Simultaneous stories linked

Dear editor: Call it serendipity or whatever you like, but two stories entered my Inbox simultaneously on May 10, and immediately a link formed in my mind.

Firstly, reports of missiles being shot towards the Golan Heights by Iranian troops in Syria, and Israeli missiles being fired into Syria at Iranian targets.

Then the report of a full-page advertisement in the New York Times signed by former politicians. The connection, of course, was the previous day’s announcement of USA pulling out of the Iran Nuclear Agreement.

How ironic that full-page advert was placed in a newspaper that President Trump has repeatedly accused as the purveyor of “Fake News,” but there it was in huge capital letters: “Mr. President, You Are Right About Iran”.

The very first signee was “Hon. Stephen Harper, former prime minister of Canada,” followed by former PMs of Australia and Northern Ireland, then former foreign ministers of Canada, Holland and Italy, then others.

Being a lifetime bird fancier, my immediate concerns were for avian occupants in Mr. Harper’s Hula Bird House in Northern Israel being pulverized by Iranian missiles.

A little research reminded me of the hullabaloo surrounding Mr. Harper's 2014 trip with a huge entourage, and being greeted as "Israel’s Best Friend In The World” by his counterpart PM Benjamin Netanyahu.

That junket’s highlight was the naming of “The Stephen J. Harper Hula Valley Bird Sanctuary Visitor And Education Centre.”

More research revealed that Mr. Harper held a fund-raiser for his Hula Bird House in 2013 hosted in Toronto by the Canadian branch of Jewish National Fund. An amazing sum of $5.7 million was handed over by obviously tonedeaf audience members, who probably just wanted him to stop playing the piano and murdering those wonderful Beatles songs.

Thankfully, all those efforts were not jeopardized by any missiles; in typically fiscal fiasco fashion, those funds raised were to completely cover the cost of the project, but had disappeared down a rabbit hole after being handed over to Israelis. Very little progress was ever made on the sanctuary, and now they need over $12 million to complete Mr. Harper’s Hula Bird House.

Stay tuned for headlines announcing that more Beatles songs are soon to be murdered in the presence of tone-deaf donors of Hebraic heritage. Bernie Smith Parksville