Liberals urged to reject 'anti-Israel' Outremont candidate Coulon

"At a time when Canada's foreign policy is headed in the wrong direction because of the current Conservative government's Republican-style approach, I am confident that the people of Outremont will be proud to elect Jocelyn Coulon," Dion said last Friday in Côte des Neiges, announcing the candidacy.

Rumours have been circulating that the Liberals plan on making Coulon a senior foreign affairs advisor. Dion acknowledged that if elected, Coulon's future position will be "helping to re-establish Canada's role in the world."

Coulon, 50, who teaches political science at the University of Montreal, is well-known among francophone media watchers as one of Quebec's most frequently-cited academic commentators on international affairs. His most recent book, l'Agression, published three years ago, analyzes the implications of the United States's military intervention in Iraq.

In a statement explaining his reasons for running, Coulon defended Canada's current military role in Afghanistan, while attacking the Conservative government's approach to the mission. "The intervention in Afghanistan, unlike the one in Iraq, in which Stephen Harper would have wanted to drag us into, is in no way immoral," he said. "It is perfectly consistent with what Canada has always advocated internationally."

However, Canada has other international priorities, he added. "The Afghan obsession is keeping us from our honourable peacekeeping tradition," he said. "It is urgent for us to reorganize our priorities and to make what is happening around us in the world a focus of our action."

In a message e-mailed to the B'nai Brith leadership last Thursday, Moïse Moghrabi, the organization's legal counsel for Quebec, warned that Coulon "is a subtle individual with very pro-Arab/pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel/anti-American/anti-West views … "We definitely need to inform all the communities in Outremont of his background and beliefs, before the upcoming by-election, as the Liberals intend for him to be their point man on international issues if he is elected."

Moghrabi had previously taken Coulon to task over the words he used in an article, Le Massacre des musulmans, published in La Presse in 2004. In that piece, which lists a range of military atrocities committed against Muslims all over the Middle East (and which Coulon attributes to American and Israeli forces), he states, "The massacre of the muslims is premeditated." However, later in the article Coulon adds, "I know Israel has to right to defend itself."

While acknowledging Coulon's knowledge of Middle East politics, Steven Slimovitch, B'nai Brith Canada's national legal counsel, said the organization remains preoccupied by the potential impact of his views. "There's obviously a grave concern to the Jewish people," he said.

NDG-Lachine Liberal MP Marlene Jennings, who attended the campaign launch, said that while B'nai Brith may suspect him of having a "severe attitude" towards Israel in more recent works, "it's clear that he's open to dialogue and that the Jewish community welcomes sitting down and discussing with him."

Mount Royal Liberal Irwin Cotler, who was also at last Friday's launch, said he had known Coulon for years as a fellow academic and respected him as a political scientist. But he didn't necessarily agree with all Coulon's views. "I've read some of the articles that he's written and we would have a different view and perspective on some of those issues," he said. "But that is not the basis upon which I would make a judgement."

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