September 26, 2011: Canada used its United Nations speaking slot today to lambaste opponents of Israel as no better than the appeasers who allowed fascism and communism to flourish before the Second World War.

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird stated, “Canada will not accept or stay silent while the Jewish state is attacked for defending its territory and its citizens. The Second World War taught us all the tragic price of ‘going along’ just to ‘get along.’”

Baird delivered Canada’s views to the General Assembly in a speech that ratified the Harper government’s unflinching support of Israel. “Just as fascism and communism were the great struggles of previous generations, terrorism is the great struggle of ours. And far too often, the Jewish state is on the front line of our struggle and its people the victims of terror,” as stated in a prepared text of Baird’s remarks.

Baird made no direct mention of the Holocaust in which six million Jews died at the hands of Nazi Germany. But he evoked the era when he quoted Winston Churchill as saying “an appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.”

Baird’s unflinching defence of Israel was another reminder to the Jewish state that it has a friend in Canada. Last week in New York, Prime Minister Stephen Harper affirmed his support for Israel in a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Baird reiterated Canada’s opposition to the recent Palestinian bid to secure UN recognition as a state.The UN Security Council became seized with the matter on Monday for the first time after Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas delivered his own forceful speech advocating the move.

“We supported the aspirations of those peoples who sought for themselves and their countries brighter futures during the Arab Spring that just passed,” stated Baird.

“But we will not go along with the unilateral actions of the Palestinian Authority.” Baird repeated Canada’s call for a negotiated settlement between the Israelis and Palestinians. The no-holds-barred address also took aim at the UN itself, for allowing despotic regimes to hold memberships on, or occupy the chair of, major committees.

“The greatest enemies of the United Nations are not those who publicly repudiate its actions,” stated Baird. “The greatest enemies of the United Nations are those who quietly undermine its principles and even worse, by those who sit idly, watching its slow decline.”

Baird backed that argument by citing North Korea’s recent rotating presidency of the UN conference on disarmament, which Canada boycotted, along with Iran’s vice-presidency of the General Assembly and its seat on the commission on population and development.

Baird also took aim at the UN for past resolutions that have criticized Israel, votes that Canada has boycotted in the Harper era. “Canada will not go along with a double standard that castigates some UN members for alleged failings while ignoring the notorious abuses of others,” stated Baird.

Baird stated Canada would not “go along with appeasement of the former (Moammar) Gadhafi regime” in Libya. And it has imposed tough new sanctions on Syria because it cannot “go along” with the Assad regimes killing of its own civilians.

He stated the Harper government plans to follow through with its election promise to create an office of religious freedom within the Foreign Affairs Department in Ottawa. He stated Canada will not “go along or look the other way when a minority is denied its human rights or fundamental freedoms.” As examples of persecuted religious groups, Baird cited Christians in China, Egypt and Iraq, as well as Buddhists and Muslims in Burma.

In addition, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney told another UN gathering that Israel is being targeted by a “new anti-Semitism” that is “now disguised as anti-American, anti-Western and anti-Israel, but it ultimately espouses the same old hatred and intent.”

May 16, 2011: The Office of Israeli Constitutional Law (OFICL), an Israeli legal action organization, received notice from the UN that their registration for this year’s Conference of the United Nations Permanent forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) was being declined and further that two Jewish NGOs have been barred from participating in a United Nations conference.

OFICL investigated the issue and subsequently discovered that another organization called the Negev Coexistence Forum for Civil Equality, an Israeli Bedouin rights organization, was also barred from attending the same conference. The organization exchanged numerous calls, faxes and letters with the UN, all of which produced no results, and the OFICL decided it had no choice but to send legal notice to the UN.

OFICL issued a statement released Sunday that it is charging Chandra Roy-Henriksen, Chief Secretariat of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, with violating provisions of Declarations of Rights of Indigenous People and Universal Declarations of Human Rights (UDHR) and the International Convention of the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) and other UN and United States antidiscrimination laws.

OFICL noted that it had stayed active with the Forum even following last year’s conference.“We attended last year’s conference and actually floored 12 Representatives during the Conference,” stated OFICL chairman Dr. Michael T. Snidecor. “I don’t have access to the actual records, but our Secretary was told that we had the largest number of representatives from outside North America at the conference.”

“The Special Rapporteur for the region stated that for years the Forum had tried to obtain information from the Israeli Government about complaints regarding issues with Bedouin in the Negev,” stated OFICL director Mark Kaplan. “The government has never responded. So, we were able to forward a report by another organization about the situation containing studies about the serious ecological damage posed by illegal Bedouin construction and proposals on how to work with the Bedouins to solve the issues. Dr. Snidecor also created a simple online system for anonymously filing complaints of indigenous rights violations. So, we have remained an active NGO in the forum.”

The organization also explained that the legal action is required since, as Dr. Snidecor explained, “we were not given any reason for rejecting us other than saying we are ineligible under two resolutions, one of which has nothing to do with NGO qualifications. We see nothing that disqualifies us, and no one will take responsibility for the decision to reject our application.”

“The sad thing is that the indigenous tribes who attend the conference are not guilty, it is the UN employees,” stated Kaplan. “Unfortunately, our taking this action may tarnish the reputation of the forum. This is not something we want to do. These are wonderful people, and they are not connected to the anti-Israel governments and policies of the UN.

“However,” he added, “had there been a valid reason to exclude us from the conference, the UN powers-that-be should have been able to cite what the disqualifying issue is. If they cannot cite the criteria we do not meet, then it seems rather suspicious that there is something else going on here. There is no question that the Jewish People meet the UN Criteria for being considered indigenous.”

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