[Contextual prelude to the next article -- Israel Asper is the well-known media mogul in Canada. Vladimir Jabotinsky was an early Jewish -- and Zionist -- fascist. From WHEN VICTIMS RULE: "Labor Zionism had been completely dominant in Israeli political society until 1977, when the rightist Zionist strands of Menachem Begin was voted to power. Begin's coalition party was the Likud; his own roots were in one of the right-wing organizations called Herut, which in turn was historically linked to the "radical right" version of Zionism known as Revisionism, founded by Vladimir Zabotinsky. Although overshadowed by Labor Zionism, Revisionists were not tiny. By 1931 the Revisionists claimed 21% of the delegates at the World Zionist Congress. [BELL, Terror, p. 24] "Vladmir Zabotinksy," noted David Biale, charged that Jews in the Diaspora "despised manhood, the principle of male power as understood by all free people in history, physical courage and physical force ..., [and] prowess of the body ... [which was] an object of ridicule." [BIALE, p. 137] "Because the Yid [Jew] is ugly, sickly, and lacks decorum," once said Jabotinsky, "we shall endow the ideal image of the Hebrew with masculine beauty." [RUBENSTEIN, A., p. 4] Elsewhere, Jabotinsky asserted that "Every race possessing a definite uniqueness seeks to become a nation, that is, to create for itself an economic, political, and intellectual environment in which every detail will derive from its specific thought and consequence that will also relate to its specific taste. A specific race can establish such an environment only in its own country, where it is master. For this reason every race seeks to become a state." [AVISHAI, B., p.125] "In the 1930s," says Haim Breseeth, "the Revisionists, a typical European rightist force, were greatly influenced by Mussolini, adapting some of the trappings of fascism: motorcades of blackshirts, a party publication was renamed Diary of a Fascist; and some training camps were held in fascist Italy. Immediately after the coming to power of the Nazis, fascism became a central icon in Palestine, dividing left and right, or more accurately, Labor Zionism, led by Ben-Gurion, from the Revisionist camp, led by Jabotinsky." [BRESEETH, p. 194-195] "Breaking away [from the other Zionist groups] in the 1920s," says Peter Grose, "Jabotinsky's Revisionist Zionism organized its own fighting force in Palestine. The Irgun Zvai Leumi came to remind unsympathetic outsiders of Mussolini fascists; Ben-Gurion called the Revisionist leader 'Vladimir Hitler.'" [GROSE, p. 161] "Revisionists," notes Edwin Black, "... were heavily fascists and profoundly influenced by Mussolini ... True to fascist ideology, the fist and shout were the preferred methods of achieving Revisionist goals." [BLACK, E., p. 143] Labor and Revisionist Zionism came close to civil war when the latter group brought a shipload of weapons into Israel. The ship was sunk by rival Zionists' artillery fire and 16 members of the IRGUN were killed. And, "ever since the mysterious murder of the Zionist 'foreign minister' Chaim Arlosoroff in 1933," says Jay Gonen, "allegedly by right-wing Revisionists, there had been fears of Jewish fascism." [GONEN, p. 58] "Jabotinsky's most cherished creation was Betar," noted Livneh Eliezer, "[This] youth movement ... was ... a semi-militaristic entity that stressed hierarchy, discipline, obedience to superiors, rituals, and ceremonies. Military values [were] ... a virtue," as was "romantic heroism." [ELIEZER, p. 26] Another small group (founded in 1931) linked to Revisionist theory was Brit Habironim (the Covenant of Thugs) which "was a mythological rediscovery of the glorious tales of the [Israeli] nation, a romantic glorification of the old days of blood, soil, heroism, and conquest." [ELIEZER, p. 25] Among the "Covenant of Thugs" was Uri Zvi Greenberg, a popular poet well-respected in today's Israel. Greenberg saw socialism as a "most dangerous enemy, and became more and more convinced that a dictator was needed to lead the masses." [LAQUEUR, p. 362] Some in the Revisionist camp in the 1930s, notes Jewish scholar Walter Laqueur, "expressed the view that but for Hitler's anti-Semitism German National Socialism would have been acceptable [to Jews] and that, anyway, Hitler had saved Germany [LAQUEUR, W., p. 33] ... Within the [Revisionist] movement there were ... sections, some of them influential [where] ... fascist ideas had made considerable headway and, but for the rise of Hitler and Nazism, would no doubt have become even more prominent." [LAQUEUR, p. 382] Among Revisionist plans for Palestine (and a larger Transjordan area) was the expelling of Arabs to Iraq. [SELZER, p. 218, 219] Revisionist policy foresaw Jewish lands stretching from the Nile River into what is today Jordan. (In 1983, Eryk Spekter, CEO of Fame Fabrics in the U.S. and a former chairman of Herut USA, began awarding a $100,000 "Defender of Jerusalem" prize from his Jabotinsky Foundation at presentation dinners to people "who had stood up for Jewish rights." Over the years, winner's of the Jabotinsky Foundation's award included Menachem Begin, New York Times editor A. M. Rosenthal, American Republican cabinet members Jeanne Kirkpatrick and George Schultz, Hawaiian Senator Daniel Inouye, and former French cabinet minister, Simone Weil among others). [NY TIMES, 12-16-98, B13] Simha Flapan notes that "The Yishuv and the Jewish masses in the Diaspora rejected most of his concepts, but [Jabotinsky] left an indelible mark on the Zionist attitude towards the Arab question. He implanted in Jewish psychology the image of the Arab as the mortal enemy, the idea of the inevitability of the conflict and of the impossibility of a solution except by sheer force. He propagated the 'either-or' notion by which all and every means was justified including terror and ruthless retaliation in the struggle for survival." [FLAPAN, S., 1979, p. 117] ]
Speaking Notes for I.H. Asper, O.C., O.M., Q.C. Jabotinsky Memorial Evening Toronto,
Likud, July 29, 2003
"I have, for almost all of my adult life, been an admirer and student of Vladimir (Ze'ev) Jabotinsky. He stands among the great Zionist leaders, along with Herzl and Weitzmann. I have the highest regard for those whom he inspired and mentored, and who carried forward his vision after his premature death in New York 73 years ago ... I offer the view that unless there is that change in Arab thinking, and the adoption of 21st century modernity by Islam that I referred to earlier in my remarks, even if we get to Phase II or III [of the Bush Administration's "Road Map for Peace"], the creation of a Palestinian State, unless the state is a protectorate of Israel, with Israeli control over the education system, foreign affairs, immigration, defence, a state which cannot enter into mutual defense agreements with other countries, along with many other safety valves, the Western world will have, through stupidity, created ye another sovereign terror state the like of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Libya ... Israel must continue to build its security fence to keep the terrorists of the future out. Good fences do make good neighbours. The example of the physical separation of the Greeks and Turks on Cyprus, where peace has reigned for 50 years because of that separation, provides the proof of the value of the separation fence. But Israel should not accept the fence as its final border with whatever Palestinian entity emerges and therefore Israeli troops should be stationed on BOTH [emphasis in original indicated by underlined text] sides of the fence until a final resoluation has been mutually agreed upon ... Israel should also put forward a plan and begin insisting of that plan saying that since there are 1,200,000 Arabs living in the Israeli state, at least that number of Jews ought to be permitted to live in whatever Palestinian state emerges. There is no right or rationale in dismantling Jewish settlement towns and cities, even if they are ultimately located in the Palestinian state ... We and our Christian Zionist friends can ensure that the Canadian public and our politicians know the facts, the history and can recognize the myriad of myths spun by Palestinian propagandists and their compliant media mouthpieces [this coming from a man that owns a large portion of the most compliant of all Canadian media outlets!]. We can educate our children and our friends as to which are the myths and what are the facts of this conflict, so that they, like all reasonable supporters of Israel, can become ambassadors on its behalf ... "We are about to elect a new Prime Minister and we are entitled to call for a complete review of Canada's foreign policy, and nowhere can we be more effective in dealing with the position of Canada vis a vis Israel as at the UN, where our voting record is unacceptable ... "I'm sorry I can't deliver a more optimistic message tonight, but in a 100 years war, it is difficult to be optimistic. If and when the Road Map fails, whether it is in Phase I or after Phase III, when the true intensions of the Palestinian leadership are laid bare for all to see, and it is proven that this is a Road Map hell, to warfare, still, all is not lost. There is another reasonable and peaceful solution to this problem. Regrettably, tonight, time does not permit me to lay out a Jabotinski-inspired approach. But, perhaps, at another time, I will have another opportunity to postulate what I think wuold work to achieve equitable ends for Jews and Arabs alike..."

Israel's War Is Our War, Editorial, National Post, April 8, 2002
[The National Post is one of the many news organizations owned by avid pro-Israel activist Izzy Asper]
"Israel's campaign to destroy terrorist cells and weapons labs in the West Bank has produced results: hundreds of wanted terror suspects have been seized, as have thousands of illegal weapons and truckloads of documents that prove the complicity of Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority in the terrorist campaign that precipitated Israel's invasion ... Notwithstanding the poisonous anti-Israeli bigotry of the European media -- bolstered as it always has been by naive faith in Mr. Arafat's good intentions -- most Israelis believe their military campaign is every bit as justified as the U.S.-led campaign in Afghanistan. And they are right ... Which brings us to the Q&A with all five federal political parties published in today's Post. Their responses to questions about Israel's right to self-defence, the forms such self-defence may legitimately take, and the moral distinction between terrorism and counterterrorism betray a double-standard. Party spokespersons offer vague answers, and take cover behind UN resolutions."

Canada's Policy on Israel is Shameful. by Izzy Asper.
National Post. June 19, 2001
[Israel Asper owns half of the National Post, and he controls Can/World, one of Canada's biggest media dynasties, with holdings throughout the world]
"Israel, after 53 years of statehood, remains the only isolated island of democracy, human rights and rule of law -- a lonely outpost of Western civilization and its values in a sea of terrorism, corruption, dictatorship and human enslavement. Countries like Canada should therefore be in the vanguard of its support, for mutual economic, military and ethical reasons."