Without Shame or Dignity: Tories Give $1-million to Radical Rabbi Friend of Foreign Minister

The Harper government is utterly Zionist and 110% Israel First. It seems there's no depth they're not prepared to plunge in their slavish support for the most radical elements among those occupying the land of others, Palestine, whose indigenous population, Moslem and Christian, has been expelled and persecuted by Zionist newcomers over the past 60-some years.


Prime Minister Harper has declared that "Israel's values are Canada's values" and "an attack on Israel is an attack on Canada." CTV NEWS (November 12, 2010) reported: " Prime Minister Stephen Harper says he is prepared to suffer any political backlash that comes his way for speaking out against anti-Israel rhetoric." On November 8, 2010, Mr. Harper declared: "All of my life, Israel has been a symbol – a symbol of the triumph of hope and faith. Our government believes that those who threaten Israel also threaten Canada, because, as the last world war showed, hate-fuelled bigotry against some is a threat to all"


In January, 2012, Foreign Minister John Baird made his third visit to Israel -- an inordinate amount of attention to a tiny and ultra-controversial state. There he was, dressed as a perfect clown with a yamulka -- a skull cap and symbol of a religion that is not his -- pledging support for foreign invaders. Worse, he was accompanied by a lobbyist for an ultra-radical Zionist sect. The Globe and Mail (January 31, 2012) reported: "For Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird, his third visit to Israel often seems to be a personal crusade.

Monday at Yad Vashem, Israel’s museum and memorial to the Holocaust, Mr. Baird ... told the audience of 350 that “Israel has no greater friend in the world than Canada,” then surprised people by saying 'Canada does not stand behind Israel... .' After a slight pause he continued: 'Canada stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Israel' in any threats and challenges it may face. He was met with warm applause.

Mr. Baird then said he had 'a confession' to make. 'I am not Jewish,” he said. 'But I have a rabbi.' He then proceeded to introduce Chaim Mendelsohn, director of public affairs of the Canadian Federation of Chabad Lubavitch, whom, he said, was accompanying the Minister on his visit to Israel." Being accompanie by a lobbyist for a radical Zionist sect certainly undermined any creibility Baird might have had as a fair and even-handed representative of Canada.
Canada's Foreign Minister John Baird and his "dear friend" and rabbi Chaim Mendelsohn

The Lubavitchers are a radical Hasidic sect. According to Wikipedia, their long-time head, the late Menachem "Schneerson looked to Torah law for the appropriate view of the Israeli-Arab conflict. He maintained that as a matter of Jewish law,[29] any territorial concession on Israel's part would endanger the lives of all Jews in the Land of Israel, and is therefore forbidden. He also insisted that even discussing the possibility of such concessions showed weakness, would encourage Arab attacks, and therefore endanger Jewish lives.

Dennis Greunding, a Canadian writer, noted on February 5, 2012: "Baird refused, when asked by journalists, to make any criticism of Israel’s deliberate building of settlements in Palestine lands under its military occupation. These settlements are widely considered to be illegal under international law. In contrast, when Baird met with Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, he lectured him about the folly of his going to the Untied Nations last year in a bid to have Palestinians recognized as a state. Baird told Abbas that Palestinians should get back to the table, without preconditions, to negotiate a two-state arrangement with Israel.

Jeffrey Simpson a Globe and Mail columnist described Baird’s uncouth diplomacy with Abbas in these words: “The Harper government insists that it favours a two-state solution, but everyone knows it will do or say nothing to nudge Israel in that direction, or to chastise Israel for doing next to nothing to move in that direction.”

The latest debasement of our Middle East policy was revealed Friday when it became public that Baird had intervened to get his "dear friend" and lobbyist Rabbi Mendelsohn's Lubavitcher group a $1-million grant that bureaucrats had strongly recommended against. The Globe and Mail (May 11, 2012) reported: "The Conservative government overruled federal bureaucrats and gave $1-million to a social hall project submitted by an Ottawa rabbi with close ties to Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird. After speaking to Mr. Baird, Human Resources Minister Diane Finley personally approved the project even though her officials determined it did not meet the criteria for a federal program aimed at making facilities wheelchair accessible.

The funding request for the expansion of a Jewish community centre known as a Chabad was submitted by Rabbi Chaim Mendelsohn of the Canadian Federation of Chabad Lubavitch, who serves as the Canadian face of the international Hasidic outreach movement.Ministers can make such decisions because they are ultimately responsible for spending in their department.
Mr. Baird acknowledges discussing the proposal with Ms. Finley. 'As the MP for Ottawa West-Nepean, he was happy to lend Rabbi Mendelsohn his support,' said Mr. Baird’s spokesman. 'Determinations are then made by the department.' ...
The money for the project came from the Enabling Accessibility Fund, a short-term program that offered federal grants for projects that 'improve accessibility and enable Canadians, regardless of physical ability, to participate in and contribute to their communities and the economy.' Ms. Finley’s department received 355 applications by the deadline of Jan. 13, 2011. Public servants graded submissions against the program’s criteria and whittled the list down to 25 that received at least 82 out of a possible 100 points."