Well, monkey see monkey do. All the cool kids are recognizing the Palestinian terror state so Canada in a bold act of principled leadership will tag along. Or will we?
It’s hard to parse Mark Carney’s statements, not least because he lies so much about everything from his business dealings to his policy positions. Moreover he’s one of those politicians who can somehow say nothing and still manage to be untruthful. And he seems to have done it here.
His statement on the Middle East began “Canada has long been committed to a two-state solution – an independent, viable, and sovereign Palestinian state living side by side with the State of Israel in peace and security.” To which the obvious retort is “It’s not about us.” But you know how the self-obsessed are.
So OK, it’s about us. What do the great we think? Or rather the great him, “speaking for Canada now” without, you know, consulting us first or anything. Weirdly, he continues “For decades, it was hoped that this outcome would be achieved as part of a peace process built around a negotiated settlement between the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority. Regrettably, this approach is no longer tenable.”
Which is weird, first, because it appears to acknowledge actual reality in the Middle East, something Canada has long been committed to avoiding with its blather about a Palestinian state in part of the traditional territory of Israel living in peace with a Jewish homeland on the rest of it. (Or some of it; historical Israel was a lot bigger than the current version.) And is weirder, second, because it then ignores that reality in a blithe, bland and wicked way.
The reality in question being, of course, that the Palestinian authorities and, it seems, a majority of the populace were committed to wiping Israel off the map and its inhabitants if they could lay their hands on them, and still are. Which makes the two-state solution, how shall I put it, untenable.
As Carney appears to acknowledge, since his statement notes that the two-state solution is looking like a non-starter because, first, of “The pervasive threat of Hamas terrorism to Israel and its people, culminating in the heinous terrorist attack of October 7, 2023, and Hamas’ longstanding violent rejection of Israel’s right to exist and a two-state solution.” But here’s where the statement instead gets really, perversely weird.
It proceeds to blame Israel three times including for some trivial Knesset vote, hardly on a par with the deliberate sexual atrocities of Oct. 7. Then it vapours: “Preserving a two-state solution means standing with all people who choose peace over violence or terrorism, and honoring their innate desire for the peaceful co-existence of Israel and Palestinian states as the only road map for a secure and prosperous future.” OK, so that means we’re with Israel and not Hamas or the Palestinian Authority, right?
Ha ha. Wrong. Instead, incredibly, “For these reasons, Canada intends to recognize the state of Palestine at the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly in September 2025.” Thus rewarding terrorism and intransigence and abandoning Israel who we weren’t even really supporting anyway. As Britain and France are also doing.
The British case is especially odious because what their Prime Minister Keir Starmer said was “as part of this process towards peace I can confirm the UK will recognise the state of Palestine by the United Nations General Assembly in September unless the Israeli government takes substantive steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza, agree to a ceasefire and commit to a long-term, sustainable peace, reviving the prospect of a Two State Solution.”
Not unless Hamas does. Not unless the Palestinian Authority does. Unless Israel does, including somehow unilaterally agreeing to a ceasefire with maniacal enemies who won’t stop attacking it.
Even a blancmange like Starmer must be aware of the argument that recognizing Palestinian statehood in the wake of the Oct. 7 genocidal mass-rape massacre is rewarding bad things, and that he has literally told Hamas that he will recognize them unless they make peace with Israel but not if they do. It sounds insane. And in some sense it is. But not in the sense of being incoherent, in the sense of being coherently, wilfully, perversely, arrogantly and smugly wrong.
The internal syllogism seems to run along these lines. Major Premise: It must be possible to have Mideast Peace. Minor Premise: Hamas will not make peace. Conclusion: Someone else must be able to. Who? Well, obviously our political class because they are so great they can move mountains by their faith in themselves. But also Israel since it’s the other party actually fighting. Thus French President Emmanuel Macron babbled “Today the most urgent thing is that the war in Gaza cease and the civilian population be helped” so he’ll recognize the terrorists who started the war and won’t release the hostages or let aid in.
It is, of course, the same mentality that said if Hitler wouldn’t give up his territorial ambitions to preserve peace it was up to Western politicians to agree to them to preserve peace. And we know how that worked out including for the Jews of Europe. Or do we?
Not judging by our leaders’ words. Including that Carney’s statement goes on to say, “This intention is predicated on the Palestinian Authority’s commitment to much-needed reforms, including the commitments by Palestinian Authority president Abbas to fundamentally reform its governance, to hold general elections in 2026 in which Hamas can play no part, and to demilitarize the Palestinian state.” And if you believe that you’ll believe anything. Including his pro forma declaration that “Hamas must immediately release all hostages taken in the horrific terrorist attack of October 7” and that “Hamas must disarm” and “Hamas must play no role in the future governance of Palestine.”
So to be fair to him, he has apparently laid down conditions for our recognition and good ones. If implemented they would be a major step toward the Palestinian entity ceasing to be a hate-fueled terror base, and the fact that they won’t be is useful proof of who the villains are here. But as usual with Carney, what you hear is not what you get, because the crucial elections won’t be held until after we extend recognition. What if they’re not? Or what if they are and Hamas is allowed to take part, overtly or under a nom de guerre? Will we withdraw recognition?
In a “Readout” of a phone conversation between Carney and Abbas, the PMO’s flacks doubled down on this fatuity with“Prime Minister Carney welcomed President Abbas’ commitment to these reforms.” But what wasn’t exactly spelled out is whether he believed it as Chamberlain believed Hitler, or what he’d do if was wrong to.
Remember, the rickety ancient slippery Holocaust-denying KGB asset Abbas has been president of the Palestinian Authority since 2005 and not because he keeps winning elections. Because he doesn’t bother holding them, having in classic seedy fashion been elected president For Life by … uh… the PLO Central Council in December 2009. So he may well not be alive in 2026 and if he is, he’s not really an elections kind of guy.
Also Hamas won’t disarm, release the hostages or relinquish its goal of massacring all Jews for Allah. So if our conditions aren’t met, we should at least be able to tell whether we have a clear commitment not to proceed with recognition. But with Carney, of course, we can’t.
We can’t partly because in his usual Supreme Leader fashion he made this pledge-like object without consulting Parliament, declaring “I am speaking for Canada now”. Perhaps because last year, Blacklock’s Reporter pointedly observes, MPs including some in his own Liberal caucus voted down unilateral recognition of Hamastine. Possibly he could now pass it, given the weird love affair on the left with bigoted terror. The NDP welcomed the announcement, their venomous critic for foreign affairs Heather McPherson putting out a laudatory statement including the preposterous “Experts agree: the time for recognition is now.” Experts in what? Appeasement? Siding with antisemites? Hating your own civilization?
That this decision runs contrary to Canada’s national interest regarding the United States, Israel’s only real friend in the world, presumably also goes without saying. But Donald Trump said it anyway, calling this idiotic declaration a major obstacle to trade negotiations that matter a lot more to us than appeasing Jew-haters which isn’t even in our interest anyway. Carney of course appears to think his majestic self can brush aside the United States as well as Middle Eastern Islamist antisemitism, and lies about elbows up while trying to appease Trump and failing, more reason to regard his judgement and honesty as equally suspect, because he says nothing or talks out of both sides of his mouth and somehow still lies.
So we will in fact align with terrorists while pretending not to sort of. Is this a great country or what?
