VTJP Palestine/Israel News Links: PCHR Expresses 'Grave Concern' Over UNGA Action on Goldstone
http://williambowles.info/wordpress/2010/02/27/vtjp-palestineisrael-news...
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Israeli Apartheid Week: Here's Why
Sun, 2010-02-28 12:09
#1
Israeli Apartheid Week: Here's Why
Sun, 2010-02-28 12:19
#2
Frustrated Mess
What if we viewed it as a Global Apartheid policy?
I've been following with absolute bemusement the international brouhaha following the assassination of a Hamas operative in Dubai. Israeli ambassadors are being summoned, curt diplomatic missives are being delivered, Israel faces, finally, a level of condemnation from Western governments--for the use of passports. The ongoing crime against humanity, in particular what's taking place in the Gaza Ghetto, remains perfectly alright with our administratively piqued international community.
Sun, 2010-02-28 12:20
#3
This is a copy of the letter I'm sending to the leader of each party as well as my own MP. I've taken out my own identifying information so that anyone who is interested in doing so can copy, paste, and modify as they see fit:
Name of Party Leader or MP
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6
Dear
My name is... I am writing to you to express my concern regarding a motion that Tim Uppal, MP for Edmonton-Sherwood Park, has stated that he will introduce to the House of Commons. The motion will state: "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."
Please note that the following South Africans have compared Israel's treatment of the Palestinians in the Occupied Territories to Apartheid: Archbishop and Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu, Deputy President of the African National Congress Kgalema Motlanthe, and former South African Prime Minister and architect of South Africa's Apartheid system Hendrick Verwoerd.
The Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa released a study in May 2009 states that Israel practices the "three pillars" of apartheid in the occupied territories:
- The first pillar "derives from Israeli laws and policies that establish Jewish identity for purposes of law and afford a preferential legal status and material benefits to Jews over non-Jews".
- The second pillar is reflected in "Israel's 'grand' policy to fragment the OPT [and] ensure that Palestinians remain confined to the reserves designated for them while Israeli Jews are prohibited from entering those reserves but enjoy freedom of movement throughout the rest of the Palestinian territory. This policy is evidenced by Israel's extensive appropriation of Palestinian land, which continues to shrink the territorial space available to Palestinians; the hermetic closure and isolation of the Gaza Strip from the rest of the OPT; the deliberate severing of East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank; and the appropriation and construction policies serving to carve up the West Bank into an intricate and well-serviced network of connected settlements for Jewish-Israelis and an archipelago of besieged and non-contiguous enclaves for Palestinians".
- The third pillar is "Israel's invocation of 'security' to validate sweeping restrictions on Palestinian freedom of opinion, expression, assembly, association and movement [to] mask a true underlying intent to suppress dissent to its system of domination and thereby maintain control over Palestinians as a group."
The following Israelis have also described Israel as an Apartheid state: former Israeli attorney-general Michael Ben-Yair, journalist Amira Hass, and political scientist Menon Benvenisti. The Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem released a study in 2002 that states:
"Israel has created in the Occupied Territories a regime of separation based on discrimination, applying two separate systems of law in the same area and basing the rights of individuals on their nationality. This regime is the only one of its kind in the world, and is reminiscent of distasteful regimes from the past, such as the apartheid regime in South Africa." A more recent B'Tselem publication on the road system Israel has established in the West Bank concluded that it "bears striking similarities to the racist Apartheid regime," and even "entails a greater degree of arbitrariness than was the case with the regime that existed in South Africa."
Notable Americans such as former President Jimmy Carter and former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski have also compared Israel to an Apartheid state.
Canada has had a long and shameful history of refusing to acknowledge injustices committed against oppressed peoples in other countries, the most notorious example being our country's refusal to accept Jewish refugees fleeing from Nazi Germany. We have, however, at times taken an ethical stand against such oppression, such as when Prime Minister Brian Mulroney condemned Apartheid in South Africa. Today, an international movement comparable to the movement protesting South African Apartheid has developed. This movement is not simply attempting to protect Palestinians from a brutal occupation, but also to call Israel to return to the rich ethical legacy of its own cultural traditions. Without such international pressure, it is likely that Israel will continue to pursue aggressive and ultimately futile militaristic solutions to the myriad problems arising from the occupation of Palestinian lands, leading both Isarelis and Palestinians ever-further into the evils of Apartheid. I therefore ask that you and your party refuse to support MP Uppal's forthcoming motion.
Thank you for your time and attention to this matter.
Yours,
Sun, 2010-02-28 12:34
#4
Frustrated Mess
Wonderful.
Sun, 2010-02-28 12:49
#5
Palestinians Excluded from Bulk of West Bank
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50472
"Israel's illegal occupation and continued expropriation of Palestinian land in the West Bank has left 2.5 Million Palestinians living there - with less than 40 percent of the territory.
According to the report Palestinian farming and construction is effectively prohibited in 70 percent of Area C (or approximately 44 percent of the West Bank), which is reserved mainly for the benefit of Israeli settlements..."
Sun, 2010-02-28 13:44
#6
Montreal: 500 Artists Against Israeli Apartheid
http://www.tadamon.ca/post/5824
"A call from Montreal artists to support the international campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israeli Apartheid.."
International Tribunal on EU Complicity in the Occupation of Palestine Next Week
http://www.palestinecampaign.org/index2b.asp
"The first international session of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine will be held in Barcelona on the 1, 2 and 3rd March to consider the extent to which the European Union and its member states are complicit in the ongoing occupation of Palestinian territory and in Israel's violations of the rights of the Palestinian people...
Live streaming it will start on 1st March at 10 AM (UK time) here:
http://www.bcnsolidaria.tv/tv/
UK Court of Appeal to hear Case Challenging UK's Relationship to Israel
http://www.alhaq.org/etemplate.php?id=507#
"...it is in flagarant breach of its international obligations not to render aid and to cooperate with other states using all lawful means to bring the humanitarian crisis in Gaza to an end (caused by the continuing blockade by Israel)"
Sun, 2010-02-28 14:42
#7
Excellent letter, Michael, thank you.
Sun, 2010-02-28 14:53
#8
Thanks for that, Michael Nenonen
The targeting of the Israel BDS (Boycott-Divestment-Sanctions) movement by the Canadian Government is in accord with a very well oiled campaign to deflect and silence the debate over the particulars of Israeli apartheid by means of a smear of those who are working for justice.
Israel is not to be seen as a "pariah state", this is just malicious branding and has nothing to do with Israel's actions, according to the the Israeli think tank, The Reut Institute, which now has Canadians in its cross-hairs:
Toronto is anti-Israel 'hub,' think tank says
Global campaign; Film festival furor cited in report
By PETER O'NEIL, Canwest News serviceFebruary 19, 2010The Israeli government should take action against its critics in Toronto and four other "hubs" who are engaged in a global campaign to "delegitimize" Israel, according to a report by a Tel Aviv-based think tank...
"Working within identified hubs, Israel should aspire to maintain thousands of personal relationships with political, financial, cultural, media and security-related elites," argues Reut, a privately funded body that provides advice to Israeli politicians and public officials, in its report, made public this month....
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Toronto+anti+Israel+think+tank+says/...
The background to the Reut Institute makes for interesting reading.
Will the Harper Government be vocally supporting this group if it mobilizes its alleged "sabotage" strategy on Canadian soil?
Israel's New Strategy
"Sabotage" and "attack" the global justice movement
By Ali Abunimah
... Reut recommends to the Israeli government an aggressive and possibly criminal counter-offensive. A powerpoint presentation Grinstein made to the recent Herzliya Conference on Israeli national security actually calls on Israel's "intelligence agencies to focus" on the named and unnamed "hubs" of the "delegitimization network" and to engage in "attacking catalysts" of this network. In its "The Delegitimization Challenge: Creating a Political Firewall" document, Reut recommends that "Israel should sabotage network catalysts."
....
What ties together all these strategies is that they are aimed at frustrating, delaying and distracting attention from the fundamental issue: that Israel -- despite its claims to be a liberal and democratic state -- is an ultranationalist ethnocracy that relies on the violent suppression of the most fundamental rights of millions of Palestinians, soon to be a demographic majority, to maintain the status quo. There is no "game changer" in Reut's new strategy.Reut is apparently unaware even of the irony of trying to reform "Brand Israel" as something cuddly, while at the same time publicly recommending that Israel's notorious spies "sabotage" peace groups on foreign soil.
But there are two lessons we must heed: Reut's analysis vindicates the effectiveness of the BDS strategy, and as Israeli elites increasingly fear for the long-term prospects of the Zionist project they are likely to be more ruthless, unscrupulous and desperate than ever.
http://www.zcommunications.org/israels-new-strategy-by-ali-abunimah
http://www.muzzlewatch.com/category/reut-institute/
http://www.muzzlewatch.com/2010/01/04/toronto-london-berkeley-new-axis-o...
http://mydd.com/users/mainstreet/posts/reut-institute-maps-israels-intel...
Sun, 2010-02-28 15:16
#9
[url=http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=12706]CIA report: Israel will fall in 20 years[/url]
So if Israel is unsustainable as a purely Jewish state and its demise inevitable, then why is the left obssessing over one tiny country in the Middle East where the writing is on the wall for apartheid for white oppressors oppressing other white people?
What about the NDP's call to help millions of desperate people in the Congo? Why is the left so selective when it comes to suffering in the Middle East? Why does the suffering of white people in the occupied territories and Gaza outweigh the systematic US orchestrated genocide of millions in the Congo since 1998 and ongoing? Is it because we've won in Africa since the end of South African apartheid, and now it's time to turn our backs on Africa?
Sun, 2010-02-28 15:42
#10
remind
as Israeli elites increasingly fear for the long-term prospects of the Zionist project they are likely to be more ruthless, unscrupulous and desperate than ever.
Seems true and accurate given their behaviour.
Sun, 2010-02-28 16:04
#11
Michael Ratner, President of the Center for Constitutional Rights reports on his recent trip to Palestine (Vid/transcript)
http://www.commondreams.org/video/2010/02/15
"When you hear the word 'Apartheid', it's not being misused..."
Sun, 2010-02-28 16:23
#12
[url=http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=12706]CIA report: Israel will fall in 20 years[/url]
So if Israel is unsustainable as a purely Jewish state and its demise inevitable, then why is the left obssessing over one tiny country in the Middle East where the writing is on the wall for apartheid for white oppressors oppressing other white people?
What about the NDP's call to help millions of desperate people in the Congo? Why is the left so selective when it comes to suffering in the Middle East? ....
Feel free to start a thread exclusively on the disbursement of Canadian aid.
Flash: CIA reports are not infallible. The "tiny country" Israel is perhaps the 4rth greatest military (nuclear) power in the world and is not likely to give up it's ethnic hegemony because a CIA report says it will. Unlike the Congo currently world stability and survival depends on Israel's disposition.
I agree with the NDP that Canada can be doing a lot more positive things in the Congo. Stopping war profiteering and corporate exploitation would be a good start.
But as far as I know, even the Harper government is not basing much of its foreign policy on any Congo faction's strategies for hiding ethnic cleansing. Israel, as has been argued in G&Mail is much of Canada's foreign policy today.
Just Because the NDP, along with the other "opposition" Liberal party, is reluctant to tackle the Government on its lockstep promotion of Israel and it's lobby as it vilifies Canadian citizens and shapes Canadian foreign policy, doesn't mean it is insignificant.
Sun, 2010-02-28 16:34
#13
NDPPWhat about the NDP's call to help millions of desperate people in the Congo? Why is the left so selective when it comes to suffering in the Middle East? Why does the suffering of white people in the occupied territories and Gaza outweigh the systematic US orchestrated genocide of millions in the Congo since 1998 and ongoing? Is it because we've won in Africa since the end of South African apartheid, and now it's time to turn our backs on Africa?
If the NDP can't stand against 'Israeli Apartheid', they certainly won't against the powerful vested interests in the DRC. For those genuinely interested in DRC/Africa matters Keith Snow is best:
Sun, 2010-02-28 18:04
#14
Michael Ratner, President of the Center for Constitutional Rights reports on his recent trip to Palestine (Vid/transcript)http://www.commondreams.org/video/2010/02/15
"When you hear the word 'Apartheid', it's not being misused..."
Thanks for posting this.
Sun, 2010-02-28 22:32
#15
NDPPWhat about the NDP's call to help millions of desperate people in the Congo? Why is the left so selective when it comes to suffering in the Middle East? Why does the suffering of white people in the occupied territories and Gaza outweigh the systematic US orchestrated genocide of millions in the Congo since 1998 and ongoing? Is it because we've won in Africa since the end of South African apartheid, and now it's time to turn our backs on Africa?
If the NDP can't stand against 'Israeli Apartheid', they certainly won't against the powerful vested interests in the DRC. For those genuinely interested in DRC/Africa matters Keith Snow is best:
http://www.allthingspass.com/journalism.php/[/quote]
And when votes are cast in the House is when rubber meets pavement. The NDP has voted against our vicious toady Harpers more than any party.
Mon, 2010-03-01 11:46
#16
And when votes are cast in the House is when rubber meets pavement. The NDP has voted against our vicious toady Harpers more than any party.
And yet "when the rubber meets the pavement" how many NDP MPs will in fact BE "vicious toady Harpers" in the vote to trample dissent and justice by means of a McCarthyesque smearing of anti-apartheid people as anti-semites.
I hope your first post's apparent attempt to derail this thread onto Congo aid isn't an indication.
The preliminary smear vote in the Ontario Legislature doesn't bode well for any signs of integrity from any party.
Parliament to vote on Tory motion against free speech
By Corvin Russell
| March 1, 2010
....
This past week in the Ontario Legislature, Conservative MPP Peter Shurman tabled a motion to condemn Israeli Apartheid Week, arguing that it constitutes something "close to hate speech":
In a rare show of unanimity, Ontario MPPs of all political stripes have banded together to condemn "Israeli Apartheid Week."Progressive Conservative MPP Peter Shurman (Thornhill) tabled the motion Thursday to denounce the sixth annual provocative campus event that kicks off next week at universities and colleges in 35 cities around the world.
While Shurman's motion is not a surprise to anyone familiar with his longstanding opposition to Palestine solidarity activism, he gained support from an unlikely source: the NDP's Cheri DiNovo, MPP for Parkdale-High Park, who was among the 30 MPPs (out of a total of 107) present for the voice vote.
http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/corvin-russell/2010/03/parliament-vote-t...
Mon, 2010-03-01 11:58
#17
From that CIA story:
The CIA report predicts "an inexorable movement away from a two-state to a one-state solution, as the most viable model based on democratic principles of full equality that sheds the looming specter of colonial Apartheid while allowing for the return of the 1947/1948 and 1967 refugees. The latter being the precondition for sustainable peace in the region."
At last, someone gets it.
Mon, 2010-03-01 12:23
#18
Identifying Apartheid: Canadian Students Respond to Israel's Rights Abuses
http://www.dominionpaper.ca/articles/3232
"The risk posed is that such campaigns will create an equivalency between Israel and Apartheid-era South Africa that penetrates the mainstream of public consciousness.'
Apartheid Week organizers and BDS activists in Canada not only stress the similarities of these two systems, but also emphasize the importance of linking apartheid to other forms of systematic discrimination, such as the Canadian state's treatment of Indigenous communities..."
Mon, 2010-03-01 12:31
#19
N.Beltov
Apartheid Week organizers and BDS activists in Canada not only stress the similarities of these two systems, but also emphasize the importance of linking apartheid to other forms of systematic discrimination, such as the Canadian state's treatment of Indigenous communities..."
Seeing as the originators of South African apartheid made a study of the reserve system for FN in Canada, that makes sense in a bunch of ways.
Mon, 2010-03-01 12:36
#20
VTJP Palestine - Israel Newslinks, 28 February, 2010
http://williambowles.info/wordpress/2010/03/01/vtjp-palestineisrael-news...'s-killers-drugged-him/
Mon, 2010-03-01 13:08
#21
Russell Tribunal Aims to Hold International Community to Account
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11104.shtml
"Today, the first session of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine (RTP) will be held in Barcelona. The RTP is a peoples' tribunal focusing not on Irael's obligations under international humanitarian law (IHL) such as the Fourth Geneva Convention, but on the obligations of the international community of signatory states which sustain and enable Israel's continuous violations of international law.
Israel has violated more than 60 UN resolutions and countless legal and diplomatic calls to abide by international law in relation to the expansion of illegal settlements, denial of the right of return and the continuing occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and the Syrian Golan Heights.
Dozens of reports, investigations and inquiries have produced evidence of alleged Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity, including massacres, collective punishment, home demolitions and extra judicial killings on a cyclical scale over the past 62 years..."
Live streaming of the Russell Tribunal via link in post #6
Mon, 2010-03-01 14:57
#22
Out of Sight - In Gaza
http://ingaza.wordpress.com/2010/03/01/out-of-sight/
"Three days ago when I saw these children, their father bragged: 'she gets near perfect grades, she got a prize in school for her grades. And he's a whiz.' We were walking around the ruins of his house, to the east of central Gaza's al-Mussadder village, touring the wreckage of his life.
Israeli bulldozers had come in a week prior and destroyed his house and livlihood, and those of two other neighboring families, tearing down three houses in total and 17 dunums of treed land.
Without reason.
Mon, 2010-03-01 15:44
#23
Canada's Neoconservative Turn
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11102.shtml
"In my new book 'Canada and Israel: Building Apartheid' I argue that the trajectory of this country's foreign policy has been clear. The culmination of six decades of one-sided support, and 4 years into the government of Conservative Party Prime Minister Stephen Harper: Canada is (at least diplomatically) the most pro-Israel country in the world."
Yves Engler will speak with others about Israeli Apartheid and his book on Monday, March 1, 2010 at the TRS, 1607, 53 Dundas St W, at 7:00 PM in Toronto * (this may have changed as he is no longer listed on the website as attending)
Mon, 2010-03-01 15:55
#24
Building International Solidarity During Israeli Apartheid Week
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11105.shtml
"In March 2005, a group of activists from the Arab Student Collective at the University of Toronto lauched the first Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW)...'
Mon, 2010-03-01 16:21
#25
Just Because the NDP, along with the other "opposition" Liberal party, is reluctant to tackle the Government on its lockstep promotion of Israel and it's lobby as it vilifies Canadian citizens and shapes Canadian foreign policy, doesn't mean it is insignificant.
The NDP has voted against the Harper government more than any other party and on a fairly consistent basis. That amounts to the largest democratic opposition our pro-Israeli and pro-USA stooges have faced in Canada's Parliament.
Canada's Liberal Party, otoh, have demonstrated themselves to be little more than vicious toadies to the ruling vicious toadies on a most consistent basis and propping-up the pro-Israeli and pro-USA Harper toadies 80 times with confidence votes in the House. Liberals equal Tories is the more accurate equation and mathematical rule of thumb in Ottawa as everyone is painfully aware of today.
Mon, 2010-03-01 16:23
#26
If you're in Toronto, please come out this evening:
Monday, March 1, 7pm Five Years Since the BDS Call - Celebrating Our Success*
Location: Ryerson University, Ted Rogers School of Management, TRS 1607, 55 Dundas St. West (map)
Hosted by the CAW-Sam Gindin Chair in Social Justice and Democracy
Na'eem Jeena: is an academic, author, journalist, community leader and post-graduate student. He is currently the Director of the Afro-Middle East Centre, a research institute dealing with the Middle East, and a PhD candidate in Political Studies. Na'eem has a history of activism in the anti-apartheid struggle, and is a well-known activist in South Africa. He has been a leading figure in the Palestine solidarity and anti-war movements in South Africa. Na’eem also served for many years on the Board of the Freedom of Expression Institute, including as its Deputy Chairperson. He also worked for the FXI as Head of the Anti-Censorship Programme, Head of its Access to Information Programme, and as Director of Operations.
Jon Elmer is an independent Canadian journalist and researcher specializing in the Middle East. He has lived in and covered the West Bank and Gaza since 2003; he's currently based in Bethlehem. He is a correspondent for Inter Press Service news agency and a contributor to Pacifica Radio, Al Jazeera, and the forthcoming anthology The Plight of the Palestinians (Palgrave MacMillan, 2010). - http://jonelmer.ca
*ASL Interpretation will be provided on opening night (March 1).
Mon, 2010-03-01 16:28
#27
From the time I first looked at this to now I see that Yves Engler's name has been removed
Mon, 2010-03-01 18:18
#28
If I've missed it I apologize but I haven't noticed any mention of [url=http://www.liberal.ca/en/newsroom/media-releases/17617_statement-by-libe... Ignatieff's impression of Joe McCarthy[/url] as published today:
OTTAWA - Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff made the following statement today:"On university campuses across the country this week, Israeli Apartheid Week will once again attempt to demonize and undermine the legitimacy of the Jewish state. It is part of a global campaign of calls for divestment, boycotts and proclamations, and it should be condemned unequivocally and absolutely.
Apartheid is defined, in international law, as a crime against humanity. Israeli Apartheid Week is a deliberate attempt to portray the Jewish state as criminal.
The activities planned for the week will single out Jewish and Israeli students. They will be made to feel ostracized and even physically threatened in the very place where freedom should be paramount -- on a university campus.
Let us be clear: criticism of Israeli government policy is legitimate. Wholesale condemnation of the State of Israel and the Jewish people is not legitimate. Not now, not ever.
The very premise of Israeli Apartheid Week runs counter to our shared values of mutual respect and tolerance, regardless of nationality, race or creed. It is an attempt to heighten the tensions in our communities around the tragic conflict in the Middle East.
On behalf of the Liberal party of Canada and the Parliamentary caucus, I urge all Canadians to join with us in condemning Israeli Apartheid Week, and to reject, in principle, all forms of anti-Semitism, racism and intolerance, both within this country and around the world."
Delightful, isn't he? I believe the phrase I used earlier today was "walking insult to democracy."
Mon, 2010-03-01 19:15
#29
OTTAWA - Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff made the following statement today:"Let us be clear: criticism of Israeli government policy is legitimate. Wholesale condemnation of the State of Israel and the Jewish people is not legitimate. Not now, not ever."
I am wondering if we should make of criticisms that are either legitimate or illegitimate:
Israel has bad bagels: illegitimate. This doesn't deal with Israeli government policy.
Israelis are bad drivers: illegitimate. Wholesale condemnation of the Jewish people.
Israeli settlers are fanatical about their settlements: again illegitimate. While there there are Israeli government policies on the settlements. Do not make any criticism about the settlers.
Gays are not welcomed in Ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighbourhoods. That's illegitimate because there is no official government policy which states that gays are not allowed to go into these neighbourhoods.
I am wondering what is legitimate criticism.
Mon, 2010-03-01 19:18
#30
I am wondering what is legitimate criticism.
It's the criticism that Michael Ignatieff approves of. You mean you don't know what qualifies? That's the point. Until you're told what qualifies as legitimate criticism, don't make any criticism at all.
Mon, 2010-03-01 19:20
#31
I am wondering what is legitimate criticism.
It's the criticism that Michael Ignatieff approves of. You mean you don't know what qualifies? That's the point. Until you're told what qualifies as legitimate criticism, don't make any criticism at all.
OK
Mon, 2010-03-01 20:00
#32
Frustrated Mess
If I've missed it I apologize but I haven't noticed any mention of [url=http://www.liberal.ca/en/newsroom/media-releases/17617_statement-by-libe... Ignatieff's impression of Joe McCarthy[/url] as published today:
OTTAWA - Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff made the following statement today:"On university campuses across the country this week, Israeli Apartheid Week will once again attempt to demonize and undermine the legitimacy of the Jewish state. It is part of a global campaign of calls for divestment, boycotts and proclamations, and it should be condemned unequivocally and absolutely.
Apartheid is defined, in international law, as a crime against humanity. Israeli Apartheid Week is a deliberate attempt to portray the Jewish state as criminal.
The activities planned for the week will single out Jewish and Israeli students. They will be made to feel ostracized and even physically threatened in the very place where freedom should be paramount -- on a university campus.
Let us be clear: criticism of Israeli government policy is legitimate. Wholesale condemnation of the State of Israel and the Jewish people is not legitimate. Not now, not ever.
The very premise of Israeli Apartheid Week runs counter to our shared values of mutual respect and tolerance, regardless of nationality, race or creed. It is an attempt to heighten the tensions in our communities around the tragic conflict in the Middle East.
On behalf of the Liberal party of Canada and the Parliamentary caucus, I urge all Canadians to join with us in condemning Israeli Apartheid Week, and to reject, in principle, all forms of anti-Semitism, racism and intolerance, both within this country and around the world."
He makes reference to "our shared values of mutual respect and tolerance, regardless of nationality, race or creed" when the only people absolutely denied those "values" are the Palestinians under Israel control.
This is not unlike the comment by Shurman who argued Israel respects human rights. Either statement by either man requires we either deny the existence of Palestinians or we deny their humanity.
Wed, 2010-03-03 03:57
#33
DUBAI SEEKS ISRAELI PM'S ARREST OVER HOTEL MURDER
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100302/wl_mideast_afp/mideastconflicthamas
"Dubai police said Tuesday they are seeking the arrest of Israel's Prime Minister and the head of its spy agency (Mossad) over the murder of a top Hamas militant in a hotel room of the Gulf city-state."
Funding Israeli Militarism, Belligerence and Occupation
http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2010/03/funding-israeli-militarism-bellige...
"From birth, Israel was a regional menace until America became its benefactor, in the late 1960s. Now it's a global one, powerful with a large standing army and the latest weapons and technology, nuclear armed and ready to use them.."
Wed, 2010-03-03 04:07
#34
VTJP Palestine/Israel Newslinks, 1 March 2010: Russell Tribunal Aims to Hold the International Community to Account
http://williambowles.info/wordpress/2010/03/02/vtjp-palestineisrael-news...
Israeli Military Court to Try 12 Year Old
http://www.imemc.org/index.php?obj_id=53&story_id=58094
"The Israeli authorities have decided to file charges against a 12 year old Palestinian child from the southern West Bank city of Hebron after arresting him and charging him with throwing stones at the Israeli military. The child was identified as al-Hasan-al-Mohtasib. His 7 year old brother was also detained.."
Wed, 2010-03-03 13:25
#35
Toronto Star.
Published On Wed Mar 03 2010
Apartheid week one-sided but not anti-Semitic
By Thomas Walkom National Affairs ColumnistI went to an Israeli Apartheid Week event Monday evening to see what all the fuss was about....
...
The apartheid charge against Israel is not new. It's based largely on that country's policies in the occupied Palestinian territories – policies deliberately designed to create separate Israeli-only settlement enclaves linked by Israeli-only roads on lands that, according to the United Nations (and Canada), do not belong to Israel.
...
Henry Siegman, former national director of the American Jewish Congress, wrote two months ago that Israel is "the only apartheid regime in the Western world." The Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem has called Israel's occupation "reminiscent of ... the apartheid regime in South Africa."Even Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff – who as a practising politician now finds himself denouncing Israeli Apartheid Week – has made the comparison, writing in 2002 of the occupied West Bank as a "Bantustan, one of those pseudo-states created in the dying years of apartheid."
.....
Controversial? Yes. One-sided? You bet. Fully achievable? I doubt it. But unless you think that criticizing Israel's complex system of ethnic preferences is an attack on all Jews, this is nowhere near anti-Semitism.
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/article/774036--apartheid-week-one-sided-...
Wed, 2010-03-03 13:29
#36
Thank goodness for Thomas Walkom - the voice of reason in the MSM wilderness.
Wed, 2010-03-03 13:34
#37
New Birth Defects Seen in Gaza due to Israeli DU Weapons
http://www.paltelegraph.com/hot-topic/4542-new-birth-defect-un-gaza
"Experts regard the most recent birth defects in Gaza as a result of the last one-sided war launched by Israel. The Israeli 'massacre' claimed the lives of thousands while DU weapons and white phosphorous targeted only areas populated by civilians.."
Thu, 2010-03-04 09:59
#38
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NRPshIbUek]Evan Solomon interviews two Jews on opposite sides of IAW[/url]
Thu, 2010-03-04 11:46
#39
Ben could have mentioned the IAW is attempting to advocate a BDS approach to Israel that the Canadian government already plays in their sanctions against Sudan, Iran, etc. This is a good lesson in the uses of "Human Rights abuse" charges when right wing governments and campaigns want to target a nation that is challenging the West or stands in the way of western hegemony. It serves its dual purpose of diverting the attention away from countries like Israel, the US, Canada where clearly the western media is reluctant to shine as bright a light on abuses as they do in places like Iran, or Sudan or China.
Thu, 2010-03-04 11:58
#40
I thought of that, antsunited, but I'm glad he didn't.
I don't agree with sanctions against Iran or Sudan or China, and I don't agree with Canada developing policy in isolation of the U.N. and sitting in judgment of "human rights abuses" in other countries without reference to international decision.
Israel is a vastly different story, just as South Africa was. It is the object of U.N. resolutions which it has flouted for decades. It commits aggression against neighbouring countries. It unlawfully occupies land belonging to the Palestinian people. It maintains a juridical structure (as did South Africa) which explicitly establishes a hierarchy of rights for different ethnic/religious subgroups of its own population. It denies the right of expelled inhabitants to return to their homes, while granting immediate citizenship to foreigners who meet a certain religious test. None of these, to my knowledge, apply to China, Iran, or Sudan.
This is not about "human rights abuse" in or by Israel. Every country in the world is guilty of human rights abuse. To frame the issue in this way plays precisely into the hands of Harper, Kenney, B'nai Brith and others, who bleat about Israel being "singled out" - and conclude that it must be about anti-semitism.
Thu, 2010-03-04 12:26
#41
Your point is well taken Unionist but I would go one step further and point out that even a UN endorsement of a course of action as in the assault on the former Yugoslavia should not be taken at face value. As we all know and can now observe in the case of the IAEA the "international community" can be employed to justify all kinds of agendas using the same "abuse" charges or equivalents.
Thu, 2010-03-04 12:38
#42
E. Tamaran's comments in the thread prematurely closed by Lou were pertinent in the sense that if we are going to broaden the term "apartheid" and not just apply it to the South African case then there will inevitably arise a need to study "apartheid" as applied in different countries. There is a comparable field of study of national fascisms. Too bad the thread was closed prematurely.
Thu, 2010-03-04 12:43
#43
If you hate Babble so much and think the moderators are so bad you have an easy option to avoid your angst.
Thu, 2010-03-04 12:50
#44
I don't hate Babble and I don't have angst but thanks for the free advice Kropotkin1951.
If I hated Babble I wouldn't be a financial supporter of Rabble.
Now can we get back to the substance of the discussion which is "apartheid'.
Thu, 2010-03-04 13:03
#45
Your point is well taken Unionist but I would go one step further and point out that even a UN endorsement of a course of action as in the assault on the former Yugoslavia should not be taken at face value. As we all know and can now observe in the case of the IAEA the "international community" can be employed to justify all kinds of agendas using the same "abuse" charges or equivalents.
And I heartily agree with your point, antsunited.
Thu, 2010-03-04 13:12
#46
I don't hate Babble and I don't have angst but thanks for the free advice Kropotkin1951.
If I hated Babble I wouldn't be a financial supporter of Rabble.
Now can we get back to the substance of the discussion which is "apartheid'.
Too bad the thread was closed prematurely.
I was reading a good thread on the subject when you inserted a jab at the board moderators. So get back to the substance of the debate and stop with the cheap shots that derail threads.
Thu, 2010-03-04 13:29
#47
Your cheap shot is my editorially comment I guess.
I'm not sure how someone could debate that it was "closed prematurely".
Your right let's get back to the substance.
ETA: So if a field of Apartheid Studies was to emerge would the definition in Article II
International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid be the starting point for defining the term?
Thu, 2010-03-04 13:38
#48
Those who say Israel is being singled out are right.
Israel is being singled out by the Canadian Government as a country whose human rights abuses, occupation, progressive annexations and segregation of indigenous people cannot be critiqued without the critic being smeared by our Government's McCarthyite innuendo or direct accusations of anti-semitism.
Israel is also being singled out as a country whose military ventures are automatically described as "defensive" by this Government and, as such, has this Government's unique NATO-worded commitment for Canada to participate in any "defensive" war waged by that 4rth most powerful nuclear military power.
Harper's smoke and mirrors "New Canadian Nationalism" hides its shameful abject enslavement of Canada's foreign policy. Canada is now a "country" whose place in the world and foreign policy is now seen internationally as a sum of divided loyalty--the US and Israel.
And now we will see again the unique power of the "just-another-lobby" Israel network (see post #6 above on the role of the Reut Institute and Israel intelligence) in the McCarthyite silencing of dissent.
Any guesses on the final vote numbers in the Commons who will dare vote AGAINST vilifying of people of conscience for participating in Appartheid Week?
My guess so far is "0", as it was in Ontario Legislature.
I can hear the solemn intonations of the strategists: "You don't want to die on this hill".
Just another hill, just another country.
Thu, 2010-03-04 13:42
#49
I would hope that at least my MP will not vote for it and if he is in Ottawa he will vote against it. And when he does we will still make sure he gets reelected.
I would also hope Libby would stand in solidarity with people like rabble's Kim Eliot. 
Thu, 2010-03-04 14:20
#50
Does anyone know when the vote is taking place?
Thu, 2010-03-04 16:26
#51
Here's an article in the NP (of all places) by Jaggi Singh:
[url=http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/story.html?id=2638947]Defending Israeli Apartheid Week[/url]