Like we care what YOU think...

This statement from the Hamas “Foreign Minister” somehow fails to move me to reconsider Mr. MacKay’s decision to ignore the terrorist thugs:

After being shunned by MacKay, Palestinian foreign minister Mahmoud Zahar said Sunday that Canada is at risk of becoming an enemy of his people.
MacKay didn't meet with Zahar as Canada forbids diplomats from dealing with the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority.

After Hamas won elections last year, Canada took the lead within the international community by suspending aid to the government.

"I would ask him very simply: What is the moral basis for these sanctions and boycott?" Zahar told The Globe and Mail, adding that the sanctions have mostly hurt ordinary Palestinians and not the Hamas government.

Zahar said the stance of the Canadian government could stir resentment among the broader Islamist movement.

"What is Israel providing you? Nothing. What are you achieving from such policies? What have you gained? Nothing, except the hatred of innocent people. If you would like to be the tail of the American dog, it's up to you. Or you can be a leading country, a linkage," he said.
"For the sake of the future -- one, two or three decades from now -- the only way to help everybody, everywhere is to co-operate with the Islamic movements and Arabic countries because they are not your enemy."

The “hatred of innocent people” eh? Nice innocent people; boy I want to live near them.

I do think however that Zahar’s last statement about appeasement and co-operation is the operative one. The suggestion that there is only one way to help people (by kow-towing to the Islamists) is actually a barely veiled threat. As to what Israel is providing us, I’d have to say being the only representative democracy in the Middle East is probably enough.

Part of me was annoyed that this guys rantings were even reported, but that’s both balanced reportage (something there’s a lack of in some quarters) and a good warning to those who can be bothered to hear it.

The other thing that frankly amazes me is that Canada is noted for taking a lead in something distinctly non-warm-and-fuzzy such as embargoing a known terrorist organization. Admittedly this is a Canadian report, but if we’re not banning landmines or championing environmentalist causes it’s not the sort of thing the media like to trumpet.

Speaking of landmines, we are in true form when it comes to objecting to the Pakistani plans to mine some of the more difficult parts of their frontier with Afghanistan. My only objection is that they’ll probably just leave them there and hope no-one lifts them (to turn against us over there in the form of IEDs) instead of employing them properly, watched over by troops. The Pakistanis are certainly smart enough to know how to use them, but I’d not be betting they have the resources or inclination to permanently garrison the whole North West Frontier.

Back to the main point however; people get the government they deserve, and the Palestinians seem to have theirs. Now I just hope we can continue to deserve one that recognizes the threats to Canada like Hamas.