Justin Trudeau is a disgusting hypocrite | Opinions

You know it must be serious when a politician holds a press conference and orders two other politicians to stand slightly behind him like mannequins while he reads a prepared statement.

This piece of staged celebration took place earlier this week at the site of the staged ceremony – Ottawa – as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was flanked by two silent, grim-faced Cabinet ministers, Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly and Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc.

The choreographed scene lacked only a drum roll or fanfare appropriate to the contrived depth of the occasion.

The former prince of the Liberal Party is facing a mutiny orchestrated by a band of worried backbenchers fearful of losing their jobs – in the face of public opinion polls that suggest Trudeau's government is doing so poorly that much of the caucus Reportedly reaching for the nearest life jacket, preferably a large lifeboat to accommodate them all.

In a likely futile attempt to revive his life-sustaining political prospects and prove to Canada's largely white, male cognoscenti that he still has what it takes to remain prime minister – at least for now – the charming, effervescent Trudeau has taken on the tough, determined one Trudeau channels.

In fact, the prime minister declared diplomatic war on India – an emerging superpower and supposed ally – based on “evidence” collected by the country’s dysfunctional, scandal-plagued police force, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).

This “evidence,” Trudeau said, allegedly shows that Indian “agents” organized a secret campaign “that poses a significant threat to public safety.”

The RCMP, in turn, claims that India's covert operations constitute “serious criminal activity in Canada” involving coercion, threats and the murder of Canadian citizens on Canadian soil.

Apart from a number of police officers and politicians, no one has seen even a fraction of the “evidence” to judge its strength – but I digress.

Trudeau said he asked New Delhi to be nice and help the RCMP by cooperating with its ongoing investigation. Unsurprisingly, New Delhi asked Trudeau and company to take a long, solitary hike—to put it charitably.

Keyword: diplomatic war. Trudeau kicked out six Indian diplomats stationed in Canada, including the Indian High Commissioner. In a predictable retort, India ordered six Canadian diplomats to pack their bags and head home immediately.

The aforementioned white, male cognoscenti – who support wars of any kind – applauded Trudeau for his opposition to state-sanctioned “terrorism” and insisted that India would “pay a heavy price” for what the Prime Minister and the RCMP of New -Delhi believes agents are doing something to Canadians in Canada – even though none of them are privy to the mysterious “evidence.”

As I said, Canada's white male connoisseurs love war – diplomatic or not.

But here lies the disgusting appeal.

Trudeau, his cabinet and the well-known list of obsequious columnists and constant television commentators are pure hypocrites.

They will, of course, refuse to acknowledge this because they are incapable of introspection, let alone recognizing the clear prima facie evidence of their hypocrisy.

Defending his decision to expel India's diplomats, Trudeau said: “Canada is a country where the rule of law is rooted and the protection of our citizens is paramount.”

Surely it is.

Trudeau's I-will-hold-the-bad-guys-who-do-bad-to-Canadians-accountable tough-guy argument is apparently limited by geography and the close “ally” responsible for the harm As Prime Minister, he is tasked with protecting the citizens.

Canada's white male connoisseurs didn't bother to listen carefully to what Trudeau was saying before reaching for their pom-poms.

“We will never tolerate a foreign government threatening and killing Canadian citizens on Canadian soil – a deeply unacceptable violation of Canada’s sovereignty and international law,” Trudeau said.

Let me paraphrase Trudeau for the hard of hearing.

If any country, particularly Israel, threatens, coerces or kills Canadians in Lebanon or in the remnants of the human hellscape known as the occupied Gaza Strip, I will do absolutely nothing about it.

Sure, I could have my inconsequential foreign minister write a tweet or two “condemning” Israel's murder of an elderly Canadian couple seeking refuge and approving of her making a quick phone call to offer condolences to the surviving family to pronounce.

Beyond this absurd performative nonsense, my government and I have actually enshrined Israel's license to kill Canadians with impunity because our dear, beloved friend, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, would never break the rules of war or international law.

Despite my harsh words, Foreign Minister Joly and I will indeed “tolerate” the killing of Canadians by a “foreign government” as long as it does not commit its (war) crimes “on Canadian soil.”

You see, in our ambiguous view, this does not constitute an “unacceptable violation” of “international law.”

Remember, Israel has the absolute, unquestionable right to defend itself, and a few dead Canadians – shredded into charred, unrecognizable pieces that require a DNA test to confirm their identity – will not change our short-sighted minds.

God knows we cannot risk the usual apoplectic suspects inside and outside Parliament accusing my defeated government of being anti-Semitic or siding with “terrorists”.

De facto: We will not invite the Israeli ambassador to Canada for a stiff speech at the Global Affairs Headquarters or kick out Israeli diplomats in response to the military killing of three Canadians in Lebanon in recent weeks.

Is that clear to everyone?

If my rendering of the true meaning of Trudeau's cynical, balanced remarks offends his soon-to-be unemployed sycophants or any member of Canada's white, male commentariat, then I urge them to speak to Kamal Tabaja, the eldest son of 74-year-old Hussein and 69-year-old Daad Tabaja, who were burned by an Israeli missile fired by an Israeli pilot in late September.

This is a rhetorical request because Trudeau has already forgotten her assassination. And the columnists who rush to write articles denouncing India's alleged crimes have never and will never demand that Israel “pay a heavy price” or denounce its documented crimes – regardless of whether the victims are about a Canadian couple who celebrated their 48th wedding anniversary in April or the more than 42,000 mostly Palestinian children and women who all fell victim to the genocide.

I spoke with Tabaja – a Canadian citizen who lives and works in Bahrain.

He agreed. Prime Minister Trudeau is a real hypocrite.

“They didn’t do anything with my parents,” Tabaja said. “They didn’t even bother putting out a press release. You just sent a tweet.”

Tabaja said that while it was right for Trudeau to hold India accountable as any “self-respecting country” would immediately take “political and diplomatic action” if Canadian citizens were targeted by a foreign power, the murder of his parents ” had been “ignored”.

In the wake of Trudeau's “disgraceful” double standards, Tabaja said he had written to the prime minister – on behalf of his five still-grieving brothers and sisters – condemning his apparent failure to similarly hold Israel accountable.

He is waiting for an answer.

Tabaja also agreed that Trudeau's tough guy ends at the Israeli border and that it is inconceivable that this or any other prime minister would ever sanction Israel the way Canada has sanctioned India.

“Oh yeah,” he said. “That’s where they all stop.”

Unfortunately and shamefully, Kamal Tabaja is right.

The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial stance of Al Jazeera.