Michael Ignatieff: Judge And Jury

There have been a lot of blogs about this, but I just want to provide my own insight into this event.

The National Post reports, here, Michael Ignatieff "has accused Israel of committing "a war crime" during its conflict with Hezbollah last summer."

Michael ignatieff, a respected candidate for Leader of the Liberal Party alleged on a Quebec talk show that Israel committed a crime paramount to sanctions and international consequences. Now some have said this is just one in a series of Gaffes for Michael, I disagree. This is by far the most irresponsible action one could imagine. This is not some membership scandal like Volpe, but this is an exact example of a mistake Ignatieff would make as leader of the Liberal Party and of Canada.

I seriously fear Michael Ignatieff could possibly harm Canada by what he says. There are fundamentalists that would react quite strongly to such a statement made by a nations leader.

Others already are speaking out against Ignatieff, as noted in the article:

His comments, broadcast on Sunday, sparked an angry reaction among Jewish leaders who learned of them yesterday.

"That's appalling. To call it a war crime is totally, totally unacceptable," said Frank Dimant, executive vice-president of B'nai Brith Canada.

"I have to wonder if he is pandering to certain delegates who will be voting in the Liberal election for leadership."

Shimon Fogel, chief executive of the Canada-Israel Committee, said it was frustrating to hear Mr. Ignatieff's accusation.

"For somebody as well-informed and experienced as Mr. Ignatieff, he should know that is not a reasonable charge to level against Israel," he said. "What he ought to be preoccupied with is the kind of intolerance that gave rise to the conflict to begin with and the extent to which there are efforts to have it leach into Canadian society."

I am really interested in hearing a defence of Michael Ignatieff, because I cannot fathom one, logically that is.