[R-G] [Pro-Palestine] email earns Bloc Quebecois MP rebuke

[Anthony Fenton]

Anti-Israel email earns Bloc Quebecois MP rebuke

1 day ago

OTTAWA — A Bloc Quebecois MP was upbraided for sending all of her  
colleagues in the House of Commons an anti-Israel email that paid  
tribute to groups listed in Canada as terrorist organizations.

Maria Mourani forwarded all 308 MPs an email with links to numerous  
articles and images that accuse the Jewish state of terrorism,  
question its legitimacy and glorify violence against it.

The note earned her a rebuke Wednesday from Prime Minister Stephen  
Harper, from the Jewish-rights organization B'nai Brith and a caution  
from her leader to be more careful.

In one video link there's a graphic of a heart surrounding the image  
of the political leader of Hamas, while other videos show numerous  
flattering images of people draped in the group's iconic green bandana.

Canada's list of terrorist organizations includes three groups -  
Hamas, Islamic Jihad and al-Aqsa Martyr's Brigade - that receive  
laudatory treatment in the linked messages.

Mourani explained that she had not examined the entire contents of the  
email, which included hundreds of pictures, along with a handful of  
videos, newspaper articles and blog entries.

After her email raised eyebrows on Parliament Hill, Mourani sent her  
colleagues a more personal note in which she offered no apologies.

She stressed in an interview with a Montreal newspaper, however, that  
she did not support what she described as hateful propaganda.

"My goal was to show the impact not only on the people but also on the  
imagination of a large part of the population," the Montreal MP wrote  
to her colleagues.

"This violence feeds tension and extremism and cannot lead to a  
lasting solution.

"As some people have noted . . . violent and hateful propaganda is  
emerging that unfortunately is spreading throughout the Middle East  
and around the world."

Bloc officials said Mourani would have more to say Thursday in a  
speech to the Commons.

Harper raised the issue twice Wednesday in response to questions from  
her party leader.

Gilles Duceppe twice complained about a lack of federal loan  
guarantees for struggling forestry companies - and the prime minister  
twice turned the debate to Mourani.

"The Bloc leader should condemn his own members for having circulated  
propaganda which promotes terrorist organizations," Harper said.

"The Bloc leader should unequivocally state that singing the praises  
of terrorist groups isn't part of Quebec's values."

Duceppe said his MP should have checked the email's contents more  
carefully, but he said he would not discipline her and he considered  
the matter closed.

"She distanced herself from those hateful remarks," Duceppe said.

"She clearly did not support the things mentioned there. However, I  
think she should have displayed a little more rigour."

Mourani forwarded an email that was intended to help solicit  
charitable donations for food, medicine and shelter for the people in  
Gaza.

More than 1,300 Gazans were killed - over half of them civilians - and  
thousands more were wounded in an Israeli offensive aimed at halting  
Hamas rocket attacks on Israeli civilians.

The email contains hundreds of images of the carnage in Gaza,  
including severed limbs, bombed-out buildings, and the bodies of dead  
children being held by grieving parents.

One dead baby is draped in Hamas green. Also clad in green are other  
children in one of the numerous images showing people tossing rocks at  
Israeli tanks.

The email includes a blog entry that argues that the Israeli offensive  
fit the definition of terrorism because it used violence to pressure  
Palestinian civilians into renouncing Hamas.

The Lebanese-Canadian MP has been an ardent and controversial critic  
of Israel.

She was forced to apologize in 2006 when she accused Israel of  
committing war crimes during the bombing of Lebanon.

B'nai Brith Canada said Mourani should be more responsible in the  
future.

"Maria Mourani has admitted that she failed to watch all the videos  
that were linked to the email she disseminated to fellow  
parliamentarians," said Frank Dimant, the group's executive vice  
president.

"This irresponsible action makes her an unwitting tool in the spread  
of dangerous hate propaganda."