[acc-cca-l] Fwd: Jewish group urges Canadian government to condemn Israeli raids on Palestinian civil society

[Marsha Barber]

[△EXTERNAL]


This is not the place to conflate these issues, Professor Berland, in the shadow of the recent federal funding of antisemitism:  https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/hussen-tweets-contract-cancelled-1.6558541

To say that it's circumstances in the Middle East that "inspire such comments" is vile. It's also vile to justify such comments because an angry individual's "spirit is assaulted."

This opinion piece in yesterday’s Globe and Mail provides insight:
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-the-public-service-does-not-understand-antisemitism/

The headline for the piece is “The Public Service Does Not Understand Antisemitism.” I would add that neither do some in academe.

I won’t engage in further discussion of this issue in a public forum dedicated to academic issues. If anyone reading this has a thoughtful and civil comment to make, perhaps they could use our private email addresses, not the CCA's.

As much as I respect individual members of Independent Jewish Voices and their supporters, including Professor Berland, they're described as a fringe group. In no way do their views reflect those of members of the larger Jewish community. All peoples should be entitled to self-determination, including the Jewish people. Anyone who disputes the right of Israel to exist (the classic definition of Zionism) is engaging in antisemitism, whatever disingenuous rationalizations might be used. Supporting Israel's statehood is, of course, different from criticizing policies of specific Israeli governments.

Finally, in case it needs to be spelled out, my opinions are my own. I don't speak for my university.


Marsha Barber
Professor, School of Journalism
The Creative School
Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University)
Toronto, Canada
m2barber at ryerson.ca<mailto:m2barber at ryerson.ca>





On Sun, Aug 28, 2022 at 12:32 PM Jody Berland <jberland at yorku.ca<mailto:jberland at yorku.ca>> wrote:
[△EXTERNAL]


I concur with everyone’s outrage at the expression  of crude anti-Semitic sentiments recirculated on this list. They are terrible as are all vile racist smears against any people defined by race or religion.
I just wish our media and our government would take an equally strong (or even just more balanced) position on the circumstances in the Middle East that inspire such comments. Where is the outrage about the well documented illegal violence being committed every day year after year by the Israeli government against Palestinian journalists, human rights organizations, universities, hospitals, medical staff, refugee camps, homes, students, and civilians?  These military attacks have been condemned by many governments (not ours), Amnesty International, and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

I believe we can and should criticize the policies and aggressions of a government whose actions have been deemed war crimes with the same concerns that lead us to criticize the colonizing violence of our own governments or the racist comments of a single angry individual whose spirit is assaulted by the actions described below and the complicit silence of our elected representatives about them.  I encourage CCA members to push for a fair and truthful accounting of this tragic state of affairs from our media and from our governments.
I have attached the statement calling for a revised policy  on Israel and Palestine just released by Jagmeet Singh. It is the first statement by a Canadian politician supporting the rights of Palestinians in line with the policies of The United Nations, Amnesty International, and human rights organizations within both Israel and Palestine. When an MP from Hamilton posted Singh’s statement, he was accused of being antisemitic.
The widespread use of anti-racist language to suppress the human rights claims of Palestinians is unfortunately common
[cid:182e54b87cde07889281]
in our media and our universities. I hope the critique of that strategy will be as instant and energetic.
Jody Berland

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Sid Shniad <shniad at gmail.com<mailto:shniad at gmail.com>>
Date: Sat, Aug 27, 2022 at 8:02 PM

https://english.wafa.ps/Pages/Details/130518

WAFA -- Palestine News and Information Agency                                             21/August/2022

Jewish group urges Canadian government to condemn Israeli raids on Palestinian civil society
[Jewish group urges Canadian government to condemn Israeli raids on Palestinian civil society]

MONTREAL, Sunday, August 21, 2022 (WAFA) – Independent Jewish Voices Canada has called on the Canadian government to condemn the Israeli raids on the offices of seven civil society organizations in Palestine last week. The raids come ten months after Israeli occupation designated six of these organizations as ‘terrorist’ groups, although it has failed to provide any substantial evidence to support its claims.

“Israel’s crackdown on these organizations is a blatant anti-democratic attempt to delegitimize and ultimately silence Palestinian civil society,” said IJV Communications and Media spokesperson Rowan Gaudet. “This motive is made especially clear by the attack on Defense for Children International–Palestine which is investigating the killings of some 37 Palestinian children this year alone.”

In July, the foreign ministries of Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden jointly investigated Israel’s designation of these organizations as terrorist groups and came to the conclusion that the charges were unsubstantiated. The decision has also been protested by more than twenty Israeli human rights groups and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, among others.

In December 2021, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said she was in contact with Yair Lapid, then foreign minister, who she claimed to have asked for “clarity” on the situation.

“The government has had ample time to seek clarity” continued Gaudet. “It’s time for Canada to take action. We call on the government to immediately condemn Israel’s attempted shut down of Palestinian groups who are exposing and opposing its well-documented system of apartheid.”

“Just this past June, Justin Trudeau reiterated that Canada and Israel ‘are close friends bound together by shared democratic values’,” said Gaudet. “Does this mean we can expect Canada to shutter the offices of Canadian human rights and Indigenous groups and seize documents they’re using to investigate our government? Or will Canada finally condemn these actions and join with its European allies in rejecting Israel’s claims?”

M.N

*IJV website: www.ijvcanada.org<http://www.ijvcanada.org>


--
Jody Berland
Professor, Department of Humanities
York University, Toronto, ON  M3J 1P3 Canada
https://profiles.laps.yorku.ca/profiles/jberland/




--


Jody Berland

Professor, Department of Humanities
234 Founders College,  York University
Toronto, ON  M3J 1P3 Canada
https://profiles.laps.yorku.ca/profiles/jberland/








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