Apparently both the Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star refused to publish the following statement. I’m joining other bloggers who don’t think that should be allowed to stand.
Over 150 Jewish Canadians signed a statement expressing their concerns about the campaign to suppress criticism of Israel that is being carried on within Canada. The signatories include many prominent Canadians, including Ursula Franklin O.C., Anton Kuerti O.C., Naomi Klein, Dr. Gabor Mate, and professors Meyer Brownstone (recipient of Pearson Peace Medal), Natalie Zemon Davis, Michael Neumann, and Judy Rebick.
The signatories are particularly concerned that unfounded accusations of anti-Semitism deflect attention from Israel’s accountability for what many have called war crimes in Gaza. They state that B’nai Brith and the Canadian Jewish Congress have led campaigns to silence criticism of Israel on university campuses, in labor unions and in other groups. Immigration Minister Jason Kenney and Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff unquestioningly echo the views of these particular Jewish organizations.
They strongly state that they are against all expressions of racism. While firmly committed to resisting any form of prejudice against Jewish people, their statement explicitly states that these spurious allegations of anti-Semitism bring the anti-Communist terror of the 1950s vividly to mind. The statement underlines the immeasurable suffering and injustice to the Palestinian people due to the severe poverty, daily humiliations, and military invasions inflicted by the State of Israel.
Statement: Jewish Canadians Concerned about Suppression of Criticism of Israel
We are Jewish Canadians concerned about all expressions of racism, anti-Semitism, and social injustice. We believe that the Holocaust legacy “Never again” means never again for all peoples. It is a tragic turn of history that the State of Israel, with its ideals of democracy and its dream of being a safe haven for Jewish people, causes immeasurable suffering and injustice to the Palestinian people.
We are appalled by recent attempts of prominent Jewish organizations and leading Canadian politicians to silence protest against the State of Israel. We are alarmed by the escalation of fear tactics. Charges that those organizing Israel Apartheid Week or supporting an academic boycott of Israel are anti-Semites promoting hatred bring the anti-Communist terror of the 1950s vividly to mind. We believe this serves to deflect attention from Israel’s flagrant violations of international humanitarian law.
B’nai Brith and the Canadian Jewish Congress have pressured university presidents and administrations to silence debate and discussion specifically regarding Palestine/Israel. In a full-page ad in a national newspaper, B’nai Brith urged donors to withhold funds from universities because “anti-Semitic hate fests” were being allowed on campuses. Immigration Minister Jason Kenney and Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff have echoed these arguments. While university administrators have resisted demands to shut down Israel Apartheid week, some Ontario university presidents have bowed to this disinformation campaign by suspending and fining students, confiscating posters, and infringing on free speech.
We do not believe that Israel acts in self-defense. Israel is the largest recipient of US foreign aid, receiving $3 million/day. It has the fourth strongest army in the world. Before the invasion of Gaza on 27 December 2008, Israel’s siege had already created a humanitarian catastrophe there, with severe impoverishment, malnutrition, and destroyed infrastructure. It is crucial that forums for discussion of Israel’s accountability to the international community for what many have called war crimes be allowed to proceed unrestricted by specious claims of anti-Semitism.
We recognize that anti-Semitism is a reality in Canada as elsewhere, and we are fully committed to resisting any act of hatred against Jews. At the same time, we condemn false charges of anti-Semitism against student organizations, unions, and other groups and people exercising their democratic right to freedom of speech and association regarding legitimate criticism of the State of Israel.
Signatories:
Abigail Bakan
Adam Balsam
Sharon Baltman
Julia Barnett
Lainie Basman
Jody Berland
Sam Blatt
Geri Blinik
Anita Block
Elizabeth Block
Sheila Block
Hannah Briemberg
Mark Brill
Stephen Brot
Meyer Brownstone
Eliza Burroughs
Smadar Carmon
Gyda Chud
Charles P. Cohen
Nathalie Cohen
David Copeland
Natalie Zemon Davis
Eliza Deutsch
James Deutsch
Judith Deutsch
Abbe Edelson
Jack Etkin
Elle Flanders
Danielle Frank
Ursula Franklin
Dan Freeman-Maloy
Miriam Garfinkle
Alisa Gayle
Jack Gegenberg
Mark Golden
Brenda Goldstein
Sue Goldstein
Cy Gonick
Marnina Gonick
Rachel Gotthilf
Amy Gottleib
Kevin A. Gould
Daina Green
Lisa Frances Greenspoon
Ricardo Grinspun
Cathy Gulkin
Rachel Gurofsky
Deboran Guterman
Yesse Gutman
Freda Guttman
Judy Haiven
Michael Hanna-Fein
Jean Hanson
Jan Heynen
Maria Heynen
Adam Hofmann
Jake Javanshir
Jeannie Kamins
Marylin Kanee
Howard S. Kaplan
Gilda Katz
Maxine Kaufman-Lacusta
Mira Khazzam
Bonnie Sher Klein
Mark Klein
Martin Klein
Naomi Klein
Joshua Katz-Rosene
Ryan Katz-Rosene
Judy Koch
Anton Kuerti
Jason Kunin
Aaron Lakoff
Michael Lambek
Natalie LaRoche
Richard Borshay Lee
Andy Lehrer
Gabriel Levin
Gabriel Levine
Joel Lexchin
Kim Linekin
Abby Lippman
Lee Lorch
Martin Lukacs
Audrey Macklin
Elise Maltin
Richard Marcuse
Wayne Mark
Gabor Mate
Arthur Milner
Anna Miransky
Dorit Naaman
Joanne Naiman
Neil Naiman
Michael Neumann
David-Marc Newman
David Noble
Clare O’Connor
Robin Ostow
Andre W. Payant
Jenny Peto
Simone Powell
Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
Fabienne Presentey
Yacov Rabkin
Diana Ralph
Naomi Rankin
Judy Rebick
Ester Reiter
Jillian Rogin
Richard Roman
Joseph Rosen
Herman Rosenfeld
Martha Roth
Marty Roth
Ruben Roth
E.Natalie Rothman
B. Sack
Ben Saifer
Miriam Sampaio
Jacob Scheir
Fred Schloessinger
Alan Sears
Shlomit Segal
Edward H. Shaffer
Noa Shaindlinger
Ray Shankman
Eva Sharell
Elliot Shek
Sid Shniad
Max Silverman
Samuel Singer
Elizabeth Solloway
Susan Starkman
Greg Starr
Jonathan Sterne
Jeremy Stolow
Rhonda Sussman
Vera Szoke
Joe Tannenbaum
Howard Tessler
Marion Traub-Werner
Ceyda Turan
Sandra Tychsen
Cheryl Wagner
Jon McPhedran Waitzer
David Wall
Naomi Binder Wall
Kathy Wazana
Karen Weisberg
Barry Weisleder
Paul Weinberg
Judith Weisman
Suzanne Weiss
Abraham Weizfeld
Ernie Yacub
B.H. Yael
Yedida Zalik
Melvin Zimmerman
There is a good column from the Al Jazeera website about Arab-Israelis/Israeli-Arabs. While the Arabs/Palestinians who live in Israel are citizens, what is generally not known to people living outside Israel is that Israeli citizens are futher divided by nationality. There are Jews and non-Jews. The non-Jews are further divided by religion for statistical purposes. The next information was not mentioned in the column. Non-Jews are not required to perform military service. However, promotion in Israeli civil society is largely influenced by one’s participation in the military. If one is an Israeli who has not been in the military, one’s chances of getting good employment is limited.
In Canada, Parliament recognized the Québécois as a nation. If we recognize a nation as a group of people, which individual Canadians are formally recognized as being a member of the Québécois nation? Other than self-declaration, there is no official government agency declaring who is a Québécois or not. In Israel, one’s nationality as a Jew or non-Jew is formally recognized.
Al Jazeera (English): http://tinyurl.com/cg2f43
I’ll play devil’s advocate/blogging tory for a moment:
Gays and lesbians have rights in Israel where they wouldn’t in the Mooslim countries.
This is great news for Israel! I think the LGBT community should celebrate with a parade through ultra-Orthodox Jewish Jerusalem.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6225444.stm
SkinnyD ….. I see in the BBC article you include there is the sentence:
“More than 1,000 firefighters went on strike last week, refusing to grant a licence to the parade’s organisers, forcing them to cancel a rally at the end of the march. ”
Do you know just what this means? Does the Fiire Dept grant licences to March? Who is the Orwelliam sounding THEM!
Thanks!
This comment apparently by an impostor.
These silly Jewish Canadian signatories convince no one but themselves… and I’m not at all sure of that either. The issue is this: these goofs are not “criticizing” Israel. They are hurling ugly abuse at it. In my book, when you do that to a Jewish country, and don’t hurl ugly abuse at Canada for its occupation of Afghanistan and British Columbia and Quebec, then you’ve got vicious anti-Semitism being spouted by these marginal Jews. As for signatory Judy Rebick, she is a complete ignoramus on how to live as a Jew. She long ago threw away her Judaism in favour of pagan feminism. Gloria Steinem and Karl Marx are her gods. So where do these imbeciles get off bad-mouthing a truly Jewish state? The answer: they are slavish agents of the reactionary Palestine Lobby, a powerful group of inveterate haters of Western civilization who will do anything for the ultra-right wing Hamas fundamentalists even if it means betraying their own people in Israel and in Canada. All this so that their phony utopian “revolution” will arrive at long last. For shame!
The above comment by “ruth tenne” is not mine . Someone tries to smear my name and my campaign for the cause of the Palestinians by posting false entries on various websites. Indeed a number of websites exposed this abusive practice pursued by the so -called ruth tenne, and posted a clear disclaimer of the false post besides my genuine entry. I request that you will post my disclaimer besides the false post of “ruth tenne” and post my genuine entry with my real name
thanks
Ruth Tenne
Following my genuine entry , I wish to add that I fully support al the points made by the above letter of 150 Canadian Jews . I have written and published a number of articles , book reviews and letters to the press and to members of the British Parliament (MPs) which made similar points . I am a member of the British organisation of Jews for Justice for Palestinians which campaigns (amongst other things) for the issues highlighted in the above letter
I do not for a moment give any credence tio the publicity-hound from England named Ruth Tenne (see above postings). She has falsely claimed to be a founder of the Jews for the Boycott of Israeli Goods Campaign yet uses zionist medications and medical equipment in UK hospitals. She claims “I don’t want to boycott to that extreme.” She disguises her Marxist ideology by claiming to be a loyal Jew, yet she turned her back on Israel, its people and children long ago. She also deceives online readers by lying about her grandparents–claiming they died in the Warsaw Ghetto. Israeli historians have refuted this deception. What it all amounts to is that Tenne is promoting her own agenda of a Marxist Palestine, undermining the will of the majority of the long-suffering people of Palestine for an Islamic Republic of Palestine based on sharia law and not on Das Kapital. A fraudster by any other name…