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February 21, 2010 Torstar - Siddiqui: Parliamentary panel muzzles debate on Israel The 19-member all-party Parliamentary Coalition to Combat anti-Semitism – not a formal committee – has been hearing mostly from those who would say what it wants to hear: that most if not all criticism of Israel might equal anti-Semitism and that anti-Semitism is rampant, especially on university campuses. February 15, 2010
February 9, 2010 It's not hard to see that if one accepts Cotler's premise that Israel is what he calls “the collective Jew,” then any criticism of the State of Israel is, de facto , anti-Semitic. .... Without a doubt, the main purpose of this redefinition of antisemitism is to create a serious chill on university campuses and in the media. Teachers will be afraid to discuss Israeli policies in their classrooms, while Israeli Apartheid Weeks will be prohibited by administrations on campuses across the country for fear of being charged with inciting hate crimes. Likewise, articles critical of Israeli government policies or actions (as rare as they are) will likely disappear from the print and electronic media. It is possible that websites could be shut down. Organizations critical of Israel will be unable to rent public venues for meetings. Already, I've heard that some Palestinian support groups fear they may be charged under hate laws. In other words, what we will be seeing—in fact are already seeing—is a new form of McCarthyism. January 6, 2010 Rabble.ca - Confusing politics and prejudice in the fight against anti-semitism Since legislation exists to deal with racism and hate in Canada, one can reasonably ask why some feel that there is need for new laws. The answer is the so-called "new anti-semitism" that both of the CPCCA's ex-officio members, former Liberal Justice Minister Irwin Cotler and current Conservative Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, have been condemning from Israeli and other podia for the past few years.... During the hearings, some leading questions were posed by members of the CPCCA to university representatives. These suggest that at least some members have already espoused a particular view instead of being open, inclusive and welcoming to other perspectives, and that their aim is to primarily dictate the terms of debate. If this is true, then the whole exercise will be seen as an attempt to stifle open debate and outlaw opinions that do not concur with the views of Cotler and Kenney. This will no doubt create distrust and division within our multicultural society and further exacerbate frustration.
December 2009 Canadian Jewish Congress Submission to the CPCCA Read the dangerous recommendations made to the CPCCA by the Canadian Jewish Congress starting on page 10 of this document. There are 17 recommendations dealing with everything from setting up special committees, jobs and surveys to combat anti-Semitism (all with taxpayer dollars) to developping guidelines to limit freedom of speech on campuses and even to offering training (propagandizing) to police and judges!!! This is clearly a detailed formula to criminalize criticism of Israel in Canada. Canadians are free to criticize their own government and elected officials. Why should they not be free to criticize the policies of the Israeli government? Why should anti-Semitism receive special attention over all other types of racism. These are a few of the points made in the two pieces below both written by Jews.
Submissions opposing the CPCCA objectives I take exception to the idea that Zionism and Judaism are one and the same so that consequently to criticize Zionism is to be anti-Semitic. This is sophistry of the worst kind. If you believe this, then you must necessarily condemn great Jewish thinkers such as Albert Einstein and Martin Buber as being anti-Semitic since they were both critical of Zionism. Indeed, the list of prominent Jewish intellectuals who have been critical of the nature of Zionism is as long as one’s arm. Are they therefore anti-Semitic? Are the Rabbis for Human Rights in Israel also anti-Semitic because they have criticized their own government and defend Palestinian human rights? Combating Anti-Semitism or Shielding Israel? Joanne Naiman, Vancouver Your committee wants to develop meaningful suggestions to combat anti-Semitism. I have tried to argue that what the Jewish community refers to as anti-Semitism is almost always either a critique of the abhorrent and illegal policies of the State of Israel, or is a prejudice against Jews that has arisen from opposition to the policies of the only country in the world that considers itself a Jewish state. The global criticism of South Africa ended when Apartheid ended. Thus, in its final report the CPCCA could do no better than to advocate for major changes to current Israeli government policies. Submission of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association to the CPCCA While universities and policy makers should be alive to the impact these debates can have on minorities,
Articles in the Media Weinstein - Canadian campuses NOT hotbeds of antisemitism The CPCCA, composed of MPs from all the parties except the Greens, has a sinister plan for Canadians: label and criminalize as anti-Semites those who criticize Israel and Zionism. These activists and critics fall into what the CPCCA defines as the "new antisemitism" . Tolerance.ca - Canadian Jews and Free Speech [This article summarizes many of the recent attempts by the Zionist lobby in Canada to suppress criticism of Israel.] We now seem to have a strain of repressive, anti-civil libertarianism in our Jewish community. I cannot stress too much how this flies in the face of our Canadian tradition of free speech and undermines it.... Jewish youth are especially sensitive to free speech issues and they may come to the understanding that the defence of Israel within Canada has become intimately related to the suppression of free expression. Such a conclusion would be harmful to Israel and hurtful to Canada’s Jewish community. The Tyee - Criticizing Israel Isn't Antisemitism 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). Torstar - Harper's extremism is showing The tone set by the Harper government seems to be encouraging an attack on open debate about Israel on Canadian campuses. An ad-hoc group of parliamentarians, including Conservatives, Liberals and New Democrats, has set itself up as an "inquiry" into what it considers a new anti-Semitism, with a particular focus on campuses. They open hearings in Ottawa this week.
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