Barbara Amiel on "Lucky" Loubani and Greyson

Ms. Amiel says that when she was thrown in a foreign hoosegow back in the 70s, she wasn't nearly as fortunate as the Zion-loathing pair sprung via the efforts of Harper and Baird:

I don’t want to sound retrospectively envious, well actually I am, but when I was imprisoned in Mozambique in pretty brutal conditions, Canada refused to lift a finger. Thankfully, the British and the Americans negotiated my release. Then-minister for external affairs Mark MacGuigan, a member of the decidedly left-wing Liberal government of Pierre Elliott Trudeau, told the House of Commons that while the conditions in which I was held were “undoubtedly very bad,” there was no reason to protest my 11 days in Machava prison, even though no government or lawyer had been notified of my detention. What was done to me would be done to any citizen of Mozambique charged with “the same offence”—which was no offence. 

True, arbitrary imprisonment is how totalitarianism treats its people, but that’s hardly an excuse for Canada to disclaim me. I had been admitted to Mozambique on my Canadian passport and was not charged with any offence—until post facto, the sainted Barbara Frum put on air a spokesperson from Mozambique’s ruling Communist FRELIMO party who told CBC listeners that I had tried to steal American Express cheques. I was back in Toronto recuperating from malaria and typhoid, but couldn’t reply to this calumny, as Barbara didn’t bother asking me on the program.

“It’s really obvious we made mistakes,” said the two released Canadian pro-Palestinian activists who, not surprisingly, both have university teaching connections. I made a pretty obvious mistake, too, by going into Mozambique during its civil war. But when a person puts his hand into a lion’s cage, you first get him out of danger and give the lectures later. Palestinian refugee Loubani and activist filmmaker Greyson both have wretched views about Israel (the zeitgeist’s current scapegoat) and are supporters of the boycotts, divestment and sanctions movement. Likely, they were enjoying a bit of tourist-protesting, but when Canadians abroad are jailed without charges, their political views are irrelevant...

Hmm, don't know that I agree wholeheartedly with that last part. Clearly, when you breeze into a civil war zone and are known to support the side that's just been sidelined, your views are relevant, since they're what got you in the mess in the first place.