KINSELLA: The sins of omission of Liberal leadership candidates

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To us Catholics, there are sins of “commission” and “omission.”

Sins of omission happen when we know we should have done something right, but didn’t. A sin of commission is one where we actually take some action — in thought, word or deed. Those sins can be intentional or unintentional.

Politically, there have been an awful lot of sins happening this week. Sins of commission and omission, everywhere.

The American ones are well-known. Newly-reinstalled President Donald Trump pardoned about 1,500 convicted rioters who stormed Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021. Among them were white supremacists and neo-Nazis. One, Robert Keith Packer, became well-known for wearing a sweatshirt that read “CAMP AUSCHWITZ” and “work brings freedom.” On the back, it said “STAFF.” He got out, which is Trump’s sin of commission.

Trump’s top unelected advisor, Elon Musk, also was arguably sinful, too. Musk got onstage at Capital One Arena in Washington, where Trump was holding a rally. Musk thanked the assembled MAGA folks for “making it happen” and then — twice, not just once — made a stiff-armed salute.

A debate immediately commenced as to whether Musk made a Nazi salute or not. Ruth Ben-Ghiat, who is a history professor at New York University, said on X: “Historian of fascism here. It was a Nazi salute and a very belligerent one too.”

Israeli academic and activist Shai Davidai wrote on Instagram that “doing a Nazi salute is never okay … you’re normalizing that which shouldn’t be normalized.”

The Anti-Defamation League, which used to take issue with Nazi symbols, posted a much-maligned message saying “this is a delicate moment,” can’t we all just get along, blah blah blah.

Was it a sin of omission or commission? Was it a sin at all? Personally, I’ll take the word of Ruth Ben-Ghiat and Shai Davidai, who have forgotten more about antisemitism than the rest of us will ever know. It was wrong. It was appalling (and, likely, revealing).

Up here in the Lately-Less-Than-Great White North, there have been quite a few sins of omission on the same subject — antisemitism and the right of Jews and the Jewish state to simply exist.

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Mark Carney, who is well on his way to securing the Liberal Party leadership, has been conspicuously silent on the tidal wave of Jew-hatred that has swept the civilized world. If you Google the Liberal leadership candidate’s name and any of the relevant search terms — Israel, antisemitism, whatever — you will come up with what Jews call bupkis. Nothing at all.

One prominent Jewish leader, Montreal-area Mayor Jeremy Levi, tried, too. His search on Instagram for “Mark J. Carney” and “antisemitism” found zero, zippo, zilch. Wrote Levi: “Nothing. Not a word. Not a gesture. Carney makes no effort — none — to stand with Israel or to condemn antisemitism.”

With the aforementioned Trump threatening to use economic force against us, that omission may have been forgivable (once). But, when the federal cabinet’s most Hamas-adjacent minister, Melanie Joly, this week jumped onboard with Team Carney? The minister who falsely accuses Israel of war crimes, and says that Hamas deserves to be treated like a government (which it isn’t) and not a terror group (which it is)?

That, alone, says something. And is a sin of omission, if not commission.

Another Liberal leadership candidate, Karina Gould, impressed many by doing the opposite of Carney. She posted photos of the three young women finally released by Hamas this week, and said: “We call for the safe return of all hostages.”

Chrystia Freeland is another Liberal leadership candidate — and is, by most accounts, running a close second to Carney. Since October 7, 2023, Freeland has been much more vocal than Carney, and has said, “Hamas carried out a savage attack on Israel, butchering and committing sexual violence against Israelis, Canadians, and many others.”

The problem, however — and this would be a possible sin of omission — is that Freeland, when she possessed power, didn’t do very much about the savagery of Hamas. She agreed to keep funding UNWRA, Hamas’ educational arm, and she has energetically defended Canada voting for “Palestine” at the United Nations.

After all that, you’d think Freeland would be a favourite of the pro-Hamas cabal, like Joly is. But no. Dozens of them showed up at her leadership launch event and proceeded to wreck it. Freeland could barely get two sentences out without being interrupted by haters who were screaming like banshees.

Is that a sin of omission or commission? Both, maybe. Maybe neither.

Either way, however, it’s proof that we all pay for our sins. In politics and in life.