Mogul with a message

By Melissa Radler

The road map, declares Israel (Izzy) Asper, is a "road map to war." Asper, a Canadian media magnate and grandfather who speaks with the easy manner of his countrymen, becomes irate when discussing the international community's latest Middle East peace initiative.

The road map, he argues, fails to address the root of the 100-year-old conflict - the Arab leaders' desire to destroy Israel. "If it's not a road map to war, then it's a road map to hell," he says.

A former tax lawyer, journalist and Liberal party leader, Asper, 71, founded CanWest Global Communications in 1977, turning it into Canada's largest media empire by the year 2000. An unabashed patriot who chose his native Manitoba as the site of countless philanthropic initiatives, including plans for a $200 million human rights museum - a gallery dedicated to the Holocaust will make it the third-largest Holocaust museum in the world - Asper is also a devoted Zionist who uses his newspapers to defend Israel and vent his frustrations at Canada's lack of support. Asper's charitable impulse is also manifest in Israel, where recent projects include the Asper Center for Entrepreneurship at The Hebrew University, founding the Menachem Begin Heritage Center in Jerusalem, subsidizing aliya for nearly 200 Canadians over the past two years through a Canadian version of the Nefesh B'Nefesh program, and commissioning the Shalem Center to write an in-depth academic study that will catalogue the claims of 850,000 Jews expelled from the Arab world after Israel's establishment. (Asper estimates the value of these claims at $15 billion.)

On continuing peace initiatives with a Palestinian leadership that has thus far refused to dismantle terrorist groups, end incitement in the education system or accept Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state, Asper is decidedly less enthusiastic. "Maybe we're just going through the motions," he says. "Maybe Bush knows it's not going to work. Maybe Sharon knows it's not going to work."

In a July 28 speech marking the 63rd anniversary of the death of Revisionist Zionist Ze'ev Jabotinsky, Asper proposed a solution - one that he is uniquely equipped to carry out. "What we can do is demand an end to the dishonest reporting by our media," he said. "We and our Christian Zionist friends can ensure that the Canadian public and our politicians know the facts."

Has Canada been a good enough friend to Israel?

It's been spotty. Certainly, in the past three years, even during the entire Oslo process, Canada has had a foreign policy that is wrong-headed, in my opinion. Canada has tried to play an evenhanded and balanced role, when there are times when you have to do the right thing even though it may not be the politically opportune thing. Canada's argument is that it wants to appear evenhanded so it can at some important point in the future be trusted to be a mediator.

The problem is, you can't say something is right when it is de facto wrong just to preserve your neutrality or even-handed appearance. I have not liked Canada's votes at the United Nations. I did not like the kicking and screaming that had to be done to have Hamas belatedly declared a terrorist organization.

What role should Canada play in the Middle East?

Canada, given its history regarding human rights and Third World countries, has some credibility with both Israel and the Arabs. Canada can play a useful intermediary role - since it's not a cultural imperialist and it's not looking for any Middle Eastern oil, we are seen as being, let's say, evenhanded in persuading the Palestinians to modernize Islam, and a voice from Canada has some credibility in trying to persuade the Arabs to expunge the generational hatred and accept a reality [Israel's existence]. There is going to be a call on the world to relocate Palestinian "refugees," and while I would not approve of Canada importing terrorists or people fighting old wars, there may be a role here for Canada resettling refugees.

Do you have a pro-Israel policy at your media outlets?

In all our newspapers, including the National Post, we have a very pro-Israel position. We are not soft on Israel, but our position is that we're not optimistic about the road map, and we are the strongest supporter of Israel in Canada - so much so that the Canadian Islamic Congress has declared a boycott of all of our newspapers and TV stations.

Do you think your policy has an effect on government action or public opinion?

I'm told it has. Certainly, we've raised issues that no other media has, and obviously we are strongly, continually making the case on banning [fundraising for] Hizbullah.

Your papers are known for being both pro-Israel and friendly with the Liberal party. Is there tension between the two positions?

My relationship with the Liberal government is dramatically exaggerated. There's something of a myth out there that I'm this big Liberal. It stems from the fact that 33 years ago, I was the leader of the Manitoba Liberal party. That was the Trudeau era, and I haven't been politically active since. Our papers have been very harsh on them [the Liberal party], and I don't know how one measures support other than in one's newspapers.

Which party do you identify with?

I'm independent. We [CanWest] contribute to Liberals, Conservatives and the Alliance. We don't contribute to the Bloc [Quebecois] because it stands for separation, and we don't contribute to the national NDP [New Democratic Party, Canada's socialist party] because it has policies that are odious to us.

You've come under a lot of criticism in the Canadian media for setting editorial policy, particularly when it comes to Israel. Is anti-Semitism an issue here?

When you own a newspaper, the inmates of the asylum don't run the asylum.* I'm the last guy to be paranoid; on the other hand, in almost every criticism of our "interference," every example they use it always comes back to Israel. If I were being pro-something that they liked, they might not be as tough with us. But the main thing is that with people who write for newspapers, the one thing they despise is the owners, and there's nothing they despise more than owners who say this is the position we want to take, and if you don't like these views, take yourself somewhere else. (*Emphasis is Your Media's.)

You organized Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Concordia University last year, and witnessed the riot that prevented him from speaking. Why is Israel so unpopular on campus?

Arab propaganda since 1967 has been very, very powerful, and very pervasive, and Israel has been lax in making its case, both in the media and on the campus. The Jewish kids or the Christian Zionist kids on campus who support Israel have been too timid in some cases, or too ill-informed to defend Israel. In other words, the Jewish educational system has failed in some geographical areas to equip kids to understand the case for Israel.

In my town, I cured all that, and I've urged the Canadian Jewish community to adopt my model. I formed a Zionist club for young people, and instituted a media monitoring and response group to deal with the fact that the CBC [Canadian Broadcasting Corporation] cannot bring itself to call Hamas a terrorist organization, even though the Palestinian prime minister refers to them as terrorists. We also bought and distributed thousands of copies of Mitchell Bard's book, Myths and Facts to political science teachers, politicians and university students, and inserted a Canadian section.

Has the Canadian Jewish community been effective in garnering public support for Israel?

No, but it's getting a little bit better. The Canadian Jewish community is guilty of amnesia [regarding the history of the Israeli conflict and the results of the Oslo Accords]. We do not have an effective AIPAC in Canada, albeit we have a different political system. But our lobbying can't hold a candle to the Americans. We don't have an Honest Reporting monitoring system - in the United States, you've got half a dozen observers - and so the anti-Israel media has been left completely free to say or do whatever it wants. We do not have an effective mission operation in Canada to take people to Israel, to educate them as to the realities. We haven't had enough student-empowering or training. We simply have to teach our students the case for Israel, and we haven't done it, so they're prisoners, terror-struck on campus, and they draw into their shells and try to duck the charges. I continue to work with the Jewish community in Canada to persuade them to expand their activities, and I have to say it is better today than it was last year, but it's not where it should be. We have some distance to go.