Chris Selley: Marvel at the politicians’ performative idiocy on Israel

Naheed Nenshi speaks with attendees at the Gathering for Treaty and Unity Rally hosted by the Siksikaitsitapi Ohkin'niinaiks (Blackfoot Confederacy Chiefs) Society at the Confluence in Calgary on Sunday, June 14, 2026. Photo by Brent Calver/Postmedia

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The substance of Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi’s grovelling apology for the “harm he caused” by casually having his photo taken at the Calgary Stampede with Israel’s ambassador to Canada is somewhat difficult to nail down (perhaps because it wasn’t intended to be).

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In a statement on social media last week, Nenshi spoke of “immense hurt that has been caused to a lot of folks” — to whom? How? It wasn’t clear — then reiterated his party’s objections to Israel’s recent actions in Gaza. Although, I notice, he eschews deploying the loaded term “genocide.”

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Nenshi then portentously mentioned untold levels of “hatred, anger, anti-Palestinian racism and anti-Semitism.” If Nenshi shaking hands with the Israeli ambassador has something to do with antisemitism, that surely sounds a lot more like a “Nenshi problem” and an “NDP problem” than an “Alberta problem.”

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Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi with Iddo Moed, Israeli Ambassador to Canada, at the Calgary Stampede. (Photo credit: Embassy of Israel photo/via Facebook)

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One interesting thing about Nenshi’s statement: He didn’t say what he wished he’d have done better, or what he proposes to do differently next time. That’s a bit of a problem in an aspiring Canadian first minister, especially one expected to show face every year at Stampede or any comparable event.

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This would seem to go without saying, but when you audition for a job like premier of Alberta, you need a plan to deal with foreign dignitaries whose governments you don’t like. Serious people need to see that you have such a plan. You can’t just pretend only to see a disembodied cowboy hat. (“Wha? Who said that? What sorcery is this?”)

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Never mind Israel for the moment; Israel-Albertan relations aren’t exactly top of the international agenda right now. Nenshi is asking Albertans to allow him to take over in the last year of Donald Trump’s presidency. He might have U.S. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra to deal with, for heaven’s sake. Is he going to apologize for shaking his hand at Stampede? Inquiring minds want to know.

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One thing Nenshi could have done, I suppose, was promise to have Benjamin Netanyahu arrested and shipped off to The Hague in irons should he ever set foot in Alberta when Nenshi is premier — perhaps having first created a provincial police force, or a sort of counter-Mossad special forces unit, to accomplish this ridiculously improbable task.

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I’m only half-kidding. Netanyahu isn’t going to set foot in any jurisdiction where he faces any realistic prospect of detention. But that hasn’t stopped New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani from deciding this is very much municipal police business, and that something should happen if and when Netanyahu arrives in New York for the UN General Assembly in September.

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The New York Times reports the mayor feels “unclear (as to whether) he has the legal authority to order the Police Department, which he oversees, to detain a foreign leader.”

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Mamdani told the Times he “was in ‘an active conversation’ with the city’s Law Department about the matter.”

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I happened to see a taped interview between Mamdani and the Times, published over the weekend. Considering the gravity of the subject, Mamdani was remarkably smiley. Smilier than I would be, certainly, if I were rattling my chain of office against a powerful foreign state.

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“I believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in The Hague,” Mamdani said. And then he smiled.

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“I believe there’s an importance in following the law as a leader who presides over our city, and that’s something I plan to do,” he said, smiling, looking as if he were announcing free Halloween candy.