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February 24, 2009 Toronto Star - CUPE union votes for academic boycott of Israel University workers in the Canadian Union of Public Employees have passed a controversial motion calling for an academic boycott of Israel, and union members from at least one Toronto university are planning to pressure their school to cut any financial ties with the country. Liberal and Conservative reactions to CUPE Motion
February 23, 2009 Canoe.ca - Arabic group could lose federal funding over insult Immigration Minister Jason Kenney is poised to slash federal funding to Canada's largest Arabic group after its president called him a "professional whore" for supporting Israel..... "This government is anti-Arab and anti-Muslim," [said Khaled Mouamar, president of the Canadian Arab Federation], adding the federal government has refused to meet with the Canadian Arab Federation or the Canadian Islamic Congress since Prime Minister Stephen Harper came to power... Kenney's comments come as he is attending the meeting of the International Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Anti-Semitism. Kenney said the theme emerging from the meeting is the new and growing anti-Semitism around the world in the form of anti-Zionism. [ Yes it's true, no member of the Harper government has met with representatives of the Canadian Arab Federation or and the Canadian Islamic Congress. Ditto for the Liberals since Michael Ignatieff has become the leader. Good for the CAF president. It is about time that someone from the Arab community protested being completely shut out for the past two years. It is unfortunate that Mr. Mouamar had to use such language to get media exposure but 'professional whores" is actually a very accurate description of our politicians in regards to the Zionist lobby. CAF has put out a number of balanced press releases in the past few years but they have not been picked up the by media - the same media that reports every pronouncement made by the CJC and B'nai Brith.] Press Release - CAF Response to Jason Kenney We note with disappointment that this most recent attack on the CAF is part of a campaign waged by Mr. Kenney who has targeted and systematically vilified the CAF. In January 2008, Mr. Kenney smeared and stereotyped the Arab community during one of his exchanges with a Liberal MP in the House of Commons, and he described CAF as a racist organization in a speech in Bucharest Romania in June 2007. Mr. Kenney’s most recent attack on CAF came just 3 days ago at an anti-Semitism conference in London, England where he labeled the CAF and Canadian Islamic Congress (CIC) as groups that promote anti-Semitism. Full Text of Kenney's speech at the anti-Semitism conference in London Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) letter of support for CAF We believe that your government is threatening CAF's funding because
it stands for justice for Palestinian people and because it expresses
principled criticism of Israeli policies which oppress Canadian Arabs
and their Palestinian friends and family. As Jews, Independent Jewish February 20, 2009 ...with virtually no explanation, Carleton President Roseann Runte and Provost Feridun Hamdullahpur have banned and confiscated the SAIA poster announcing Israeli Apartheid Week, and threatened to punish SAIA students with expulsion, claiming that they have somehow violated the Ontario Human Rights Code. SAIA has since decided to change the poster to protect the program. However the students are still vulnerable to harassment and intimidation. Letters of protest to Carleton University president Roseann Runte. Harrassment in Toronto and Montreal..... Rabble.ca - "Exposed: University of Toronto suppresses pro-Palestinian activism" The last few months have seen a global surge in support for the movement of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israeli Apartheid..... The Link - Concordia threatens Gaza Protesters As thousands of students joined the historic protests, Concordia’s administration has been attempting to suppress student participation in the growing Palestinian solidarity movement.... The Concordia administration’s response has come in the form of legal letters, sent to key Palestinian solidarity advocates in the city, threatening legal action for the gathering. B'nai Brith takes out full page ad in the National Post in an attempt to silence free speech and academic debate on Canadian university campuses Read ad HISTORCAL BACKGROUND ON THREATS TO ACADEMIC FREEDOM REGARDING PALESTINE ON CANADIAN CAMPUSES February 14, 2009 [Note: The following article is from the New York Times. It seems that no Canadian media orgaizations thought that this was worth reporting.] NY Times - U.N. Chief Says Israel Is Blocking Most Gaza Aid The United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, repeated Tuesday his demand that Israel allow significantly more humanitarian aid into the beleaguered Gaza Strip, and he announced that he would send a team to investigate the bombings of United Nations facilities there. The human rights organization Amnesty International issued a statement criticizing Mr. Ban for being too timid on the extent of the inquiry. Mr. Ban said at a news conference that the United Nations was trying to get relief supplies to nearly one million people daily, but that Israel was only allowing one border crossing to open, permitting trucks with supplies for only about 30,000 people to get through. [Here is another one that Canadian media do not feel is worth reporting. When Palestinians use violence it is covered in our media but when they use peaceful means to seek justice it is simply not news in Canada....] Reuters Alertnet - Palestinians ask world court to probe Israel action THE HAGUE - The Palestinian foreign minister urged the International Criminal Court's (ICC) prosecutor on Friday to start an investigation into whether Israel committed war crimes during its offensive in Gaza. [BDS is catching on - one brave move last year leads to another this year..... ] CJN - Montreal Film Fest drops prize sponsored by Jewish group After one of its jurors resigned in protest last year, a long-established Quebec film festival dropped a prize created and sponsored by the Jewish community intended to promote tolerance because festival organizers feel it’s inappropriate to be associated with any “political pressure” group. “I personally feel a great sense of disappointment and injustice,” Kleinman said....For one thing, CJC does not speak on issues related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he said. [Now that's chutzpah!!!]
February 12, 2009 [One of the stunning facts that those who start researching the history of the Israeli Palestinian conflict come to realize is that there is not and never has been a "Peace process". In the article below Michael Mandel reviews the events leading to the attack on Gaza and comes to the conclusion that once again, Israel's wanton destruction is about the avoidance of peace. Michael Mandel is a Professor of Law at Osgoode Hall Law School of York University in Toronto, where he teaches the Law of War.] Counterpunch - Self-defence Against Peace ...the most plausible reason Israel is fighting Hamas (and the PLO before it): self-defence, if you will, not against rockets and mortars, but against having to make peace with the Palestinians on the basis of the pre-1967 borders as required by international law.
February 10, 2009 CAF Press Release - B'nai Brith on notice for supporting Israeli war crimes The Canadian Arab Federation (CAF) does not and has never promoted terrorism or violence in Canada or abroad and welcomes any objective analysis of our policies and activities. If needed CAF will take any necessary legal action against defamation. [It's about time that Canadian organizations denounce and threaten defamation suits against groups like B'nai Brith and the Canadian Jewish Congress' which accuse anyone who criticizes Israel's numerous and continuing Human Rights Abuses of being anti-Semitic. See also NECEF letter.] February 9, 2009 The Hill Times - Israel and Taiwan top list of free international trips for MPs Last year, 36 organizations paid for MPs' travel to various destinations such as Israel, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Vancouver, Germany, Panama, Malaysia, France, Azerbaijan, Tokyo, South Africa, Qatar, Iraq and Morocco. Of the 74 sponsored trips, the Canada-Israel Committee sponsored 32 per cent of them, the most of any other sponsor. In total, the Canada-Israel spent $220,495.74 last year to send 24 MPs to Israel for various reasons such as the 60th anniversary, a Parliamentary mission, education and awareness, a Young Leadership 2008 Parliamentary mission, "raising awareness of Israel's and Palestine's political situations" and Parliamentary exchanges. February 4, 2009 G&M - Zionism doesn't define Jews - it divides us ....Zionist theory denied the legitimate presence of an emerging, indigenous nation in Palestine. Zionist practice ensured its dispossession and exile. "We may be a people without a home," said a disillusioned German Zionist in 1925, "but alas, there is not a country without a people. . . . Palestine has an existing population of 700,000, a people who have lived there for centuries and rightfully consider the country as their fatherland and homeland." Ottawa Citizen - Canadians no longer always good guys: Amnesty ...Canada’s current position “of complete support of Israel with respect to the very volatile human rights issues that come up regarding Israel and Palestine” as a sign that the Harper government has abandoned previous efforts to remain impartial.
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