Thursday 19 November 2009

CANADA ~ CRITICIZING ISRAEL IS NOT ANTISEMITISM

BUT A NUMBER OF MPS SAY THE TWO

ARE ONE AND THE SAME

November 19, 2009

THE TYEE

By Murray Dobbin

My MANY $.02 on this topic are in the green. All illustrations provided by me as well.

Ever since the Israeli invasion of the Gaza strip last December, the global debate surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has intensified with both sides upping the ante, and the stakes of the framing battle increasing almost daily. One of the most recent ~ but almost totally unreported ~ developments in Canada is something called the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Antisemitism (CPCCA).

It is not an official parliamentary body but is a multi-party, voluntary association of 13 MPs. It is currently holding an inquiry into anti-Semitism because, it says, "The extent and severity of antisemitism is widely regarded as at its worst level since the end of the Second World War."

In fact, antisemitic attitudes in the U.S. are at an all-time low according to Abe Foxman aggressive pitbull/watchdog of the Anti-Defamation League, (originally a terrorist organizaation and a branch of the B'nai B'rith which is, in turn, controlled by the Freemasons of Scotland) whose mandate is to monitor and expose anti-Semitism. Statistics Canada reports the number of hate crimes against Jews has been has been dropping since 2001-2002.

But of course, it all depends on how you define anti-Semitism. Jewish organizations from the Canadian Jewish Congress and Hillel to B'nai Brith have all been vigorously redefining this scourge to capture many more alleged perpetrators in its net of enemies. One of their targets is the handful of Canadian universities where pro-Palestinian activity has been intense.

But it goes far beyond just the universities. For the first time in decades, the unquestioned dominance of Israel's public relations machine and lobbying juggernaut is being seriously challenged. The characterization of Israel as an apartheid state is gaining much more credibility than Israel's supporters had ever anticipated.

So is the international Boycott, Divest and Sanctions (BDS) campaign. These are very serious threats to Israel's credibility as "the only democratic state in the Middle East" ~ one of its most powerful claims.

The BDS is gaining strength around the world because the international community, not necessarily their governments, feel that the genocide of the Palestinian people is just plain wrong. This is the people stating their own feelings and doing it the only legal way possible, with their dollars. It has been proven in the past that the Jews have used the power of the boycott themselves with devastating results, one of them being WW2 after boycotting Germany, after living there at peace for many decades.

'Rebranding' after Gaza

Last December's brutal assault on Gaza by the Israeli army and air force ~ and the deliberate targeting of civilians (as publicly confessed by the soldiers who did it) ~ was a tipping point for many who had preferred to sit on the fence or decline to form a hard opinion. Those hard opinions are forming everywhere and the current government of Israel, led by the hard-line Benjamin Netanyahu, is only making things worse.

The Canadian and American media barely touched this issue. It was up to bloggers to show citizens what was REALLY happening to the people. We are the ones who began to show photographs and videos and put faces on the victims and images of the destruction so that the real situation could be seen by a public held in ignorance by the Zionist controlled media. If any coverage at all was given it was in the back pages and seemed to be bloodless war.

There have been two responses. The newest is what the Israeli government has referred to as "re-branding," and in part it involves "soft" stories about Israel ~ like one I saw on the CBC shot from a beach in Israel where bathers had claimed they saw a mermaid. The most prominent example was the celebration of Tel Aviv's centennial by the Toronto Film Festival. Scores of prominent Jews (and thousands of others) protested.

The other response is conventional. It is the simple rule of all pro-Israeli organizations and activists: either declare outright or hint at the possibility that any individual criticizing Israel is antisemitic. Critics of Israel who are Jewish ~ whose numbers are increasing dramatically ~ are branded as "Jew-hating" Jews. (or "self-hating Jews")The strategy has been extremely effective at intimidating potential critics into silence.

Who's on the CPCCA?

Jason Kenney and a few of the Chabad Lubavitch rabbi.

Which gets us back to the CPCCA. The 13-member group is co-chaired by Conservative Scott Reid* and Liberal Mario Silva and also boasts Winnipeg NDP MPs Pat Martin and Judy Wasylycia-Leis and Conservatives Jason Kenney and Peter Kent. Bob Rae and Ken Dryden are members and the Bloc is also represented. But it is effectively run by Kenney and the other ex-officio member, Liberal Irwin Cotler. Both Kenney and Cotler were in London, U.K. last February for the first meeting of European parliamentarians that lead to the "London Declaration" of which the CPCCA is the follow-up initiative.

Irwin Cottler

Peter Kent

Joe Volpe

Mario Silva

These men are part of the organization wishing to curtail your free speech.

The core message of the coalition is that criticism of Israel itself is now a new form of anti-Semitism. The group's website asks, "What is the 'new antisemitism'?" and answers:

"Antisemitism is an age-old phenomenon, yet it is always re-invented and manifested in different ways. For example, while accusations of blood libel are still being made against the Jewish people, instead they are being directed against the State of Israel, such that anti-Zionism is being used as a cover for antisemitism."


Anti semitism is a fraudulent term right from the start. First of all, 90% the Jews of Israel are NOT Semite. They are Khazars, a very violent pagan people from middle Europe who adapted to Judaism about 1000 years ago at the bidding of their King Bulan. These are known as Ashkenazi Jews and are primarily fair of skin and hair. The other 10% are the Sephardic Jews and are true Semites, as are the Palestinians who have lived in Palestine for thousands of years.

There is no evidence or links to any evidence to support the claim.

This is totally ridiculous because anyone who knows anything about Zionism knows that it is a POLITICAL MOVEMENT not a spiritual or religious movement. Indeed, most Zionists are atheist and there are MANY Christian Zionists in the world. There is the whole Christian Zionist movement led by the Christian fundamental Ministers, paid highly by Israel, such as Haggee. As Joe Biden, VP of the US stated, "Of course I am Zionist. You don't have to be Jewish to be a Zionist!)

In its FAQ section the coalition answers the question of whether or not its inquiry is "really about limiting legitimate criticism of the State of Israel?" No, says the web site: "dissent and opposition to individual actions of the Israeli government are both permitted and encouraged in and outside of Israel."

Apparently this was not allowed last winter when the universities of Canada were banning, and even fining, students for holding the annual international anti-semitic festival on Israeli Apartheid on the grounds that this offended Jewish student rights. The following very basic poster by world famous political cartoonist Carlos Latuff was removed from all campuses.

But not, apparently, inside the inquiry. The coalition formally invited written submissions and stated that "Based on these submissions, the committee will invite witnesses to testify at a series of public hearings." There was virtually no general publicity about the inquiry, but when word did get out, numerous submissions were made arguing against the Coalition's concept of a "new anti-Semitism."

Yet not a single organization or individual known for criticism of Israel has been scheduled to make a presentation to the inquiry (it is holding eight meetings on Parliament Hill from Nov. 2 to Dec. 8).

It seems the fix is in: the conclusion of the inquiry has been pre-ordained. If you are a critic of Israel you are already, by definition, antisemitic and obviously not welcome.

Could thinking in these ways become defined as "Thought Crimes"?

Speech laws in the works?

The CPCCA's inquiry begs a lot of questions, not the least of which is where do they get their funding? The coalition says it does not receive any funding from the government, NGOs or Jewish community organizations. Their budget is considerable, judging by the fact that eight of the 20-odd witnesses so far scheduled to appear at the inquiry are being flown in from the U.K., the U.S., Germany and Israel. While the web site promises to reveal funding sources, none are so far listed.

The purse of most pro Zionists is bottomless and the possibilities are endless.

More to the point, just what do the coalition's members hope will result from their proceedings? The CPCCA will make a report to the government and "anticipates that the Government will respond to it by the spring of 2010."

Based on the fact that Canada is Israel's greatest supporter internationally, it is not too difficult to answer this question. According to extreme fascist ex-bouncer, Russian Jew Avignor Lieberman now second in command of Israel, who publicly advocates bombing Gaza off the map.

" Canada is definitely an ally. Today it’s hard to point out our most loyal ally, but Canada is undoubtedly an exception, in the positive sense. Canada was the first to boycott the Durban II conference that was held in Switzerland. In Canada I met with the head of the opposition and of course with my colleague, the foreign minister.

I also had meetings with four other ministers, including the minister of finance and the minister entrusted with matters of international trade. It’s hard to find a country friendlier to Israel than Canada these days. Members both of the coalition and the opposition are loyal friends to us, both with regard to their worldview and their estimation of the situation in everything related to the Middle East, North Korea, Iran, Sudan and Somalia.

No other country in the world has demonstrated such full understanding of us. The Jewish community in Canada is very united, unlike the communities in most countries, and it maintains solid contacts both in the government and in Parliament. I got the impression of a whole, harmonious picture of great support for Israel.

Canada is so friendly that there was no need to convince or explain anything to anyone. We had amiable talks in a supportive atmosphere; we seriously discussed the problems existing in the world. We need allies like this in the international arena."

That seems pretty specific, especially for a government that is not known for responding readily to outside groups. Has the government already agreed to respond to the report? Will its recommendations find their way into the criminal code?

There is good reason to fear such an eventuality. Jason Kenney ~ the powerful Conservative ex-officio member of the coalition ~ is the point man for Stephen Harper on issues involving Israel and as minister of immigration he personally blocked British MP George Galloway from speaking in Canada.

This was a major international embarrassment for Canada and Sir Galloway made a mockery of out country. Apparently, the fact that this brave man had just been involved in the Viva Palestina movement to provide Gaza with donations from the British Isles, and shaken hands with the head of Hamas, was considered a threat to Canadians. Meanwhile, on that same day, war criminal George Bush was being welcomed with open arms in Alberta!

Stephen Harper surrounded by members of the Canadian Federation of Chabad Lubavitch during a reception on Parliament Hill in Ottawa March 12, 2009. The reception honoured the memory of those who lost their lives in the Mumbai attacks in November.

Like Harper, Kenney is heavily involved with the Chabad Lubavitch, the extremely orthodox group who have very heavy political clout with international politicians. This group is behind the international political drive to remove Christianity from the planet and support not only atheism, but also the annual war on Christmas. Both Harper and Kenney meet with these men for policy advice frequently and attend their rituals.

He also eliminated the half million dollars in funding the Canadian Arab Federation used for settlement programs for new immigrants (and not just Muslims). He refused to provide any evidence justifying the move. Kenney told a Toronto audience to "Be wary of the rise of a new form of anti-Semitism cloaked in debates about Israel's actions in the Middle East."

It remains to be seen what the recommendations of the coalition will be, but its conclusions regarding a sweeping redefinition of anti-Semitism have already been drawn and incorporated into their inquiry process ~ mortally damaging its credibility. The likelihood that the Harper government is working in lock-step with the coalition is high and the CPCCA's purpose may well be to prepare the ground for criminalizing criticism of Israel.

This can do nothing but backfire. Supporting a criminal rogue regime that is despised around the world for its actions and aggressions cannot be good for Canada. What it proves is that our leaders have become Zionists themselves, much to the embarrassment of most Canadians. Muzzling our "free speech" even more than it is already cannot be good for any country and reeks of Bolshevikism.

The remaining question is whether Jack Layton, Michael Ignatieff and Giles Duceppe will allow such an abomination to be reflected in any new legislation.

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