The Liberal Party of Canada belongs a federation call the Liberal International, which includes as members some of the most virulently anti-Semitic organizations in the world.  Egypt, home to these groups, is hosting the 56th Congress of the Liberal International.

Too bad Michael Ignatieff couldn't take this opportunity to declare that Canadian Liberals would attend conferences with these sorts of people.

Update: Apparently the Liberal Party of Canada isn't attending.  Funny, but I don't remember a news release declaring this decision not to attend to be a protest against the membership of these groups in the Liberal International.

See update below.

Perhaps with a new Chief of Staff pulling the strings of leader-puppet Michael Ignatieff, the Liberal Party will reconsider attending conferences with anti-Semites:

Today Egypt will play host to the 56th Congress of Liberal International (LI), which bills itself as the world federation of liberal and progressive democratic parties. Among the nearly 70 parties represented by LI are Britain's Liberal Democrats, Germany's Free Democrats and the Liberal Party of Canada. In the U.S., LI's Web site cites the National Democratic Institute as a cooperating organization since 1986.

In Cairo, the visiting delegates will be hosted by the Al-Gabha, or Democratic Front Party (DFP). Western liberals (in the old-fashioned sense of that word) are always delighted to discover like-minded people in the Third World, and perhaps nowhere more so than in Arab countries. Yet, at least in Egypt, there's a dirty little secret about these self-described liberal parties: They are, for the most part, virulently anti-Semitic.

How anti-Semitic?  The sort of re-writing-history Holocaust-is-a-fraud anti-Semite:

Consider the case of Sekina Fouad, a well-known journalist who also serves as the DFP's vice president. In an article published earlier this year, Ms. Fouad dismisses any distinction between Jews and Israelis, the reason for which is "the extremity of the doctrine of arrogance, distinctiveness and condescension [the Jews] set out from and seek to achieve by all means, and on top of which blood, killing, terrorizing and frightening."

She corroborates this argument with an alleged statement by "President" Benjamin Franklin, asking Americans to expel Jews since they are "like locusts, never to get on a green land without leaving it deserted and barren." Needless to say, Franklin never made any such statement.

Then there is the case of Egypt's oldest "liberal" party, Al-Wafd, whose eponymous daily newspaper is one of Egypt's most active platforms for anti-Semitism. Following President Obama's conciliatory Cairo speech to the Muslim world, columnist Ahmed Ezz El-Arab faulted Mr. Obama for insisting that the Holocaust was an actual historical event.

Hey, I'm pretty sure Michael Ignatieff believes the Holocaust happened.  Indeed, I expect every single member of the Liberal Party, inside of caucus and out, believes the Holocaust happened.

You know Stephen Harper would never knowingly allow members of his party, or officials of this government, to attend such an event.  Canada did not attend Durban II for exactly that reason.

So why doesn't Michael Ignatieff take a stand and pull the Liberal Party of Canada out of this year's Liberal International?  Or better yet, out of the LI altogether, until it has purged itself of these elements?

But then maybe anti-Semitism is not something Michael Ignatieff loses sleep over.

Until that happens, we should keep an eye out for pictures from the conference.  Just to see who is shaking hands with whom.

Update: The OLO called to say that the Liberal Party of Canada would not been sending anyone to the Cairo conference, nor were they planning to.  The implication in the Wall Street Journal was inaccurate.  On the other hand, simply "no planning" to attend is a missed opportunity to declare that the Liberal Party of Canada has no intention to attend conferences in which these groups are welcome.  Oh well.  I suppose this is the best we can expect when it comes to Liberal Party foreign policy.

Posted by: Steve Janke at 01:49 PM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
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