Ten years and a month ago, two Canadians, a Norwegian and a Filipina were taken hostage by Abu Sayaf, the face of Islamic terror in the Philippines. Canada refused to negotiate with terrorists, so the Canadians, John Ridsdel and Robert Hall, were beheaded. Abu Sayaf wanted money for hostages; Norwegian Kjartan Sekkingstad and Filipina Marites Flor were released some time later, with Sekkingstad’s family having raised the funds to free them and the Norwegian government having played a quiet role.Almost two years ago, Israel was invaded from Gaza, by Hamas. Over 1200 Israelis were tortured, raped, and slaughtered in the most brutal manner, while some 250 Israelis, dual citizens, and foreign citizens were taken hostage in Gaza. .MCMILLAN: To hell with the east, we want to be released.The hostages were mostly hidden in the massive underground tunnel network that had been built by Hamas using Western funds intended to serve the Palestinian people for peace.Hamas did not take hostages for money. They took them to create what Emmanuel Ruimy on X described as a "geometry of war" — a trap that Hamas laid for Israel. It is a trap that is sealing and boxing in Israel's reputation and fate as the West becomes a willing participant as it pursues a fatuous prize of "peace and a two-state solution, and the release of hostages.""The most chilling truth may be this: Hamas has understood the West better than many Israeli strategists," Ruimy wrote. "Its true front is Western public opinion, not the IDF. By taking hostages, it forbids peace. By hiding among civilians in the most densely populated territory in the world, it forbids war."He explained that, "Hamas has invented a geometry of the trap: Israel is locked in a war where every victory is a loss. In this asymmetric and post-modern conflict, what matters is not reality, but the image of reality."."This trap," Ruimy added, "could not work without the involuntary cooperation of Western democracies. By shifting pressure not onto the hostage-takers but onto those trying to save them, they legitimize blackmail. By recognizing a Palestinian state unconditionally, they turn a terrorist strategy into political capital."As Belgian jurist and author, Drieu Godefridi, wrote in a piece for Gatestone titled "Diplomatic Terrorism: France's Recognition of an Imaginary Palestinian State," Palestine does not qualify for statehood."Article One of the 1933 Montevideo Convention," he noted, "defines the criteria for statehood: 'a permanent population, a defined territory, an effective government, and the capacity to engage in relations with other states.' Yet neither of the two Palestinian political entities meets these criteria.".GIESBRECHT: How to fix CBC? Hire Ezra Levant.Thus, it is Macron, Carney and Starmer who have violated international law, boxing in the hostages and Israel. Hamas doesn't want money for the hostages. Hamas wants to destroy Israel, and it is part of Islamic Jihad, which ultimately wants the entire West destroyed.Hamas has cleverly manipulated the media. Repeaters, not reporters, have failed us.Western leaders — often beholden to Qatar, the financial power behind Hamas — make proclamations of Palestinians statehood, appearing to be just and humanitarian. In reality, Starmer relies on Qatar for those emergency LNG shipments when the UK is on the verge of national blackouts. Likewise, France's TotalEnergies signed two 27-year LNG supply contracts with Qatar on Oct. 11, 2023. Not only is France obliging terror regimes by bowing to their demands, it turns out that France is also a climate hypocrite. Who knew?What's Prime Minister Carney's driver for his declaration of Palestinian statehood? Hard to know, but he has publicly stated that Muslim values are Canadian values. Israel has always gone to great lengths to free any Israeli or foreign citizen taken from Israel by regional terror groups — to bring them home alive, or dead. Israel has made tremendous efforts to locate and free hostages or acquire their remains. .Israel has also made exceptional concessions in the past. In 2011, Israel freed 1,027 of Palestinian prisoners held for terror acts from prison, in trade for the living hostage, IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.Gazan Yahya Sinwar was one of the prisoners freed in exchange for Gilad Shalit. He went on to become one of the masterminds of Hamas' October 7 massacre.Carney made his public statement of intent to declare a Palestinian State without the participation or approval of the Canadian parliament. Hamas has been listed as a terrorist entity in Canada since 2002, thus "making it a criminal offence to knowingly participate in or contribute to any activity by Hamas." As Ruimy wrote, "by recognizing a Palestinian state unconditionally, they turn a terrorist strategy into political capital.".MCCRAE: Every child matters, or perhaps not.After the kidnapping and horrific executions of two Canadians by Abu Sayaf a decade ago, the Philippines wiped out the terrorist organization that had plagued them — the very thing that Israel plans to do. By contrast today, the West has tried to handcuff Israel and reward Hamas terrorists with a state, within which Hamas will continue to oppress the Palestinian people, and from where Hamas will continue to wage war against Israel, but now with formal statehood.Ruimy called the battle dramaturgical. "I repeat," he wrote, "the most tragic fact is that Hamas' strategy has worked. And it works because we allow it to work. Hamas has understood: in a world ruled by images, terrorism pays — provided it is staged well."It has all been staged very well. And one wonders if the prime minister has committed a criminal offence with his solo declaration of support for statehood, a place which does not meet the requirements of international law for statehood. Doesn't his declaration in fact contravene Canadian law by "knowingly participat[ing] in or contribut[ing] to any activity by Hamas."It's a question worth asking.
