It is disgusting to admit it, but Manitoba’s Premier, Greg Selinger, is traveling to Israel this month to “sign partnership agreements, help promote the Royal Winnipeg Ballet 70th anniversary tour of Israel and dedicate a park designed to promote peace . . .” He’s taking a couple of cabinet ministers as well as a freshly minted “special representative for Manitoba to Israel for economic and community relations.”
In the wake of Israel’s murders of Gaza Freedom Flotilla crew members, Operation Cast Lead, and the ongoing oppression of Palestinians in Gaza and on the West Bank, the premier’s decision to deepen ties with Israel is unbelievably stupid and sickening.
Photo: Al Jazeera. See Al Jazeera’s feature entitled Gaza: One Year On
Had any of Selinger’s predecessors opted to visit South Africa during its apartheid era, the outcry would have been deafening.
Do your part to remind Mr. Selinger that it will not be acceptable to do business with Israel until it makes peace with Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank and dismantles the ugly apartheid system it has set up.
Tell him Manitoba should be a part of the global boycott, divestment and sanctions for Palestine movement, rather than a partner in apartheid.
Greg Selinger’s email address is premier@leg.gov.mb.ca.
Paul S. Graham 
Dear Premier Selinger,
I am disappointed to learn that you are planning to represent Manitoba in Israel this month with a view to deepening this province’s ties with that rogue state. With the courageous exception of Libby Davies, the politicians in this country seem unwilling to acknowlege what voters at the U.N. Security Council so clearly articulated this past week: The apartheid state of Israel will be called out to account for its crimes, and those who continue to dally with international criminal elements will emerge from the photo-ops with blood on their hands and their reputations sullied.
Justice Richard Goldstone’s UN report last year, the murder and kidnapping of unarmed activists in international waters by the IDF this past summer, and daily news events in reputable international print and electronic media preclude any possibility that you and the entourage you hope to take with you on this ill-advised trip are ignorant of the human rights violations being perpetrated by Isreal against the people inside the territories it occupies. What then could possibly motivate you to make this trip? It is beyond comprehension.
I would like to ask you to reconsider your plans to visit Isreal for the purpose of deepening ties. In so doing you also, if unintentionally, deepen your ties with our federal government’s singularly unequivocal (in the world), and among Canadian voters, increasingly unpopular and indefensible support for Israel as an apartheid state. As a Manitoban, I urge you to make a very strong public statement condemning human rights violations by Israel in the Middle East. The integrity of your party, of your office, and of all Manitobans, depends of your thoughtful reflection now. To make a formal visit to that country without speaking up suggests complicity, and that is unacceptable.
Sincerely,
Linda Goossen
Winnipeg, MB R3N 1B5
Well done Linda
Another shameful politician who has no scruples, vision or knowledge. We are helping a Jewish apartheid state kill Palestinian Muslims.
At least he’ll get the Jewish, Evangelical and bigoted vote for sure!