Extremist Conservative fundraising email shows the depth of their commitment to Apartheid Israel

In a surprising move the Trudeau government unexpectedly voted in favour of a motion in support of Palestinian self-determination at the United Nations on November 19. This was widely seen as a repudiation of the recent outrageous move by the Trump administration to unilaterally declare that Israeli settlements are not illegal under international law when they very clearly are. 

While the vote was a positive development it did not really signal a fundamental shift in Canada's policies in the region. As noted in the Globe and Mail:

Thomas Juneau, a Middle East expert at the University of Ottawa, said the vote is “more symbolic than anything else.”
“Are we going to see a substantive change in the substance of Canadian policy towards Israel and Palestinians? I doubt it. I think our policy will broadly remain consistent,” said Mr. Juneau, adding that he will be watching to see how Canada votes in the future to determine whether there is a shift in policy, or a one-off.
Michael Lynk, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied territories, said by voting in favour of the resolution recognizing right to self-determination, Canada is “simply acknowledging long-standing international consensus and long-standing international law on the issue of Palestine.”
Mr. Lynk, who is also an associate professor at the University of Western Ontario, said Canada did not vote in favour or a handful of other resolutions on the issue. He said that Canada is running for a seat on the UN Security Council and has likely realized its in a “weak” position on this issue.

It is just a slight adjustment to try to pretend to support Canada's alleged commitment to a "two state" solution. The CBC reported:

"We are extremely pleased that the Liberal government has voted in support of Palestinian self-determination at the UN," said CJPME's [Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East] Miranda Gallo. "This is a long overdue step and is entirely consistent with the government's support for a two-state solution in Israel-Palestine. In fact, Canada could not support a 'two state' solution if it did not support the creation of a Palestinian state."
Noting that "the Liberal government has changed its position as compared to previous years," Gallo added: "This may be a slap on the wrist to the Trump government to communicate that, given Pompeo's outlandish statement in support of illegal Israeli colonies, Canada feels the U.S. is failing to provide fair leadership on the Israel-Palestine conflict.

As the CBC also noted this simply brought Canada back in line with its historically somewhat more balanced stance:

In 2003, Canada voted yes to 13 of the 16 resolutions on Israel and abstained on three. In 2004, it recorded its first two "No" votes, alongside the U.S. and Israel, and supported only 12 resolutions. After Stephen Harper came to power in 2006, the "No" and abstention votes gradually increased.
After Harper won a majority government in 2011, Canada voted "No" on 14 of the 16 resolutions, abstaining on another. From that point onward, the only "Yes" vote before today was on a non-controversial motion calling for assistance for Palestinians displaced by conflict.
Trudeau's Liberal government has maintained the voting pattern it inherited from the Harper government — until now. 

 The Conservatives certainly don't see it that way though.

In an hysterical, over-the-top fundraising email they sent out on December 2, they paint it as a nefarious rejection of Israel that aligns Canada with North Korea.

The email, which had the subject line "Justin Trudeau’s emboldened anti-Israel stance" sought to open the wallets of donors with the following drivel:

This is disgraceful nonsense on multiple levels.

The implication is that supporting the resolution was somehow an extremist position internationally when it is anything but. While North Korea may have been one of several sponsors of the resolution -- that also included Egypt and, of course, the Palestinians (shocking) -- in all 163 countries voted for it with only 5 countries, including the United States and Israel, voting against. There were nine abstentions.

In other words, on this issue, it is the United States and a handful of countries with far right governments or that it has somehow bullied that are the actual extremists.

Aside from simply being inane, par for the course right wing lying where the message gets rather more unsettling is in its attempt to paint this as being due to the Liberal Party somehow having a problem with antisemitism and antisemitic candidates or members.

We have seen this game before with the relentless slandering of leftist Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn.

While Trudeau is certainly no leftist and unlike Corbyn has no commitment whatsoever to the justice of the Palestinian struggle against Israeli Apartheid, it is very disturbing to see the continued use of this line of attack by supporters of Israel and the right. The equation of opposition to the actions of Israel with antisemitism is not simply wrong but dangerous in that it plays into the very antisemitic tropes that it allegedly opposes.

Conflating Israel with Jews broadly and internationally is, in fact, antisemitic as is the use of support of Israel by Canadian conservatives to pander to the Evangelical Christian community whose embrace of it is based solely on a demented belief that its existence heralds the coming of the apocalypse and rapture.

Whether being used against Corbyn or the milquetoast opportunist Trudeau these tactics and lies must be resolutely opposed.