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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Baird defends support of Israel
John Baird speaks for religious rights. (CP)
WASHINGTON -- Canada's foreign affairs minister was the keynote speaker Thursday at an event in the U.S. capital honouring religious freedom, forcefully defending his government's strong support of Israel while promoting its plans for an Office of Religious Freedom.
"We contend that modern anti-Semitism lives in the disproportionate criticism Israel receives, and the refusal to accept its right to exist," John Baird told the annual Religious Liberty Dinner.
"The world cannot take the words of Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran as mere rhetoric and risk appeasing these malicious actors in the same way the world appeased the Nazis... Under our prime minister, and under this foreign minister, Canada will stand with the Jewish state and people as they struggle to protect their very right to exist."
The Religious Liberty Dinner is a big event in the U.S. capital, attracting VIPs, diplomats from around the world and top-level American lawmakers. Past keynote speakers have included senators John Kerry, John McCain and Hillary Clinton before she became U.S. secretary of state.
Baird was asked to speak at the dinner, organizers said, due to Canada's intention to open a religious freedom office. The office was part of the Conservative platform in the last federal election, but since then there have been scant details about its establishment.
One of the dinner's key sponsors, the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, is vehemently opposed to same-sex marriage and homosexuality, in opposition to Baird's outspoken support of gay rights around the world.
The minister has often assailed other nations for persecuting gays and lesbians. However, his remarks focused mostly on those persecuted for their religious leanings, not their sexuality.
"Reformers and reformists around the world are literally under daily attack," he said. "In too many countries, the right to believe and practise one's faith in peace and security is still measured in blood spilled and lives lost."
Christians are "far too often" targeted, Baird added. "In Iran, we have grave concerns about the persistent and serious violations of the rights of Iranian citizens to practise Christianity. In Egypt, Coptic Christians have come under frequent attack... "
-- The Canadian Press
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 25, 2012 A14
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