Israel

Friday May 11, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday May 11, 2018

The world is nervously watching as the gloves come off between Iran and Israel

Israel says that it’s done with strikes on Iran — for now. France fears an escalation. Iran has its finger on the trigger. But, really, it’s Russian President Vladimir Putin who sits in the hot seat.

July 15, 2015

Where once the US would have been the brake on spikes in Syrian violence, there is a real possibility President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal is greasing the wheels towards a wider regional war.

In recent months, the world’s top diplomat, UN Secretary-General António Guterres, has warned that Israeli and Iranian tit-for-tat strikes in Syria could quickly boil over to a regional conflagration.

Overnight, rockets fired by Iranian forces from inside Syria toward Israel triggered a forewarned robust response from Israel’s military — targeting Iranian military assets in Syria.

Since early February, when Israel says it shot down an Iranian drone laden with explosives that was launched from Syria, the Israeli Defense Forces have increased retaliatory strikes in Syria at Iranian targets.

Some of those strikes are reported to have killed several Iranian fighters. Yet until this point there had been no Iranian retaliation.

The sudden surge in the exchange of rockets Wednesday night — on the heels of Trump’s exit from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action — hints that Iran has suspended its strategic restraint.

If so, the likelihood that the Iranian-Israeli confrontation will escalate increases. (Source: CNN) 

 

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Thursday December 7, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday December 7, 2017

Defiant Trump confirms US will recognise Jerusalem as capital of Israel

Donald Trump has defied overwhelming global opposition by declaring US recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, but insisted that the highly controversial move would not derail his own administration’s bid to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In a short speech delivered at the White House, Trump directed the state department to start making arrangements to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem – a process that officials say will take at least three years.

“I have determined that it is time to officially recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel” Trump said. “While previous presidents have made this a major campaign promise, they failed to deliver. Today, I am delivering.”

Trump said: “My announcement today marks the beginning of a new approach to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.”

Rex Tillerson, the secretary of state, announced his officials would “immediately begin the process to implement this decision by starting the preparations to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem”.

Trump’s announcement provoked condemnation from US allies, and a furious reaction from Palestinian leaders and the Muslim world.

Trump insisted that his decision would not derail his own administration’s attempt to make peace, stressing that he was not stipulating how much of Jerusalem should be considered Israel’s capital. Palestinians see East Jerusalem as the capital of their own future state, and Trump did not rule out a future division of the city. (Source: Guardian)

 

Thursday August 18, 2016

2016-08-18Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday August 18, 2016

Elizabeth May could quit as Green Party leader this month

Elizabeth May says she could step down as Green Party leader later this month if her party doesn’t reconsider its decision to endorse a movement that calls for the boycott of Israel.

At its policy convention last weekend, Green Party members voted in favour of a resolution which, in part, said the party “supports the use of divestment, boycott and sanctions (BDS) that are targeted to those sectors of Israel’s economy and society which profit from the ongoing occupation of the OPT [occupied Palestinian Territories.]”

“I would say as of this minute I think I’d have real difficulties going not just to an election but through the next month,” May said in an interview with CBC Radio’s The House, set to air this Saturday morning on CBC Radio One.

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay Ð Monday August 22, 2016

 August 22, 2016

“There are a lot of issues I want to be talking about with Canadians, and this isn’t one of them.”

May is headed to Nova Scotia for a family vacation, where she will seek their advice on her future as leader.

“I need to talk to my family and ask them what they think I should do,” May said. “You’re talking to a broken-hearted person who is trying to figure out the best way forward.”

After Green Party members endorsed the BDS movement, several prominent Jewish organizations denounced the move, with one leader saying he was “irate” with the party.

But another Jewish group was enthusiastic about the resolution brought forward by the Green Party’s justice critic, Dimitri Lascaris.

May — who opposes BDS — said she has been criticized as both a Zionist and an anti-Semite since it was adopted as official party policy.

“It’s horrible. You are caught between two very strong loud voices,” she said.

“I think it is wrong-headed for the party. It’s a very polarizing and divisive campaign.” (Source: CBC News)

 

Wednesday July 15, 2015

Editorial cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator - Wednesday July 15, 2015 Iran after a nuclear deal: Where will Canada stand? Iran and the P5+1 Ð China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States, or the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, plus Germany Ð finally reached a deal on Tuesday resolving the long-standing dispute over IranÕs nuclear ambitions. This raises questions for Canada, which has displayed a particularly aggressive stance toward Iran in recent years. The Harper governmentÕs hostility toward Tehran has been based on the premise, frequently expressed by the Prime Minister and senior ministers, that Iran poses the greatest threat to international peace and security. The government has nuanced this assessment recently, labelling Iran a ÒsignificantÓ threat to international security, presumably reflecting growing concern about the Islamic State and Russia. Nevertheless, it remains that Canada has differentiated itself from its allies under the Conservatives, adopting a harder line against Iran. Concretely, this has meant that to protest against IranÕs nuclear program, human rights record, and confrontational regional policies, Canada has implemented all UN sanctions against Iran and has vocally adopted additional unilateral measures. In multilateral settings, Canadian diplomats repeatedly and assertively lambaste Iran. Ottawa also severed diplomatic relations in 2012. As nuclear talks progressed over the past two years, Canada remained deeply skeptical of Iranian intentions and insisted that only tangible actions would prove IranÕs commitment to restraining its nuclear program. Canada also systematically emphasized that human rights had not improved under President Hassan Rouhani and that IranÕs support for terrorism across the Middle East continues unabated. This aggressive policy towards Iran has been based on a flawed premise, has had a marginal impact, and has resulted in few measurable benefits. (Contin

Editorial cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday July 15, 2015

Iran after a nuclear deal: Where will Canada stand?

Iran and the P5+1 – China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States, or the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, plus Germany – finally reached a deal on Tuesday resolving the long-standing dispute over Iran’s nuclear ambitions. This raises questions for Canada, which has displayed a particularly aggressive stance toward Iran in recent years.

The Harper government’s hostility toward Tehran has been based on the premise, frequently expressed by the Prime Minister and senior ministers, that Iran poses the greatest threat to international peace and security. The government has nuanced this assessment recently, labelling Iran a “significant” threat to international security, presumably reflecting growing concern about the Islamic State and Russia. Nevertheless, it remains that Canada has differentiated itself from its allies under the Conservatives, adopting a harder line against Iran.

Concretely, this has meant that to protest against Iran’s nuclear program, human rights record, and confrontational regional policies, Canada has implemented all UN sanctions against Iran and has vocally adopted additional unilateral measures. In multilateral settings, Canadian diplomats repeatedly and assertively lambaste Iran. Ottawa also severed diplomatic relations in 2012.

As nuclear talks progressed over the past two years, Canada remained deeply skeptical of Iranian intentions and insisted that only tangible actions would prove Iran’s commitment to restraining its nuclear program. Canada also systematically emphasized that human rights had not improved under President Hassan Rouhani and that Iran’s support for terrorism across the Middle East continues unabated.

This aggressive policy towards Iran has been based on a flawed premise, has had a marginal impact, and has resulted in few measurable benefits. (Continued: Globe & Mail)

 

Thursday August 14, 2014

Thursday August 14, 2014By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday August 14, 2014

Pop-Culture President Fails To Issue Statement on Death of Hollywood Legend

President Barack Obama, whose opinions on entertainment are eagerly awaited by all Americans, has shocked the entertainment industry by ignoring the death of legendary Hollywood actress, and lifelong Democrat, Lauren Bacall.

Bacall, a movie legend whose career included work with filmmakers ranging from Howard Hawks to Douglas Sirk to Lars von Trier, died Tuesday, leaving behind a legacy that included many classic films, a youthful marriage (and early widowhood) to Humphrey Bogart, and a lifetime of activism for liberal causes. Bacall joined protests against the House Un-American Activities Committee, campaigned for two-time failed presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson in the 1950s, and identified herself as “anti-Republican . . . a liberal” in a 2005 Larry King interview.

Yet Bacall’s loyalty to the president’s party has not earned any recognition from the pop-culture-saturated commander-in-chief. Obama has spent much of his time in office taking selfies with cultural notables; giving his opinions on Downton Abbey, Orange Is the New Black, Mad Men, and many other popular television shows; texting with Jay-Z; and gracing the nation with his opinion of Kanye West’s interruption of Taylor Swift at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. Obama rarely leaves America in the dark about his media diet and pop-culture opinions.

Inconveniently, Obama’s pop connoisseurship is occasionally interrupted by details of national and global politics: Russia is on the verge of invading Ukraine; an area of Iraq the size of Belgium is under the control of a mass-murdering Sunni Islamist terror group; and the United States remains stuck in the longest period of economic stagnation since the Great Depression. But Obama has until now found ways to soldier through, most recently taking time during his Martha’s Vineyard vacation to issue a statement on the death of hirsute funnyman Robin Williams.

The cause of Obama’s Bacall snub is not known. It is possible that he is preparing to hug it out with his former secretary of state Hillary Clinton on the Vineyard tonight. The president may also share the view, held by a large minority of American men, that Martha Vickers, who played Bacall’s slutty younger sister in Hawks’s 1946 adaptation of Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep, was the real hot one. (Source: National Review)

FEEDBACK

Letter to the Editor, August 15, 2014

Poor taste in celebrity death cartoon

 I was disgusted by the lack of sensitivity in Graeme MacKay’s cartoon of Aug. 14, depicting the recent deaths of celebrities and asking who’s next. It was an utter lack of taste and poor decision-making on the part of the editor for publishing it. Shame on you.

 S. Skalko, Hamilton