“In Contempt: Zionism and McCarthyism in Canada” by Naomi Binder Wall, speaks to some of the comparisons being drawn between Zionism and McCarthyism, as an escalating backlash in Canada continues to attack critics of the Israeli state. These attacks have taken a sinister turn, marked by escalating government interference including ominous changes to Canadian foreign policy language, Islamophobic homeland security operations, and cancellation of federal funding to prominent Arab and other organizations providing programs, settlement services, and project support in Palestine.

“In Contempt: Zionism and McCarthyism in Canada” is available in the Canadian Arab Federation (CAF) Weekly Newsletter, January 26, 2010. CAF is the national organization representing Canadians of Arab origin.  (read more...)

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In late October, members of IJAN-Toronto and Women in Solidarity with Palestine (WSP) travelled to Ottawa to meet with Libby Davies, New Democratic Party (NDP) Member of Parliament for Vancouver East, British Columbia. A primary purpose of our meeting was to thank Ms. Davies for her support of the IJAN-Canada petition addressed to the Canadian government, demanding a change in government policy regarding Palestine. We had featured the petition at the Friday vigils for several weeks, gathering more than 500 signatures. Ms. Davies read out the petition in parliament on three occasions, thereby enshrining it in the Hansard, the official parliamentary record.

From August 7 to August 14, 2009 Ms. Davies was part of a delegation to Jordan, the West Bank and Gaza. The purpose of their mission was to assess the humanitarian situation and to report back to the Canadian government and the people of Canada. In addition to Ms. Davies, the delegation included Richard Nadeau (Bloc Québécois), and Borys Wrzesnewskyj (Liberal Party), as well as three members from the organization Code Pink. Based on their experiences during the mission, they produced a report and made seven key recommendations to the Canadian government, urging implementation:

"To the Government of Canada and our fellow Members of Parliament, we ask that you consider and respond to our recommendations. We invite open and measured debate on our recommendations and urge take-up and progress on the issues contained in this report." Click here to read the full report and its recommendations, and then click on the hot link (in pink) in the first line.

The Toronto-based Coalitiion Against Israeli Apartheid (CAIA) is urging people to write letters protesting the Toronto International Film Festival City-to-City Spotlight on Tel Aviv. John Greyson, internationally renowned filmmaker, has pulled his film from the festival. Read CAIA's statement, and the letter Greyson sent to TIFF's organizers.  (read more...)

The Toronto-based Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid (CAIA) is urging people to write letters protesting the Toronto International Film Festival City-to-City Spotlight on Tel Aviv. John Greyson, internationally renowned filmmaker, has pulled his film from the festival. Read CAIA's statement, and the letter Greyson sent to TIFF's organizers.

The weekly vigils in front of the Israeli consulate building in Toronto offer opportunities to connect with the public on priority issues. Ongoing Israeli attacks on non-violent anti-Wall protesters, including the arrests of Mohammad Othman, Abdallah Abu Rahmah, and Jamal Juma';, the continuing siege of Gaza, and the destruction of Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem have been a focus of handouts at recent vigils.

When Palestinian and Jewish queer activists protested a queer tourism conference in Tel Aviv back in mid-October, we handed out the joint statement condemning the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association (put together by Queers Against Israeli Apartheid in Toronto (QuAIA), Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism (QUIT!), IJAN. and Queer BDS activists from Israel). Since late July 2009, the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid (CAIA), IJAN-Toronto, and others have been demanding an end to the exhibit of the Dead Sea Scrolls at the Royal Ontario Museum. The ROM is directly across the street from the Israeli consulate building, the location of the IJAN vigils. While we haven't been able to get the ROM to stop the show, it has been useful as a way to engage the public on the issues. We also stand as a visual counterpoint to the ROM's obvious collusion with the Israeli Antiquities Authority. When the ROM held a brief showing of Ten Commandments, we responded with a few commandments of our own. The ROM has denied any link with the Brand Israel campaign of Israeli Consul General Amir Gissin. However, they recently offered ROM members a chance to enter a contest for a free trip to Israel. Hmmm.

 

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The exhibit is a violation of international law!

The Dead Sea Scrolls, confiscated from East Jerusalem during Israel's 1967 military invasion and occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, are in Toronto, on exhibit at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM). The (ROM) agreed to host a six-month exhibit of the Dead Sea Scrolls, in co-operation with the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), scheduled from June 27, 2009 through January 3, 2010.

The move is part of Israel consul general Amir Gissin's official "Brand Israel" campaign that attempts to 'rebrand' apartheid Israel beyond its systematic repression of the Palestinian people. The aim of the Israeli Foreign Ministry's Brand Israel campaign is to shift the attention away from Israel's continuing violations of international humanitarian law by presenting a more 'benign' vision of Israel to a Canadian public growing increasingly wary of Israel's war-crimes and apartheid policies towards the Palestinians.

Since 1967, hundreds of thousands of precious artifacts have been illegally removed by the Israeli Antiquities Authority, Israeli soldiers, and illegally operating antiquities dealers from the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. These removals of the joint cultural heritage of the region are in direct contravention of at least four international conventions or protocols on the treatment of illegally obtained cultural goods.

The bulk of the artifacts were excavated from Qumran in the West Bank, between 1947 and 1956 by the Palestine Archaeological Museum in a joint expedition with the Department of Antiquities of Jordan and the Ecole Biblique Francaise. The Scrolls were displayed at the Palestine Archaeological Museum (the Rockefeller Museum) in East Jerusalem until 1967, when the Israeli military occupied East Jerusalem and looted the artifacts.

We Call on Canada to Cancel the Show!

The ROM was approached by members of the Palestinian community and concerned citizens, but has refused to make public the documents it claims prove the legality of the exhibit. It has also refused to seek a UNESCO opinion on the matter.

Women in Solidarity with Palestine (WSP) and IJAN-Toronto have been holding our regular weekly vigils in front of the Israeli Consulate building, directly across the street from the ROM. Since mid-April, we have distributed handouts detailing the theft of the Dead Sea Scrolls from Palestine, with a call to boycott the exhibit and to write letters to the ROM demanding that the exhibition be shut down.

In light of the ROM's absolute disregard for the concerns of Canada's Palestinian community and those of its supporters, the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid (CAIA), Women In Solidarity With Palestine, and IJAN-Toronto have launched a weekly picket, to be held at the same location as the weekly vigils. The Friday evening vigils continue, from 5-6pm, followed by the picket, from 6-7.

The first picket took place on Friday, July 10, following the vigil. Both were very well attended and featured spirited chants, bold placards, and a large mixed crowd of solidarity activists and supporters. The handout distributed to the public asks for their help in protesting the ROM's failure to comply with international law and its ethical obligations by:

• Demanding the ROM recognize the Scrolls are looted Palestinian artifacts.
• Demanding the ROM dissociate itself from the Israeli Antiquities Authority which has systematically looted millions of Palestinian artifacts.

We are hoping to sustain the pickets until such time as the exhibit comes down.

In the meantime, we are engaging with the public every Friday evening, from 5 till 7 o'clock, distributing information about the theft of the Dead Sea Scrolls and opening opportunities to talk with people about Palestine and Israeli apartheid.

Brought to you by

The International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, Toronto (IJAN-TO)

For more information:

Also se: www.ijsn.net & www.nion.ca

Independent Jewish Voices Canada (IJV), an anti-Occupation organization, decided at its first annual general meeting (12-14 June 09) to come out in support of Palestinian Civil Society’s call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) against the Israeli state. Though the group includes a number of Zionists [1], the motion passed and marks the first time a national Jewish organization anywhere has taken up this position. [2] Prior to the AGM, the Vancouver and then Toronto’s branch of IJV decided to embrace BDS. The resolution states, in part, that IJV will “support the Palestinian call for a campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions until Israel meets its obligation to recognize the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and complies with the precepts of international law, including the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN resolution 194.”

Cindy and Craig Corrie, and writer and feminist, Judy Rebick, one of the eight Jewish women who occupied the Israeli Consulate in January, gave the keynote speeches that opened the meeting. Workshops included “Challenging Islamophobia,” “Israel and the Arms Trade: Canadian Complicity,” and a panel focused on ways that IJV can better support its allies. Speakers on the panel included Mohammed Boudjenane, the Executive Director of the Canadian Arab Federation, Bob Lovelace of the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation, Marion Pollack from the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, and Margaret Parsons of the African Canadian Legal Clinic.

In addition to the BDS declaration, an emergency resolution in support of the beleaguered York Conference Mapping Models for Statehood and Paths for Peace, which was being attacked by the usual suspects: the Canada Israel Committee, the JDL, and the Canada Council for Israel and Jewish Advocacy.

Independent Jewish Voices formed in March of 2008 at a conference held in Toronto.

This year’s Pride march was marked by intense pressure from pro-Zionist forces to keep Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (QuAIA) from participating. Pro-Israel groups were already hopping mad when the Grand Marshall of the Pride Parade, El-Farouk Khaki, gave opening remarks at a 23 May event put on by QuAIA. A story in the National Post not long after [1] claimed that Pride had banned the group, despite the fact that QuAIA had yet to put in its application to march. Between Frank Dimant of B’Nai Brith – who claimed the group was “hijacking” the gay agenda – and Bernie Farber of the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) – saying despite its political roots, Pride was “about fun” – a lot of pressure was put on the organizers of this large and overly corporate event to keep QuAIA out. Rumours of threats to funding were rife. However, despite persistent complaints from Zionists, Pride Toronto did not cave in. Executive director, Tracey Sandilands, stated clearly before the event: “We are not going to ban anybody from the parade.”

QuAIA, marching together with Women in Solidarity with Palestine (WSP), gathered 180 women and trans folk for the Dyke March and over 200 for the contingent on Pride day. With large colourful banners and lots of spirit, the group was met with lots of cheering and support. The slogan that QuAIA chose as a message was “I’m Out Against Israeli Apartheid,” focusing on the difficulties people run into when they dare speak up about the actions of the Israeli regime. Other messages included “We Stand in Solidarity with Queers in Palestine” and “Anti-Zionism is Not Antisemitism.” Also marching with QuAIA and WSP were some of the organizers from the Simon Nkoli Anti-Apartheid Committee (SNAAC), and a group of “Nice Jewish Boys Against Israeli Apartheid.” As the group moved down Yonge, many onlookers joined in with the chants of “Free Free Palestine” and “From Iraq to Palestine: Occupation is a Crime.”

The marching was not without incident, however. At the Dyke march a woman holding a banner was accosted by someone, who attempted to pull the cloth from her hands violently. As the group waited to march on Sunday, they were hounded by a couple of women carrying huge Israeli flags, chanting “Down with Hamas.” Another woman, who stood and filmed the contingent at length, was asked to stop. She kept answering by saying “This is Canada.” A glimpse at her blog [2] gives you a sense of who she really is: a Christian Zionist with a soft spot for the JDL. A little later, one of the videographers in the contingent had her camera smashed by a tourist staying in the area, who was angered by the presence of any criticism of the Israeli state. As the QuAIA and WSP contingent went down Yonge Street, a bottle was thrown from the second story of a building. Two people were slightly injured. For the most part, however, it was a successful weekend that began with Toronto’s first ever Trans March. For more information on QuAIA: www.quaia.org.

Sue Goldstein, 6 July 2009, Toronto

Note: This report originally published online @ Linchpin, the online site for Common Cause, an Ontario anarchist group. http://linchpin.ca/

Only days after the Canadian Arab Federation (CAF) criticized the Canadian government for its one-sided support of Israel's violent incursion in Gaza, the Harper government cut off all federal English-as-a-second language (ESL) funding to CAF. Harper's spiteful move against CAF was not an isolated incident. George Galloway, the world-renowned anti-war orator and solidarity activist, was banned from speaking in Canada, while George Bush and Bill Clinton, noted war criminals, were permitted to earn huge fees to speak in Toronto and Calgary. At the same time, students and faculty at many Canadian campuses who have identified the policies and practices of the State of Israel as apartheid, are being targeted for harassment, surveillance, and intimidation.  (read more...)

Background:  IJAN Toronto members, working with other local Jewish activists in Toronto, put together and op-ed piece and collected 161 names of Jewish Canadians within a week, debunking the myth that criticism of the Israeli state is anti-Semitic, or that Israel acts out of self-defense. It also decries recent attacks on Israeli Apartheid week at several Canadian Universities. The statement, “Jewish Canadians Concerned About Suppression of Criticism of Israel.” speaks about the current climate as analogous to the Red Scare of the 1950s. Both the Toronto Star and the national Globe and Mail refused to publish it. The piece was then placed as an “advertisement” in one of the free weekly papers in Toronto, NOW Magazine. It is currently circulating on various lists and websites on the Internet, and may eventually be placed as an advertisement in either the Globe and Mail or the Ottawa Citizen, if more money can be raised. And names keep coming in.

 

We are Jewish Canadians concerned about all expressions of racism, anti-Semitism, and social injustice. We believe that the Holocaust legacy “Never again” means never again for all peoples. It is a tragic turn of history that the State of Israel, with its ideals of democracy and its dream of being a safe haven for Jewish people, causes immeasurable suffering and injustice to the Palestinian people.

We are appalled by recent attempts of prominent Jewish organizations and leading Canadian politicians to silence protest against the State of Israel. We are alarmed by the escalation of fear tactics. Charges that those organizing Israel Apartheid Week or supporting an academic boycott of Israel are anti-Semites promoting hatred bring the anti-Communist terror of the 1950s vividly to mind. We believe this serves to deflect attention from Israel’s flagrant violations of international humanitarian law.

B’nai Brith and the Canadian Jewish Congress have pressured university presidents and
administrations to silence debate and discussion specifically regarding Palestine/Israel. In a full-page ad in a national newspaper, B’nai Brith urged donors to withhold funds from universities because “anti-Semitic hate fests” were being allowed on campuses. Immigration Minister Jason Kenney and Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff have echoed these arguments. While university administrators have resisted demands to shut down Israel Apartheid week, some Ontario university presidents have bowed to this disinformation campaign by suspending and fining students, confiscating posters, and infringing on free speech.

We do not believe that Israel acts in self-defense. Israel is the largest recipient of US foreign aid, receiving $3 million/day. It has the fourth strongest army in the world. Before the invasion of Gaza on 27 December 2008, Israel’s siege had already created a humanitarian catastrophe there, with severe impoverishment, malnutrition, and destroyed infrastructure. It is crucial that forums for discussion of Israel’s accountability to the international community for what many have called war crimes be allowed to proceed unrestricted by specious claims of anti-Semitism.

We recognize that anti-Semitism is a reality in Canada as elsewhere, and we are fully committed to resisting any act of hatred against Jews. At the same time, we condemn false charges of anti-Semitism against student organizations, unions, and other groups and people exercising their democratic right to freedom of speech and association regarding legitimate criticism of the State of Israel.

Click to read the original list of signatories.

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Given that the Canadian government:

• has failed to condemn Israel's clear violation of international law and war crimes in Gaza
• has intensified Canada's bilateral agreements with Israel, including policing and security, military, political, and economic links
• has continuously granted Israel unconditional support for its ongoing practice of collective punishment and ethnic cleansing,

We, the undersigned residents of Canada, urge the government of Canada to immediately undertake a change in its position regarding the Middle East and to initiate concrete action to hold Israel accountable for its ongoing violations of International Humanitarian Law.   

Brought to you by Women In Solidarity With Palestine (WSP)

And The International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, Toronto (IJAN-TO)

For more information: or

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A diverse group of Jewish Canadian women are currently occupying the Israeli consulate at 180 Bloor Street West in Toronto. This action is in protest against the on-going Israeli assault on the people of Gaza.

The group is carrying out this occupation in solidarity with the 1.5 million people of Gaza and to ensure that Jewish voices against the massacre in Gaza are being heard. They are demanding that Israel end its military assault and lift the 18-month siege on the Gaza Strip to allow humanitarian aid into the territory.

Israel has been carrying out a full-scale military assault on the Gaza Strip since December 27, 2008. At least 660 people have been killed and 3000 injured in the air strikes and in the ground invasion that began on January 3, 2009. Israel has ignored international calls for a ceasefire and is refusing to allow food, adequate medical supplies and other necessities of life into the Gaza Strip.

Protesters are outraged at Israel's latest assault on the Palestinian people and by the Canadian government's refusal to condemn these massacres. They are deeply concerned that Canadians are hearing the views of pro-Israel groups who are being represented as the only voice of Jewish Canadians. The protesters have occupied the consulate to send a clear statement that many Jewish-Canadians do not support Israel's violence and apartheid policies. They are joining with people of conscience all across the world who are demanding an end to Israeli aggression and justice for the Palestinian people.  (read more...)

At least 10,000 people gathered at Toronto's Yonge-Dundas Square to protest against Israel's recent assault on Gaza. Protesters then marched through the streets of Toronto to the Israeli Consulate and the United States Embassy. Demonstrators called on the Canadian government to condemn Israel's latest aggression and to cut all political, economic and military ties with Israel until it complies with international law. Protests were also held across Canada in Ottawa, Winnipeg and Vancouver. Demonstrations are scheduled in Montreal on Sunday.

"We are overwhelmed by the support we have received from Canadian civil society, the trade union movement, and allies in the Jewish community. The large number of people on the streets today shows that the Harper government is out of touch with the Canadian public," said Khaled Mouammar President of the Canadian Arab Federation.

As the protest was taking place, Israel began a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip. This latest escalation comes in spite of international condemnation and calls for Israel to end its full-scale military assault on the people of Gaza, which has already killed over 400 people.  It is clear that Israel believes it can act with impunity, and continue to commit war crimes against the illegally occupied Palestinian people.

"We will continue to mobilize and voice our outrage at the crimes being committed in Gaza until the Harper government publicly condemns Israel's violations of international law" stated Farid Ayad, President of Palestine House.

Numerous speakers at the demonstration, including the president of CUPE Ontario Syd Ryan, local Jewish activist Jenny Peto, and Rafeef Ziadah from Palestine House urged the crowd to support the campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israeli apartheid. As part of this campaign, organizers called on the Canadian government to implement sanctions against the Israeli government until Israel halted its aggression upon the population of Gaza and fully complied with international law. Organizers further demanded that Canada insist Israel ends the siege on Gaza and open the borders to allow for food, medicine, water and other essentials of life.

Rally was endorsed by:
Palestine House
Canadian Arab Federation
Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid
Canadian Union of Public Employee (Ontario)
Canadian Union of Postal Workers
Steel Workers - Toronto Area Council
Toronto Coalition to Stop the War
Not in Our Name - Jewish Voices Opposing Zionism
International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network Toronto
Yosher - Jewish Social Justice Network
Women In Solidarity with Palestine
Educators for Peace and Justice
Muslim Unity
Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East
Near East Cultural and Educational Foundation
Canadian Forum for Justice and Peace in Sri Lanka
Muslim Association of Hamilton
Canadian Druze Society
Canadian Syrian Cultural Club
Al Huda
Muslim Unity
Canadian Shia Muslims Organization
Worker to Worker Canada Cuba Solidarity Network
Somali Canadian Diaspora Alliance
Science for Peace
Bayan - Canada
Bengali Student Association
McMaster Muslims for Peace and Justice
Arab Students Association at Ryerson University

The Jewish National Fund is scheduled to hold an annual Negev fund-raising dinner at Canada’s Museum of Civilization this coming Monday, November 24.

Please sign the petition now in an attempt to cancel this event. The petition was written by Independent Jewish Voices in Canada and can be found at http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/MuseumofCiv/ .

Click here to read a letter sent to the Museum by the International Jewish anti-Zionist Network.

 

Even if the event takes place, it is not too late to write your own letter telling the museum your opinion on this matter.

Letters can be sent (with a copy to ) to:

Dr. Victor Rabinovicth

President and CEO Canadian Museum of Civilization

Gatineau, Quebec

Fax 819-776-7122

The Jewish National Fund is holding is annual Negev fund-raising dinner at Canada's Museum of Civilization next Monday, Nov. 24. Yhe JNF is an organization committed to and implicated in the ethnic cleansing of Palestine.

About 500,000 of the 625,000 acres of land owned by the JNF were confiscated from Palestinians fleeing war in 1948, and were not purchased with contributions from Jews around the world as the JNF claims. Before 1953, Israel transferred ownership of this land to the JNF for the sole use of Jews.

 "Canada Park," which is maintained through JNF-Canada contributions, is built on the site of three Palestinian villages captured in 1967, whose 10,000 peaceful residents were expelled and all their homes razed to the ground.

The JNF is raising money for the  development of the 'Negev'. The purpose of this money is to complete the dispossession of the Negev's Bedouins. The money will go to Jewish only settlements. 

This is what "Negev Development" funded by the JNF looks like in Khashm Zanna, an unrecognized Bedouin village in the Negev.

Please write to  express your dismay to:

Dr. Victor Rabinovitch
President and CEO
Canadian Museum of Civilization
Gatineau, Quebec
e-mail:
Fax 819-776-7122

 

 Below the fold is IJAN's letter. 

 

 

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Launch Plans

IJAN in Toronto will participate in the Susan Nathan event on October 3, 2008 at 7pm at Steelworker’s Hall on 25 Cecil Street. Susan Nathan will present on her book The Other Side Of Israel: My Journey Across The Jewish-Arab Divide, a vivid portrait of herself encountering apartheid in her adopted country. Following her speaking tour in North America, she will testify in the International Court of Justice at The Hague. Please join the Network to table at the event.

Other launch actions ideas may include:

• a boycott campaign to challenge a pro-Israel consumerism PR campaign being launched in Toronto

• an event connected to the Canadian elections on October 14th to combat Canadian alliances with Israel and Zionism

About Us

We believe IJAN will be useful in addressing the isolation of anti-Zionist Jews in Canada by connecting our work internationally. As the politics of Canada have been moving right, adopting and implementing the neo-liberal political and economic policies of the US and the Bush Administration, it is critical to counter Jewish conservatism with clear Jewish anti-Zionist politics.

IJAN will support the Canadian Palestinian solidarity movement and specifically, the campaigns in support of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions. With its clear articulation of the strategic role for Jews in the Palestine solidarity movement, the Network hopes to challenge Jewish privilege and exclusivity and promote anti-racist practice in the work.

Initiatives and Organizations with which we Work or Partner

Women in Solidarity with Palestine