The unbearable lightness of Stéphane Dion

At the end of May, the Trudeau team and, specifically, its piffle of a global affairs minister, Stéphane Dion, will likely fail two significant foreign policy tests that will challenge their ability to comply with domestic and international law. One deals with an individual war criminal, while the other is a massive terrorism and torture trade show coming to Ottawa.

On May 26, a man responsible for complicity in horrific war crimes, Henry Kissinger, will arrive in Toronto, along with another similarly shady character, Shimon Peres, to speak at the incredibly named Spirit of Hope gathering of the Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre. (Readers of this column may recall the shameless selfies with Kissinger recently taken and promoted by Liberal cabinet ministers Mélanie Joly and Navdeep Bains, which proved hugely insulting to Kissinger's victims.)

Israeli president says Israel should go into Iran with a coalition

JERUSALEM -- If Israel heads toward a military strike on Iran, they shouldn't go it alone, Israeli President Shimon Peres said Tuesday in an interview for the Global News program The West Block with Tom Clark.

The president's comments pile onto the deluge already heard in the debate on the issue, with several current and former officials taking a public stance against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's handling of the issue.

"Iran is trying to be the mother and father of terrorism," Peres said of the potential nuclear threat. "It's not a matter of gestures, or that sort of thing. It must be organized. It's better to do (it with) a coalition. I think that's the right way to do it."

Meanwhile, Netanyahu and Israeli Denfence Minister Ehud Barak have taken hard-line positions that all options, including an independent attack, are on the table.

Peres' comments have been echoed, both by the country's top military officer, who suggested during an interview with Israeli newspaper Haaretz, and by former prime minister Ehud Olmert that the threat Iran is posing less urgent than Netanyahu is letting on.

Peres, too, tried to cool the rhetoric in his exclusive one-on-one interview.

Shimon Peres, Israel President, 'Ashamed' Of Contentious Bills

JERUSALEM -- Israel's president says he is "ashamed" that lawmakers are trying to pass a string of bills he regards as undemocratic.

Shimon Peres' comments break with the presidential custom of maintaining silence on political issues.

In an interview with the Yediot Ahronot daily published Tuesday, Peres singled out bills that would slash funding to dovish groups, silence Muslim calls to prayer and tighten a defamation law in a way that could hobble investigative reports.

Peres said he was "personally ashamed that they are trying to pass those laws." The president's office says he was accurately quoted.

Supporters say the proposed legislation is a bulwark against attempts to undermine Israel's legitimacy. Critics see them as muzzling dissent.

Origin
Source: Huff