Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Good evening from Nova Scotia where yesterday, in an historic first for Nova Scotia, the New Democratic Party was elected to a majority government - the first time it has ever held power - minority or majority - in Atlantic Canada. Given the state that the Province is in, one can only wish Premier-elect Darrell Dexter good luck - I suspect he is going to need it.

In any event:

1. Today's likely most shocking story was the terrible shooting attack at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. This was no random act - the perpetrator is 88 year old white supremacist James Brunn - who penned this vicious anti-Semitic screed. Can one imagine the depth of hatred one has to have to carry out this type of attack at 88 years of age?











2. More and more reflections on the Cairo speech continue to be published. They are all critical to varying degree - here are comments by Victor Davis Hanson, Anne Bayefsky, Richard Z. Chesnoff, Pamela Geller, Mort Zuckerman, as well as Dr. Jonathan Rynhold of BESA (whom I had the pleasure of meeting at the BESA conference I attended at Bar-Ilan University in May).


3. So now that the election in Lebanon is over, the "election" in Iran is next. I say that in a tongue in cheek manner, for the reasons discussed in this opinion piece from The Wall Street Journal. That said, it is suggested by Der Spiegel that the spouse of rival candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi may help tilt the electoral balance in favour of her husband, but he is regarded as being a conservative hardliner. Ironic though, that in a theocracy like Iran, a female might affect the outcome of an election.

4. When in Israel about 6 weeks ago, I had the pleasure of attending a breakfast meeting with Muslim-Israeli journalist Khaled Abu Toameh.
Paul Schneidereit, a journalist for the Halifax Chronicle-Herald, met Khaled on a 2007 Canada-Israel Committee Journalist's Mission to Israel, and arranged for him to attend the 2009 annual meeting of the canadian Association of Journalists. Here is Paul's column in today's Halifax paper about Khaled's remarks.



5. Last but not least - in the "Good News" category (under the subcategory "Why Do We Never See This in the Main-Stream Media") is this update story from the "Save a Child's Heart" program in Holon, Israel (just south of Tel Aviv. I had the privilege to visit this hospital and observe first-hand the wonderful work being done by the dedicated doctors, nurses, staff and volunteers at this unique facility. It is truly an emotional experience to listen, as I did, to a mother from an African country describe her gratitude to the hospital and to Israel for saving the life of her infant daughter. Take a moment to look at the places of origin of the children - China, Iraq, Africa, Gaza, Palestinian Authority - amazing!