Western Powers Aiding Ukraine ... Placed on Notice of Russian Sabotage

"We  have recently uncovered a staggeringly reckless campaign of Russian sabotage in Europe, even as Putin and his acolytes resort to nuclear sabre-rattling, to sow fear about the consequences of aiding Ukraine." 

"Such activity and rhetoric is dangerous and beyond irresponsible."

Richard Moore, M16 chief, Britain

RAF Tornado with two Storm Shadow missiles. Britain is expected to supply Storm Shadow missiles for use by Ukraine on targets inside Russia, now that the US has agreed to do the same for the similar American long-range Atacms weapon. Photograph: Cpl L Matthews/PA

 

Russia, according to the head of British foreign intelligence service. is conducting a "staggeringly reckless" sabotage campaign against the western allies supporting Ukraine against Moscow in its invasion and conflict imposed upon its neighbour. Richard Moore, chief of M16 has taken a preventive initiative in dispatching his spies to apprehend the Russian campaign before it spirals out of control and dire consequences ensue.

The M16 chief stated empathically that a Russian victory in Ukraine would not only threaten Europe but American security as well, a message clearly meant to reach the ears of incoming U.S. president-elect Donald Trump. Working alongside his French intelligence counterpart to prevent a dangerous escalation by "calibrating the risk and informing the decisions of our respective governments" the warning responds to President Vladimir Putin's "mix of bluster and aggression".

 

Addressing diplomats and intelligence officers in France, Moore spoke alongside Nicolas Lerner, head of France's external intelligence agency, the DGSE, during an event commemorating 120 years of the Entente Cordiale, a mutually-reliant pact binding Britain and France together as military and diplomatic allies, ending ancient rivalries between the two countries.

Russian intelligence is suspected by Western security officials of attempting to destabilize Ukraine's Western allies through a campaign of disinformation, sabotage and arson. A campaign whereby Moscow has been linked to a number of planned attacks in Europe. Among them a plot to set fire to  Ukrainian-owned businesses in London. As well as a scheme where incendiary devices contained in packages were found to be placed on cargo planes.

One such package burst into fire at a courier hub in Germany in July, while another in England ignited in a warehouse. "The collective security of the whole of Europe is at stake", repeated France's Lerner, stating that Britain's experience went back to the era a decade or so earlier when Russian agents used deadly chemicals as tools of assassination in Britain to destroy the lives of expatriate Russians critical of the Kremlin.

Among Ukrainian allies most involved in arming and supporting Ukraine in its counteroffensive against Russian territorial ambitions both Britain and France have given allowance to Kyiv to make use of weapons they have supplied to hit targets inside Russia's borders. In so doing, linking their determination to make whatever moves are felt to be required to ensure that Russia's plans of dominating a sovereign Ukraine and extracting greater tracts of its land mass to incorporate into Greater Russia is stopped, alongside U.S. initiatives to do likewise.

Although the European cruise missiles are manufactured by missile-maker MBDA, the U.S. controls some of their tech, giving it a voice in their use. | Ben Stansall/AFP via Getty Images

 

The Ceasefire That May or May Not Be

The UN Security Council resolution ended the Israel-Hezbollah war of 2006 and stipulates that the only armed groups in the area south of Lebanon’s Litani River should be the Lebanese army and UN peacekeeping forces (UN Interim Force in Lebanon – UNIFIL). The so-called Blue Line was set by the UN in 2000 after the end of Israel’s occupation of southern Lebanon and now serves as a de facto border between the two countries. Resolution 1701 also prohibits Israel from encroaching on Lebanese territory by land, sea or air.

United Nations Resolution 1701

A view of destruction caused by the Israeli army in the southern Lebanese village of Kafr Kela, following the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, November 27, 2024. (David Cohen/Flash90)

Under this agreement Hezbollah was to disarm and turn their weapons over to the Lebanese military, as well as blend their members with that of the military, under Lebanese Army control. That never happened. UNIFIL was also ordered to ensure that no build-up of weaponry was to take place, to ensure that a cache of weapons that would be used again against Israel did not eventuate. That too failed, because it was never enforced, the result being that the Islamic Republic of Iran was able by stealth to continue arming its creature Hezbollah with more sophisticated missiles in huge numbers, stockpiled to be used at a time when a well-planned attack was to take place with Israel confronted on all sides.

 

Hezbollah had entered the fray the very day following the infamously savage attack on southern Israel by thousands of terrorists led by Hamas, October 8, 2023. The Hamas attack from Gaza on Israel's border kibbutzim took place on the 7th of October and it was still ongoing on the 8th when Hezbollah first began sending rockets into Israel to open a northern front in Israel, to join in the carnage and spell relief for Hamas. This, at a time when Israel had yet to invade Gaza, necessitating that the Israel Defense Forces deploy both in the country's south and the north.

The assaults from Hezbollah were at first desultory and haphazardly intermittent, with Israel firing back in similar vein. Until the attacks reached a momentum where it became necessary for Israel to order towns and communities in the north to evacuate and leave for the Israeli interior, leading to tens of thousands of Israelis displaced from their homes. 

 

Israel's response to the Hezbollah assaults saw Lebanese living in Hezbollah strongholds in southern Lebanon forced to leave as well. Israel's pounding by air of southern Lebanon, where Shiite villages comprised the area that held Hezbollah's headquarters and military barracks along with weapons stockpiles resulted in the Lebanese terror group's critical loss of commanders along with weapons depots.

 

Residents of northern Israeli communities who were evacuated from their homes due to the war protest against a ceasefire, in Tel Aviv, November 26, 2024. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

 

Now, a 60-day ceasefire is in effect which Israel's security cabinet agreed to under pressure from U.S. President Joe Biden, mindful of a legacy project as he leaves office. Israel, pressed by the Biden White House to reach a ceasefire agreement with both Hamas and Hezbollah when its existential goal is to destroy both terrorist groups' capacity to ever again threaten, attack and violate the Jewish State's sovereignty and Jewish right to life, has been constrained time and again under threat of withholding U.S.-supplied arms and munitions to Israel in its struggle against its enemies' intention of annihilating Israel.

The Lebanese Armed Forces are to be deployed to the border region between Israel and Lebanon, while Hezbollah is to withdraw for a "transition period" which would see Israeli troops return to Israel. Hezbollah has agreed under the ceasefire to relocate its "heavy weapons" to north of the Litani River, 30 kilometres north of the border with Israel. No sooner was the ceasefire implemented, than did Hezbollah betray expectations, some of its operatives appearing in areas meant to be off-limits.

Israel's pledge was to deal immediately and harshly with any violations by Hezbollah should the Lebanese army fail to neutralize any conceivable threats that could arise. The stipulation under the agreement continues to hamstring Israel, since it must consult over any actions taken beforehand with Washington. Air Raid sirens have now gone silent, but they were constantly activated across the Galilee and Haifa areas to warn of thousands of incoming rocket and missile fire from Lebanon.

Hezbollah, briefly relieved of the presence of Israeli ground forces and the pounding of their strongholds has vowed to "remain active" once the conflict comes to a formal conclusion. Lebanese lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah, representing Hezbollah's March 8 Alliance, spoke of rebuilding the areas destroyed by Israeli airstrikes and presumably picking  up where they had left off. Two days prior to the ceasefire, over 240 projectiles had been fired by Hezbollah into Israel. 

Over 60,000 internally displaced residents of Israel's northern boundaries await return to their homes with the cessation, however temporary, of Hezbollah missiles during the ceasefire. At least 76 Israelis were killed, 31 IDF soldiers among them, along with six foreign nationals, and 700 people wounded during the airborne assaults from Lebanon. For the time being the IDF has withdrawn its ground forces that had conducted "limited, localized and targeted raids" into Lebanon.

Israeli authorities wait and remain on alert. Although Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu adhered to Joe Biden's pressure, he has made no secret of his intention to continue battling Hezbollah until its vicious menace recedes completely. As for the northern Shiite Lebanese and their Hezbollah heroes, they are all celebrating their heroic 'victory' over Israel, having 'forced the enemy' to declare a ceasefire, a situation that they interpret as having gained the upper hand over Israel. 

Israeli soldiers seen on the Israeli side of the border with Lebanon, following the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, November 27, 2024. (David Cohen/Flash90)

 

Youth Lenient, Older Demographic Condemn Protest Violence: Poll

"Mask-wearing protest may serve to shield persons engaging in hate expression as seen in the recent case of Montrealer Mai Abdelhadi, who engaged in hate speech in front of the main campus of Concordia University."

"The survey indicates that Canadians do not regard hate expression as protected free speech. In that regard, it is important to determine whether Ms. Abdelhadi's vile utterances violate our country's anti-hate laws and, if so whether legislators should proceed accordingly."

"The poll serves as an important reminder that Canadians regard acts of vandalism as indefensible and that they cannot be justified as political gestures."

"Canadians also desire greater accountability on the part of persons engaging in protest that condones vandalism and/or hate speech."

Jack Jedwab, president, Association for Canadian Studies

Demonstrators fill Ste-Catherine St. during Friday’s protest. Photo: John Mahoney/Montreal Gazette

 

A new poll conducted for the Association for Canadian Studies by Leger found that close to three-quarters of Canadians (74 percent) reject as unacceptable property destruction during protests. Politically motivated violence and vandalism is rejected by an overwhelming majority of Canadians. The poll results represent a firm rebuke in response to the recent riots in Montreal when anti-Israel and anti-NATO social 'activists' smashed windows, torched cars and clashed violently with police. 

That most of the rioters also wore masks with the obvious intention of hiding their identities is another item that most Canadians are opposed to. A common practise for anti-Israel activists who frequently hold disruptive protests in Montreal, Toronto and other areas and cities across the country, since the terrorist attacks on Israel that occurred on October 7, 2023 by Hamas. Mask wearing finds only 23 percent of respondents saying that it is an acceptable practise.

When views expressed at these protests are 'overtly racist', a minority of 29 percent believe free speech should be protected. The individual mentioned, Abdelhadi, was a franchisee of a Second Cup cafe situated within Montreal's Jewish General Hospital who used a Nazi salute against pro-Israel demonstrators challenging their opposite numbers, pointedly chanting "The Final Solution is coming". The result of which was that the franchise within the hospital was speedily shut down by the cafe chain, sundering its contract with the franchisee.

Poll results found that support for violence during protests was highest with younger Canadians; a third of those between 18 and 24, and close to a quarter of 25 to 34-year-olds stating that such actions are justified to achieve political goals. Rates of agreement with vandalism were similarly observed when the results were segmented based on status of employment with over a quarter of students (26.4 percent) maintaining that destruction of public property meant "to send a political message is acceptable".

Poll responders in the  retirement category (87.1 percent) and self-employed individuals (75.6 percent) were most emphatically opposed to such demonstrations where destroying property occurred. As opposed to part-time workers finding such behaviour acceptable, at 19.3 percent. Politically motivated violence was rejected by Montrealers in particular, with 81 percent condemning it in any circumstances, in comparison with a response of 65 percent in Vancouver.

Riot police line the sidewalk on St-Laurent Blvd. Photo by John Mahoney /Montreal Gazette

Terminating Fascist Threats

"We found out at around 2 o'clock on Saturday afternoon. We actually talked to her as well. We basically said: 'Listen, we cannot allow this to happen. We spoke to our lawyers, and we prepared a press release. We could not send out the press release for a few hours, until the lawyers actually sent her a termination letter."

"[The company stands against such] violent and hateful [remarks]. Political views are up to individuals, but things like this? We can't tolerate that."

"Were going to figure out a way to reopen the stores quickly."

Foodtastic (Second Cup) CEO Peter Mammas

"This video is related to a franchisee of Second Cup, one of the private tenants operating within the Jewish General Hospital. We fully support Second Cup's decision to take swift and decisive action in this matter by shutting down the franchisee's cafes and terminating their lease agreement."

"Our CIUSSS [Integrated Health and Social Services Centres] is deeply committed to fostering a culture of inclusion and stands firmly against antisemitism and any other form of discrimination or hate speech."

Carl Theriault, spokesperson, Jewish General Hospital, Montreal

The Jewish General Hospital is seen in Montreal. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson

 

On Thursday, in Montreal, a series of pro-Palestinian/hate-Israel groups conducted their usual peaceful marches with the good humour and attention to moral civility that is their hallmark  in Canada with a little different twist. Outside Concordia University a protest took place against the existence of the State of Israel and Jewish existence in particular. A woman, later identified by employees of a Second Cup shop located at the Jewish General Hospital as a franchisee, exercised her hateful spleen by exhibiting her prowess in giving a Nazi salute, aimed at the presence of counter-protesters.

To the Israel supporters and Jews standing there, as the event was being videoed, she addressed another type of salute, this one in reference to the Nazi Germany World War II Final Solution involved in the extermination of European Jewry. "The final solution is coming your way -- the final solution. You know what the final solution is?" A familiar phrase indeed to Jews still reeling from the most horribly despicable descent of humanity into the hellscape of genocide.

The revealing video swiftly made its way onto social media and the outcry was predictably outraged. Eventually, the incident, boiling away on social media, made its introduction to the awareness of Second Cup's corporate headquarters chief executive officer of the parent company. Clearly not very good public relations for the respected coffee chain. According to Foodtastic's Peter Mammas, after he confronted the  woman identified as Mai Abdulhadi over her incendiary remarks she did not deny being the author of the remarks.

 

The now-closed Second Cup cafe at the Jewish General Hospital

 

Following her termination, which includes her family, all of whom are linked to two Second Cup franchises at the Jewish General Hospital, she has busied herself seeking out legal counsel for herself and her family members, listed as Quebec business owners of two coffee counters. With the termination of the franchise leases for the family of Ms. Abdulhadi, the 12 employees in the two shops are set to continue being paid during a transition period when new licensees will take over the now-shuttered two Second Cup counters. 

 Students marched through downtown Montreal on Thursday in their tens of thousands to protest Israel's military activities in Gaza, claiming their universities are complicit with Israel's conflict against the terrorist Hamas group in Gaza. The following day, an anti-Israel, anti-NATO protest became violent when protesters, including 'outside agitators' clashed with police. Cars were torched, and windows were smashed in the Palais de Congres Montreal where the NATO meeting was taking place. Businesses alongside the conference centre also had their windows smashed.

In total three people were arrested. Protest attendees were mostly masked to avoid identification. Montreal Police stated that they anticipate that facial recognition techniques will aid in identifying others who will also be arrested for their violent contributions to 'peaceful' gatherings. They also noted that there are no plans to launch a hate crime investigation over the Nazi salute and other societal disrupting incidents since "we have not received any complaints yet". One can only hope that will soon be remedied.

The CEO of Foodtastic said the company's operations team reviewed footage from last Thursday's pro-Palestinian protest outside Concordia University. He says the person seen making the gesture is Mai Abdulhadi. The company says Abdulhadi owned and operated two of its Second Cup locations inside the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal. (thestartupnation.ca/Instagram)

The Ongoing Dilemma Posed by Handling Illegal Migrants in the EU

"The long and often arduous journey to Europe has not been a dealbreaker for the hundreds of thousands of migrants who have arrived on the continent illegally in recent years. More than 385,000 such migrants entered Europe in 2023, nearly triple the pandemic-era low in 2020. These were just a fraction of the twenty-nine million immigrants who arrived in the past decade, legally and illegally, placing significant strain on a migration system already considered ineffectual."

"Migrants endure voyages on unseaworthy vessels, travel on foot through war zones or scalding deserts, and encounter predatory human smugglers or hostile locals. Last year alone, more than three thousand migrants died crossing the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe."

"But disembarking in Europe presents new hurdles. Politicians have pledged to crack down on what they call a migration crisis, especially those from far-right parties, which are gaining support ahead of European Parliament elections in June. Meanwhile, European Union (EU) countries are grappling with how to balance stronger border enforcement with concerns over human rights and migrant safety."

Council on Foreign Relations

SFAX, TUNISIA: Irregular migrants face many risks en route to Europe, including a dangerous voyage on the Mediterranean Sea. Yassine Gaidi/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

 The number of migrants now crossing into European Union countries has decreased dramatically from the highs seen last year, following the years-long efforts by Europe to limit unauthorized migrants entering by land and sea, with the instituting of increasingly tough policies on accepting migrants. Fewer migrants may be crossing into countries of the EU, but anti-immigrant sentiment has been growing, considerable harsher policies are being raised by established political parties that would never have considered them years earlier.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has been attempting to send migrants that have been rescued in the Mediterranean, to Albania. One of the premier welcoming countries in the migration wave of 2015, Germany now has upgraded patrols to all of its land borders. For its part, Poland has plans to introduce legislation temporarily suspending the right of new arrivals to ask for asylum. Anti-immigrant political parties have emphasized uncontrolled migration with a dilution of national identity. Europeans are concerned the influx of migrants is too difficult to manage, frustrated that some 80 percent of failed asylum seekers evade deportation.

Notably, the Christian Democratic party of former German chancellor Angela Merkel who fulsomely gave welcome to immigrants in 2015 is pressing now to have more restrictive measures, a move that has given them a lead in the polls. "The far right is the mainstream when it comes to migration now", observed Susi Dennison, senior fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.

A 2018 EU report reached the conclusion that forwarding asylum seekers to third countries rather than processing their requests was impermissible under EU and international law. Now, however, Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, gave praise to Italy's plan as "out-of-the-box thinking". Ms. Meloni's plan would see migrants screened in Albania, and remain in detention centers there, awaiting decisions on their asylum application. An Italian court questioned whether asylum seekers from unsafe countries could be held in Albania.

The rejection of asylum seekers can be complex, when the migrants' countries of origin refuse to receive them in a return to their origins. During that time when the deportation order is in place, migrants are able to move undetected to other countries in the bloc. There are few restrictions on travel between many European nations under the Schengen Agreement. 

While no clear way to legally deport failed asylum seekers has been identified, a challenge exists to find countries willing to take failed asylum seekers. "There is a lot of hot air in terms of what could be done next", observed Raphael Bossong, a researcher at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.

 

LAMPEDUSA: This immigrant reception center is one of four such “hot spots” in Italy where new arrivals are first hosted after crossing into Europe. Yara Nardi/Reuters

 

 

Anti-Israel, Pro-Hamas Montreal Mobs

"What we saw was not peaceful protest. What we saw was actually violence, hate and antisemitism, and this has no place on our streets."

"Of course we believe in the freedom of speech, we believe in the freedom to demonstrate, but where we draw the line is when there's violence."

Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly

 

"It was engagement in violence and hatred on display in the City of Montreal."

"Those behaviours are unacceptable and we can condemn them, and in particular the hatred and antisemitism that was on display, in the strongest possible terms."

Defence Minister Bill Blair 

A protester holds a smoke torch during demonstration by the Collectif Désinvestir pour la Palestine and the Convergence des luttes anticapitalistes (CLAC) in Montreal Friday Nov. 22, 2024. The demonstration was in support of Palestine and in opposition to the meeting of NATO parliamentarians in Montreal. Photo by John Mahoney /Montreal Gazette

A violent crowd of hundreds of pro-Hamas demonstrators rioted in Montreal after a day of province-wide university student demonstrations when thousands took to the streets to demand that Quebec universities divest from investments with firms having connections in any form to Israel. A day later, on Friday a coalition of leftist anti-capitalists and 'pro-Palestinian' groups marched in front of the Palais de Congres de Montreal where some 300 delegates representing NATO member states were attending a high-level summit from November 22 to 25 with a focus on Ukraine, climate change, and the future of the alliance.

At the time of the meeting and the chaotic protest Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was in Toronto, attending the penultimate night's performance of popular celebrity singer Taylor Swift, with his family. He was right royally entertained and did some entertaining of his own, dancing clownishly to the music of the entertainer's sad songs of yearning and regret, disappointment and recovery. Very apt, in that Canadians are yearning to be rid of this quasi-adult foppishly displaying himself while enacting policies whose virtues are the destruction of Canadian values. 

Regret and disappointment are ours; we await recovery in the wake of his electoral defeat.

Demonstrators fill Ste-Catherine St. during Friday’s protest. Photo by John Mahoney /Montreal Gazette

In downtown Montreal havoc reigned on Friday night when protesters exercised their freedom to demonstrate against what they characterized as the "complicity" of NATO member countries in a conflict they claim has cost thousands of Palestinian lives. Their black-and-white portrayal of a nation of Jews fighting back against the terror that has threatened the Jewish State for all its years of existence when it could no longer seek to appease the claims of victimization of challengers for Judaic ancestral territory expressed in the murderous rage of savagely lethal atrocities, forcing it to retaliate and root out its violent tormentors. 

Police found themselves confronted by a raging mob resisting efforts to restore calm and security to the area by a mob fully invested in its anarchic goal of total disruption of civilizational mores. The 'demonstration' of utter lawlessness began in the late afternoon, when violence accelerated and cars were incinerated, smoke bombs thrown and metal barriers tossed into the street. Thugs began smashing the convention centre windows and went on to do the same to windows of nearby businesses.

Riot police line the sidewalk on St-Laurent Blvd. Photo by John Mahoney /Montreal Gazette

 Police stated the arrest of a 22-year-pold woman for having obsrtucted police work and assaulting a police officer. Two men, 22 and 28 were arrested for obstructing police actions, all released, to appear at a later date in court. Police also announced that the technique of facial recognition despite most of the malefactors wearing masks to conceal their identities, would be employed and they have expectations that the identities of the major disrupters and dispensers of violence would be achieved, and further charges brought.

The groups Divest for Palestine and the Convergence of Anti-Capitalist Struggles were identified as the organizers of the protests. Members of Divest for Palestine claimed injuries caused by police physical handling of the protesters, four of them, they claimed, having to be taken to hospital for medical attention. Doubtless, the Jewish General Hospital medical staff would do their utmost to honour their medical calling of service to all regardless of who, what, when and where.

According to one Benoit Allard of Divest for Palestine, the protest purpose was demonstrating against NATO'S "complicity with Israel's military while it's conducting its genocide in Gaza ... war crimes in Lebanon, Syria" and "It's enforcing illegal occupation of Palestinian territories". These are people immune to both reality, reason and history. Their minds set in the ironclad conviction that any situation involving Jewish human rights of survival and resistance are illegal and represent criminal offences.

 

Still from video of an anti-NATO/pro-Palestine protest Friday night shows windows being smashed at the Montreal Convention Centre as a flare releases red smoke. NATO delegates are in the city this weekend to discuss support for Ukraine, climate change and the future of the alliance.

 

The statements by Melanie Joly and Bill Blair fail to hold up to scrutiny, given the fact that the Liberal government that they represent has engaged in its own brand of antisemitism, leaving the Canadian Jewish community to fend for itself when fulminating bands of pro-Hamas defenders of anti-Israel accusations march into Jewish neighbourhoods for the express purpose of intimidation and threats against their security, with demands for a 'Final Solution', and chanting 'From the River to the Sea', code for the elimination of Israel.

A frame grab from video shows a pro-Palestinian protest in downtown Montreal on Friday that police said led to three arrests.  Scopal via Reuters

This is Justin Trudeau's Post-National Canada

"Canada supports international law. We have to trust that the institutions we've built to protect international law are actually going to do their job."

"Everyone wants to support decisions on the international stage that they agree with, but that's not the way a justice system works."

"It's really important that everyone abide by international law. This is something we've been calling [for] from the beginning of the conflict."

"We stand up for international law, and we will abide by all the regulations and rulings of the international courts."

"This is just who we are as Canadians."

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks at a news conference in Sharon, Ontario, on Thursday November 21, 2024. Photo by Chris Young /The Canadian Press

Justin Trudeau has  altered Canada beyond recognition. He has, as promised, taken Canada directly toward 'post-nationalism'. And in the course of achieving that status, his open immigration, refugee and migrant intake has been completely transformational. As has been his emphasis on society of new Canadian values; out with the old, in with DEI, Woke, and Critical Race Theory. Unions and Academic institutions have celebrated these changes; the infiltration of liberal-left 'progressives' and Islamist influences have been profound.

From the very beginning of what Trudeau speaks of as 'the conflict', he and his Cabinet cronies have issued statements and charges inimical to Israel's reputation in their contortions of the facts and their propensity to lay blame and responsibility on Israel for what Palestinian terrorism has wrought. This is not what Canada is. Most Canadians have had enough of Mr. Trudeau's wretched direction he has taken Canada into and for a wide variety of reasons. For Canadian Jews and their supporters the reasons are more personal; they abhor his sanctimonious antisemitism.

 

Demonstrators fill Ste-Catherine St. during Friday’s protest. Photo by John Mahoney /Montreal Gazette

 

Amply displayed in his tolerance for mobs of Muslim and Palestinian haters and malcontents swarming the streets of Canadian cities with their criminal cries of 'Final Solution', 'Globalize the Intifada', and 'Palestine will be free from the river to the sea', every declaration of this nature a clear call for the destruction of the State of Israel. The blockades and harassment of Jewish neighbourhoods, the attacks on synagogues and community centers, the shooting up of Jewish parochial schools and vandalization of Jewish businesses see no government action at any level, led by the federal government to bring order and security back to the streets of Canada.

So it is hardly surprising that Canada's utter failure of a prime minister hails the finding of the International Criminal Court that Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and its-then Minister of Defence Yoav Gallant are found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity in their combined goal of punishing and destroying the intention of Palestinian terrorist group Hamas and others of their ilk to continue mounting deadly attacks on Israel and its citizens after the horrors of October 7, 2023. 

 

Canada's Prime Minister-in-waiting, opposition Conservatives, will reverse all the destructive moves made by the Trudeau government to return pride to Canada.

 

In Montreal on Friday, tens of thousands of pro-Hamas supporters and university students created mayhem and havoc by rioting, attacking police attempting to restore order, with the mob chanting anti-Israel and anti NATO slogans. Violence was rife, with masked and kaffiya-clad men and women making Nazi salutes and shouting invectives, smashing windows of businesses and at the conference centre where a NATO meeting was being held. And where was Justin Trudeau while this was going on? In Toronto attending a Taylor Swift extravaganza, dancing to the songs of the popular entertainer.

 

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is facing backlash after a video of him dancing at a Taylor Swift concert went viral over the weekend.  (Photos- X (Twitter))

 

"Israel was attacked by terrorists on October 7. The warrant issued by the ICC today against Netanyahu and Gallant claims their crimes started as early as October 8."

"A day Israel was in shock, grief and mourning."

"The ICC discredits itself by its actions today."

Liberal Montreal Member of Parliament Anthony Housefather

"It just shows once again how extreme Justin Trudeau has become."

"The prime minister of Israel is a democratically elected leader whose country is responding to an unprovoked invasion, by thousands of well-armed Iranian-funded terrorists who ... carried out mass rape and other atrocities deliberately targeted at civilians."

"But instead, he's calling for the arrest of the country that has been the victim of all of these attacks."

Opposition Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre

 

"The ICC arrest warrants for the former defence minister and the Prime Minister of Israel are outrageous."

"The ICC is drawing a false equivalency between a liberal democracy and a terrorist group that attacked that democracy last year."

"Conservatives stand for Israel's right to defend itself."

Conservative foreign affairs critic Michael Chong

 

"Hamas needs to: Release the hostages. Drop their arms. Unconditionally surrender."

"We'll support a democratic ally's right to defend itself, not the false equivalency of the court."

Conservative deputy leader Melissa Lantsman 

Russia's Ukraine Chess Game

"The Russian side has clearly demonstrated its capabilities, and the contours of further retaliatory actions in the event that our concerns were not taken into account have also been quite clearly outlined."

"The reckless decisions and actions of Western countries [choosing to supply weapons to Ukraine to strike Russia is responsible for this action]."

Dmitry Peskov, Kremlin spokesman

 

"No one in the world has such weapons."

"Sooner or later other leading countries will also get them. We are aware that they are under development."

"We have this system now. And this is important."

"There is no countermeasure to such a missile, no means of intercepting it, in the world today. And I will emphasize once again that we will continue testing this newest system. It is necessary to establish serial production."

"[Testing the Oreshnik will happen] in combat, depending on the situation and the character of security threats created for Russia. [There is] a stockpile of such systems ready for use."

Russian President Vladimir Putin

Photo: Associated Press

Furthermore, said Putin, while Russia's new hypersonic ballistic missile is not an intercontinental missile, several of them fitted with conventional warheads in one attack could prove as devastating as a strike with strategic — or nuclear — weapons. To which assertion added Gen. Sergei Karakayev, head of Russia’s Strategic Missile Forces, the Oreshnik could reach targets across Europe fitted with nuclear or conventional warheads, echoing Putin that even with conventional warheads, "the massive use of the weapon would be comparable in effect to the use of nuclear weapons."

 

Clearly, Russia's attack on Ukraine's central city of Dnipro was an experimental test to determine not only the viability of the new weapon, but to warn Russia's enemies -- and particularly its near neighbours in Eastern Europe as well as NATO, who they are tangling with. The conflict, remarked Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk is "taking on very dramatic dimensions, entering a decisive phase." No one is logically prepared to argue with that assessment.

Security in Ukraine was upgraded to the extent that a parliamentary session was cancelled following the Russian strike on a military facility in Dnipro. In a nationally televised speech to his nation characterizing the attack with the intermediate-range Oreshnik missile representing retaliation for Kyiv's being given the clearance by European countries providing it with longer-range missiles that it may use to strike within Russia's borders, deeper than its previous strikes, NATO members have been put on notice.

 

Russian T90M Proryv tank fires towards Ukrainian positions at an undisclosed location in Ukraine. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

According to a  gloating Putin, Western air defence systems would be incapable of stopping his powerful new missile. "These are rockets that are fired and then guided to a target via an electronic system, which requires the world's most advanced technology and satellite communications capability", added Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, from the perspective of his friendly relations with t he Kremlin. "There is a strong assumption ... that these missiles cannot be guided without the assistance of American personnel."

Unsaid but inferred is the recommendation that to forestall further use of the powerful hypersonic missile, the United States would do well to reconsider its discretionary permission for Ukraine to use longer-range U.S.-supplied missiles deeper into Russian territory. Orban emphasized that recent modifications to Russia's nuclear deployment doctrine should be taken seriously, that underestimating Russia's resolve is uncautionary: "It's not a trick ... there will be consequences".

Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky had his own interpretation of these most recent events, characterizing the Russian missile strike as an "escalatory step and an attempt of the Russian dictator to scare the population of Ukraine and to scare the population of Europe". Mr. Lipavsky expressed full support in delivering additional air defence systems to Kyiv to protect Ukrainian civilians from "heinous attacks".

Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman and the head of the United Russia party Dmitry Medvedev, left, visits test-drive of the T-90M "Proryv" tank at the testing ground of the Nizhny Tagil Institute for Metal Testing outside Nizhny Tagil, Russia, Friday, Nov. 22, 2024. (Ekaterina Shtukina, Sputnik Pool Photo via AP)