One has to wonder if Amir Khadir has some kind of perverse thing about shoes -or just Israel. The Quebec solidaire member of the National Assembly for Mercier previously came off looking silly at an anti-American demonstration where he threw a shoe atapictureof former president George W. Bush. This month he came off looking foolish as he joined a protest in front of a shop on St. Denis St. whose transgression, in his eyes, is that it sells shoes made in Israel.
There are many things wrong with this picture. Here was Khadir, with a gaggle of like-minded anti-Israel obsessives, urging passersby to boycott a family-run store in the riding he represents and whose citizens' interests he is sworn to promote, simply for selling products from a country he particularly dislikes. Khadir maintained he was righteously protesting Israel's "apartheid" treatment of Palestinians, as though this demonstration would make an iota of difference to anyone except the poor merchant he was targeting.
Khadir also maintained that he joined the protest as a simple citizen, not as an MNA. But the fact is that when he was elected to the legislature he ceased being merely an ordinary citizen. He can't just shed his office when he feels like it, particularly to join in the harassment of a constituent by a special-interest group, as was the case here. And why the particular obsession with Israeli products? Can we also expect to see him protesting against the sale of products from China, Iran and various Arab countries with deplorable human-rights records? One suspects not.
A much-publicized recent poll showed Khadir to be the most popular politician in Quebec. If he's the best we have, then we're in big trouble in this province, considering he's manifestly unclear on what his office entails.