Canadian Jews condemn suppression of criticism of Israel

I have read the op and completely agree with the position taken by those who wrote and signed the letter. This is obviously a ham-fisted attempt to stiffle legitimate debate about the sins Israel is committing in Gaza. It's hard to stand against the tide and point out that Israel is wrong and committing war crimes. It's harder still if every time you open your mouth our government is going to lable you an anti-Semite. This is bullshit that must be opposed! Shame on both the Star and Globe for refusing to print this. I have written my letter of complaint to the Star & I hope many other babblers will do the same.

Done unionist!

Well, the Globe's refusal to run the statement sorts well with their decision to publish this piece by Yossi Klein Halevi, which concludes with this attack on unnamed "detractors":

Ironically, those among Israel's detractors who turn every Israeli act of war into a war crime and subject the Jewish state to a level of moral judgment not applied to any other nation are acting in the worst interests of the Palestinian people. For by deepening Israel's sense of siege, they help empower the same hard-line forces they deplore.

While I understand Zusken's points above, it is clear from Halevi's op-ed that "references" and "proof" are of little interest to the Globe's editorial board, since Halevi makes several claims that would not withstand five minutes of Googling, let alone a rigorous fact-check.

So, while one might wish for more specifics in any piece of writing, the lack of them in the text Unionist has provided is very unlikely to have been the reason for its rejection by the Globe.

Whatever Stockholm.

It may surprise people to know that I for the most part agree with the letter. However, I don't know that I would accuse the Star and the Globe of "refusing to print" it. The fact is that newspapers get HUNDREDS of unsolicited articles, petitions and press releases a day - only one or two of which make it into the paper. Just because they don't choose to publish this doesn't mean that its some sort of conspiracy.

I'm not sure what you do this this document if you are a newspaper. It reads like a long, long letter to the editor or maybe a news release - but newspapers NEVER public letters to the editor or news releases that are anywhere near that long. I've also never heard of a major newspaper publishing a petition free of charge. It could never be an op-ed piece because it isn't written in the journalistic style of that either - there is no analysis - just a petition style rant (much of which I agree with - but that doesn't make it journalism). 

I suggest to the people behind this letter that they follow one of two strategies. Either raise money to run the letter the petition as a full page ad in the paper, OR get ONE of the signatories who knows how to write and who is well-known (like maybe Naomi Klein)  to submit a journalist-style commentary that is a suitable op-ed piece. Something like that would probably have a very good chance of being published. 

But you can't blame a newspaper for not publishing a petition free of charge. They never do that for anyone.

If signatories offered to buy ad space and the newspapers refused to publish the letter, THEN I would agree that the newspapers have done something wrong. But they are not under obligation to give free space to anyone.

Where were these people 20 years ago when I first tried to say that Israel's actions against Palestinians were criminal?

At the time was people tried to shut me up by calling me an anti-Semite. 

Naturei karta are a "shanda fur de goyim" and no serious Jewish group, religious or secular, takes them even remotely seriously.

Star Spangled Canadian wrote:

Naturei karta are a "shanda fur de goyim" and no serious Jewish group, religious or secular, takes them even remotely seriously.

Curiously, I used the exact same expression to describe Frank Dimant, leader for life of Bnai Brith Canada, to his face. 

Actually, I agree with those who say that the letter really isn't written in op-ed form.  It sounds more like a petition than an op-ed piece, and so I'm not surprised that the papers refused to print it in op-ed format.

The fact, though, that they're refusing to report on it, and reporting so one-sidedly (with the odd exception included merely to stoke the apartheid supporters' fire), and not covering Israeli Apartheid Week at all beyond statements from pro-Apartheid groups claiming it's a "hate fest", is disgusting. 

aka Mycroft wrote:

Star Spangled Canadian wrote:

Naturei karta are a "shanda fur de goyim" and no serious Jewish group, religious or secular, takes them even remotely seriously.

Curiously, I used the exact same expression to describe Frank Dimant, leader for life of Bnai Brith Canada, to his face. 

Generally, whenever anyone sort of "appoints' themself as the "representative" of any large, homogeneous group amd uses it to try to get media attention and push their personal agenda it ends up really poorly and they alienate a good chunk of the people on behlaf they claim to speak. Whenever I hear Dimant or any of these other "professional Jews" I get a feeling that i imagine must be similar to the one Barack Obama gets whenever he sees Al Sharpton on TV.

Sid Ryan doesn't seem to have any trouble getting his columns published in such anti-Zionist hotbeds (lol) as the Toronto Sun and the National Post and i have seen plenty of other articles critical of Israel as well. In fact the foreign affairs columnist of the Toronto Sun Eric Margolis is very pro-Palestinian (and a very good writer too).

I would like to see more publicity given to the views of Jewish-Canadians who are against the policies of the current Israeli government and in fact I would have no problem adding my name to the petition above. BUT, as i said above, if this group wants to get publicity for their case in the mainstream media - there is a way to do it and that way is NOT sending major daily newspapers a petition full of "be it resolved that" style clauses and expecting them to publish it. There are plenty of intelligent, talented writers among the signatories - let one of them write a well-reasoned op-ed column that synthesizes the views expressed in the petition and I would be surprised if the major papers don't run it.   

Not shofar, Unionist.

Unionist wrote:

Cueball wrote:

I find these repeated attacks on anti-Zionist orthodox Rabbis, as "a shame before the nation", to be very strange in this context.

What "repeated attacks"? The attack came from SSC. SSC has not hidden his sympathy for Zionism on this board. Nothing strange about him mocking anti-Zionist rabbis. He doesn't tend to acknowledge that besides this tiny fringe ultra-orthodox sect, there are vast numbers of Jews. religious and irreligious, orthodox and atheist, who are disgusted by Israel and its policies. Talking about Neturei Karta is a typical ploy (introduced here by Machjo, surprise surprise) to gloss over the widespread revulsion felt by the non-fringe.

 

Guys, if you look at anything I've said on this subject, I was very clear in acknowledging not only that there are vast numbers of orthodox Jews who vehemntly oppose zionism but ahve said that this was basically the norm among orthodoxy pre-1948. even since the establishment of the state of Israel, many in the orthodox camp (Chassidus Ger, for example) who participate in Israeli civic life still maintain an officially anti-Zionist theological position.

The founder of Satmar hasidism, rabbi Joel Teitelbaum (ZTL) was one of the great tzadikim of the last century. this is a man who survived Bergen Belsen eating nothing but raw potatoes because he refused to eat non-kosher food even in that situation. He survived, moved to brooklyn and rebuilt a shattered and decimated community into the biggest hasidic group in the world with a vast network of shuls, yeshivot and charitable organizations. Despite not being anything close to orthodox let alone hasidic, I can't walk through their neighbourhood in brooklyn without being overcome by a sense of civic/ethnic/fuck-the-nazis pride.

And the Satmar rebbe and his followers are as vehemently opposed to zionism as anyone out there (for theological reasons). But Naturei karta is a fringe splinter group that has, among other things, participated in an Iranian Holocaust denial conference where they embraced Ahmadinejad. The current Satmar leader (nephew of Rebbe Teitelbaum) has issued an edict banning them from Satmar synogogues and schools.

I mean, jsut google them or go to Wikipedia and see to what extent this group represents a compelte fringe even among the ultra-orthodox. Denouncing them and pointing that out doesn't equate to "mocking anti-zionist rabbis" - especially since these self-described "Ultra-orthodox" rabbis are willing to violate the Shabbos in order to participate in anti-Zionist initiatives.

Was that directed to me? What about those guys?

The distinction between being Jewish and supporting the Israeli government is, I think a very basic distinction.  It is unfortunate that it even needs to be asserted.  To equate a monolithic political view or the actions of a state apparatus with an entire ethnic group is racist.  It implies that "they all think alike."  To call criticism of Israeli policy anti-Semitic also implies that Israeli policy in the occupied territories benefits all Israelis equally.  As though wealthy land developers in the Knesset and privileged politicians with heavy investments in the arms industry have the same vested interests as everyday working Israeli's.  That is absurd.  Though the US government tries to pull the same tactic on it’s own population, people do not buy it. War always takes a greater toll on the poor than on the rich.  It is the poor who rely on the public services that are being curtailed now in Israel to pay for the bellicose policies of the government.There are layers of racism / anti-Semitism active in the notion that to be "Jewish" is to support the Israeli government.  For one thing, it blanches over a class analysis of how war-like policies affect Israelis differently on the basis of their economic background.  I can't help but wonder if this stems from the notion that Jewish people have money.  Well the ones in the Knesset sure do. Just like people in Congress do.  But that doesn't mean that the people they represent have the same privilege, or that the kids they send off to fight in Gaza are going to reap the same benefits from the spoils of war as the politicians they fight for. We have no problem identifying war profiteering when it happens in Congress but somehow people are blind to how this can happen in Israel. 

Have a link Stockholm?

Sorry Star Spangled. I was aware Naturei Karta was Orthodox, but never realized how much of a fringe they were. My only point was that I was aware that there were plenty of Jews that oppose Zionism and that was the one I'd heard of the most.

 

So what can you say about Neve Shalom? It's a group I'd heard about a few years ago and know a little about, but not too much.

 

And a side note to Unionist. You're not a very good clairoyant. Stick to the text and stop misreading between the lines.

Unionist wrote:

Neve Shalom are a fascinating group. They started out as air traffic controllers in Jonquières, got fed up with language hegemony, decided to speak only Esperanto, and moved to Fort Knox, where they adopted gold as a universal currency. They built up a nest egg and sent missives to 150 prominent Canadian Jews, asking them to appeal publicly for the reform of Canadian linguistic and air navigation policies, to conform with ICAO directives. Unfortunately the Jews, speaking only a Litvak variety of Yiddish, misconstrued the missives, and instead issued a news release condemning the suppression of criticism of Israel in Canadian society.

See how easy it is to remain on topic - you can get there even where you come from!

 

 http://nswas.org/rubrique22.html

 And it's all in English too, if that helps at all? And here's how they describe themselves:

"Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam is a cooperative village of Jews and Palestinian Arabs of Israeli citizenship. The village is situated equidistant from Jerusalem and Tel Aviv-Jaffa."

From what I can see of their website, they're quite opposed to the Israeli occupation of Gaza. And no, that's not Esperanto up there (I have no idea why you always insist on bringing that topic up), but Hebrew and Arabic. Honestly, I can't see what it is exactly that's so dispicalbe about them in your mind.

Stockholm wrote:

Its also the poor in Israel who tend to vote overwhelmingly for the most rightwing warmongering parties.

Many people would make the same sort of statement about voting tendencies here in North America. I think sometimes that the less political and economic power one has, the more difficult it is to be anti-establishment.  The privilege of enjoying four some years in the intellectual shelter we call university is highly conducive to political activism and critical thinking.  This may have something to do with the phenomenon you are referring to. 

What creeps me out most about the Jewish = Israeli Government equation is that it blames Jewish people for the actions of the Israeli government far more than it blames ethnic Christians for the actions of the US government.  Why should that be the case? Why do so many people assume that the Israeli government represents the wishes and interests of Jewish people more than the US government represents American people?  Americans take public international blame for the actions of their government but no where near to the degree that Jewish people are blamed for the actions of Israel. Or to the degree that Palestinians are blamed for the actions of Hamas I might add.

Now the argument is made, "But they are doing it.  They are saying that to criticise Israel is anti-Semitic."  It is the very notion of that “They” that worries me.  That “They” is a construction.  It is used to manipulate ideas about what is acceptable and what is unacceptable policy in the Middle East.  That "They" is not a Jewish construction.  It is a "Western" construction.  And it is Imperial.

 

 

"What creeps me out most about the Jewish = Israeli Government equation is that it blames Jewish people for the actions of the Israeli government far more than it blames ethnic Christians for the actions of the US government.  Why should that be the case?"

There is a simple explanation for that. The United States is one of about 100 countries in the world that are largely Christian - so why would people link "Christians" to the actions of one country with no official state religion that happens to have a majority Christian population. If Christians were a persecuted minority all over the world and there was only one country named "Christiania" whose founding principle was to be a sanctuary for Christians - that would be a different story and that would be analogous to the relationship between most Jews and Israel.

Today all of downtown Toronto was filled with Tamil-Canadians waving Tamil Tiger flags. Why should these people care about what happens in Sri Lanka? Why can't they just be Canadians and let the Tamils in Sri Lanka fight their own battles?