Some news you won't see on CTV or CBC

It seems that any article concerning Israel in the Canadian press is so one sided as to be laughable. This is evidently, par for the course. The reasons are many and certainly this double standard is not confined to Canadian news, as it is also well practiced in the American media as well (which begs the question - is any mainstream news source in the Americas truly free?). My answer to that would be an emphatic NO.

As an example, one only has to gaze upon the 'comments' section of Canada's Globe and Mail. Rarely, if ever, are comments even allowed on articles concerning Israel. When they are they are heavily moderated and always inundated with blatent Israel-Firsters - who will sling the 'anti-semite' slur against anyone taking a moderate, middle of the road view of the entire Israel/Palestine conflict. All this does is prevent any kind of real debate as the accused winds up defending his/her character and all real discussion is derailed. I often wonder who the censor is, and what truly motivates them. While some posters will outright call for a nuke to be dropped on Iran, by Israel or the US, never would one see a post advocating the nuking of Israel. It is my opinion that use of nukes by either party would be disasterous - but I digress.

Just recently, a suit has been brought to the Quebec Supreme Court by the city of Bil'in against Green Park International and Green Mount International for building illegal settlements within the West Bank. As most do know, these settlements are illegal under international law and result in the continued displacement of native Palestinian populations. Here is the link to the first article on this (note: it appeared first in The Guardian, a UK newspaper).

Palestinian villages try to sue Canadian Builders

The case, brought to the Quebec superior court in Montreal, alleges that the two Canadian firms are breaching international law by building and selling homes in part of the settlement of Modi'in Illit on land originally belonging to the Palestinian village of Bil'in.
"In so doing, the defendants are aiding, abetting, assisting and conspiring with the state of Israel in carrying out an illegal purpose," according to the writ of claim filed to the court. It said their conduct amounted to a "fundamental violation of the human rights of the villagers" and "denies them freedom of movement".

Interesting isn't it? Now, finally the Canadian press did chime in, yesterday July 21 -

Activists say Montreal firms used as fronts for building Israeli settlements

Better late than never I suppose, and at least this article adds a little more information to the mix. It turns out that both these companies also have ties with the Congolese diamond trade and the recently maligned Lev Leviev (dropped by UNICEF as a sponser after it had become known his involvement illegal settlement building in Palestine). Ohhh you say, the plot thickens eh? Indeed:

Adalah-NY argues Boymelgreen used Green Park and Green Mount to sub-contract the construction of the settlements near Bilin to Danya Cebus, a subsidiary of Africa Israel Investments.
The conglomerate is headed by Israeli diamond magnate Lev Leviev, who partnered with Boymelgreen in a series of New York real-estate ventures between 2002-2007.
UNICEF, the UN children's fund, cut its ties with Leviev last month after it found "at least a reasonable grounds for suspecting" that Danya Cebus was involved in settlement building, which is considered illegal by the UN.
Adalah-NY said their research has shown that settlements are often funded by complex and misleading business deals.
"They want people to pay no attention to the man behind the curtain," said Bloom.

Okay, so we've travelled now a few feet down the rabbit hole - of course none of this is mentioned in any widely read mainstream paper in Canada - at least not online. Imagine if you will someone setting up camp in your backyard, refusing to leave and beginning excavations for a permanent dwelling. All calls to police go unanswered. Eventually these people start roaming around your house and gradually taking over, using arms and violence, your entire house. This is pretty much what occurs daily in Occupied Palestine - over and over, ad infinitum.

It is still questionable as to how far this suit will make it in the courts. I hope it goes the whole way - as actions such as these certainly place a black spot on Canada's reputation (sullied quite a bit recently under the Martin and Harper regimes) worldwide. It reflects the movement towards pro-Zionist expansionism supported by our own Government. No longer is Canada moderate in her actions towards Israel's illegal activities, now it seems we support them wholeheartedly. Something I feel is NOT in our land's best interest.