There is nothing useful on this web site.
Even though the internet is the source of all truth, the only truth here is that everything else is a lie.
We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it. The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely.
All art is quite useless.- Oscar Wilde
Chances are that you not have heard of George Galloway until recently. He has made the news because he has been denied entry to Canada on the grounds that he supports terrorism, specifically Hamas. This was controversial because Mr. Galloway is a long standing British Member of Parliament, has been to Canada before, and was scheduled to speak at a number of engagements, some sold-out, at the invitation of his supporters here. He has many admirers in Canada, but they call him a peace activist, anti-war campaigner and humanitarian.
His speaking tour also includes 8 stops in the US, which has NOT banned Mr. Galloway. The plan now is to fulfill those commitments while fighting the Canadian ban in the courts.
Jason Kenney, Canada's Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, is supporting the decision made by unnamed officials of Canada's Border Services Agency. Mr Kenney has stated unequivocally that the reason behind the decision was that George Galloway recently gave cash to Hamas.
It's not about words, it's about deeds. It's not about his opinions, it's about his financial, material support for an illegal terrorist organization [1]
It will be a cold day in hell before you will hear Mr. Kenney admit that Hamas is also the
democratically elected government of the Gaza Strip. No credible person will contest
that inconvenient truth either. So what is this recent material and financial support
offered to this illegal terrorist organization
?
First, recall the latest Israel-Gaza conflict that began around Christmas 2008. Hamas, or at least the thugs and cowards supported by Hamas, started launching their crude home-made rockets into Israel. On December 27th, Israel launched Operation Cast Lead.
It was a planned and brutal operation, a much harsher retaliation than anything in the past. The people of Gaza saw over 1,300 killed and 5,400 wounded, 34% of them children. Israel lost 13 in the conflict, 10 of them soldiers.
A cease fire occurred January 18th, 2009. A week later Mr Galloway, a long time supporter for a Palestinian homeland, had started a humanitarian drive whose goal was to send 100 trucks of aid to the people of Gaza. The man is a powerful and passionate orator. The support poured in. Within a month they were ready to roll.
The convoy left London on Valentine's day. Three hundred volunteers began an 8000 km trek that would take them through France, Spain, across north Africa, through Egypt and finally into Gaza. Not only did Mr. Galloway get 110 vehicles filled with food, medical supplies, clothing and children's toys, the convoy included a fire truck and 26 ambulances.
They crossed borders that are normally closed or difficult to get through and arrived at the Egypt/Gaza border crossing on March 11. They marshalled the goods through the border crossing in exceptionally good time, infamous for its delays and excuses in blocking relief aid to Gaza by both Israel and Egyptian "authorities".
The relief effort was a grass roots campaign that delivered an estimated £1,000,000 worth of aid to Gaza. Mr. Galloway freely admits handing Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh £25,000 in cash. The YouTube videos show him handing over a plastic shopping bag that looks like something the owner of a large dog might have after a walk in the park.
Although cash given to Hamas was only 2½% of the total aid delivered, and it was handed over to the legally elected government of Gaza, the media in Canada and the government officials who have reached this stupid and hasty decision seem to be totally focused on the the doggie bag of money given to Ismail Haniyeh, who some Israelis would dearly love to see dead.
I challenge you to search the headlines like I have. Try to find an article from any of the major media publishers in Canada that mentions that Hamas is the elected government of Gaza. Try to find any article with the words Viva Palestina, the name given to the humanitarian effort organized by George Galloway.
You won't find it in Canada's big media; it's like it didn't happen. There is no attempt in telling the complete story. The bias and one sided reporting of our Canadian media is shocking. There is no investigative journalism happening, no debate whatsoever on whether or not Mr. Galloway's recent activities are humanitarian aid or terrorism, even though both positions are easily argued.
Instead, our media and our political leaders defer to the intelligence gathered by unnamed officials within Canada's hapless network of security agencies, the same security forces that killed an unarmed immigrant with a Taser and then lied about what happened; the same security agencies that gave false information to the Americans that resulted in a Canadian being sent to Syria and tortured; the same investigative network that erased crucial evidence and totally bungled a 20 year investigation into Canada's role in the Air India bombing?
It has become clear that the intelligence our officials possess has been provided by the Jewish Defence League (JDL) and their supporters. The JDL have even boasted about this, and a our highly concentrated media empires are happy to rake the muck served up and reach the same conclusions themselves
They have done a bang up job collectively calling George Galloway a nutcase while paying lip service to his right to freedom of speech. They argue that the security of Canada trumps the right to freedom of speech, therefore Galloway should not be allowed into Canada.
This is absolutely no debate on whether his recent activities, his convoy to Gaza, should be viewed as humanitarian aid or as terrorism. The question is never even asked!
The message is that George Galloway, five time elected British Member of Parliament, humanitarian, good samaritan, peace activist, brilliant debater and orator, is actually a terrorist.
The most revealing bit of journalism came from in a interview arranged by ITV in England between a spokesperson for the JDL and George Galloway. Meir Weinstein, a director of the JDL, was quite happy to offer his perspective on Canada's new foreign policy and national security priorities. Here are some of the more eye-popping statements (and their timestamps) made by Weinstein in the video link below.
[4:20] We are extremely determined to uncover any proxy agents of Hamas and Hizbollah and we have been successful [with] regards to Mr Galloway...
[4:37] We will be looking into these organizations in Canada that have invited [George Galloway to Canada and] their links to terror groups as well.
When Mr. Galloway responds with if they won't let me cross the border then I will
address those that want to hear me by other means
, Mr. Weinstein interrupts...
[5:33] "... we will see to it that the Canadian Government will be monitoring every individual and organization that will have anything to do with [the speaking tour]."
Even more shocking are statement made by Mr. Weinstein in an interview conducted by FrontPageMagazine.com in July of 2008.
The majority of Jewish groups are for a two-state solution, but we see it as a tragedy and that's what happened with [the] Oslo [Accords]… We believe that the Jewish people face a threat. Those threats must be exposed. There are so many [anti-Israel] groups that use simplistic terms, like boycott and racist in terms of Israel, and that is a code word for delegitimizing the State of Israel, or its destruction. That small state is surrounded by much larger Arab and Muslim states that make no apologies for their existence.
We don't believe there's a peace plan out there that's viable.
We also back the right of Arabs to leave Israel and to go to other countries. The government should make incentives. This is so that Israel doesn't find itself in a demographic nightmare. It's so that a Palestinian country will not be a threat to Israel and a war ground from which to target Israel.
The land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people, not the Arabs.
The land of Israel is larger than what we have right now. But that doesn't mean you initiate a conflict to seize additional Jewish land. Israel should be ready to hold on to every inch of land that they have right now. It belongs to us.
[The so-called Palestinians] are not the indigenous people to that area. Jews are. The fact that the Romans two thousand years ago overthrew us, still does not give them a right to our land. They're not the natives.
What I find very curious about the media coverage in Canada is that Meir Weinstein, (or whatever name he goes by), has made statements that are more outrageous and hateful than anything ever uttered by George Galloway. Yet none of this is mentioned in the media.
Indeed, Mr. Weinstein seems to be treated by the media with a reverence I find puzzling. Is this what Noam Chomsky calls Manufactured Consent?
This is just my opinion, but I find Meir Weinstein to be a very scary guy. I'm not sure how he became deputy foreign minister of Canada or director of Homeland Security, but if he's running Canada now then I think I'll stay in Holland for a while longer. I may need to come back and pick up a few things and, being a Canadian and all, I hope to be able to do that. I've never been a refugee before, but, hey, shit happens.
For now, I will respect the decision of our government and the laws of my country. Hamas is recognized in Canada as an illegal terrorist organization. It is against the law to support terrorist organizations; therefore George Galloway should not be allowed into Canada. Canada is right. The rest of the world is wrong.
But I'm a little confused here; having a hard time sorting things out. Please help me out if you can.
Hamas is the democratically elected government of Gaza, right? And a terrorist organization? That means security trumps democracy, right?
And Hamas has never been a threat to Canada, as far as I can tell. I'm willing to bet that even Canada's military have better rockets these clowns.
But when you factor in the 100:1 payback that happens, like 1300 Gazans for 13 Israelis, sorting out terrorism sure can get tough on the head. Help me out here, who are the terrorists again?
Is our new homeland security policy for the protection of Canada or Israel? Who decides who is a terrorist state and how? Is it wrong for me to ask these questions?
There seems to be new rules now. Do I have this right?
It leaves me wondering if George Orwell, if he were alive, would be allowed into Canada today?
And I have wondered if George Galloway ever asked himself the question "What would Jesus do?". Based on his past, I am willing to bet he has.
There is now a Facebook group: Let Him Speak: Allow George Galloway To Speak In Canada with an online petition.
This YouTube clip shows George Galloway at his finest, answering to a US Senate committee on phony charges leveled against him that he profited from Iraq's Oil-for-Food program.
It would have won an academy award had it been a movie.
Another great interview with CBC's George Stroumboulopoulos back in 2006 when Galloway was still allowed in Canada. Note what he says about the war in Afghanistan back then. Maybe he was right.
In this YouTube sound clip, Galloway debates will a phone-in caller about the war in Afghanistan.
Since Stephen Harper and Stephen Kenney are too cowardly to debate Mr. Galloway on this issue, in the commons, where proper debate belongs, I ask that the viewers and listeners here to imagine Jane, our phone-in caller, as a proxy agent (being the fashion these days) for our leaders that support the war in Afghanistan.