Tackling humanitarian disaster takes guts, not words

HALIFAX—Political leaders who can no longer hear the people are usually on their way to defeat. That is one of the takeaways from the recently cancelled event featuring Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and visiting Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni in Toronto. A crowd of 400 protesters against the Gaza War—passionate and fractious—blocked the entrances to the Ontario Art Gallery. The prime minister was called “Genocide Justin” and a “liar.” Attendees were stopped from entering the building. Trudeau cabinet minister Ahmed Hussen hoofed it for two blocks trying to find an unblocked entrance to the venue. He could have saved the shoe leather. Even though the police said they could provide secure access to the art gallery, the prime minister's staff decided not to proceed. Liberal MP Marco Mendicino expressed his view of the protesters in no uncertain terms: “You break the law, you should be arrested, charged, and prosecuted. … These thugs think they scored a victory last night, but all they did was lose public support, and embarrass themselves. Time for the madness to stop.” Indeed. What the MP totally missed is that’s why the protesters were there in the first place: to stop the madness. It is not madness to protest the mass slaughter of 30,000 Palestinians in a war of misguided retribution. And there is the prospect of even greater casualties to come if a ceasefire and hostage agreement can’t be worked out before Ramadan. In that case, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has already committed to an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) invasion of Rafah. The fate of a million and a half civilians sheltering there in dreadful conditions hangs in the balance. To this point in this blood-soaked war of rage and retaliation triggered by the Oct. 7, 2023, slaughter of innocent Israelis by Hamas, the casualties have been staggering: 1,200 Israelis on that dark October day, and 30,000 Palestinians in the following few months. Add to that another 70,000 wounded on the Palestinian side, and 10 kids dead from starvation. The overwhelming majority of those killed were not Hamas fighters. U.S. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin was asked during congressional hearings how many women and children have been killed in the conflict. “It is over 25,000,” he replied. The Pentagon disputed that number, saying they could not confirm it. In that same hearing, Congressman Ro Khanna pointed out to Austin that UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk claimed that the U.S. transfer of arms to Israel violated international law. He then asked Austin how many precision-guided munitions had been transferred to Israel. The secretary didn’t have the number, so the congressman provided it: 21,000. He then asked the secretary if he would stop the flow of military supplies to Israel. Austin said that would be up to the president to decide. So the United States is working both sides of the canal in the Gaza War, dropping food to half a million people facing starvation, and supplying the bombs Israel is indiscriminately dropping on them. The charge of “indiscriminate bombing” comes from no less a source than U.S. President Joe Biden. So far, the Trudeau government has played the moral lightweight in this ongoing humanitarian catastrophe. The prime minister did belatedly call for a ceasefire, and for that he deserves some credit. But there has been no follow through from Trudeau, no public pressure on Netanyahu to call off the dogs of war. Once again, Trudeau practising the uninspiring art of political gesturing. And that is what has enraged ordinary people around the world: the lackadaisical approach by so many governments to a humanitarian disaster so dire that it requires deeds—not words—to stop the wanton death and destruction. Before dismissing the Toronto protesters as thugs, MPs like Mendicino should take a look at the millions of people who have taken to the streets all over the world—including in Israel—and tell us whether they, too, are just thugs, or might they be onto something? If Trudeau wants to see pro-Palestinian protesters as the problem, and not this immoral war, he should take a look at what is happening to Biden. Biden has been stronger than Trudeau on the issue, but still hasn’t used America’s full power to rein in Netanyahu. For that, he has already paid a price. In the recent Democratic primary in Michigan, 100,000 people voted “uncommitted," largely because of widespread outrage over the Biden administration’s handling of the Gaza War. And right across the country, the Democrats are losing a significant part of their base over Biden’s continuing support for Netanyahu in Gaza: young people, Black voters, and the more progressive wing of the party. If they don’t vote for the Democrats this fall, or if they just stay home, Biden could lose this crucial swing state, and with it, the presidency. Former U.S. State Department senior official Richard Haass recently said on MSNBC that Biden can’t pivot to the reality that Netanyahu’s Israel is not the Israel of 1967. As he put it, David has now become Goliath, and Biden is simply out of touch with the new facts. That’s why, according to Haass, Biden hasn’t so far been able to get tough on an Israeli prime minister who says that he will continue his war on Hamas, no matter what anyone says, including the International Court of Justice in The Hague. That court made an interim ruling on Jan. 26 that Israel must take six steps, including preventing genocidal acts during the war, preserving evidence of genocide, and providing basic services and humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza. According to the United Nations Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, in the week after that ruling, the IDF killed 936 more Palestinians. Nor have the aid trucks rolled into Gaza. If Trudeau is looking for a new model for standing up against this war, he should review former prime minister Brian Mulroney’s courageous endorsement of Nelson Mandela and repudiation of apartheid. These things take guts, not words. Michael Harris is an award-winning author and journalist. The Hill Times

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Tackling humanitarian disaster takes guts, not words

If Justin Trudeau wants to see pro-Palestinian protesters as the problem, and not this immoral war, he should look at what's happening to U.S. President Joe Biden.

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