Gord's Notebook : George Galloway Banned From Canada By The Stephen Harper Neoconservative Regime

UPDATE: 12:56 AM,& 11:02 AM March 23, 2009

" We aren't afraid of free speech in this country. U.S. authorities haven't denied him entry there. In recent years, the Canadian government has blocked the likes of Bill Ayers, an American Vietnam-era radical, and American anti-war activists Medea Benjamin and Ann Wright. The Harper Conservatives make us all look like country bumpkins. People who don't share their views aren't all hideous threats to the nation."

From: EDITORIAL
TheStar.com | Opinion | Silly ban on British MP March 21, 2009

George Galloway being interviewed CBC March 22, 2009

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The Neocons still in control in Canada
George Galloway banned from entering Canada
The Harper Government calls Galloway a security risk
Galloway they claim is an operative for Hamas
Canada against any aid going to Gaza
Harper & Co. support Israel Unconditionally
Harper still under the spell of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Karl Rove
Israel accused of War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity see articles below-

If Galloway is a security risk for giving humanitarian aid to Gaza does that mean that any Canadian citizen including myself who is in favor of sending humanitarian aid to Gaza is a " Security Risk " . Is the crime sending aid to Gaza or is it now a crime to ever criticize Israel in anyway, shape or form. Will the Harper Regime send out its Secret Police to arrest any Canadian who dares to show sympathy for the people of Gaza.

It is also odd that the US is allowing Galloway into their country as part of his speaking tour. Even when Bush had been in power Galloway was allowed into the US.

Odd how the Harper Regime has a policy which allows former President Bush who has been accused of War Crimes and who has admitted to authorizing the use of torture to be allowed into Canada. Bush also launched an unnecessary war of aggression against the sovereign nation of Iraq based upon cooked-up and cheery picked intelligence.

What was Galloway's crime daring to give humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza. Now if Galloway were a torturer he would be welcomed into Canada . If Galloway had dropped White Phosphorus on civilians he would get a hero's welcome. If Galloway had shot and killed UN workers in Gaza or help to bomb schools and hospitals in Gaza he would be welcome in Canada.

Of course according to Stephen Harper and his neocon supporters as far as they are concerned Canadians or that is Real Canadians were not supposed to question the Holier Than Thou Bush Regime and its propaganda it created to justify the invasion and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. We were also not supposed to criticize the Bush Regime for its use of torture on prisoners or the abuses of detainees at Gitmo or Abu Ghraib and a hundred other US run prisons that were part of an ongoing policy
of the Bush Regime.

For instance one of the reasons that Stephen Harper has been so hostile or dismissive of the CBC( Canadian Broadcasting Corporation which is financed through the government of Canada ) is that they presented several documentaries which were critical of the Bush Regime.

For instance see the editorial in The Star on Galloway being Banned By Canadian Government:

EDITORIAL
TheStar.com | Opinion | Silly ban on British MP March 21, 2009

Plumb foolish. That's how Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government looks, declaring gadfly British MP George Galloway inadmissible to Canada.

Galloway was about to kick off a Canada-U.S. speaking tour but was denied entry by immigration officials as a security threat. The radical, anti-war, Taliban-friendly MP has cheerfully delivered humanitarian aid to the Hamas regime in Gaza, which might be a problem here, because it is classified as a terrorist group. Yet he has no criminal record and has broken no laws here.

He may be an affront to Conservatives and others, but that doesn't mean he poses a threat to Canada. He should be granted entry to speak whatever sense, or nonsense, he wants.

We aren't afraid of free speech in this country. U.S. authorities haven't denied him entry there. In recent years, the Canadian government has blocked the likes of Bill Ayers, an American Vietnam-era radical, and American anti-war activists Medea Benjamin and Ann Wright. The Harper Conservatives make us all look like country bumpkins. People who don't share their views aren't all hideous threats to the nation.

Banning British MP a clumsy, dangerous move by Thomas Walom at The Star.com March 21, 2009

Jason Kenney has gone over the edge. The increasingly erratic immigration minister made headlines last week when, in a fit of pique, he cut off funding to an Arab organization that helps newcomers learn English. Now, Kenney has banned British MP George Galloway from entering Canada, on the spurious grounds that he supports Middle East terrorism.

It's a clumsy move, designed presumably to bolster the Conservative government's support among voters who ardently back Israel.

But in a roundabout way it does illustrate how absurdly broad Canada's new anti-terror laws are and how dangerous they can be in the wrong hands.

Galloway's apparent crime was to deliver humanitarian aid last week to Gaza's Hamas government, which Canada deems a terrorist organization. But the 54-year-old Scottish MP's real sin was that he couldn't resist rubbing it in. Others have taken aid into Hamas-controlled Gaza, including a delegation of Canadians and Americans who crossed into the Palestinian territory on March 8.

As well, other Western politicians talk to Hamas. Last weekend, another British MP met the organization's top leader.

...But he's not by any stretch of the imagination a danger to this country. Even Kenney must recognize that.

Yet in terms of Canada's ludicrously broad immigration and anti-terror laws – which deem criminal anyone who advocates any kind of relationship with a proscribed organization – he's apparently inadmissible.

...Sadly, the Galloway incident is part of a pattern. Earlier this week, Kenney said he would not renew $2.5 million worth of contracts that the Canadian Arab Federation uses to teach English to new immigrants.

Ostensibly he was punishing federation head Khaled Mouammar for calling on Canada to treat Hamas and another proscribed body, the Lebanese militia Hezbollah, as "legitimate organizations."

In fact, Mouammar is articulating a fairly common opinion among practitioners of realpolitik. Even the British government is reopening talks with Hezbollah, an organization it and Canada regard as terrorist.

The real reason for Kenney's snit may be that in January Mouammar called him a "professional whore," who supports Israel abroad to win Jewish votes at home.

Professional fool might be more apt. And a dangerous one. It's not unusual for politicians to pander for votes. But a government that limits freedom of speech on grounds as flimsy as those cited by Kenney is unconscionable.

" Kenney bunk " by Douglas Bell, at Globe and Mail ,March 21, 2009

I realize I'm piling on here, but Jason Kenney's decision to confirm his department's decision to bar George Galloway from entering Canada because he's a “threat to our national security” is a flying jibe for a party trying to tack to the center. It allows Michael Ignatieff to straddle an issue that gives him credibility on both sides without spending one penny of political capital.

"If he's being barred on free speech grounds," Ignatieff said, "that's an outrage. You can come to Canada and talk rubbish all day long as far as I'm concerned. If there's a security threat, that's another matter, and I've heard no evidence yet that he presents a security threat. And of course if there is one, as a responsible public official I will accept what security services say on Mr. Galloway."

George Galloway is the Fantasia Barrino of the looney left — an entertaining force of nature who's only ever singing to the choir. There's no point in interrupting him or even engaging with him. He's dusted Norm Coleman and Christopher Hitchens where they live. And now he's going to do the same thing to the Conservative Party of Canada; all of which could have been avoided if Jason Kenney had just let him into the country and got out of the way. Galloway wouldn't have changed a mind or a vote. Now even the Globe is forced to bitch slap the Tories; proving yet again that you can lead a neocon to water but you can't make him think.

as one commentator noted :

Ken S from Simcoe North, ON, Canada writes: What is the national security issue? Galloway is not a Tory or does not share Harper's ideology! If that is so 2 of 3 voters in the last federal election (like me) therefore are a national security issue. Will the government be coming to round us up in the middle of the night?

Jewish Defense League claims George Galloway is a secret proxy of Hamas. They claim that all individuals who are willing to attend an event in Canada at which George Galloway speaks must be investigated by the Canadian Government. Any group in canada whether a political group or that of a church or mosque whether they are Christians , Muslims, Jews or atheists must all be investigated.It seems that issues of Human Rights as such do not apply to the citizens of Gaza or any other place where the Israeli Army (IDF )operates ie Lebanon etc.

Part of the problem with the JDL statement about George Galloway is that he is a member of the British Parliament and speaks out publicly against certain actions of the Israeli government and military . He does not hide his views but speaks about them publicly.

Canada ban: Galloway faces his accusers a Jewish Defence League (JDL)representative

This clip shows why Galloway is persona Non Grata in Canada because he raises issues criticizing Israel. But he is not alone and a number of Human rights organizations including the United Nations & The Red Cross ( ICRC ) have accused Israel of committing War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity in its invasion of Gaza earlier this year.

George Galloway,America holds key to stopping the holocaust in Gaza by the terrorist state of Israel

Israeli soldiers say killing of civilians 'allowed' - 19 March 09

The clip below from The Young Turks illustrates the attitude of many people in the West who believe that all Middle Easterners are worse than Nazis. This fear mongering unfortunately has worked to the point that those who are against the abuse and torture of POWS are characterized as evil and of defending the actions of terrorists. anyone who dares to claim that Iraqis, Iranians, Palestinians and those imprisoned by Americans or the British or NATO forces should have the same rights as any POWS is seen as UnCanadian or UnAmerican as traitors and as forming a fifth column acting on behalf of the terrorists. . To be outraged by Israel's treatment of the people of Gaza and the West Bank is considered as being anti-Western, anti-Democracy, anti-Christian and anti-Israel and anti-Semitic.

US Senator -- Middle Easterners are Worse Than Nazis-March 20 ,2009

And here's some examples of the allegations being made against Israel in its action in Gaza:

Soldiers' Accounts of Gaza Killings Raise Furor in Israel by Ethan Bronner New York Times March 19,2009

. On Thursday, the military's chief advocate general ordered an investigation into a soldier's account of a sniper killing a woman and her two children who walked too close to a designated no-go area by mistake, and another account of a sharpshooter who killed an elderly woman who came within 100 yards of a commandeered house.

When asked why that elderly woman was killed, a squad commander was quoted as saying: "What's great about Gaza - you see a person on a path, he doesn't have to be armed, you can simply shoot him. In our case it was an old woman on whom I did not see any weapon when I looked. The order was to take down the person, this woman, the minute you see her. There are always warnings, there is always the saying, 'Maybe he's a terrorist.' What I felt was, there was a lot of thirst for blood."

The testimonies by soldiers, leaked to the newspapers Maariv and Haaretz, appeared in a journal published by a military preparatory course at the Oranim Academic College in the northern town of Tivon. The newspapers promised to release more such anecdotal accounts on Friday, without saying how many.

... Amir Marmor, a 33-year-old history graduate student in Jerusalem and a military reservist, said in an interview with The New York Times that he was stunned to discover the way civilian casualties were discussed in training discussions before his tank unit entered Gaza in January. "Shoot and don't worry about the consequences," was the message from the top commanders, he said. Speaking of a lieutenant colonel who briefed the troops, Mr. Marmor said, "His whole demeanor was extremely gung ho. This is very, very different from my usual experience. I have been doing reserve duty for 12 years, and it was always an issue how to avoid causing civilian injuries. He said in this operation we are not taking any chances. Morality aside, we have to do our job. We will cry about it later."

...Still, Israeli ethicists say they are troubled by what they have heard.

"Unfortunately, I think that selective use of killing civilians has been very much on the agenda for fighting terror," said Yaron Ezrahi, a political scientist at Hebrew University who has been lecturing at defense colleges. "The army believes that a weak spot of Israeli deterrence is its strong commitment not to kill civilians, and there has grown the sense that it might have to temporarily overcome that weakness in order to restore deterrence."

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Using Palestinian Families as human shields , showing disrespect and killing for no particular reason:

"IDF in Gaza: Killing civilians, vandalism, and lax rules of engagement" By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent March 19, 2009

During Operation Cast Lead, Israeli forces killed Palestinian civilians under permissive rules of engagement and intentionally destroyed their property, say soldiers who fought in the offensive.

The soldiers are graduates of the Yitzhak Rabin pre-military preparatory course at Oranim Academic College in Tivon. Some of their statements made on Feb. 13 will appear Thursday and Friday in Haaretz. Dozens of graduates of the course who took part in the discussion fought in the Gaza operation.

The speakers included combat pilots and infantry soldiers. Their testimony runs counter to the Israel Defense Forces' claims that Israeli troops observed a high level of moral behavior during the operation. The session's transcript was published this week in the newsletter for the course's graduates.

The testimonies include a description by an infantry squad leader of an incident where an IDF sharpshooter mistakenly shot a Palestinian mother and her two children. "There was a house with a family inside .... We put them in a room. Later we left the house and another platoon entered it, and a few days after that there was an order to release the family. They had set up positions upstairs. There was a sniper position on the roof," the soldier said.

...The squad leader said he argued with his commander over the permissive rules of engagement that allowed the clearing out of houses by shooting without warning the residents beforehand. After the orders were changed, the squad leader's soldiers complained that "we should kill everyone there [in the center of Gaza]. Everyone there is a terrorist."

The squad leader said: "You do not get the impression from the officers that there is any logic to it, but they won't say anything. To write 'death to the Arabs' on the walls, to take family pictures and spit on them, just because you can. I think this is the main thing: To understand how much the IDF has fallen in the realm of ethics, really. It's what I'll remember the most."

and: " Israeli soldiers admit 'murdering'" Gazans PressTV.com Thu, 19 Mar 2009

Israeli soldiers have confessed to wanton killing of Palestinian civilians and behaving immorally during the Operation Cast Lead in Gaza.

The soldiers who fought in the Gaza war told a post-operation conference that they had killed Palestinian civilians and intentionally destroyed their property under permissive rules of engagement.

"When we entered a house, we were supposed to bust down the door and start shooting inside and just go up story by story... I call that murder. Each story, if we identify a person, we shoot them. I asked myself - how is this reasonable?", an Israeli soldier said.

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and:

Final Gaza toll shows 960 civilians killed - group Reuters UK, Mar 12, 2009

* Rights group says Israelis used indiscriminate force

GAZA, March 12 (Reuters) - Israel's 22-day offensive in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip killed 1,434 people, including 960 civilians, 239 police officers and 235 fighters, a Palestinian human rights group said on Thursday.

Israel carried out attacks by air, land and sea from Dec. 27 to Jan. 18 in a bid, it said, to force Hamas and other militant Islamist groups to stop firing rockets and mortars at southern Israeli towns across their border.

"The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights' investigations reveal that throughout the course of the assault, Israeli Occupation Forces used excessive, indiscriminate force, in violation of the principle of distinction," the group said in a report (www.pchrgaza.org).

The principle of distinction "obliges all parties to the conflict to distinguish between combatants and non-combatants".

...The group said it would publish a list of the identities of those killed next week and would post them on its website in Arabic, with an English version to follow.

It said the "disproportionately high rate of death amongst the civilian population, when compared to that of resistance fighters" was evidence that Israeli forces had not respected this principle.

The rights group said 288 children and 121 women were among civilians killed in the bombing and shelling.

"The Ministry of Health have also confirmed that a total of 5,303 Palestinians were injured in the assault, including 1,606 children and 828 women," it said.

It called for an international investigation into "crimes committed by the Israeli forces and Israel's conduct of hostilities" and "prosecution of all political and military officials" accused.

" Israel's dirty secrets in Gaza " By Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem The Independent Friday, 20 March 2009

Army veterans reveal how they gunned down innocent Palestinian families and destroyed homes and farms

and:

19 March '09: Israeli Human Rights Organizations Call on the Attorney General: “Stop whitewashing suspected crimes in Gaza" B'Tselem

Israeli human rights organizations have reiterated demands that Attorney General Menachem Mazuz reconsider his refusal to establish an independent investigative body to examine military proceedings during Operation Cast Lead. Such an investigation is critical following the revelation of soldier testimonies concerning the killing of innocent Palestinians revealed this morning in Haaretz. Many Palestinian accounts have reflected a similar picture to that revealed today, triggering suspicions that today's revelations represent only the tip of the iceberg, and that they are the result of norms of conduct that have taken hold throughout the army.

A letter sent by the Israeli Human Rights Organizations to the Attorney General makes clear that the government's failure to establish an independent investigation constitutes a violation of Israel's responsibilities under international law. At the same time, it is a dangerous act which illustrates cowardice in the midst of possible IDF criminal activity, behavior that increases the possibility that Israeli officers and soldiers will face trials abroad.

also see:

UN envoy: Gaza op seems to be war crime of greatest magnitude Haaretz, March 20, 2009

A United Nations human rights investigator said on Thursday that Israel's offensive against Hamas in densely populated Gaza appeared to constitute a war crime of the "greatest magnitude."

Richard Falk, UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, said the Geneva Conventions required warring forces to distinguish between military targets and surrounding civilians.

"If it is not possible to do so, then launching the attacks is inherently unlawful and would seem to constitute a war crime of the greatest magnitude under international law," Falk said.

"On the basis of the preliminary evidence available, there is reason to reach this conclusion," he wrote in an annual report submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Falk called for an independent experts group to be set up to probe possible war crimes committed by both Israeli forces and Hamas.

Violations included Israel's alleged "targeting of schools, mosques and ambulances" during the December 27-January 18 offensive and its use of weapons including white phosphorus, as well as Hamas firing of rockets at civilian targets in southern Israel.

Falk said that Israel's blockade of the coastal strip of 1.5 million people violated the Geneva Conventions, which he said suggested further war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity.

The aggression was not legally justified and may represent a "crime against peace" - a principle established at the Nuremberg trials of Nazi criminals, according to the American law professor who serves as the Human Rights Council's independent investigator.

He further suggested that the Security Council might set up an ad hoc criminal tribunal to establish accountability for war crimes in Gaza, noting Israel has not signed the Rome statutes establishing the International Criminal Court...

and from Amnesty International:

UN urged to 'find truth' about Gaza conflict By Amnesty InternationalMarch 16, 2009

A group of 16 of the world's leading war crimes investigators and judges - backed by Amnesty International - has urged the United Nations to launch a full inquiry into alleged gross violations of the laws of war committed by both sides during the recent conflict in Gaza and southern Israel.

An open letter - entitled 'Find the truth about Gaza war' - was sent to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday. The letter's signatories include Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson and judge Richard Goldstone, formerly Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda.

A UN inquiry is currently investigating attacks which were carried out against UN facilities and personnel in Gaza during the three-week conflict.

"The UN investigation is not sufficient as a response to the grave violations that were committed during the conflict. Hundreds of civilians were killed or injured, and it is vital that the circumstances in which they were attacked are fully investigated," said Malcolm Smart, Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme.