Oh for heaven´s sake, it is not always Israel´s fault

As unfortunate as the fact is that Canada was not granted a temporary seat in the United Nation´s Security Council, blaming the governments support for Israel as one of the reasons for Canada´s loss does not seem helpful at all.

Globe and Mail journalist John Ibbitson named a few reasons for Canada´s defeat in the election. Reducing the development aid and even more so, not having had a coherent strategy on certain issues in the past is for sure on of the problems to point out, along with the changes on carbon reduction policies. And yes, a lot of Arab countries, or better be said, Muslim countries might not like the support of Israel through Ottawa. On the other hand, due to its past, Germany´s support for Israel - with ups and downs - has been unwavering ever since the foundation of the state of Israel. Recently, during the reign of Ms. Angela Merkel, a conservative like Mr. Harper, it has even grown stronger and more obvious, much to the dismay of many in the Middle East. And still, Germany made it through the elections, let´s say, quite easy.

Israel has been blamed for many things in the past. A European-wide poll found that the majority of people see Israel as the biggest threat for peace in the world. Arab nations blame Israel for controlling their own development (or the lack thereof). And now Canada blames Israel for its loss in an UN-election.

Sure, there is a lot that needs to be said about Israel´s settlements in Gaza and the West Bank, about the ongoing occupation and the suppression of people that are unlucky enough to be born in one of those two tiny areas on Earth. Not everybody likes what Jerusalem West has to say about Palestinians and a support for the freedom of the Palestinian people is a good and noble a cause as the fight against Antisemitism all over the world. However, blaming Israel, blaming "the Jews" for everything we haven´t achieved is nothing else then modern day Antisemitism.

"The Jews" have a long, long history of being everybody´s scapegoat, from London to Cape Town, from Paris to Prague and further to Moscow. Maybe, in the 21st century, we are able to overcome this narrative that has survived and developed many different heads ever since Rome started battling those monotheists in Judea.

We have a saying in German: "Das brennt mir auf dem Herzen" which means that something weighs heavily on somebody´s heart, a sentiment for sure not unknown to speakers of the English language. Our common heavy hearts have their origin in Yiddish: Es brent mir ahfen hartz. So please, Mr. Ibbitson, es brent mir ahfen hartz, just stop the blaming and the finger-pointing. I know what you meant to say but people sometimes just hear want they want to hear......