With Friends Like These, Who Needs Enemies?

Let’s call them Fab Three, i.e., British prime minister Keir Starmer, French president Emmanuel Macron and Canadian prime minister Mark Carney. They managed to initiate worldwide storm by condemning Israel’s continuation of the war in Gaza. They found Israel’s conduct appalling and unacceptable and called for immediate renewal of humanitarian aid. Yes, the war is horrific (but which one is not?), but it all started by Hamas massacre on October 7, 2023 – there was no mention of Hamas exploiting the situation by not taking any responsibility for aid for its own citizens, not to speak of the remaining hostages, most of them dead and the rest barely alive. Though Fab Three claim they are trying to help Israel. This would be more convincing if their statement would include condemnation of Hamas and demand for immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, dead and living. Hamas was delighted by this turn of events and will become more entrenched in its refusal to release hostages and its refusal to disarm.

The consequences of this unsavory jamboree were quick, and perhaps unexpected for the three leaders. Eighty members of the UN issued very similar declaration – again without mentioning Hamas or the hostages. And this is just the beginning. Was the murder of the two staffers at the Israeli embassy in Washington last Wednesday at least accelerated by these declarations by politicians and UN? It is clear that the murders were premeditated and carefully planned as the perpetrator knew about the event, flew in from Chicago with the gun in the luggage he checked in. Tik Tok, X, Twitch and other social media erupted by praising the murders in Washington.

Israel’s National Security Council raised the travel warning for Israelis in Canada on Sunday, May 25. By extension this is a warning for all Jews in Canada who have been exposed to vicious antisemitism on street of Toronto, Montreal and other Canadian cities since October 7 with little or no help from the Canadian government under Justin Trudeau. Mark Carney who replaced Trudeau in the recent elections, promised a crackdown on antisemitism. Judging from one of his first actions as the new prime minister when he denounced Israel and threatened it with sanctions one can infer that this promise was just an empty electoral ploy. He knows that there will not be many objections to his participation in trouncing of an ally when the ally is Israel except for the small Jewish minority which Carney does not need.
The abandonment and condemnation of Israel by Fab Three is reminiscent of another act by French and British leaders joining Germany and Italy in the Munich agreement in 1938 that led to betrayal of Czechoslovakia and annexation of so-called Sudetenland by Nazi Germany, What motivates the current leaders of UK, France and Canada today? Is it purely humanitarian concern after seeing footage coming out of Gaza? Is their memory so short that they forgot not only about October 7, but also about the hostages starved and tortured in Gaza tunnels, and about Hamas continuing in its violent anti-Israel propaganda and terror activity? Don’t they realize that Hamas does not intend to end the war, that it needs a temporary break and ceasefire as it issues declaration that it is not going to disarm and that it will go back to fighting – Hamas is not issuing cryptic messages. It is quite open about its final goal – annihilation of Israel. And so are the protesters who initiated another round of violent demonstrations across Europe and the US calling for “end to the genocide” and claiming that “resistance is justified”, meaning that it was justified to kill the Israel embassy staffers.

I suspect that the Fab Three had other motivations as well. All three countries have Islamists among recent immigrants. Islamists encourage and organize demonstrations and incite violence and antisemitism. Starmer and Macron may have another motive, especially Macron: neocolonialism, feeling empathy and attachment to their former colonies, such as Lebanon. Starmer inherited Labor Party tainted with strong antisemitic scent of Corbyn, his predecessor in the Labor Party Leadership.
The French government will introduce lessons about antisemitism and its dangers into public school curricula. It remains to be seen how effective it will be and whether Islamists will tolerate exposure of their children to these lessons. Perhaps president Macron should serve as an example and join the schoolkids in these lessons.