Last month, in the wake of a meeting in Ottawa of the Inter-Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Anti-Semitism (ICCA), I put forward two questions that should have been asked of the chair, Liberal MP Irwin Cotler, at the press conference announcing ratification of the Ottawa Protocol:
1. Is it anti-Semitic to criticize Israeli construction in East Jerusalem?
2. "What's your position on that construction?"
The answers to these questions come in this week's edition of the Canadian Jewish News:
To the first question, Mr. Cotler answers no. However, his answer to the second question bears some further scrutiny.
Mr. Cotler said that construction in east Jerusalem "has to be conducted in accordance with the law."
"There are private builders in Jerusalem, and cases before [Israel's]Supreme Court. I [would]support the findings of fact and collusions of law of that court, which I consider one of the best in the world.
"If they find [the construction]legal, I stand by that. If they find it not to be legal, I will go by that as well."
In other words, Mr. Cotler's position on Israeli construction in East Jerusalem is not Canada's position - as expressed over the years by successive governments of different stripes. His position on this matter is whatever Israel's position turns out to be.
So a further question must be asked - and it should be asked of Opposition Leader Michael Ignatieff: Does Mr. Cotler's position reflect that of the Liberal Party on the question of Israeli construction in East Jerusalem?