Good News out of Europe and Canada

EU official: Israeli Gaza action not a war crime.

(IsraelNN.com) A European Union official visiting Israel said Israeli retaliation actions in the Gaza Strip "did not constitute war crimes." European Commission Vice-President Franco Frattini also said that "Europeans should have understood Israel’s concern sooner," EJP reported.

Speaking to Israeli reporters on Tuesday in the course of his visit in Israel, he declared: "We have to take into account that the Gaza Strip has become a base from where rockets are launched every day against innocent people in Israel… Ultimately, Hamas was responsible for the conditions under which Gazans lived."

In a speech at the Herzliya Conference, Frattini, who is a former Italian Foreign Minister, said: "There has been a large-scale misunderstanding in recent years between Europe and Israel. For too long, we ignored Israel’s fears and legitimate concerns about terror, fanaticism and the refusal of key groups in the Arab camp to come to terms with Israel’s existence, let alone its legitimacy."

Canada to skip Durban conference due to expected anti-Semitism.

Canada will not take part in a major United Nations conference on racism next year because the event is likely to descend into "regrettable anti-Semitism", a top official said on Wednesday.

Officials said they believed Canada was the first nation to announce it will not attend the conference in Durban, South Africa.

A similar meeting at the same venue in 2001 was marred when Israel and the United States walked out in protest over draft conference texts branding Israel as a racist and apartheid state - language that was later dropped.

"(We) had hoped that the preparatory process for the 2009 ... conference would remedy the mistakes of the past. Despite our efforts, we have concluded that it will not. Canada will therefore not participate," Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier said in a statement.

Jason Kenney, the secretary of state for multiculturalism, said the Conservative government was sure the conference would "showcase the same regrettable anti-Semitism" as the 2001 meeting.

"Our government sees no value in allowing Canada's participation to continue to dignify or legitimate such hateful and un-Canadian propaganda," he told reporters. ...

Remarks. Very encouraging developments from our friends to the north and across the Atlantic. It's especially noteworthy that these officials spoke in clear and unequivocal language.