20041203.html), he throws in a gratuitous slur against Americans.

If occupied, MacDonald says, ordinary Americans would eagerly become terrorists themselves:

“One suspects that if Texas were occupied by a foreign power, its citizens would pull out their guns and start shooting at any enemy target that presented itself, civilian or not.”

This passage builds on a derogatory stereotype of Americans as gun-toting killers. Where does the CBC get off claiming ordinary Texans - or any other Americans - would commit murder? Thet they would become terrorists? This is an expression of pure anti-American prejudice. And at the CBC, promoting prejudice against a national group can be a firing offence.

So lets not let MacDonald get away with it.

Tell the CBC that, as an American, you don’t appreciate being insulted on the basis of your nationality, or as a Canadian, that you don’t appreciate the CBC broadcasting prejudice.

Complain to Tony Burman, editor-in-chief of CBC News, at Tony_Burman@cbc.ca

I don’t really know how to spread the word on this – but please pass this suggestion along to your friends. The CBC often shrugs off complaints about news bias. It’s more difficult to shrug off complaints about outright prejudice.