“Israeli Apartheid Week”: Festival of bigotry kicks off across the globe but it’s not going according to plan
A common sight in Israel?
But it is not all going according to plan. In Canada, there are signs that the organisers may already have run into some embarrassing problems. As the National Post reports in a scathing editorial which rightly describes the event as “an odious and bigoted annual ritual” a motion denouncing Israeli Apartheid Week has been unanimously passed (even leftist members of parliament supported it) in the Ontario provincial parliament. This is a serious blow since Canada has been one of the worst offenders in the Western world in terms of anti-Israeli bigotry and has traditionally been at the forefront of IAW campaigning.
While it is still early days, what is going on in Canada should serve as an inspiration to those opposed to anti-Israeli extremism worldwide. Careful and consistent campaigning in favour of reason and decency over Israel can pay off, leaving the opposing camp looking isolated and obsessive.
Ontario MPP (member of the provincial parliament) Peter Shurman tabled the motion and as the National Post put it:
“[His] motion is part of a larger move toward support of Israel among Canadian politicians. In May, Dalton McGuinty will take part in a trade mission to Israel — an unprecedented move for an Ontario premier since the 2000 Intifada broke out.
“Last week, Conservative MP Tim Uppal announced that he would soon introduce a motion [in Canada's national parliament] declaring “that this House considers itself to be a friend of the State of Israel; that this House is concerned about expressions of anti-Semitism under the guise of ‘Israeli Apartheid Week’; and that this House explicitly condemns any action in Canada as well as internationally that would equate the State of Israel with the rejected and racist policy of apartheid.” On Monday, Michael Ignatieff declared that Israeli Apartheid Week “should be condemned unequivocally and absolutely.” Even Jack Layton [leader of the left-wing New Democratic Party] has kept a tight lid on the anti-Zionists in his party. As a result, anti-Israel activists –including not only the IAW crowd, but also those who campaigned against last year’s Israeli-themed Toronto Film Festival– have been shunned, or even denounced, by politicians.”
This is surely the way to go. Perhaps those who are interested could write to their own parliamentarians and their equivalents suggesting they follow Canada’s lead…
For information on IAW events around the world, click here:
Tags: Israel
March 2nd, 2010 at 5:47 pm
Reading the National Post editorial in full, you should include the last paragraph as well. It’s powerful.
March 2nd, 2010 at 5:52 pm
I see the IAW website does not mention Jerusalem by name, instead using the fake Palestinian name of al Quds.
March 2nd, 2010 at 7:03 pm
Robin:
A recent Gallop poll indicated that pro-Israeli sentiments are at near record levels in the US and I expect that Canadian sentiments are similar. Except for the extremly biased or ignorant, the broad perception is that the Palestinians have done vastly more to subvert peace than the Israelis by virtue of electing a government openly dedicated to a “one state solution” and efforts like BDS, by virtue of its extremism and distortions, has also backfired. They may pick up a lot of young, naive supporters, but that kind of support is a mile wide, but lacking in substance. I mean what do you really gain by running around in a kefiya, shrieking about apartheid and genocide against Palestinians when a more balanced understanding of the middle east comprehends the long standing game of local despots focusing attention on Israel as the root of all unhappiness in the region.
March 2nd, 2010 at 7:22 pm
As per normal the self-righteous, hate-filled ones are expert at being ‘anti’, but not so good at being ‘pro’. They can manage ‘anti-Israel’ standing on their heads. No problem there. But I’m not sure what they’re actually ‘pro’, apart from ‘the Palestinians’ in very loose terms.
Are they pro-fostering of Palestinian institutions in readiness for statehood ? Are they pro-strengthening the PA Police, so that uniformed thugs rather than random gun-toting thugs rule the Palestinian street ? Are they pro-cleansing Fatah of corruption, so that it gain acceptance amongst Palestinians as a government-in-waiting ? Or pro-Hamas, so that the armed struggle against Israel and its population can be renewed ?
I doubt they’ve given such things a minute’s thought. It’s easy being ‘anti’.
March 2nd, 2010 at 9:15 pm
Some consistency from Canada at least, as it stood up to be counted as one of the few, who voted against Goldstone
March 3rd, 2010 at 6:13 am
OT: The Guardian’s vicious “anti-Zionism” on display once again.
Adrian Searle writes:
“We know Blair is a dupe; we know Israel behaves monstrously; we know about the dirty protest and hunger strikes in Northern Ireland during the 1970s.”
And we know that in 2010, sixty-five years after Auschwitz was liberated, it no longer feels comfortable to be a Jew in Britain.
Source: Richard Hamilton spots the difference [And check out the map he chooses to illustrate his article]
http://tinyurl.com/ykvg26h
Note: Adam Searle is art critic for the Guardian. According to that newspaper he has “taught at many art colleges in Britain and Europe and is currently a visiting professor at the Royal College of Art in London”.
March 3rd, 2010 at 11:38 am
The doofuses who organized the so-called “Israel-Aparhteid Week” seemed to have dropped their squalid little program right at the beginning of Buycott Israel Month (see http://www.buycottmonth.com). But what do you expect from bunch of clowns who can’t even be truthful about the word “Week”?
March 3rd, 2010 at 12:22 pm
I heard Ilan Pappe speak at Oxford’s Israel apartheid week yesterday, on the subject of the 67 war. It was an interesting and challenging talk, but there were some clear problems with his evidence, not least his claim that ‘the basic zionist project, which started in 1882, which was to de-Arabize and Judaize Palestine’
I wrote my account of the evening here:
http://bit.ly/9Skmre
March 3rd, 2010 at 12:36 pm
“A recent Gallop poll indicated that pro-Israeli sentiments are at near record levels in the US and I expect that Canadian sentiments are similar.”
Canada is a rather different kettle of fish, or at least it was up until fairly recently. The unprecedented pro-Israeli positions taken by Stephen Harper’s government are quite possibly not a true reflection of Canadian public opinion.
A Gallup Poll taken in 2005 showed the following:
Americans Stand Apart in Support for Israel
[Extracts]
“In line with the differences in sympathies, Canadians and Britons are, to varying degrees, less likely than Americans to view Israel favorably. Whereas two-thirds of Americans (69%) have a favorable opinion of Israel, this figure is 51% in Canada and only 39% in Great Britain.”
“In Canada, roughly equal numbers of men and women (34% and 35%) sympathize with Israel, while slightly fewer women than men”
However, there is this:
“Only 29% of those in Canada and 31% of those in Britain view the Palestinian Authority favorably — similar to the 27% who do so in the United States. A majority in each country has an unfavorable view of the Palestinian government.”
As an aside, there is this interesting point:
“Education is one variable that does make a difference. In each country, adults with advanced education are relatively more sympathetic to the Palestinians than are adults with less formal education. This gap is particularly pronounced in Great Britain and Canada.”
http://tinyurl.com/ye7lbjk
On the other hand, there was this COMPAS poll in 2006 which seemed to show something rather different, at least at one point during the 2006 Second Lebanon War:
“An overwhelming number of Canadians support Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s assertion that Israel’s attacks on Lebanon are justified because Israel has a right to self defence and say Iran and Syria are wrong to have armed Hezbollah, according to a new poll to be released today.
The poll, which was conducted by public opinion researcher COMPAS Inc., will appear today in the news magazine Western Standard. The poll states that 82 per cent of Canadians asked believe that Israel has a right to self defence.”
http://tinyurl.com/yj68twu
I cannot find a more recent opinion poll. Perhaps things have changed in the interim.
March 3rd, 2010 at 5:36 pm
While it is true that there are elements in canadian society that express bigotry and hatred toward Israel I think it is fair to point out that under PM Harper the Canadian Government has been the most supportive of any country in the world — I challenge you to look at the track record and see if you can find a country that has consistently supported Israel on the world stage more than Harper — just thought I would draw your attention to this fact even thought we do have, like most countries, a radical anti-Israel fringe that gets big press.
March 3rd, 2010 at 7:14 pm
“While it is true that there are elements in canadian society that express bigotry and hatred toward Israel”
I did not mention anything about “bigotry and hatred” but merely reproduced the results of two opinion polls which dealt with attitudes in Canada to Israel and the Palestinians. Those results speak for themselves. I suggest you look at them.
“I challenge you to look at the track record and see if you can find a country that has consistently supported Israel on the world stage more than Harper”
This is what I wrote:
“The unprecedented pro-Israeli positions taken by Stephen Harper’s government are…”
The next time you should read the post you are commenting about before writing a response.
BTW, those people who wish to learn more about Canada’s sometimes terrifying history of anti-Semitism could do a lot worse than start with Arbella and Troper’s excellent “None is Too Many: Canada and the Jews of Europe, 1933-1948″. Herewith, a link to an excellent review of that book by Michael Angel of the University of Manitoba:
http://tinyurl.com/ewvfn
March 3rd, 2010 at 7:31 pm
Further to the suggestion above about “None is Too Many” here’s a moving speech that Brian Mulroney, the former Prime Minister of Canada, gave in 2003 on anti-Semitism in Canada. In that speech he spoke about many of the topics covered by Arbella and Troper. An extract:
‘A few months later, Prime Minister King visited Germany to meet Chancellor Adolf Hitler. King recorded the following impressions of that meeting: “He [Hitler] smiled very pleasantly and indeed had a sort of appealing and affectionate look in his eyes. My sizing up of the man as I sat and talked with him was that he is really one who truly loves his fellow man. His face is much more pre- possessing than his pictures would give the impression of. It is not that of a fiery over-strained nature but of a calm, passive man deeply and thoughtfully in earnest. His skin was smooth. His face did not present lines of fatigue or weariness. His eyes impressed me most of all. There was a liquid qualify about them which indicates keen perception and profound sympathy. Calm, composed and one could see how particularly humble folk would have come to have profound love for the man. As I talked with him I could not but think of Joan of Arc. He is distinctly a mystic.”
The following day, our Prime Minister had lunch in Berlin with the Nazi Foreign Minister von Neurath, who delivered himself of some interesting opinions: “He admitted that they [the Nazis] had taken some pretty rough steps in cleaning up the situation, but the truth was the country was going to pieces at the time Hitler took hold. He said to me that I would have loathed living in Berlin with the Jews, and the way in which they had increased their numbers in the city, and were taking possession of its more important part. He said there was no pleasure in going to a theatre which was filled with them. Many of them were very coarse and vulgar and assertive. They were getting control of all the business, the finance, and had really taken advantage of the necessity of the people. It was necessary to get them out to have the Germans really control their own city and affairs. He told me I would have been surprised at the extent to which life and morale had become demoralized - that Hitler had set his face against all that kind of thing, and had tried to inspire desire for a good life in the minds of young people.”
And how did Canada’s Prime Minister react to these diabolically racist and extremely ominous comments by one of the most powerful leaders of the Third Reich?
Mackenzie King wrote: “I left him feeling that I had met a man whose confidence I would continue to enjoy through the rest of my days… After returning to the hotel, I wrote a letter of some length by hand to von Neurath whom I like exceedingly. He is, if there ever was one, a genuinely kind, good man.” ‘
Anti-Semitism: An Enduring Reality by Brian Mulroney
http://www.utoronto.ca/mcis/antisemitism/Mulroney.htm
March 3rd, 2010 at 9:30 pm
It’s true, as Joshua says, that the CAnadian govt was quite anti-semitic prior to and even during WWII. Furthermore, as so well and humorously documented by the late Mordechai Richler, French Quebec was virulently anti-semitic prior to WWII.
That being said, that Canada was an entirely different place to post-WWII Canada, particularly since the Pearson-Trudeau years (early 1960s to 1984). True, until Harper, Canada has not maintained the same pro-Israeli stance as the U.S., but it has been a steadfast friend. The poll cited by Joshua reflects Canada’s middle position between the U.S. and Britain on this and many other issues. I am a Canadian Jew and I can count the number of anti-semitic incidents I’ve experienced in my 50+ years on one hand and have fingers left over. Even our Liberal opposition leader, Michael Ignatieff, is quite pro-israel, though he has waffled on some issues (like the Lebanon war in 2006). Early in this decade, the then (separatist) premier of Quebec, Lucien Bouchard, resigned from his position because of what he perceived as anti-semitism in his party. Yes Canadian universities host the abomination known as “israel apartheid week” but that is because of the large number of muslim students on some Canadian campuses, and because hard leftism’s last refuge in Canada is in the university. Whenever the rank-and-file here get to vote on divestment, boycott or sanctions, they reject it utterly. Nor has Stephen Harper’s govt suffered politically for its unabashed pro-Israel stance. In short, it’s a bit disingenuous to claim that Harper is an anomaly; modern Canada is generally speaking free from bigotry and always wants to do the right thing: Sometimes that can temporarily play into the hands of the squealing leftie crowd and their anti-Israel obsession, but these views do not resonate among most Canadians, and Canada-Israel friendship remains stronger than ever. But hey, Canada isn’t the U.S., doesn’t want to be, and never will be. Compared to the rest of the world, though, we’re one of Israel’s staunchest friends and allies. If i’m not mistaken, we even have a free-trade agreement with Israel.
March 3rd, 2010 at 9:34 pm
Oh, and I forgot to mention, that Mackenzie King, our longest serving prime minister (1921-1930; and 1934-1949), has become quite the embarrassment, one could say laughingstock, as it became known after his death that he (a) had a mommy fixation; (b) talked to his dead dog; and (c) spent a lot of time communicating with the spirit world in general. So his opinions about Hitler (which, in any event, clearly changed sometime after Munich: Canada declared war on Nazi Germany one week after Great Britain did) are not particularly relevant in any discussion about today’s canada.
March 4th, 2010 at 1:39 pm
It was heartening to read this article and the forceful response from Canada’s leaders and in the press report.
On a per capita basis, there are roughly 10 times as many anti-Semitic incidents in Canada each year compared to the USA. A relative, Scottish, converted to Judaism and now living in Canada, reports that he hears frequent anti-Semitic comments made by those who have no idea that he is Jewish. The problem has been exacerbated by the increasing Moslem population, primarily in Montreal (where Netanyahu once had to cancel a speech at a university) and Toronto, which doesnot distinguish between Israel and Jews.
The Canadian churches have been at the forefront of the BDS movement, and are virulently anti-Israel.
It looks like the Canadian leadership, and decent Canadians, may have woken up to the slippery slope their country has been pushed onto, and are trying to rein matters in before they become too critical.
March 5th, 2010 at 4:30 pm
“And we know that in 2010, sixty-five years after Auschwitz was liberated, it no longer feels comfortable to be a Jew in Britain.”
No, it doesn’t feel comfortable and sadder still are those who are joining the anti-Israel movement without stopping to consider exactly how the public were manipulated and fed propaganda when Hitler came to power.
They just can’t see that they are following along those same lines.
March 5th, 2010 at 7:16 pm
RE: Toronto, which doesnot distinguish between Israel and Jews.
Give me a break! Alarmist bull. The Ontario legislature, which is located in Toronto, specifically denounced Israel Apartheid Week — even the leftist NDP joined in. You are smearing a great city with silly, untrue remarks like that. If you mean Toronto’s large growing Muslim population that’s one thing, but it’s absolutely untrue to attribute these sentiments to the city as a whole — which, after all, has 180,000 Jews and a longstanding Jewish presence (e.g. Kensington market).
And by the way, I’m no fan of Toronto, having grown up in Montreal.
March 6th, 2010 at 8:29 pm
Jonathan Karmi, are you any relation to Ghada Karmi?
March 7th, 2010 at 11:03 pm
Or Rebecca Karmi, current Pres. of Ben Gurion University? (Actually “University” in name only…)?
March 7th, 2010 at 11:10 pm
vildechaye,
Sorry to butt in insolently (If R. Shepherd wants to he will censor this), but just add: Toronto great city??? And what exactly makes it so “great”? Its horribly ugly architecture generally? Its treeless downtown, wide boulevards without a single little plant? Its shabby shopfronts and streetscapes without any discernable distinction and characteristic? I know very well that it’s cool nowadays to hype Toronto, but I find it unconvincing. Full disclosure: my father actually loved it, and we had a very serious diff of opinion on this issue. Btw I’ve never been there BUT seen hundreds of pictures.) Sorry if I digressed…
March 9th, 2010 at 7:13 pm
indisputably, the present Canadian govt is Israel’s strongest friend in the West. The Canadian Left has a lot of anti-Semitism there, but the same can be said for the US and in Europe and the UK etc. Certainly the Canadian govt is far more friendly and far more of a genuine ally to Israel than the odious Obama administration. Which makes me realise that the Canadian govt is far more pro-Israel than those clueless American Jews who voted for Obama (ie most of them). What a bloody disgrace, they disgust me, but I digress.