(Jerusalem Report) Leonard Stern - On October 21, 2002, after an Islamic Jihad terrorist detonated a car bomb next to an Israeli bus, incinerating 14 passengers, Irwin Cotler stood in the House of Commons in Ottawa and criticized the Canadian government, led by his own Liberal party, for refusing to designate Islamic Jihad and Hamas as terror organizations. Two weeks after the bus attack, Cotler again rose from the backbench and urged his Liberal colleagues "to do the right thing" and blacklist Palestinian terror groups. Twenty days later the government relented and named Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist "entities." By that time it was assumed that Cotler was a troublemaker and was finished politically. A year later he became minister of justice and attorney general of Canada.
2004-03-10 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive