More Courageous than the U.S.: Canada Confronts Saudi Dictatorship over Human Rights and Saudi Arabia Expels Canadian Ambassador. By Julio Severo.
I am not a fan of the socialist government in Canada, but I have to praise it for doing what no other nation — including conservative countries — has ever done before: speaking up about violations of human rights in Saudi Arabia. Last week, the Canadian foreign ministry objected to jailing of women’s rights activists and urged Riyadh to “immediately release” them. …
Arab culture, rooted in the seventh century, lives up to its reputation:
The Saudi ministry described Canada’s position as “an attack” on the kingdom, saying it would now:
- Freeze all new trade and investment transactions between the two countries
- Consider the Canadian ambassador persona non grata and order the envoy to leave within 24 hours
- Recall the Saudi envoy in Canada
- Reserve the right to take further action
After expelling the Canadian ambassador, Saudi Arabia has also appeared to threaten Canada with a 9/11-style attack by posting an image to Twitter showing a passenger plane flying towards the CN Tower in Toronto.
The inflammatory photo was captioned: “As the Arabic saying goes: ‘He who interferes with what doesn’t concern him finds what doesn’t please him.’”
The Saudi government-linked Twitter account, which has 354,000 followers, placed another caption over the tower reading: “Sticking one’s nose where it doesn’t belong.” …
Desperately trying to wriggle out of the gaffe, the Saudi government-linked Twitter account apologized saying:
“Earlier we posted an image, which is why we deleted the post immediately. The aircraft was intended to symbolize the return of the Ambassador, we realize this was not clear and any other meaning was unintentional. We apologize to anyone who was offended.”Most of the U.S. left-wing and right-wing media has been silent about the Saudi threats against Canada.
