Ariel Sharon is Dead. So What?

On January 12, former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon finally ended his coma of six years and died.

CBC online has made this the major news story of the day, as if this man somehow had significance for Canada and the world. In fact even when he was alive, he was an extremely negative presence on the global scene, and certainly had no special significance for Canada. Why this dramatic coverage as if a major world leader has been lost to the world? Is it some bias or special love of Israel that explains this? If so, where does this come from?

Israel ranks No. 96 in the world by population size. The population of Israel is only 0.11 percent of the world population. And even 20 percent of this population are Palestinians who are second-class citizens in Israel. Israel is about the same size as Papua New Guinea or Tajikistan. 

Zionists often complain that the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Campaign unfairly focuses on Israel, while ignoring human rights abuses elsewhere. They say this is an unfair double standard. But the fact is that tiny, little, belligerent Israel is covered positively in the news to a degree which is way out of proportion to its real merits. There really is a double standard here, and most of the time it is in Israel`s favour.

What other leader of a puny country like Israel, who had a very controversial history that probably included massive human rights abuses, racist ultra-nationalism, and military recklessness, would receive so much glowing coverage on his passing?

CBC - on January 12, 2014, there was violent suppression of citizen demonstrations in the Ukraine, and Bangkok is being devastated by anti-democracy riots. There are probably a thousand news stories of far, far greater significance than the death of this insignificant man from an insignificant little country. 

To what extent does an unbridled love of Israel influence your notions of what is significant to Canadians? Perhaps you should try to put your unreasonable bias aside, and put real Canadian interests first.