Will Canada Be The Next Country To Abandon Israel?

Canadian Elections Could Spell Doom for Israel as “Anti-Israel” Candidates Gain Ground

By Raphael Poch October 19, 2015 , 11:30 am

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“A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.” (Proverbs 17:17)

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On Monday, October 19th, the Canadian parliament will hold elections, possibly jeopardizing the pro-Israel stance of its government. The Conservative-led Canadian government has been one of Israel’s best friends for nine years, standing up for Israel time and again in international bodies such as the United Nations, as well as the G8, under the leadership of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Breaking Israel News spoke with Ilan Mann, a Conservative party activist working on the campaign of an incumbent MP (Member of Parliament) for Thornhill, which has a very strong Jewish representation. Mann described why it is so important for people who care about Israel, Jews and non-Jews alike, to vote for the Conservative Party of Canada.

“The Conservative government’s record on Israel has been second to none, both in Canadian history, and in the international community,” he explained. “This is represented clearly by the fact that several Israeli and Canadian publications have commented that Harper is ‘Israel’s best friend.’”

In January 2014, Israel honored Harper by giving him the “Key to the Knesset” in thanks for his friendship. Harper, in an address to the Knesset, told the Israeli people and the world that Canada will stand with Israel through fire and water.

Harper’s “morality doctrine” has been the lynchpin of his government’s foreign policy for the Middle East, often garnering bad press for Canada. When Canada’s bid for a coveted seat on the United Nations Security Council was rejected, the Conservative government’s Israel stance was cited by its critics as a possible explanation why.

“The Conservative Party of Canada recognizes Israel as a beacon of freedom in a region plagued by oppression, tyranny and terror, which is why we will continue to stand with Israel on the world stage,” said Mann. Indeed, the Harper government has not flinched from the proverbial slap in the face it received from the United Nations, even going so far as to harshly criticize the international body by calling it a “debate club for dictators.”

It seems that other parties vying for control over the Canadian parliament are looking to appear strong on Israel as well. According to Mann, “This election, every party has tried to emulate the Conservative Party’s principled position on the Canada-Israel relationship.”

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However, Mann added, this newly adopted stance may not be as genuine as it seems for the Liberal or National Democratic Party (NDP). “The reality is, that actions speak louder than words,” Mann said. “The Conservative Party is the only party that is not running, and will not run, a single anti-Israel or anti-Semitic candidate.”

“The Conservative Party will never take the middle road when it comes to the only democracy in the Middle East,” he added.

Mann said that the track records of other candidates running for office speak for themselves. “The NDP ranks are ripe with anti-Israel candidates, including star candidate Andrew Cash, who has spoken in favor of the BDS movement,” he pointed out.

Mann also noted that the Liberal party’s list features anti-Israel MPs. “The Liberal ticket includes Omar Alghabra, former head of the Canadian Arab Federation, who has refused to condemn Palestinian suicide bombers as terrorists, doesn’t believe that Hamas is committed to the elimination of Israel and said that Israel’s actions in defense of its citizen during last year’s operation in Gaza were ‘blind and cruel’,” he told Breaking Israel News.

Mann compared the empty rhetoric of other parties to the Conservative Party’s consistently pro-Israel actions. “Meanwhile, the Conservatives have spoken publicly against the BDS movement, have stood by Israel in the face of rockets and ongoing terror, and defunded the Canadian Arab Federation for their support of terrorism and promotion of anti-Semitism,” he said.

“When it comes to the question of the Canada-Israel relationship, there has never, in our short history as friend and allies, been a starker choice,” he concluded.

Canadians go to the polls on Monday, October 19th, in what is shaping up to be one of the closest elections in Canadian history. According to current election polls, the Liberal party has a strong lead. What this will mean for Canada’s close relationship with Israel remains to be seen.

Read more at https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/51515/israels-best-friend-at-risk-as-canadian-conservative-party-faces-elections-jerusalem/#1wvBZ9EW30gZMJy2.99

Are The German Football Hooligans Only Interested In Stopping Islam Or Is There Something Else Going On There?

Germany: Hooligans Declare War on Islamic Radicals

by Soeren Kern
November 10, 2014 at 5:00 am

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4859/germany-hooligans-salafists

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Hooligans from rival football clubs have temporarily set aside their mutual hatred for each other in order to unite against a common enemy: radical Salafists who are bringing Islamic Sharia law to Germany.
After police predicted that more than 10,000 hooligans would show up at an anti-Salafist rally in Berlin, authorities cancelled the event. Similar rallies planned for Frankfurt, Hamburg and Hannover have also been banned.
Vogel, a former professional boxer who often depicts himself as the embodiment invincible Islam, is now portraying himself as a helpless and fearful victim of the football hooligans

A group of nearly 5,000 football hooligans from across Germany gathered in the western city of Cologne on October 26 to protest the spread of radical Islam in the country.
The watershed march was organized by a new initiative called "Hooligans against Salafists," better known by its German abbreviation, HoGeSa, short for Hooligans gegen Salafisten.
HoGeSa is a burgeoning alliance between hooligans from rival football clubs who have temporarily set aside their mutual hatred for each other in order to unite against a common enemy: radical Salafists who want to replace Germany's democratic order with Islamic Sharia law.
The alliance has its roots in a hidden Internet forum called GnuHoonters (homophone of "New Hunters") formed in 2012 between 17 different hooligan groups from across Germany. GnuHoonters was established primarily to fight anarchists, Marxist-Leninists and other left-wing extremists in the country.
In 2013, some 300 members of GnuHoonters set up another hidden Internet forum called "Because Germans Still Dare" (Weil Deutsche sich's noch trauen), aimed at developing an action plan to fight the leaders of Germany's Salafist scene.
After the forum was hacked in early 2014 and its secrets were spilled to the public, the group adopted the name "Hooligans against Salafists" and began operating openly. Initially, HoGeSa's activities were limited to the Internet and social media, through which it developed a considerable following. Its Facebook page, for example, had more than 40,000 followers before it was recently shut down by Facebook censors.
On September 28, 2014, around 300 HoGeSa members met in person for the first time in Dortmund, a city in the German state of North-Rhine Westphalia that has a large Muslim population. Similar meetings were also held in the cities of Essen, Mannheim and Nuremberg.
These introductory meetings paved the way for HoGeSa's first mass gathering, the rally in downtown Cologne on October 26. The organizers of the event were expecting a turnout of around 1,500 hooligans, but more than three times that many people (4,900 by some counts) showed up.
According to some commentators, the mass mobilization was fuelled in part by a growing sense of frustration that the German government is not doing enough to curb the spread of Islam in the country. Others said that protesters were incited by the Salafists' unceasingly provocative support for the jihadist group Islamic State.
The rally, which began in front of Cologne's central train station, was initially peaceful, given that Salafists appeared to give the area a wide berth. But matters turned extremely violent after participants refused to obey police orders to clear the area after the event was over.
More than 1,300 police were called in, many using batons, pepper spray and water cannons against the protesters, who hurled rocks, bottles and firecrackers at them. Nearly 50 police officers were injured and 20 protesters were arrested.

Thousands of police and hooligans face off at a rally by "Hooligans against Salafists" that turned into a riot in Cologne, Germany, on October 26, 2014. (Image source: Focus.de video screenshot)

The intensity of the violence shocked many Germans and commentators pondered over who these "new hooligans" are and whether this "unexpected phenomenon" portends serious trouble ahead.
One newspaper wrote: "The hooligans are more dangerous than ever. They have a new opponent. German security authorities are on high alert! A state security official has warned: 'If hooligans actually meet Salafists next time, there will certainly be severe injuries or deaths.'"
HoGeSa representatives seemed to apologize for the violence in Cologne, saying that "not everything went according to plan" and that they had learned from their mistakes.
At the same time, HoGeSa leaders insist that the group is "apolitical" and not connected to any partisan organization, including Germany's neo-Nazi movement. "We stand behind our cause," one of the event organizers shouted into a megaphone. "We are not right-wing radicals," he added.
But large numbers of neo-Nazis are said to have joined the rally, sparking fears that right-wing extremists are seeking to influence and possibly co-opt the hooligan scene, with the aim of leveraging HoGeSa's mass mobilization potential to its own advantage.
The newspaper Die Zeit reported that senior leaders of the neo-Nazi National Democratic Party of Germany [NPD] participated in the Cologne rally and offered to help "professionalize" the HoGeSa movement. "The starving NPD, which has been in a political free fall for three years now, is apparently on the offensive and wants to join this new extremist trend," the paper wrote.
A new report published by police in North-Rhine Westphalia estimates that there are a total of 13,600 hooligans in all of Germany, but that only 400 (or 3.3%) have ties to the neo-Nazi movement or other right-wing extremist groups.
The president of the German domestic intelligence agency BfV, Hans-Georg Maassen, saidthat hooligans have not been subject to state surveillance because, for the most part, they are "politically indifferent" and their personal values are limited to "drinking beer and fighting."
Some commentators argue that mainstream media outlets are now using the fear of hooligan violence to completely shut down the debate about the rise of Islam in Germany. They are doing so by demonizing any German citizen with legitimate concerns about the spread of Sharia law and the establishment of a parallel Muslim society in the country as "neo-Nazi."
In the words of one such commentator, the guardians of German multiculturalism are protecting the "beheaders of Christians and mutilators of women" by seeking to silence those who are politically incorrect enough to express outrage at such atrocities.
HoGeSa's next major rally was set to be held in Berlin on November 15. The event — which was being organized under the motto, "Against Salafists, Islamization and Refugee Policy" — was to have been held at the Pariser Platz, a square in the center of Berlin that is situated within walking distance of the seat of the German government.
The rally organizers originally said they were expecting a turnout of 1,000 people, but after police predicted that more than 10,000 hooligans would show up, authorities in Berlin cancelled the event. Similar rallies planned for Frankfurt, Hamburg and Hannover have also been banned, although social media chatter indicates that the hooligans plan to proceed anyway.
In any event, HoGeSa appears to be striking fear into the hearts of the Salafists, who are now on the defensive, an accomplishment that has so far eluded German counter-terrorism officials.
Following the violence in Cologne, Pierre Vogel, a notorious convert to Islam who in recent years has emerged as a central figure in Germany's Salafist scene, hired full-time bodyguardsto protect himself and his family.
The German media say Vogel, a former professional boxer who usually depicts himself as the embodiment of an invincible Islam, is now portraying himself as a helpless victim at the hands of football hooligans.

Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the New York-based Gatestone Institute. He is also Senior Fellow for European Politics at the Madrid-based Grupo de Estudios Estratégicos / Strategic Studies Group. Follow him on Facebook and on Twitter.

European Extremist Groups Win Seats In European Parliament. Disturbing Trend.

Neo-Nazis Set to Enter European Parliament

Posted by: Ahuva Balofsky May 27, 2014 , 1:19 pm

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“Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou bear witness in a cause to turn aside after a multitude to pervert justice.” (Exodus 23:2)

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In a frightening yet unsurprising turn of events, two neo-Nazi parties, Germany’s National Democratic Party and Greece’s Golden Dawn, gained enough votes in Europe’s parliamentary elections this week to take seats.  Recent changes in Germany’s election regulations, eliminating minimum thresholds, would allow the NPD to claim one of Germany’s 96 seats in the EU parliament, while Golden Dawn, with over 9 percent of the vote in Greece, would take 3.  There are 751 seats in the parliament, all told.

German Jews expressed immediate outrage over the results.  Dieter Graumann, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said in a statement, “Right-wing MPs are now coming into the European Parliament from all over Europe in order to implement their anti-European and extremist course.”

“Democratic parties are now called on to curb this way of thinking and to defend and maintain European values,” he added.  He referred to the senseless shooting at the Jewish Museum in Brussels, saying the “specter of anti-Semitism” had become a “brutal reality.”

“Such a thing can never be accepted and this message should be the very first which emanates from the new European Parliament,” Graumann said.

The European Jewish Congress blamed European “passivity” for the current climate of anti-Semitism and the rise of far-right parties across the continent.

“The alarming successes of extremist parties in these elections is the result of the passivity of European leaders and governments to deal with real issues facing European citizens,” EJC President Moshe Kantor, who heads the council of European Jewish leaders, said at a Monday meeting with senior Belgian politicians in the wake of the deadly Brussels shooting.

“What better example is there of the lack of security, the absence of tolerance and the climate of fear in our European cities than this attack on Jews in the capital of Europe?” Kantor said.

The NPD is self-described as “national socialist”, and efforts have been made in Germany to ban the party for its openly xenophobic and anti-Semitic attitudes.  Golden Dawn’s founder, Nikos Michaloliakos, is an admirer of Adolf Hitler who claimed in 2012 that the Nazis were not responsible for the Holocaust.  Six of its parliament members, including Michaloliakos, were detained that same year by police on charges of belonging to a criminal organisation after the killing of an anti-fascist musician.  One is still in prison.

In addition to these two parties, in France, the far-right National Front party scored 25 percent of the vote, and Austria’s Freedom Party achieved similar success.  Britain’s UK Independence Party, which promotes withdrawal from the European Union, won 27.5 percent of the national vote.  Hungary, too, was set to give seats to its far-right.

“To protect the values of our modern unified Europe we need European leaders to bolster existing legislation against hate, law enforcement agencies to strengthen enforcement and educators to teach against hate, intolerance and xenophobia to the next generation,” Kantor said.

“The European Union is supposed to be the bulwark against the rise of racism and intolerance but it has become the catalyst for the justification of its citizens to vote for extremists and racists,” he lamented.

“There is insecurity and there are real concerns over national identity. The Jewish community knows very well about immigration and we know about how minorities integrate into societies. These are real concerns, as much for minority communities as for indigenous citizens. If we want to combat anti-Semitism, racism and intolerance, we must address these issues,” Kantor concluded.

Europe has been experiencing a significant intensification in anti-Semitism.  Attacks on Jews are reported frequently, and an EU survey showed that one quarter of it Jewish population are afraid to wear identifying symbols.  Two recently-released studies on anti-Semitism worldwide, one by Tel Aviv University and the other by the Anti-Defamation League, have highlighted worrisome trends.  The TAU report showed an overall increase in the number of anti-Semitic attacks in recent years, while the ADL’s Global 100 survey indicated that over one quarter of the world’s population harbors anti-Semitic beliefs and attitudes.

Read more at http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/15702/neo-nazis-set-enter-european-parliament/#972pEpaUTp1uKLmc.99