Amir Khadir Being Destroyed By Shoe Boycott

While PAJU continues its weekly Saturday  boycott of the LE MARCHEUR shoe store in Montreal, it's becoming clear that the only real damage being inflicted, is the ongoing publicity nightmare that is consuming the reputation of Amir Khadir and the Quebec Solidaire party.

Each Saturday a rag-tag group of Israel-bashers, consisting mostly of a combination of communists and self-loathing Jews, continue to protest in front of the Le Marcheur shoe on St. Denis street in Montreal, despite the fact that the continued 'action' has blown up rather poetically in their faces.
The demonstration has become a circus and is now attracting yahoos, including fascist Jean-Roch Villemaire the separatist/anti-immigration activist who was convicted last year for attacks against anglos. Link
It seems that when it comes to Israel-bashing both communists and fascists find common ground in Quebec! Read: L'extrême droite avec l'extrême gauche?(fr)
(A shout out to PIERRE F. for the heads-up)

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 LATE BREAKING NEWS!!!!

 Late yesterday PAJU has called a temporary halt to their boycott due to, according to them, facists joining their numbers. This blog piece already made reference to  Jean-Roch Villemaire and his MNRQ group  joining the boycott.... LINK

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Last week, politicians of all political stripes  dropped by the Boutique to offer support including Conservatives Steven Blaney and Rudy Husny, Liberals Marc Garneau and Marlene Jennings, Provincial Liberal Lawrence Bergman, ADQ members,Gérard Deltell and François Bonnardel as well as the PQ's Martin Lemay. 

It's patently clear in which direction the political winds are blowing. It seems that politicians of all parties (except Quebec solidaire) want to get in on the anti-boycott bandwagon.

For enemies of Mr. Khadir, it's the boycott that keeps giving!

Let me quickly refresh your memory as to the events leading up to this post.
Mr. Khadir, a radical separatist/socialist/communist member of Quebec's Parliament and the lone representative of the like-minded Quebec Solidaire party participated in a boycott demonstration in front of a Montreal independent shoe store that sold a small amount of Israeli made shoes.

Mr. Khadir handed out flyers encouraging clients not to shop in the store until it stopped selling the aforementioned shoes.

His participation in that boycott against the merchant blew up in his face as the media objected to a sitting member of Parliament participating in a boycott of a small Quebecois merchant, who had broken no laws. At first, Mr. Khadir made the mistake of defending his actions which proved to be a huge mistake which he likely regrets.

In reaction to all this, a concerted effort led by conservative journalist Eric Duhaime is afoot to expose, humiliate and denigrate the hitherto popular Khadir, something that has blindsided the usually media-savvy Khadir.

For Mr. Khadir, a quick apology and an admission that his presence at the protest was a mistake would have neatly defused the negative impact of his actions.

After all, everyone makes mistakes and Mr. Khadir's popularity was such that he could easily have withstood a small error in judgment.

Like Martha Stewart and Conrad Black, celebrities who thought they could brazen it out, they are often punished with a barrel of hurt when they fail to acknowledge a misdeed.

And so Mr. Khadir continues to be pilloried.

He first defended his position by reminding all who would listen that Jimmy Carter and Desmond Tutu both have called Israel an Apartheid State, but when the attacks became personally directed at himself, he characterized himself a victim of the "Israeli Lobby"
And so Mr. Khadir is  now telling us the Mr. Duhaime, Mr. Dutrizac, Mr. Martineau, his chief detractors in the francophone press (all respected journalists) are  part of that international Jewish conspiracy!

Mr. Khadir is fighting back because the attacks have become utterly vicious. In a radio interview with  Benoît Dutrizac, the journalist railed against Mr. Khadir without any pretense of respect, treating him like trash and demanding that Khadir call off the PAJU dogs.
Khadir defended himself saying he has no control over the group, but Dutrizac reminded him that his father was front and center demonstrating, to which Khadir answered that he was "not his father's keeper" What fun!
At the end of the interview, Dutrizac actually tells Khadir that he hopes the demonstrators get attacked. Listen to the interview(fr)

The issue has neatly veered away from the Israeli question, to the ethics of a sitting member of Parliament boycotting a small law-abiding merchant and realizing where the debate was going, Mr. Khadir, now in full damage control (too little, too late) lied changed his story and said he never discouraged clients from shopping in the store and was rather just encouraging them not to buy Israeli shoes.

He publicly asked for a meeting with the merchant to smooth things over, but the merchant told reporters that Mr. Khadir, notwithstanding what he was now saying, did indeed tell customers not to shop in his store and that he didn't see any point in meeting with Mr. Khadir. 

On the Quebec solidaire web site Khadir attempted to rewrite history.

"Contrary to what has beeen told, I don't believe in a boycott of this store, but a boycott of the Israeli products" Link

A few days ago ultra-conservative journalist Eric Duhaime exposed Mr. Khadir's revisionist view of his actions.

Appearing on Mario Dumont's television shoe, Mr. Duhaime destroyed Mr. Khadir's assertion that he never told clients not to shop in the store, by offering up a picture of Mr. Khadir handing out flyers that explicitly called for a boycott of the store, not the shoes. Touché!

He then reminded viewers that Jimmy Carter had actually apologized and asked forgiveness of the Jewish community for his 'apartheid' remarks.

As I would have noted at Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, but which is appropriate at any time of the year, I offer an Al Het for any words or deeds of mine that may have done so."- Jimmy Carter

"Al Het" refers to the Yom Kippur prayer asking God forgiveness for sins committed against Him. In modern Hebrew it refers to any plea for forgiveness. LINK

As for Desmond Tutu, Mr Duhaime also told viewers that the anti-apartheid cleric appears to see apartheid everywhere, even in Canada, referring to our treatment of natives.
Mr. Tutu also appears to be a fan of all 'underdogs,' including the 9/11 terrorists.

"He explained (Tutu) that the hijackers had been “willing to pilot a plane and  go to their deaths” because they were making a desperate plea for relief from the “poverty, hunger, and disease” that plagued the people of  their homelands"Link

Richard Martineau of the Le Journal de Montreal has also called out Khadir for making false arguments, specifically by misinterpreting statements by Professor Stephen Scheinberg an ex-director of the B'nai Brith who has been critical of Israel. The professor was aghast that he was being used by Mr. Khadir as an argument to support the boycott. Link

Mr. Martineau quoted the professor as saying that as a Zionist, he reserves the right to criticize the Israeli government, but does not support a movement that seeks to dismantle Israel, not reform it. 

Francois David, leader of Quebec solidaire party sensed the danger to her party and has tried to end the controversy by declaring that Mr. Khadir had made a mistake and that the issue was now closed. Perhaps Quebec Solidaire's position supporting the boycott made her a bit uncomfortable.

But others are not letting things go.
Mr. Khadir has still not acknowledged his mistake or apologized.

As long as the demonstrations continue, Khadir will be blamed and will continue to live a public relations nightmare. The condemnation is such, that not even his usual defenders in the Clique du Plateau or Radio-Canada dare speak out in his defence.

The longer it goes on and criticism of Khadir rages in the media, the harder it will be to shake off the political fallout. Opinions are being re-shaped.

I previously told you that Khadir was invincible in the Plateau Mont-Royal riding.

That may be changing.



Further reading.....:

Amir Khadir Has Jumped the Shark!
Amir Khadir Has a Lot to Hide
Communists Frolic at Khadir Chalet
Amir Khadir's Silence is Deafening
Quebec's Most Popular Politician- Ugh!.....