JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: WITH MUSLIM INTERESTS ENTERING WESTERN POLITICS AND THE RISE OF SOME MUSLIM POLITICIANS, WE SEE A RISING TIDE OF QUESTIONABLE "ANTI-SEMITISM" ACCUSATIONS - A RECENT CASE IN CANADA STARKLY DISPLAYS PRIME MINISTER JUSTIN TRUDEAU'S SQUISHY COMMITMENT TO PRINCIPLES AND REINFORCES THE VIEW OF HIS INABILITY TO STAND UP TO POWER

John Chuckman


EXPANSION OF COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN CBC NEWS (AND REMOVED BY AN EDITOR)



“Dumped by Liberals over anti-Semitism allegations, Hassan Guillet explores options

“Montreal candidate says he was 'shocked' by party's decision”



Hassan Guillet, a former Muslim Imam turned politician, seems from his pictures and words a very decent and sympathetic man, one without hate.

Just because a special-interest service organization has characterized something he said or wrote in the past as anti-Semitic definitely does not make it so.

Keep in mind that over the last couple of years, an intense campaign has been waged in Britain by just such service organizations against Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, one of the fairest and most decent men in politics. He is as far from being prejudiced as you can get.

But he has a history of also being fair and balanced towards Palestinian interests, and that undoubtedly earned him a long and ferocious attack using never-proved assertions of anti-Semitism. The attacks at a couple of points even had Israeli politicians, including the Prime Minister, butting into the internal political affairs of Britain with their comments. Corbyn had a determined enemy.

Well, Jeremy Corbyn was able to withstand the assault. He had to fight for months, but he had lots of support and an admirable personal record of standing for principles.

Hassan Guillet was not able to withstand the assault made against him.

Hassan Guillet’s political party leader, Justin Trudeau, appears to have made no effort concerning charges against a man who had been his personal choice as candidate in a particular constituency. He simply dropped Guillet upon hearing from a prominent service organization, surprising even the candidate.

We do know from his behavior as Prime Minister that Justin Trudeau is a rather squishy kind of man when it comes to standing up for anything against the powerful. His support for every major aspect of Donald Trump’s ugly, chaotic foreign policy is a very disheartening case in point.

And we had revelations about Trudeau, who likes advertising himself as a supporter of transparency in government, and his behind-the-scenes efforts for the legal difficulties of a certain large Canadian engineering company, a set of events which saw him drop an honest minister who spoke out about her concerns and treatment during those events. Canada’s Ethics Commissioner has ruled Trudeau clearly violated the Conflict of Interest Act.

So, with that quality of leadership behind him, Hassan Guillet stood little chance. He was out almost immediately, leaving him embarrassed and disappointed. We have no knowledge about the exact nature of the charges against him because CBC chose not to explain them.

That seems unfair both to Hassan Guillet and to readers who really want to understand something like that, when recent history, the case of Jeremy Corbyn, tells us clearly that such charges can be made without real substance in an effort to destroy a politician.

There’s an awful lot of Islamophobia in politics today. America’s current President actually bellows ugly remarks directly from the White House, a place where he is supposed to represent all the people.

Just look at the vicious charges and name-calling in the United States against two new Muslim women politicians, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib.

Already there are plans afoot to work against them in the next election. These women have expressed legitimate criticism of Israel’s often shocking behavior. I’ve read nothing we could call hate, but they are accused of it almost daily.