Thomas Mulcair's Stance On Israel

Thomas Mulcair, who has just been endorsed by The Star as the best candidate to lead the NDP to power, is an MP I became familiar with during the lead-up to the last federal election. A frequent guest on Evan Solomon's Power and Politics, the member from Outremount impressed me with his fierce intelligence and cool demeanour (contrary to all this talk about his 'legendary temper'). There is, however, one thing about him that I find both disappointing and troubling, and that is his stance on Israel.

As reported in Canadian Dimension, Mulcair made the following statement in 2008:

“I am an ardent supporter of Israel in all situations and in all circumstances.” [“…je suis un ardent supporter de toutes les instances et de toutes les circonstances d’Israël.”]*

~Thomas Mulcair, quoted in Canadian Jewish News, May 1st, 2008

I am troubled by anyone who takes an unflinching, doctrinaire position on any subject (although I readily admit that probably describes me when it comes to my view of the Harper regime), and most especially when it comes to nation states. For example, the popular misuse of Stephen Decaur's line, My Country, right or wrong, favoured by American 'super-patriots' and jingoists, implies that unquestioning support must be given to one's country, no matter the circumstances. While unquestioning acceptance may be something the corporate state cheerfully encourages, it is unhealthy in the extreme, demanding as it does an abdication of critical-thinking skills in favor of blind obedience.

This, to me, is what Mulcair is saying in the aforementioned quotation, and while he is by no means unique in that perspective (look at Stephen Harper and his crew, for example), it is a position I can never endorse, not because I am anti-Semitic (I am not), but because I believe that it is extraordinarily dangerous to remove the actions of any country from critical scrutiny.

That kind of hubristic notion, history shows us, can have dire consequences indeed.