04.20.2011 11:04 AM

Peter Kent’s anti-Israel documentary (updated, with other critics of Kent)

I’m an ardent supporter of Israel, as you all know. I thought Peter Kent was, too.

I was wrong. His 1987 NBC “documentary” – and the linked analysis – seriously call that into question.

Kent’s treatment of Israel was “unbalanced” and “distorted,” the study concluded. And that’s not all.

Peter Kent – and his Conservative Party – have some explaining to do. If they can’t, or won’t, every pro-Israel voter in Thornhill needs to support my friend Karen Mock.

As the former head of B’nai B’rith, Karen would have never authored anti-Israel crap like this.

UPDATE: I’ll post a free link as soon as I get it.  But I’m not alone on this.  Here’s what scholars have said about what Kent did:

 

29 Comments

  1. George says:

    TORONTO – The Muslim Canadian Congress has endorsed the NDP as its party of choice in the coming federal elections and has appealed to Muslim Canadians to not only vote for the NDP candidate in their ridings, but also to come out and volunteer their time and money in supporting Canada’s New Democrats.

    “For too long the Liberal Party has taken our communities for granted; it is time for the traditional leadership of Canada’s Muslim communities to cut their ties with the tainted record of the Federal Liberal Party and demonstrate solidarity with Jack Layton and his New Democrats,” said Niaz Salimi President of the MCC.”

    • bigcitylib says:

      That’s Tarek’s bunch. Him, his wife, and a coffee table. If three voters are voted by their endorsement, that’s two more than I’m expecting. They’ve also been down on the Liberals for awhile, so I doubt this is their first NDP endorsement.

  2. Patrick says:

    The CPC has built way more credibility in the area of support for Israel. This was one of the first GTA ridings to flip Conservative last election. Recently, across the road in Vaughan, they flipped to the Conservatives too. It’ll be tough for the Liberal’s to get Thornhill back. The trend is not the Liberal’s friend. And drudging up a twenty-five year old report is getting kind of desperate, no?

  3. MontrealElite says:

    Very interesting!

    OTTAWA — A new poll suggests Michael Ignatieff has made significant gains in personal popularity during the election campaign and is now tied with Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

    http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5i_kMcgZ89tzVrgalKqUS8JIj4CMA?docId=6617803

  4. Lloyd says:

    Wow the Libs are even more desperate than we thought. A documentary that a now politician worked on 24 YEARS AGO? What next, will they be quoting something PM Harper said when he was 8 years old?
    The Libs are about to get POUNDED by the NDP on May 02. It will look good on them.

    • Warren says:

      Hey, froyd76@yahoo.ca, are you saying there’s a statute of limitations on anti-Israel propaganda? Is that what your Conservative Party is saying?

      C’mon, tough guy. And, how are things at the Ontario March of Dimes, anyway?

    • Bruce from Etobicoke says:

      Buddy! You can’t possibly be serious! We’ve been subjected to an unending pile of lying and twisted out of context crap from Conservative attack ads about Ignatieff for five years pretty much going back to thoughtless things he allegedly wrote in someone’s yearbook in high school, and you want to complain about the timing on something Peter Kent actually did? Like, as in, it really happened. But the old Con nonsense still counts? Time for a head shake.

      Wow.

  5. Martin says:

    Sorry, I don’t share your, nor the Conservative’s, ardent support for Israel. Kairos anyone?

  6. Harith says:

    I don’t support either camps. I’m a supporter of PEACE. Supporting either faction is just a recipe for disaster.

  7. scott d says:

    5 year ban on all middle east coverage now please.

  8. George says:

    changing the channel on Ignatieff’s problems today can’t help him. He’s much more of an international celebrity in a few different countries than Kent will EVER be.

    • Warren says:

      Um, what? Are you also saying this kind of anti-Israel crap doesn’t matter, George?

    • Philip says:

      Which problems are those George? Do you mean his articulate and correct statement on how our Westminister based Parliament actually works? Keep bringing it up if it makes you feel any better. Shout it from the roof tops, it really doesn’t matter anymore. How are your taxpayer funded North Dakota robo-dialers working out for you? How many undecideds have your Conservative’s picked up lately? Some? None? Now that’s a sign of desperation.

  9. Graham Fletcher says:

    Sorry – wrong URL: PM Stephen Harper’s Speech in Support of Israel – http://tinyurl.com/3fmhwk5

  10. CQ says:

    Wasn’t Peter Kent formerly the leading news anchor for the Asper family owned Global TV? And didn’t he continue on as a news division executive – in this past decade? I’ll take the acceptance of a Jewish family with long standing ties to both Canadian News Media and the development of a Human Rights Museum.

  11. Kelmcc says:

    And it was more recently that the Liberal leader said Israel was committing war crimes in Lebanon. The Conservative record is pretty clear on its support for Israel regardless of this 24 year old documentary.

  12. Jimmy says:

    Memo to George and Lloyd:

    I have two pieces of advice.
    1 Don’t use the hairdryer in the shower
    2 Don’t take on WK on this issue

  13. TDotRome says:

    Whether someone is a supporter or not of Israel is completely baffling to me. Maybe before, but still? Sure, they have their conflicts but so do many nations. And, it’s not like any Canadian politician’s opinion is ever going to change the existence of Israel as a state. It already is a state! Even if a nation of Palestine is created, Isreal will still exist. So, who cares?!?

    Do you think during Israeli elections they ask people if they are a supporters of Canada? Of course not.

    No one person can (or should) be an absolute, ardent supporter of any nation. It’s a completely ridiculous principle. An individual can cast judgement upon a single things. Do I love travelling to the Mayan Riviera? You bet. Do I think it’s right that nobody gets prosecuted for murdering Cancun tourists? Hell no. Is either a judgement on Mexico? Don’t be silly.

    If you blindly support all the actions of any nation, then you are too shallow and too stupid to be voted into parliament.

  14. R says:

    Conservative did choose Peter Ken because he does not care about environment and
    he is too nice man to change any of green ideas or even care about it.

    I saw his photo shaked hand with Israeli PM in web page of Ezra levant

    Peter Kent promise instead of paying environment funding replace US to fund Israel if they need it

    when Israel become real country to stop on welfar system and independ from US government and work in real trade with other

    lol

  15. George says:

    from the NP’s Ivison
    “How does Michael Ignatieff reconcile this report with this one?

    In the first article, he says he has never said he would vote against the Conservative budget.

    In the second, it seems very clear to me that he was saying he would do exactly that.
    The difference, of course, is that in the intervening period, he’s been rumbled. All sides deny any contact between one another to plan a post-election strategy but all three opposition leaders with members in the House of Commons have said they will vote down the Tory budget, if it’s the same one tabled last month.

    In his CBC interview, Mr. Ignatieff was clear he expects the Governor-General to allow him the chance to form government in that event. It almost makes the trip to the polls on May 2 irrelevant.”

    • nic coivert says:

      That is the way it works George. If a minority government can’t work with opposition parties then another leader is given the opportunity.

      Harper has put himself in a corner by promising to regurgitate a budget the House has already said was impalatable.

      Talk about setting yourself up as the guy who won’t work with others.

      • dave says:

        How could the Conservatives present the same budget when the Conservatives already changed (two weeks into the campaign)what they were going to spend and do? Didn’t they find a bunch more money somewhere?

        (A money tree, maybe?)

  16. Wow George – Ham-handed channel changin’ and now a demonstration of a lack of understanding on how Parliamentary democracy works. I’d want to remain anonymous too.

    Actually the C-word to focus on is Contempt, not Coalition, Contempt. As in Harper Government found in Contempt of Parliament.

    Now, back to Peter Kent.

  17. J.G. Love says:

    Look at the documentary or read the transcripts. It’s pretty factual. I don’t like Kent but not b/c of the criticism written by a couple of profs with their biases. BTW my gut says libs will be doing surprisingly well.

  18. HonestB says:

    I’m not sure what it means to be a “supporter” of Isreal exactly. I’m a supporter of Canada but to me mostly that means subjecting the Canadian government to criticism, not trying to argue that someone who subjected it to criticism (even criticism that was maybe unfair) 24 years ago should be seen as an “anti-Canada” propagandist who’s unfit to run for political office.

    To be fair, I haven’t actually read the article yet (I will when I’m next at the University Library, probably Friday), and I’ll withhold final judgment until I get a chance to. Maybe there really is some galling inaccuracy in there that really ought to hurt the reputation of someone who worked on it, but from the abstract of the article, it sounds like it was basically just editorialized, maybe heavily, which doesn’t bother me in the slightest.

  19. Joey Rapaport says:

    Zimmn’ Tov and Mazel Tov, Heyyah Lannooo!

  20. Patrick Murphy says:

    I have a lot of contempt for those that support ethnic cleansing for reasons of tribalism.
    I have enormous contempt for those that support ethnic cleansing due the ramblings of mystical texts.
    I loath politician and business men who support ethnic cleansing for money and power.
    But none of that matches the complete moral revulsion I have for two-bit political hacks who support ethnic cleansing for a couple of votes.

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