July 9, 2011

Jewish group gives pseudo-parliamentary report a failing grade

Ottawa--Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) has given the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Anti-Semitism (CPCCA) a failing grade on its long-overdue report. IJV is distributing a report card to MPs, urging them to reject any attempts to silence or criminalize legitimate criticism of Israel, and to defend free speech in Canada. The IJV report card gives the CPCCA a failing grade for lack of ethics, conflating criticism of Israeli policies with real anti-Semitism, using biased methodology, and employing self-serving, inaccurate reporting. But it gives the CPCCA an A for producing what looks like a legitimate parliamentary report but isn't.

“It’s both unreservedly pro-Israel propaganda and a shoddy piece of research whose conclusions are not supported even by the biased data it gathered,” says Professor Larry Haiven, a spokesperson for IJV.

Professor Michael Keefer, author of Antisemitism: Real and Imagined, commented: “Despite the testimony of Canadian university administrators made to the coalition's hearings that antisemitism is not a significant problem on Canadian campuses, the report devotes pages to anecdotal claims by pro-Israel advocacy groups whose aim is clearly to stifle campus discussion of Israeli human rights abuses by labeling it ‘antisemitic.’ “

Diana Ralph, a member of the IJV steering committee, added that “The report cites as anti-Semitic many examples of legitimate protests against discriminatory and violent Israeli policies. It calls on universities, legislators, and immigration agencies to implement dangerous restrictions on those who criticize Israel. As Jews, we know that the current threat is from this new McCarthyism, and not from the “new” anti-Semitism.”

Ralph also noted that “The CPCCA hearings were highly biased. They refused to hear from witnesses (including IJV) who didn’t agree with their pre-conceived conclusions. A huge proportion of the witnesses in the hearings represented pro-Israel lobby groups. Most of the other witnesses did not support the CPCCA’s allegations that anti-Semitism is rising in Canada or that Canada needs to criminalize dissent. But their views were not included in the coalition's report.”

Terry Greenberg, retired Canadian diplomat, commented that “If the CPCCA were re-named the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Protect Israel, this would be honest and credible. But contrary to its name, the coalition has virtually nothing to do with real anti-Semitism. The CPCCA is suggesting dangerous legislative changes based on fantasies and its upside-down definitions. Not only does it have no credibility; the coalition and its report must be repudiated,” he concluded.

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For a video providing background on the CPCCA, please see the IJV video Defend Free Speech: The CPCCA and the New McCarthyism at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GX0boA4CHk8

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