December 23, 2010
December 22, 2010
Club of Anti-Semitism Wielded in Ontario Legislature Against Jew
By Diane V. McLoughlin, December 22, 2010
main website: mcloughlinpost.com
Masters thesis examining the role of Holocaust education and Zionism
is denounced by Canadian lawmakers as hateful and 'shockingly anti-Semitic.'
A letter to: The honorable members of the Ontario Legislature
From: Diane V. McLoughlin, writer
contact@mcloughlinpost.com
Re: The December 7, 2010 denouncement in the Ontario Legislature,
by certain members, of student Jennifer Peto's 2010 University of Toronto thesis:
'The Victimhood of the Powerful:
White Jews, Zionism and the Racism of Hegemonic Holocaust Education' [1]
Requesting: That the Honorable Members of the Ontario Legislature uphold the cherished value of academic free enquiry as well as free speech; that the Honorable Members cut all official ties to the State of Israel until that country is in compliance with international law.
Dear Honorable Members,
An invitation recently went out, to any so interested, to come to the defense of the above-noted thesis by Jennifer Peto, who has been smeared with the charge of anti-Semitism, as well as of poor scholarship, generally. Being an independent writer particularly interested in the Israel-Palestine conflict, this was interesting to me.
I should point out at this juncture that I do not know Ms. Peto, I do not have friends in common with
Ms. Peto, and I had not read the thesis in question. If I were to form an opinion one way or the other on the
112-page thesis, I was going to have to read it.
I found the thesis on-line and read it from beginning to end.
I also read the comments that were made about the thesis by legislative members Steve Clark, Eric Hoskins and Peter Shurman, as found in the Official Legislative Record for December 7th, 2010.
So, to the question:
Is Ms. Peto's thesis, as pronounced in the legislature by the above members, anti-Semitic against Jews?
This is not going to be an exhaustive point-by-point dissertation, by the way.
Right up front, I would concede this point:
If the members had stated for the record that the thesis is an uncomfortable read, I would have to agree. For one thing, there are a number of arguments that are unfamiliar to my own ear. Some of them are like nails on a chalkboard.
I don't think of myself, for example, as 'White' - being of Celtic heritage - but there is no getting around the fact that, for the purposes of Peto's thesis, I would fall into the category of 'White' 'privileged' class.
I can't argue with it but it's aggravating; grating.
The honorable members of the Ontario Legislature should note that Ms. Peto is, in point of fact, a Jew, as well as a grandchild of Holocaust survivors.
In the beginning of her thesis, as she lays out the framework for her arguments, she shares in a touching way some of the things that inspire her to tackle the - I think it fair to say, particularly thorny issue - of racism within some circles of Jewish society.
Ms. Peto shares Jewish-Canadian experiences of her early life, into young womanhood. It is only logical that she begin there, and from there move outward to speak to the heart of her thesis, encompassing Zionism as well as the particular ways in which the Holocaust can, and in many cases is, co-opted to support the racist aims of the ethnic cleansing of Palestine.
It was a formative experience for Ms. Peto when she got in trouble for questioning the celebratory way in which terrorist Baruch Goldstein was venerated by a teacher - who is also a settler - at her school. In fact, this is how she begins the introduction to her thesis:
'My first memory of questioning my loyalty to the Israeli state is from the 9th grade.
It was 1995 and I was almost 15 years old, attending a private Jewish high school in
Toronto. One day, during a Jewish History class, our teacher was giving a lesson
on the city of Hebron. During the class, he mentioned Baruch Goldstein – the Jewish
settler who, in February 1994, had massacred over 50 Palestinians while they were
praying at the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron. When my teacher said Goldstein’s name,
he followed it with ‘zichrono livracha’ which is Hebrew for ‘may his memory be blessed’.
This is a common practice among Orthodox Jewish people when mentioning the name of
someone who is deceased. I remember being completely shocked that he would bless the
name of a man who had committed such a horrible act of violence. I raised my hand and
asked him why he had blessed Goldstein and not said ‘yemach shmo’ which, in Hebrew,
means ‘may his name be erased from history’ and is commonly said after mentioning the
name of an evil-doer that has died. My teacher, who himself was an Israeli settler,
became enraged, refused to engage in this debate with me and sent me to the principal’s office.' [3] [4] [5]
As I say, this was a watershed moment for Jennifer Peto, a Canadian Jew who, as an inquisitive and intuitively astute young girl of fifteen, is not praised for her strong sense of our common humanity, but is, rather, soundly criticized for it.
This goes straight to the heart of the extremely painful paradox that Jews and others become faced with. Many are raised to view Israel as a Jewish 'shining city on the hill;' built upon only the highest of ethical and moral values; a haven. Yet there are pieces of the puzzle that just will not fit with this alternate image that grows ever more clear through the efforts by those such as Ms. Peto: Of occupation and oppression; of murder and the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people.
That 'never again' should become 'over again - this time by us' - is painful to Jews of goodwill and good faith - to just a profound, no doubt at times inexpressible degree.
The honorable member Mr. Clark, under agenda item, 'ANTI-SEMITISM' [1a], on December 7, 2010, is recorded as stating:
"Jewish groups are criticizing the University of Toronto for accepting a shockingly anti-Semitic master’s thesis."
That the thesis is shocking, I freely grant you. When truth finally butts up against that which is not true, particularly after truth has been unrecognized or absent for too long a time - the shock of it can be absolutely profound. However. That the truth can be shocking, in no way makes that which is not true the preferable state of knowing; we do not, we must not, prefer to remain in the dark because the light of truth shines too bright.
Mr. Clark continues, asserting, inaccurately, that the "disgusting" paper, "attacks educational programs working to ensure [that the Holocaust] is never repeated."
No it doesn't. Ms. Peto's thesis analyses particular educational programs that the thesis writer examines with a very clear eye. Is the intent of the thesis to opine and prevent the oppression of Jews and others? I would argue that the answer is yes.
She states in the thesis abstract that her goal is to prove that:
'...Jewish victimhood is instrumentalized in ways that obscure Jewish privilege, den[ies] Jewish racism and promote[s] the interests of the Israeli nation-state.'
What is the true message imparted by the Holocaust programs that Ms. Peto evaluates? How do Israel and the Palestinian people fit into the philosophy or world view of the programs that Ms. Peto examines?
It is to this that Ms. Peto sets herself to ferret out.
Mr. Clark is shown to refer back in recent time to when the legislature was (wrongly) encouraged to equate anti-Semitism with Israeli Apartheid Week. But could it be that Israel is guilty as charged?
Israel is likened to an apartheid regime by survivors of South Africa's own apartheid regime of the past. Willie Madisha, President of the Congress of South African Trade Unions, in a letter, dated 2006:
'As someone who lived in apartheid South Africa and who has visited Palestine I say with confidence that Israel is an apartheid state. In fact, I believe that some of the atrocities committed against the South Africans by the erstwhile apartheid regime in South Africa pale in comparison to those committed against the Palestinians.' [2]
Mr. Eric Hoskins is recorded in the Ontario legislative record of December 7, 2010, on the topic of Ms. Peto's thesis, thus:
"...greatly disturbed and, in fact, disgusted when I read the media reports."
One is embarrassed for Mr. Hoskins that he so publicly declares himself disgusted by Ms. Peto's thesis when it is clear from reading her thesis that she fights for justice and truth - at tremendous potential cost to herself personally as well as professionally by so doing. She is a heroic figure.
Mr. Peter Shurman chooses to go on record denouncing her thesis in various ways, declaring that it is:
"...hateful...poorly researched." Asking the Speaker: "...Minister, will you today speak up on behalf of
Jewish groups who have been so deeply hurt by this piece of garbage and condemn it, not as an academic paper but for the hate it actually is?"
The painful irony here is that the words that are hateful and poorly researched are Mr. Shurman's.
Mr. Hoskins condemns the thesis with enthusiasm, adding:
"...that the state of Israel is a very good friend of the province of Ontario. I had the privilege of visiting Israel earlier this year with the Premier and a number of members of the Liberal caucus and of this government to improve our ties."
Regarding the wrong road that Israel is on, American congressional rep. Barney Frank put it most succinctly:
'Friends don't let friends drive drunk.'
In her closing paragraphs Ms. Peto wrote, in part, that as Jews:
'We need to fight for and defend the rights of Palestinians and their allies to speak without fear of spurious
accusations of hatred and anti-Semitism.'
And again:
'It is time to end memorials that are meant to traumatize and re-traumatize
by forcing generations of Jewish people to try to recreate and relive the horrors.
We must force the Ashkenazi Jewish community to face the trauma of our past
and admit to the ways in which we have chosen to align ourselves with power in
an attempt to ensure that we are not victimized again. We must focus on healing
from the trauma of the past so that we can move forward because this morbid
focus on victimization and the Holocaust prevents us from understanding the
wrongs we commit within the community and against others that are
less powerful than we are.'
Jennifer Peto is on the right side of both justice and history. Israel continues to wander lost in the desert.
Jews such as Jennifer would seemingly give everything that they have to lead her safely home.
Most respectfully,
Diane V. McLoughlin
____________________
Notes:
[1] 'The Victimhood of the Powerful:
White Jews, Zionism and the Racism of Hegemonic
Holocaust Education;' by Jennifer Peto; A thesis
submitted in conformity with the requirements
for the degree of Master of Arts
Graduate Department of Sociology and
Equity Studies in Education
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
University of Toronto; copyright 2010;
[1a] Legislative Assembly of Ontario
Debates and Proceedings
Debates (Hansard)
Official Records for
7 December 2010 ;
http://www.ontla.on.ca/web/house-proceedings/house_detail.do?locale=en&Date=2010-12-07&detailPage=%2Fhouse-proceedings%2Ftranscripts%2Ffiles_html%2F07-DEC-2010_L080.htm&Parl=39&Sess=2#P392_94202 ;
[2] Wikipedia: Israel and the apartheid analogy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_and_the_apartheid_analogy ;
[3] Youtube clip (short) 1994 Baruch Goldstein; various news reports
[4] Youtube clip (short) of Jewish settlers celebrating the anniversary of
Goldstein's deed (quality: amateur/poor)
[5] BBC article, 'Graveside party celebrates Hebron Massacre'; (Mar. 21, 2000):
'Israeli extremists continue to pay homage at his grave in the nearby Jewish settlement
of Kiryat Arba, where a marble plaque reads: "To the holy Baruch Goldstein, who gave
his life for the Jewish people, the Torah and the nation of Israel."
Copyright 2010, Diane V. McLoughlin
All Rights Reserved.
main website: mcloughlinpost.com
Masters thesis examining the role of Holocaust education and Zionism
is denounced by Canadian lawmakers as hateful and 'shockingly anti-Semitic.'
A letter to: The honorable members of the Ontario Legislature
From: Diane V. McLoughlin, writer
contact@mcloughlinpost.com
Re: The December 7, 2010 denouncement in the Ontario Legislature,
by certain members, of student Jennifer Peto's 2010 University of Toronto thesis:
'The Victimhood of the Powerful:
White Jews, Zionism and the Racism of Hegemonic Holocaust Education' [1]
Requesting: That the Honorable Members of the Ontario Legislature uphold the cherished value of academic free enquiry as well as free speech; that the Honorable Members cut all official ties to the State of Israel until that country is in compliance with international law.
Dear Honorable Members,
An invitation recently went out, to any so interested, to come to the defense of the above-noted thesis by Jennifer Peto, who has been smeared with the charge of anti-Semitism, as well as of poor scholarship, generally. Being an independent writer particularly interested in the Israel-Palestine conflict, this was interesting to me.
I should point out at this juncture that I do not know Ms. Peto, I do not have friends in common with
Ms. Peto, and I had not read the thesis in question. If I were to form an opinion one way or the other on the
112-page thesis, I was going to have to read it.
I found the thesis on-line and read it from beginning to end.
I also read the comments that were made about the thesis by legislative members Steve Clark, Eric Hoskins and Peter Shurman, as found in the Official Legislative Record for December 7th, 2010.
So, to the question:
Is Ms. Peto's thesis, as pronounced in the legislature by the above members, anti-Semitic against Jews?
This is not going to be an exhaustive point-by-point dissertation, by the way.
Right up front, I would concede this point:
If the members had stated for the record that the thesis is an uncomfortable read, I would have to agree. For one thing, there are a number of arguments that are unfamiliar to my own ear. Some of them are like nails on a chalkboard.
I don't think of myself, for example, as 'White' - being of Celtic heritage - but there is no getting around the fact that, for the purposes of Peto's thesis, I would fall into the category of 'White' 'privileged' class.
I can't argue with it but it's aggravating; grating.
The honorable members of the Ontario Legislature should note that Ms. Peto is, in point of fact, a Jew, as well as a grandchild of Holocaust survivors.
In the beginning of her thesis, as she lays out the framework for her arguments, she shares in a touching way some of the things that inspire her to tackle the - I think it fair to say, particularly thorny issue - of racism within some circles of Jewish society.
Ms. Peto shares Jewish-Canadian experiences of her early life, into young womanhood. It is only logical that she begin there, and from there move outward to speak to the heart of her thesis, encompassing Zionism as well as the particular ways in which the Holocaust can, and in many cases is, co-opted to support the racist aims of the ethnic cleansing of Palestine.
It was a formative experience for Ms. Peto when she got in trouble for questioning the celebratory way in which terrorist Baruch Goldstein was venerated by a teacher - who is also a settler - at her school. In fact, this is how she begins the introduction to her thesis:
'My first memory of questioning my loyalty to the Israeli state is from the 9th grade.
It was 1995 and I was almost 15 years old, attending a private Jewish high school in
Toronto. One day, during a Jewish History class, our teacher was giving a lesson
on the city of Hebron. During the class, he mentioned Baruch Goldstein – the Jewish
settler who, in February 1994, had massacred over 50 Palestinians while they were
praying at the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron. When my teacher said Goldstein’s name,
he followed it with ‘zichrono livracha’ which is Hebrew for ‘may his memory be blessed’.
This is a common practice among Orthodox Jewish people when mentioning the name of
someone who is deceased. I remember being completely shocked that he would bless the
name of a man who had committed such a horrible act of violence. I raised my hand and
asked him why he had blessed Goldstein and not said ‘yemach shmo’ which, in Hebrew,
means ‘may his name be erased from history’ and is commonly said after mentioning the
name of an evil-doer that has died. My teacher, who himself was an Israeli settler,
became enraged, refused to engage in this debate with me and sent me to the principal’s office.' [3] [4] [5]
As I say, this was a watershed moment for Jennifer Peto, a Canadian Jew who, as an inquisitive and intuitively astute young girl of fifteen, is not praised for her strong sense of our common humanity, but is, rather, soundly criticized for it.
This goes straight to the heart of the extremely painful paradox that Jews and others become faced with. Many are raised to view Israel as a Jewish 'shining city on the hill;' built upon only the highest of ethical and moral values; a haven. Yet there are pieces of the puzzle that just will not fit with this alternate image that grows ever more clear through the efforts by those such as Ms. Peto: Of occupation and oppression; of murder and the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people.
That 'never again' should become 'over again - this time by us' - is painful to Jews of goodwill and good faith - to just a profound, no doubt at times inexpressible degree.
The honorable member Mr. Clark, under agenda item, 'ANTI-SEMITISM' [1a], on December 7, 2010, is recorded as stating:
"Jewish groups are criticizing the University of Toronto for accepting a shockingly anti-Semitic master’s thesis."
That the thesis is shocking, I freely grant you. When truth finally butts up against that which is not true, particularly after truth has been unrecognized or absent for too long a time - the shock of it can be absolutely profound. However. That the truth can be shocking, in no way makes that which is not true the preferable state of knowing; we do not, we must not, prefer to remain in the dark because the light of truth shines too bright.
Mr. Clark continues, asserting, inaccurately, that the "disgusting" paper, "attacks educational programs working to ensure [that the Holocaust] is never repeated."
No it doesn't. Ms. Peto's thesis analyses particular educational programs that the thesis writer examines with a very clear eye. Is the intent of the thesis to opine and prevent the oppression of Jews and others? I would argue that the answer is yes.
She states in the thesis abstract that her goal is to prove that:
'...Jewish victimhood is instrumentalized in ways that obscure Jewish privilege, den[ies] Jewish racism and promote[s] the interests of the Israeli nation-state.'
What is the true message imparted by the Holocaust programs that Ms. Peto evaluates? How do Israel and the Palestinian people fit into the philosophy or world view of the programs that Ms. Peto examines?
It is to this that Ms. Peto sets herself to ferret out.
Mr. Clark is shown to refer back in recent time to when the legislature was (wrongly) encouraged to equate anti-Semitism with Israeli Apartheid Week. But could it be that Israel is guilty as charged?
Israel is likened to an apartheid regime by survivors of South Africa's own apartheid regime of the past. Willie Madisha, President of the Congress of South African Trade Unions, in a letter, dated 2006:
'As someone who lived in apartheid South Africa and who has visited Palestine I say with confidence that Israel is an apartheid state. In fact, I believe that some of the atrocities committed against the South Africans by the erstwhile apartheid regime in South Africa pale in comparison to those committed against the Palestinians.' [2]
Mr. Eric Hoskins is recorded in the Ontario legislative record of December 7, 2010, on the topic of Ms. Peto's thesis, thus:
"...greatly disturbed and, in fact, disgusted when I read the media reports."
One is embarrassed for Mr. Hoskins that he so publicly declares himself disgusted by Ms. Peto's thesis when it is clear from reading her thesis that she fights for justice and truth - at tremendous potential cost to herself personally as well as professionally by so doing. She is a heroic figure.
Mr. Peter Shurman chooses to go on record denouncing her thesis in various ways, declaring that it is:
"...hateful...poorly researched." Asking the Speaker: "...Minister, will you today speak up on behalf of
Jewish groups who have been so deeply hurt by this piece of garbage and condemn it, not as an academic paper but for the hate it actually is?"
The painful irony here is that the words that are hateful and poorly researched are Mr. Shurman's.
Mr. Hoskins condemns the thesis with enthusiasm, adding:
"...that the state of Israel is a very good friend of the province of Ontario. I had the privilege of visiting Israel earlier this year with the Premier and a number of members of the Liberal caucus and of this government to improve our ties."
Regarding the wrong road that Israel is on, American congressional rep. Barney Frank put it most succinctly:
'Friends don't let friends drive drunk.'
In her closing paragraphs Ms. Peto wrote, in part, that as Jews:
'We need to fight for and defend the rights of Palestinians and their allies to speak without fear of spurious
accusations of hatred and anti-Semitism.'
And again:
'It is time to end memorials that are meant to traumatize and re-traumatize
by forcing generations of Jewish people to try to recreate and relive the horrors.
We must force the Ashkenazi Jewish community to face the trauma of our past
and admit to the ways in which we have chosen to align ourselves with power in
an attempt to ensure that we are not victimized again. We must focus on healing
from the trauma of the past so that we can move forward because this morbid
focus on victimization and the Holocaust prevents us from understanding the
wrongs we commit within the community and against others that are
less powerful than we are.'
Jennifer Peto is on the right side of both justice and history. Israel continues to wander lost in the desert.
Jews such as Jennifer would seemingly give everything that they have to lead her safely home.
Most respectfully,
Diane V. McLoughlin
____________________
Notes:
[1] 'The Victimhood of the Powerful:
White Jews, Zionism and the Racism of Hegemonic
Holocaust Education;' by Jennifer Peto; A thesis
submitted in conformity with the requirements
for the degree of Master of Arts
Graduate Department of Sociology and
Equity Studies in Education
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
University of Toronto; copyright 2010;
[1a] Legislative Assembly of Ontario
Debates and Proceedings
Debates (Hansard)
Official Records for
7 December 2010 ;
http://www.ontla.on.ca/web/house-proceedings/house_detail.do?locale=en&Date=2010-12-07&detailPage=%2Fhouse-proceedings%2Ftranscripts%2Ffiles_html%2F07-DEC-2010_L080.htm&Parl=39&Sess=2#P392_94202 ;
[2] Wikipedia: Israel and the apartheid analogy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_and_the_apartheid_analogy ;
[3] Youtube clip (short) 1994 Baruch Goldstein; various news reports
[4] Youtube clip (short) of Jewish settlers celebrating the anniversary of
Goldstein's deed (quality: amateur/poor)
[5] BBC article, 'Graveside party celebrates Hebron Massacre'; (Mar. 21, 2000):
'Israeli extremists continue to pay homage at his grave in the nearby Jewish settlement
of Kiryat Arba, where a marble plaque reads: "To the holy Baruch Goldstein, who gave
his life for the Jewish people, the Torah and the nation of Israel."
Copyright 2010, Diane V. McLoughlin
All Rights Reserved.
Mr. Galloway Returns
Mr. Galloway Returns
By Diane V. McLoughlin December 6, 2010
main website: mcloughlinpost.com
[Author's note: The apostrophe, ' ' is used below for the spoken word when I am not absolutely certain that I transcribed exactly what the speaker said, while conveying the spirit of what was said. It is also used to indicate a fanciful inner dialogue of 'policeman,' below. Square brackets [ ] are sometimes used to interject a note of clarification, or when there is audience reaction.]
Mr. George Galloway, peace activist and distinguished former British Member of Parliament, gave a speech delivered with wit and charm at Ottawa's Bronson Centre early on the overcast Saturday afternoon of November 27, 2010.
The tour was entitled, ‘Free Afghanistan, Free Palestine, Free Speech.’ It was Mr. Galloway’s last scheduled stop of ten cities, raising funds for the Canadian Boat to Gaza, as well as the anti-war movement.[1]
Some of the main sponsors of the event were the Ottawa Peace Assembly, and the Canadian Peace Alliance.
Messages the peace groups themselves conveyed were, 'end the war', and, 'expose the lies of Stephen Harper’s government'.
Directly after Mr. Galloway’s presentation, there was to be an anti-war march to Parliament Hill. This corresponded nicely with the fact that Canada was expected to vote on whether to extend participation in the Afghanistan war, early in the following week.
Unexpectedly, there was a too-early-for-this winter’s wind direct from the Arctic. It charged over the Gatineau Hills, scooped up damp off of the surface of the Ottawa River, to rush, North - South, up and over the earthquake fault-line running under Bronson Avenue. I braced, cursing the weather, as I walked from my car, tilted sideways against the wind. Probably not too many people coming out; too bad.
And it was true, there was not much action outside the modest entrance. Just a few frigid souls handing out leaflets. Here is the text of the two flyers I was handed as I rushed to get in out of the cold:
‘VIGIL, International Human Rights Day & Mohamed Harkat’s 8th year anniversary of his arrest under a Security Certificate, December 10th, 2010, 5 P.M.
Human Rights Monument (corner of Lisgar and Elgin)
Bring candles or flashlights/friends
Stop Secret Trials in Canada
Abolish Security Certificates
Mohamed Harkat was arrested on December 10th, 2002 under a
Security Certificate without charge or access to the evidence.
Detained for 43 months and spent one year in solitary confinement.
Released in June of 2006, under the toughest conditions in
Canadian history. His Canadian wife was his full-time jailer and
prisoner in her own home. Now he faces deportation to torture…
all under a veil of secrecy for National Security reasons.
CSIS alleges, assumes, believes…would you trust them with your life?
(For more info: http://www.justiceforharkat.com/ )’
Regarding the Harkat case, Sophie Harkat, a French-Canadian, is a pearl. Over the long years, she has continued to fight for her husband‘s freedom. It was she herself who handed out the flyers.
Another flyer handed out:
‘Support the Canadian Boat to Gaza
A Canadian humanitarian initiative to aid the
Civilian population of Gaza living under Israeli blockade
http://www.canadaboattogaza.org/ ’
There were also flyers handed out that were negative on Galloway, according to subsequent media reports. I didn’t see any of those. They would have been interesting to read and share, as well. Aggravating. But interesting.
In the surprisingly crowded lobby, people were being directed to, ‘please take a seat in the hall if you already have tickets, it’s going to start [very late] soon.’
In the middle of the milling crowd, within a wide circle of avoiding-that space, there is a bemused young man
speaking to an imposing, wide-stanced policeman. The policeman is a giant who, I note wryly, is standing with legs so far apart that it is as if to say, 'That’s right. My balls are that big. So my personal recommendation to everybody here is that nobody mess with me.' I can see I’m with the kid on this one, unable to decide whether I should be amused or intimidated. The officer is warmly dressed, in an ensemble that includes black splash pants with reflective tape on them, and enormous winter boots. The young man is saying something politely above the bustle of the crowd about how he understands, but that he’s not really in any official capacity to tell people how to stay on the sidewalks.
Subsequent published estimates put the capacity crowd in the auditorium at 900. Impressive, considering the bitter cold.
Typical city dress: Jacket, sweater and jeans. A few hijabs. The assembling throng is college- and middle-aged. Eclectic. There is a distinctive aura of education.
I would share that, on my way out afterward, there was a woman seated apart against the wall by the auditorium doors, with a solicitous man hovering by her. She was all in black, only a slit where her eyes were exposed. Fortunately, from my own cultural perspective, one sees few women so cut off from society in these parts by way of what they wear. In Western society there are other ways women can find themselves oppressed. My heart went out to her with a twist: I wished my man was hovering solicitously near me.
Hoping to sit where clacking on my laptop won’t aggravate…hall is too full. No one seems bothered. (Happiness.)
Introductions on-stage. The Canadian Peace Alliance has 140 member groups, including the Council of Canadians and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers [both big;] rabble.ca [indy on-line news site;] the Canadian Arab Federation.
Jason Penner, Independent Jewish Voices, is at the mike: “It is not anti-Semitic to criticize Israel!” [loud clapping]…not anti-Semitic to stand up for Palestinian human rights!” [Audience: ‘Hooray!’]
Another group’s spokesperson, Canadian Boat to Gaza: ‘Fundraising brings people together from coast to coast to break the siege - we have a special responsibility, considering the Harper government’s unquestioning support of Israel.’
More from the stage: ‘We are upholding our right to free speech. Defend human rights. Jason Kenney [a Canadian Member of Parliament] has done more for promoting the peace groups. We thank Mr. Kenney for making sure the people of Canada know what he’s really all about.’ ‘And,’ [gesturing magnanimously to the speaker‘s right] “we’ve saved him a seat today…;” [a table and chairs are on-stage. One of the seats has a ’Jason Kenney’ sign taped to it. Audience laughs.]
‘-…controversial topic. Let’s keep it respectful. Everyone who wants to participate in the discussion may do so at the question-and-answer portion of the event.’
Background: The last time Mr. Galloway was invited to Canada to speak, in 2009, a staff member who works in Conservative MP Jason Kenney's office (Minister for Citizenship and Immigration Canada) no doubt prompted by loud noise from self-styled pro-Israel lobbyists, acted to bar Mr. Galloway from being admitted into the country. The argument: Mr. Galloway should not be admitted, being a ‘supporter’ of the Palestinian group, Hamas, a group that is designated a terrorist organization by the Canadian government.
The actions of the government were subsequently denounced. Mr. Galloway and others successfully sought a legal judgment in Federal Court. Justice Mosley ruled, 'that the main reason why the respondents sought to prevent Mr. Galloway from entering Canada was that they disagreed with his political views.' [2] [2a]
All that this abuse-of-authority foolishness did - in trying to squelch freedom of speech and assembly - was delight Mr. Galloway with a democratic challenge. It is as if he is made of aplite - an interesting entry convenient to 'aplomb' in the dictionary: a light-colored, fine-grained granite rock.
Threatened with being barred at the Canadian border, Mr. Galloway did two things: He spoke at the scheduled 2009 events through live video feed; and he prepared to defend, not only his own rights and his own reputation, but, in defending himself he was defending Canada's reputation as a democratic country; he was fighting for Canadian freedoms of speech and assembly, too.
Due to the authoritarian behaviour of the Conservative government, and the wide coverage by the press, the anti-war and social justice crowd couldn't have been more pleased. The results were packed auditoriums and church halls to hear one live in-person, giddy, gifted Scot, victorious in 2010.
Perhaps because the police escort had to wait around all afternoon for the anti-war protest march afterward, many were no doubt disappointed to find that organizers either did not, or could not, keep their word: There was no time for anyone to lob questions, hard or soft, at Mr. Galloway. The march began with evident haste, ‘while there’s still daylight’, immediately following.
George Galloway introduction; he ascends the stage to rousing standing ovation.
Mr. Galloway: “As I was saying - before I was [rolling, soft Gailic ‘r’s] rrrudely interrupted!” “So close [audience laughter] I can almost sense Mr. Kenney’s presence!”
Galloway: ‘So close to the Supreme Court!’ ‘So lucky!’ ‘Despite not being a gambling man - as I am a religious man, gambling is, in fact, forbidden - nevertheless!’ “Today, I bought a lottery ticket!” [The day’s pot, $30 million dollars.] “If, on behalf of the peace movement, I scoop the lotto this evening - but I won’t ask you to pray for that, because it’s not really permitted - but I would like to see Jason Kenney’s face!” [Laughter; applause.]
‘Thanks to everyone involved. ‘Fantastic tour, coast to coast to coast of Canada. Thousands of people, thousands, have come to these rallies. In inclement weather. Donating generously. Our message has reached millions in the last two weeks!’ Audience: "Bravo!"
‘Any book you try to ban, automatically gets on the best-seller list! We intend to stay there! This is not goodbye [last tour date] but a bien tot - until we meet again. I will be back again and again!” [More applause.]
Galloway:
‘My eye caught something on the metro [bus]:
‘Last Laugh for Former Brit MP.’
‘True. Up to a point. But what Jason Kenney did was not funny. To be slandered in front of the entire world whilst sitting for a quarter of a century in the biggest of parliaments - doesn’t get much more serious that.’
‘Must have come as a surprise, as her Majesty the Queen, regularly meeting with her as I did in Buckingham Palace, that not only was I harboring a terrorist organization … surprising to the House of Commons, too, where I have been voted 'Debater of the Year', all the while a member of a terrorist organization with the aim to harm Canada! [Audience laughter.] And even under George Bush’s presidency I was permitted into that country! But Jason Kenney apparently knew something that the CIA did not!’
‘The Canadian security services knew that both the allegations were false: that George Galloway is not a member of a terrorist organization and he is not a threat to Canada’s security. Thanks to any CSIS agents present [Canadian Security Intelligence Services] …jokingly invites any secret agents in the audience to stand and publicly take credit; [dramatic pause.] 'No?' [Laughter.]
‘What can we say about a Canadian government that lies on such a scale? Their tune has changed; apparently I wasn’t banned at all. But we know better.
‘Kenney tried to proclaim that, ‘Galloway isn’t coming here, and that is that.’
Galloway: “That is not that.” Audience: "Here, here!"
‘Jason Kenney should meet me man-to-man to resolve this matter. If he doesn’t see me here he’ll see me in court, that’s for sure.’ [Clapping].
Galloway has launched legal suits. ‘Every cent we win from the Canadian government will be used to build a greater Canadian anti-war movement.’ [Applause.]
‘How did Canada go, in such a few short years, where freedom of speech and association…regarded as a model of multicultural society; a place where liberal values prevailed; was loved in the 1970’s and 80’s in Lebanon…the Canadian soldiers were the favorite soldiers under UNIFIL. How did this happen, to be reduced to merely an embassy of the most extreme right-wing Israeli government the world has ever seen?!’
‘[Canadian Prime Minister] Harper is prepared to pay “any price.” [3]
‘[Israeli Prime Minister] Netanyahu’s a fascist. Harper is prepared to pay any price. But the Canadian people are not prepared!’ [Much clapping.]
‘In any other democratic society, a minister would not have survived politically, the sixty-page caning from the court [as Jason Kenney received] and would have resigned; pages that unmask the crime that the people could be treated as children: who to hear, what to speak, what to think; I am proud of Canadians!’
‘There are limits to freedom of speech! Not to defame and libel anyone. No one may use their freedom to whip up religious hatred. Such hate speech is repugnant to all of us in the anti-war movement.’
Mentions the National Post: ‘…surely the worst paper I have ever seen in my life!’
Shares a little of his background: Joined the labor party at 13. Active as a child at election-time with parents. A socialist.
‘We are against the racist ideology of Zionism!’ [Cheering; applause.]
‘There are thousands, hundreds of thousands marching with us, including in Israel itself. We are not guilty of any form of racism. In fact, those who accuse us have a far more questionable record, and we refuse to be intimidated out of our right, from this smear, from criticizing Israel!’
Analogy of Russia and communism: ‘We didn’t want to destroy the people of Russia, but the ideology. Zionism is, itself, a racist ideology. It believes that, for example, a Canadian Jew isn’t Canadian. Israel is described as a Jewish state; even though 25% of Israel’s citizens are not Jews. Israel is also racist against the occupied Palestinians.
‘I saw Apartheid South Africa. I worked underground there. Jewish members of the African National Congress financially supported me and my work.
'We fight in Iraq for democracy while there is none in Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, there were free and fair elections by the Palestinians, who unfortunately [according to Israel and the U.S.] voted the wrong way’ [and were, and continue to be, roundly punished for it.]
Galloway on Afghanistan: ‘The Canadian government has broken another promise: not withdrawing the troops. This was supposed to be the Canadian military’s last tour of duty. We have been training Afghans for ten years.
“Nobody trains the Taliban, and yet…they do quite well!” [Laughter.]
‘The training budget for President Karzai’s army is [didn’t quite catch Galloway’s figure…billions.] ‘No noticeable improvement in ten years.’
Riled audience member shouts out - no pensions! The inference being Canadian tax dollars are going to bullets and bombs rather than social spending at home. Galloway responds by sharing that in Scotland, pensioners are more likely to freeze to death in winter even as compared to the outer reaches of Siberia. [Sharp intake of breath from the shocked audience.]
‘Thirty-five percent of the Afghan military recruits we train slip out the back door and join the Taliban. Apparently the wages are better.
‘No one has successfully occupied Afghanistan, not even Alexander the Great.
“Mr. Harper, you ain’t no Alexander the Great!”
‘We are so desperate for somebody, anybody, to negotiate our withdrawal, that the other day a shopkeeper showed up and said, 'I’m a leader of the Taliban.' He met [U.S.] General McCrystal. He flew to meet Karzai. They gave him four hundred-thousand dollars! He really won the lottery. He came back three times before somebody realized he wasn’t the real guy!
‘The conflation of al-Quaeda - terrorists - to Taliban: Taliban only want to drive out the occupied armies, and any would. The Afghans are good at it: British, Russians: defeated in their times. Karzai’s administration is not worth the blood of a single soldier’s life.
‘Our demand is that Afghanistan does not become a base for bin Laden. But those terms have always been available. Every life lost was lost in vain. Al Quaeda are not in Afghanistan. See Bob Woodward’s book. There are forty-five al-Quaeda left in all of Afghanistan. Why do we still have hundreds of thousands of troops there?
‘Our presence is recruiting for bin Laden all over the world. The swamp of hatred in the Muslim world is ever deepened by our continued occupation - in which the enemy has actually left! We sent those people in there in the first place. Bin laden was only in Afghanistan because [U.S. President] Reagan and [Great Britain’s Prime Minister] Thatcher sent him in there under the dubious moral principle that the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
‘I am completely against this global al-Quaeda mindset. I despise bin Laden, a medieval savage. I despised him when you were giving him guns and money. The blood of Iraqis, Afghanis and Palestinians is far cheaper than others, and it is recognized for what it is in the Muslim world.
On the subway-bombing terrorist attack in London: ‘The murder of innocent people for the crimes of others - is no different as a crime, regardless of what he wears or what tools of destruction are used. The base hypocrisy, the double-standard of what we are doing over there is not recognized in the media.
‘Palestine is the heart of the matter, the center of the confrontation between the two worlds. The Palestinians who are the victims of terrorism, and Israel which perpetrates the terror is called the victim. This double-standard Muslims cannot accept. Its people have been scattered.
‘On my tour here in Canada I couldn’t believe it - there are six Palestinian families living in the Great Slave Lake region of the Canadian Arctic!
‘Millions of Palestinians that were driven from their lands now have foreigners living in their houses. Sixty-two years in rancid, rat-infested refugee camps - Palestinians demand to go home! [Audience roars approval.]
‘The kaffiya [Palestinian scarf of white, with a wavy black-check pattern] has become a symbol throughout the world, for the struggle for peace and justice.
‘The Palestinians will ultimately win. How did it come about - that my country, the British foreign secretary [Balfour; turn of the 20th century] promised one people, atheistic Jews, promised the land that belonged to a third people that Britain didn’t even possess at that time. This group of white European atheistic settlers had no real desire to go there. They wanted to go to the Seychelles, or to Patagonia in Latin America. Only later, that God was a state agent. A bogus claim.
‘The U.S. for the past fifty years has paid for every bullet, every bomb supporting the occupation. A country
eliminated - the people - scattered.
‘Finally, the people had an election, described by Jimmy Carter as pristine and transparent. The problem is that the people voted the ‘wrong’ way.
‘I am not a supporter of Hamas. I am a supporter of democracy, and the only people qualified to choose who represents them is the Palestinian people themselves.
Regarding pro-Israel Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Liberal opposition leader Michael Ignatieff:
“Two cheeks of the same backside!” [Guffaws.]
‘Why is there an economic siege for voting the wrong way?! How can this be justified with our protestations of love for democratic processes in other countries? In Gaza today, eighty percent are refugees and therefore entitled to protection from the international community. Eighty percent are living on a dollar a day. The children are under- or malnourished.
‘We have not seen anything like it since the Second World War. 1.6 million Palestinians were locked up in Gaza so that death and destruction could be rained down upon them, live, on television. For twenty-two days and nights we saw a barbarous assault of a people who could not escape because the doors were locked by those dropping the bombs. Not only bombs, but gas. Can you believe a state calling itself a Jewish state dropping white phosphorous gas on a civilian population? [Late-2008 - early 2009: Israel’s military assault on Gaza, nicknamed, ’Operation Cast Lead.’]
Pictured: white phosphorous bombs
Galloway, on Lebanon: ‘The resistance drove out an Israeli occupation of 28 years. White phosphorous was used against Lebanon in 1982. I visited the hospitals. I saw the effects of white phosphorous on children as they lay there, breathing out white smoke as the gas cooks them from the inside out!
‘God-fearing Christian, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair supported Israel’s assault on Gaza.'
Audience shouts of, "Shame!"
‘In the village of Zeitoun, one family of thirty-five: Dead. The Israeli army prevented ambulances for five days from reaching the wounded and dead. They killed ambulance workers who tried to get in!
A five-year old child demanded to know from Galloway:
“Where is the Arab world? The Umma? [Islamic leadership.] Why don’t they help us?”
‘I promised that child, with my last breath, to tell the world.
‘Five convoys so far have broken the siege of Gaza to bring the people humanitarian supplies: ambulances, medicine, educational equipment - and this makes this terrorism! The word has been bankrupted of all meaning if that is supporting terrorism!
‘We live in a very, very dangerous, unbalanced world…fake indictment of Hezbollah for the assassination of Hariri by Canadian authorities. For four years we were told it was Syria; not the Lebanese resistance.
“Stand up for Palestinians! For Afghans! For freedom!”
Standing ovation, whistles, hooting. End of George Galloway speech.
There is a brief statement from the peace groups about American war resisters fighting deportation proceedings. The Canadian Labor Congress needs two-thousand dollars fighting to keep U.S. war resisters from being forced to go back to the U.S. A fragile-looking individual introduced to the audience as Skyler shares that they joined the U.S. army, but, with, 'don’t ask don’t tell,' the U.S. military does not 'stand for gays.' Skyler, from all appearances, looks pretty depressed. Enjoys Canada: people are welcoming. I should have been born in Canada, 'best place in the world.' A collection is taken the old-fashioned way passing buckets through the aisles. Folding money and change come out of pockets, wallets and purses.
Last, the audience is strongly encouraged to join in the anti-war march.
Outside, protest signs are being handed out. I scoot, hunched in the cold, back the way I came to my car. I end up stuck at the bottom of the street at a long red light as the march, I suddenly realize, advances, bearing down on my car from on high at the crest of Bronson Avenue - drums drumming, banners waving. The policeman's car, like a tank, is leading, onward, safe passage for these troops who fight for peace and social justice, marching to Parliament Hill.
Colder now. The day grows dim and with all my might, I will the traffic light to change.
__________
Notes
1] Organizers and sponsors of the tour:
Ottawa Peace Assembly: http://ottawapeace.org/ ;
Palestinian Canadian Congress: http://www.pcc-cpc.ca/ ;
Ottawa Palestine Solidarity Network ;
Pan-Canadian tour organizers:
Canadian Peace Alliance: http://www.acp-cpa.ca/;
Canadian Boat to Gaza: http://canadaboatgaza.org/;
Canadian Arab Federation: http://www.caf.ca/ ;
Independent Jewish Voices: http://www.independentjewishvoices.ca/;
Defend Free Speech Campaign: http://www.defendfreespeech.ca/;
Media sponsor:
rabble.ca: http://www.rabble.ca/ ;
[2] Article, 'Court dismisses George Galloway Appeal'; Mike Blanchfield;
Canadian Press for the Globe and Mail; Sept. 27, 2010;
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/court-dismisses-george-galloway-appeal/article1728317/ ;
[2a] The September 27, 2010 legal judgment; can be viewed here:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/38659265/2010-09-27-George-Galloway-Canada-Court-Decision ;
[3] Youtube of CTV news clip: 'Canadian PM: Canada will defend Israel, whatever the cost';
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUfFdhIOoQM ;
Youtube: George Galloway speech, 'Free Palestine, Free Afghanistan, Free Speech'; Ottawa; Nov. 2010;
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=5366AAEA9D2C7CFE ;
from Youtube StraightGoodsNews channel;
Copyright 2010, Diane V. McLoughlin
All Rights Reserved.
By Diane V. McLoughlin December 6, 2010
main website: mcloughlinpost.com
[Author's note: The apostrophe, ' ' is used below for the spoken word when I am not absolutely certain that I transcribed exactly what the speaker said, while conveying the spirit of what was said. It is also used to indicate a fanciful inner dialogue of 'policeman,' below. Square brackets [ ] are sometimes used to interject a note of clarification, or when there is audience reaction.]
Mr. George Galloway, peace activist and distinguished former British Member of Parliament, gave a speech delivered with wit and charm at Ottawa's Bronson Centre early on the overcast Saturday afternoon of November 27, 2010.
The tour was entitled, ‘Free Afghanistan, Free Palestine, Free Speech.’ It was Mr. Galloway’s last scheduled stop of ten cities, raising funds for the Canadian Boat to Gaza, as well as the anti-war movement.[1]
Some of the main sponsors of the event were the Ottawa Peace Assembly, and the Canadian Peace Alliance.
Messages the peace groups themselves conveyed were, 'end the war', and, 'expose the lies of Stephen Harper’s government'.
Directly after Mr. Galloway’s presentation, there was to be an anti-war march to Parliament Hill. This corresponded nicely with the fact that Canada was expected to vote on whether to extend participation in the Afghanistan war, early in the following week.
Unexpectedly, there was a too-early-for-this winter’s wind direct from the Arctic. It charged over the Gatineau Hills, scooped up damp off of the surface of the Ottawa River, to rush, North - South, up and over the earthquake fault-line running under Bronson Avenue. I braced, cursing the weather, as I walked from my car, tilted sideways against the wind. Probably not too many people coming out; too bad.
And it was true, there was not much action outside the modest entrance. Just a few frigid souls handing out leaflets. Here is the text of the two flyers I was handed as I rushed to get in out of the cold:
‘VIGIL, International Human Rights Day & Mohamed Harkat’s 8th year anniversary of his arrest under a Security Certificate, December 10th, 2010, 5 P.M.
Human Rights Monument (corner of Lisgar and Elgin)
Bring candles or flashlights/friends
Stop Secret Trials in Canada
Abolish Security Certificates
Mohamed Harkat was arrested on December 10th, 2002 under a
Security Certificate without charge or access to the evidence.
Detained for 43 months and spent one year in solitary confinement.
Released in June of 2006, under the toughest conditions in
Canadian history. His Canadian wife was his full-time jailer and
prisoner in her own home. Now he faces deportation to torture…
all under a veil of secrecy for National Security reasons.
CSIS alleges, assumes, believes…would you trust them with your life?
(For more info: http://www.justiceforharkat.com/ )’
Regarding the Harkat case, Sophie Harkat, a French-Canadian, is a pearl. Over the long years, she has continued to fight for her husband‘s freedom. It was she herself who handed out the flyers.
Another flyer handed out:
‘Support the Canadian Boat to Gaza
A Canadian humanitarian initiative to aid the
Civilian population of Gaza living under Israeli blockade
http://www.canadaboattogaza.org/ ’
There were also flyers handed out that were negative on Galloway, according to subsequent media reports. I didn’t see any of those. They would have been interesting to read and share, as well. Aggravating. But interesting.
In the surprisingly crowded lobby, people were being directed to, ‘please take a seat in the hall if you already have tickets, it’s going to start [very late] soon.’
In the middle of the milling crowd, within a wide circle of avoiding-that space, there is a bemused young man
speaking to an imposing, wide-stanced policeman. The policeman is a giant who, I note wryly, is standing with legs so far apart that it is as if to say, 'That’s right. My balls are that big. So my personal recommendation to everybody here is that nobody mess with me.' I can see I’m with the kid on this one, unable to decide whether I should be amused or intimidated. The officer is warmly dressed, in an ensemble that includes black splash pants with reflective tape on them, and enormous winter boots. The young man is saying something politely above the bustle of the crowd about how he understands, but that he’s not really in any official capacity to tell people how to stay on the sidewalks.
Subsequent published estimates put the capacity crowd in the auditorium at 900. Impressive, considering the bitter cold.
Typical city dress: Jacket, sweater and jeans. A few hijabs. The assembling throng is college- and middle-aged. Eclectic. There is a distinctive aura of education.
I would share that, on my way out afterward, there was a woman seated apart against the wall by the auditorium doors, with a solicitous man hovering by her. She was all in black, only a slit where her eyes were exposed. Fortunately, from my own cultural perspective, one sees few women so cut off from society in these parts by way of what they wear. In Western society there are other ways women can find themselves oppressed. My heart went out to her with a twist: I wished my man was hovering solicitously near me.
Hoping to sit where clacking on my laptop won’t aggravate…hall is too full. No one seems bothered. (Happiness.)
Introductions on-stage. The Canadian Peace Alliance has 140 member groups, including the Council of Canadians and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers [both big;] rabble.ca [indy on-line news site;] the Canadian Arab Federation.
Jason Penner, Independent Jewish Voices, is at the mike: “It is not anti-Semitic to criticize Israel!” [loud clapping]…not anti-Semitic to stand up for Palestinian human rights!” [Audience: ‘Hooray!’]
Another group’s spokesperson, Canadian Boat to Gaza: ‘Fundraising brings people together from coast to coast to break the siege - we have a special responsibility, considering the Harper government’s unquestioning support of Israel.’
More from the stage: ‘We are upholding our right to free speech. Defend human rights. Jason Kenney [a Canadian Member of Parliament] has done more for promoting the peace groups. We thank Mr. Kenney for making sure the people of Canada know what he’s really all about.’ ‘And,’ [gesturing magnanimously to the speaker‘s right] “we’ve saved him a seat today…;” [a table and chairs are on-stage. One of the seats has a ’Jason Kenney’ sign taped to it. Audience laughs.]
‘-…controversial topic. Let’s keep it respectful. Everyone who wants to participate in the discussion may do so at the question-and-answer portion of the event.’
Background: The last time Mr. Galloway was invited to Canada to speak, in 2009, a staff member who works in Conservative MP Jason Kenney's office (Minister for Citizenship and Immigration Canada) no doubt prompted by loud noise from self-styled pro-Israel lobbyists, acted to bar Mr. Galloway from being admitted into the country. The argument: Mr. Galloway should not be admitted, being a ‘supporter’ of the Palestinian group, Hamas, a group that is designated a terrorist organization by the Canadian government.
The actions of the government were subsequently denounced. Mr. Galloway and others successfully sought a legal judgment in Federal Court. Justice Mosley ruled, 'that the main reason why the respondents sought to prevent Mr. Galloway from entering Canada was that they disagreed with his political views.' [2] [2a]
All that this abuse-of-authority foolishness did - in trying to squelch freedom of speech and assembly - was delight Mr. Galloway with a democratic challenge. It is as if he is made of aplite - an interesting entry convenient to 'aplomb' in the dictionary: a light-colored, fine-grained granite rock.
Threatened with being barred at the Canadian border, Mr. Galloway did two things: He spoke at the scheduled 2009 events through live video feed; and he prepared to defend, not only his own rights and his own reputation, but, in defending himself he was defending Canada's reputation as a democratic country; he was fighting for Canadian freedoms of speech and assembly, too.
Due to the authoritarian behaviour of the Conservative government, and the wide coverage by the press, the anti-war and social justice crowd couldn't have been more pleased. The results were packed auditoriums and church halls to hear one live in-person, giddy, gifted Scot, victorious in 2010.
Perhaps because the police escort had to wait around all afternoon for the anti-war protest march afterward, many were no doubt disappointed to find that organizers either did not, or could not, keep their word: There was no time for anyone to lob questions, hard or soft, at Mr. Galloway. The march began with evident haste, ‘while there’s still daylight’, immediately following.
George Galloway introduction; he ascends the stage to rousing standing ovation.
Mr. Galloway: “As I was saying - before I was [rolling, soft Gailic ‘r’s] rrrudely interrupted!” “So close [audience laughter] I can almost sense Mr. Kenney’s presence!”
Galloway: ‘So close to the Supreme Court!’ ‘So lucky!’ ‘Despite not being a gambling man - as I am a religious man, gambling is, in fact, forbidden - nevertheless!’ “Today, I bought a lottery ticket!” [The day’s pot, $30 million dollars.] “If, on behalf of the peace movement, I scoop the lotto this evening - but I won’t ask you to pray for that, because it’s not really permitted - but I would like to see Jason Kenney’s face!” [Laughter; applause.]
‘Thanks to everyone involved. ‘Fantastic tour, coast to coast to coast of Canada. Thousands of people, thousands, have come to these rallies. In inclement weather. Donating generously. Our message has reached millions in the last two weeks!’ Audience: "Bravo!"
‘Any book you try to ban, automatically gets on the best-seller list! We intend to stay there! This is not goodbye [last tour date] but a bien tot - until we meet again. I will be back again and again!” [More applause.]
Galloway:
‘My eye caught something on the metro [bus]:
‘Last Laugh for Former Brit MP.’
‘True. Up to a point. But what Jason Kenney did was not funny. To be slandered in front of the entire world whilst sitting for a quarter of a century in the biggest of parliaments - doesn’t get much more serious that.’
‘Must have come as a surprise, as her Majesty the Queen, regularly meeting with her as I did in Buckingham Palace, that not only was I harboring a terrorist organization … surprising to the House of Commons, too, where I have been voted 'Debater of the Year', all the while a member of a terrorist organization with the aim to harm Canada! [Audience laughter.] And even under George Bush’s presidency I was permitted into that country! But Jason Kenney apparently knew something that the CIA did not!’
‘The Canadian security services knew that both the allegations were false: that George Galloway is not a member of a terrorist organization and he is not a threat to Canada’s security. Thanks to any CSIS agents present [Canadian Security Intelligence Services] …jokingly invites any secret agents in the audience to stand and publicly take credit; [dramatic pause.] 'No?' [Laughter.]
‘What can we say about a Canadian government that lies on such a scale? Their tune has changed; apparently I wasn’t banned at all. But we know better.
‘Kenney tried to proclaim that, ‘Galloway isn’t coming here, and that is that.’
Galloway: “That is not that.” Audience: "Here, here!"
‘Jason Kenney should meet me man-to-man to resolve this matter. If he doesn’t see me here he’ll see me in court, that’s for sure.’ [Clapping].
Galloway has launched legal suits. ‘Every cent we win from the Canadian government will be used to build a greater Canadian anti-war movement.’ [Applause.]
‘How did Canada go, in such a few short years, where freedom of speech and association…regarded as a model of multicultural society; a place where liberal values prevailed; was loved in the 1970’s and 80’s in Lebanon…the Canadian soldiers were the favorite soldiers under UNIFIL. How did this happen, to be reduced to merely an embassy of the most extreme right-wing Israeli government the world has ever seen?!’
‘[Canadian Prime Minister] Harper is prepared to pay “any price.” [3]
‘[Israeli Prime Minister] Netanyahu’s a fascist. Harper is prepared to pay any price. But the Canadian people are not prepared!’ [Much clapping.]
‘In any other democratic society, a minister would not have survived politically, the sixty-page caning from the court [as Jason Kenney received] and would have resigned; pages that unmask the crime that the people could be treated as children: who to hear, what to speak, what to think; I am proud of Canadians!’
‘There are limits to freedom of speech! Not to defame and libel anyone. No one may use their freedom to whip up religious hatred. Such hate speech is repugnant to all of us in the anti-war movement.’
Mentions the National Post: ‘…surely the worst paper I have ever seen in my life!’
Shares a little of his background: Joined the labor party at 13. Active as a child at election-time with parents. A socialist.
‘We are against the racist ideology of Zionism!’ [Cheering; applause.]
‘There are thousands, hundreds of thousands marching with us, including in Israel itself. We are not guilty of any form of racism. In fact, those who accuse us have a far more questionable record, and we refuse to be intimidated out of our right, from this smear, from criticizing Israel!’
Analogy of Russia and communism: ‘We didn’t want to destroy the people of Russia, but the ideology. Zionism is, itself, a racist ideology. It believes that, for example, a Canadian Jew isn’t Canadian. Israel is described as a Jewish state; even though 25% of Israel’s citizens are not Jews. Israel is also racist against the occupied Palestinians.
‘I saw Apartheid South Africa. I worked underground there. Jewish members of the African National Congress financially supported me and my work.
'We fight in Iraq for democracy while there is none in Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, there were free and fair elections by the Palestinians, who unfortunately [according to Israel and the U.S.] voted the wrong way’ [and were, and continue to be, roundly punished for it.]
Galloway on Afghanistan: ‘The Canadian government has broken another promise: not withdrawing the troops. This was supposed to be the Canadian military’s last tour of duty. We have been training Afghans for ten years.
“Nobody trains the Taliban, and yet…they do quite well!” [Laughter.]
‘The training budget for President Karzai’s army is [didn’t quite catch Galloway’s figure…billions.] ‘No noticeable improvement in ten years.’
Riled audience member shouts out - no pensions! The inference being Canadian tax dollars are going to bullets and bombs rather than social spending at home. Galloway responds by sharing that in Scotland, pensioners are more likely to freeze to death in winter even as compared to the outer reaches of Siberia. [Sharp intake of breath from the shocked audience.]
‘Thirty-five percent of the Afghan military recruits we train slip out the back door and join the Taliban. Apparently the wages are better.
‘No one has successfully occupied Afghanistan, not even Alexander the Great.
“Mr. Harper, you ain’t no Alexander the Great!”
‘We are so desperate for somebody, anybody, to negotiate our withdrawal, that the other day a shopkeeper showed up and said, 'I’m a leader of the Taliban.' He met [U.S.] General McCrystal. He flew to meet Karzai. They gave him four hundred-thousand dollars! He really won the lottery. He came back three times before somebody realized he wasn’t the real guy!
‘The conflation of al-Quaeda - terrorists - to Taliban: Taliban only want to drive out the occupied armies, and any would. The Afghans are good at it: British, Russians: defeated in their times. Karzai’s administration is not worth the blood of a single soldier’s life.
‘Our demand is that Afghanistan does not become a base for bin Laden. But those terms have always been available. Every life lost was lost in vain. Al Quaeda are not in Afghanistan. See Bob Woodward’s book. There are forty-five al-Quaeda left in all of Afghanistan. Why do we still have hundreds of thousands of troops there?
‘Our presence is recruiting for bin Laden all over the world. The swamp of hatred in the Muslim world is ever deepened by our continued occupation - in which the enemy has actually left! We sent those people in there in the first place. Bin laden was only in Afghanistan because [U.S. President] Reagan and [Great Britain’s Prime Minister] Thatcher sent him in there under the dubious moral principle that the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
‘I am completely against this global al-Quaeda mindset. I despise bin Laden, a medieval savage. I despised him when you were giving him guns and money. The blood of Iraqis, Afghanis and Palestinians is far cheaper than others, and it is recognized for what it is in the Muslim world.
On the subway-bombing terrorist attack in London: ‘The murder of innocent people for the crimes of others - is no different as a crime, regardless of what he wears or what tools of destruction are used. The base hypocrisy, the double-standard of what we are doing over there is not recognized in the media.
‘Palestine is the heart of the matter, the center of the confrontation between the two worlds. The Palestinians who are the victims of terrorism, and Israel which perpetrates the terror is called the victim. This double-standard Muslims cannot accept. Its people have been scattered.
‘On my tour here in Canada I couldn’t believe it - there are six Palestinian families living in the Great Slave Lake region of the Canadian Arctic!
‘Millions of Palestinians that were driven from their lands now have foreigners living in their houses. Sixty-two years in rancid, rat-infested refugee camps - Palestinians demand to go home! [Audience roars approval.]
‘The kaffiya [Palestinian scarf of white, with a wavy black-check pattern] has become a symbol throughout the world, for the struggle for peace and justice.
‘The Palestinians will ultimately win. How did it come about - that my country, the British foreign secretary [Balfour; turn of the 20th century] promised one people, atheistic Jews, promised the land that belonged to a third people that Britain didn’t even possess at that time. This group of white European atheistic settlers had no real desire to go there. They wanted to go to the Seychelles, or to Patagonia in Latin America. Only later, that God was a state agent. A bogus claim.
‘The U.S. for the past fifty years has paid for every bullet, every bomb supporting the occupation. A country
eliminated - the people - scattered.
‘Finally, the people had an election, described by Jimmy Carter as pristine and transparent. The problem is that the people voted the ‘wrong’ way.
‘I am not a supporter of Hamas. I am a supporter of democracy, and the only people qualified to choose who represents them is the Palestinian people themselves.
Regarding pro-Israel Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Liberal opposition leader Michael Ignatieff:
“Two cheeks of the same backside!” [Guffaws.]
‘Why is there an economic siege for voting the wrong way?! How can this be justified with our protestations of love for democratic processes in other countries? In Gaza today, eighty percent are refugees and therefore entitled to protection from the international community. Eighty percent are living on a dollar a day. The children are under- or malnourished.
‘We have not seen anything like it since the Second World War. 1.6 million Palestinians were locked up in Gaza so that death and destruction could be rained down upon them, live, on television. For twenty-two days and nights we saw a barbarous assault of a people who could not escape because the doors were locked by those dropping the bombs. Not only bombs, but gas. Can you believe a state calling itself a Jewish state dropping white phosphorous gas on a civilian population? [Late-2008 - early 2009: Israel’s military assault on Gaza, nicknamed, ’Operation Cast Lead.’]
Galloway, on Lebanon: ‘The resistance drove out an Israeli occupation of 28 years. White phosphorous was used against Lebanon in 1982. I visited the hospitals. I saw the effects of white phosphorous on children as they lay there, breathing out white smoke as the gas cooks them from the inside out!
‘God-fearing Christian, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair supported Israel’s assault on Gaza.'
Audience shouts of, "Shame!"
‘In the village of Zeitoun, one family of thirty-five: Dead. The Israeli army prevented ambulances for five days from reaching the wounded and dead. They killed ambulance workers who tried to get in!
A five-year old child demanded to know from Galloway:
“Where is the Arab world? The Umma? [Islamic leadership.] Why don’t they help us?”
‘I promised that child, with my last breath, to tell the world.
‘Five convoys so far have broken the siege of Gaza to bring the people humanitarian supplies: ambulances, medicine, educational equipment - and this makes this terrorism! The word has been bankrupted of all meaning if that is supporting terrorism!
‘We live in a very, very dangerous, unbalanced world…fake indictment of Hezbollah for the assassination of Hariri by Canadian authorities. For four years we were told it was Syria; not the Lebanese resistance.
“Stand up for Palestinians! For Afghans! For freedom!”
Standing ovation, whistles, hooting. End of George Galloway speech.
There is a brief statement from the peace groups about American war resisters fighting deportation proceedings. The Canadian Labor Congress needs two-thousand dollars fighting to keep U.S. war resisters from being forced to go back to the U.S. A fragile-looking individual introduced to the audience as Skyler shares that they joined the U.S. army, but, with, 'don’t ask don’t tell,' the U.S. military does not 'stand for gays.' Skyler, from all appearances, looks pretty depressed. Enjoys Canada: people are welcoming. I should have been born in Canada, 'best place in the world.' A collection is taken the old-fashioned way passing buckets through the aisles. Folding money and change come out of pockets, wallets and purses.
Last, the audience is strongly encouraged to join in the anti-war march.
Outside, protest signs are being handed out. I scoot, hunched in the cold, back the way I came to my car. I end up stuck at the bottom of the street at a long red light as the march, I suddenly realize, advances, bearing down on my car from on high at the crest of Bronson Avenue - drums drumming, banners waving. The policeman's car, like a tank, is leading, onward, safe passage for these troops who fight for peace and social justice, marching to Parliament Hill.
Colder now. The day grows dim and with all my might, I will the traffic light to change.
__________
Notes
1] Organizers and sponsors of the tour:
Ottawa Peace Assembly: http://ottawapeace.org/ ;
Palestinian Canadian Congress: http://www.pcc-cpc.ca/ ;
Ottawa Palestine Solidarity Network ;
Pan-Canadian tour organizers:
Canadian Peace Alliance: http://www.acp-cpa.ca/;
Canadian Boat to Gaza: http://canadaboatgaza.org/;
Canadian Arab Federation: http://www.caf.ca/ ;
Independent Jewish Voices: http://www.independentjewishvoices.ca/;
Defend Free Speech Campaign: http://www.defendfreespeech.ca/;
Media sponsor:
rabble.ca: http://www.rabble.ca/ ;
[2] Article, 'Court dismisses George Galloway Appeal'; Mike Blanchfield;
Canadian Press for the Globe and Mail; Sept. 27, 2010;
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/court-dismisses-george-galloway-appeal/article1728317/ ;
[2a] The September 27, 2010 legal judgment; can be viewed here:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/38659265/2010-09-27-George-Galloway-Canada-Court-Decision ;
[3] Youtube of CTV news clip: 'Canadian PM: Canada will defend Israel, whatever the cost';
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUfFdhIOoQM ;
Youtube: George Galloway speech, 'Free Palestine, Free Afghanistan, Free Speech'; Ottawa; Nov. 2010;
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=5366AAEA9D2C7CFE ;
from Youtube StraightGoodsNews channel;
Copyright 2010, Diane V. McLoughlin
All Rights Reserved.
Nail Down the Goal Posts to Israel-Palestine Peace
By Diane V. McLoughlin, November 22, 2010
main website: mcloughlinpost.com
The problem, in politics as in life itself, is that, infuriatingly, the goal posts move while we're busy digging-in at what we thought was something approximating a finish line. If Clinton can be the historic fundamental force that hammers out a two-state agreement that Right and Left in Israel will abide by, and that Hamas and Fatah believe is just - great.
Equally historic will be the hangover - mine - from celebrating the anticipated rippling outward of peace in the world.
But many are coming around to the view that the goal posts have in fact moved way beyond the possibilities of a two-state solution now, and it's not just the 500,000 Jewish colonizers occupying Palestinian space that makes this so.
One bi-national state with citizenship, equal rights and the vote for all - this is where the goal posts are being moved to and we need to catch up to the reality of the situation.
An article published just yesterday in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz states flatly that South African apartheid 'is already here'. (1)
There is a less-than-subtle discriminatory tone in this NYT piece that does nothing to elevate the discussion:
'...self-pitying, self-dramatizing Palestinian psyche, with all the cloying accoutrements of victimhood' - zounds! If there's one thing we find intolerable it is the expression of pain from victims of occupation and ethnic cleansing - puts us off our tea, eh what? To say this as a generalization of Jews would be considered beyond the pale...rightly so; a double standard by any measure.
Helpful hints on Israeli apartheid laws: the proposed 'Loyalty Oath' (2); giving Israeli neighborhood community groups the power to vet and reject prospective residents (3); the land laws that the state utilizes to ensure to this day that only Jews reside on land that was wrenched from the indigenous Palestinians (4); the marriage laws (5); Jews-only roads (6); military order 1650 empowering the expulsion of Palestinians from their homes in the West Bank (and making them actually pay a fee to cover their expulsion's expense) (7); etc.
With the exception of Gaza, the truth of the matter is that Jews and Palestinians do not live apart. One group is the preferred group with full rights of citizenship; the other does not have equal rights. In the West Bank and Gaza, Palestinians have no rights at all, including the right, it seems, to be represented by those they would democratically choose if given the opportunity. Fayyad and Abbas have no mandate and it behooves Clinton to acknowledge that Palestinian elections are long-overdue.
Anyway, the U.S. shot the Palestinians in the foot when it made this latest deal: to block any Palestinian proposal with the U.N. security council to unilaterally declare its statehood, in exchange for an Israeli promise to halt - for all of three months?! - expansion of illegal settlements in the West Bank. This is a complete non-starter guaranteed to deliver a still-birth of a peace deal. No one could blame the Muslim world for thinking that was the aim all along. (8)
Speaking of feet, there are quiet efforts afoot to move the goal posts of what meets the definition of anti-Semitism; some would like it to be categorized as hate speech to suggest that Israel is not a 'Jewish collectivity' when over 20% of Israel's citizens are Arab-Israeli. Include Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and the refugees and the numbers are closer to a 50-50 even split. That's right. I said it. (9)
I read today that USAID helps fund with our tax dollars settler roads in the West Bank. (10) And of course that hardly tells the whole tale of the annual billions in U.S. tax dollars that enable Israel.
All gold carrot and no stick is a poor policy when applied solely to one side of a two-sided dispute.
________________
Notes:
(1) Article, 'South Africa is already here'; Zvi Bar'el; Haaretz; Oct. 31, 2010;
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/south-africa-is-already-here-1.322052 ;
(2) 'Israeli Arab MK: Loyalty oath relegates Israel's Palestinian citizens to inferior status
In a New York Times op-ed, Ahmed Tibi says the loyalty oath is a 'punch in the
gut to Palestinians who for more than 60 years have struggled to achieve equal
rights in Israel'; Haaretz; Oct. 22, 2010;
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/israeli-arab-mk-loyalty-oath-relegates-israel-s-palestinian-citizens-to-inferior-status-1.320624 ;
(3) 'Knesset panel approves controversial bill allowing towns to reject residents
Israeli Arab MKs al-Sana and Tibi walk out on committee discussion, calling it a
'criminal law' aiming to prevent Arabs from joining Israeli towns'; By Jonathan Lis
and Jack Khoury; Oct. 27, 2010; Haaretz; [*FTA: 'The committee's chairman,
David Rotem (Yisrael Beiteinu), responded to claims the bill was meant to reject
Arabs from joining Israeli towns. "In my opinion, every Jewish town needs at least
one Arab. What would happen if my refrigerator stopped working on a Saturday?"]
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/knesset-panel-approves-controversial-bill-allowing-towns-to-reject-residents-1.321433 ;
(4) 'Who needs the JNF?'; Haaretz editorial; Sept. 23, 2007;
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/who-needs-the-jnf-1.229832 ;
(5) 'The existing laws suffice'; Haaretz; July 31, 2003;
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/the-existing-laws-suffice-1.95824 ;
(6) 'Peace Now slams gov't W. Bank Investments'; by tovah lazaroff and rebecca anna stoil; JPost;
08/26/2007; http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=73272 ;
(7) Israeli military order 1650; Wikipedia;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_military_order_1650 ;
(8) 'The endgame for the peace process - Indepth
Future historians will argue over the precise moment when the Arab-Israeli peace process died;
Robert Grenier; Al-Jazeera; Nov. 21, 2010;
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/2010/11/20101120114435124111.html ;
(9) 'Hate Speech Laws to Shield Israel From Accountability?'; Diane V. McLoughlin; Nov. 8, 2010;
http://www.mcloughlinpost.com/Hate-Speech-Laws-to-Shield-Israel-from-Accountability.html ;
(10) 'US Funds Israel's Apartheid Roads Plan'; Jonathan Cook; ANTI-WAR.COM; May 16, 2010;
http://original.antiwar.com/cook/2010/05/15/us-funds-israels-apartheid-roads-plan/ ;
copyright 2010, Diane V. McLoughlin
All Rights Reserved.
main website: mcloughlinpost.com
The problem, in politics as in life itself, is that, infuriatingly, the goal posts move while we're busy digging-in at what we thought was something approximating a finish line. If Clinton can be the historic fundamental force that hammers out a two-state agreement that Right and Left in Israel will abide by, and that Hamas and Fatah believe is just - great.
Equally historic will be the hangover - mine - from celebrating the anticipated rippling outward of peace in the world.
But many are coming around to the view that the goal posts have in fact moved way beyond the possibilities of a two-state solution now, and it's not just the 500,000 Jewish colonizers occupying Palestinian space that makes this so.
One bi-national state with citizenship, equal rights and the vote for all - this is where the goal posts are being moved to and we need to catch up to the reality of the situation.
An article published just yesterday in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz states flatly that South African apartheid 'is already here'. (1)
There is a less-than-subtle discriminatory tone in this NYT piece that does nothing to elevate the discussion:
'...self-pitying, self-dramatizing Palestinian psyche, with all the cloying accoutrements of victimhood' - zounds! If there's one thing we find intolerable it is the expression of pain from victims of occupation and ethnic cleansing - puts us off our tea, eh what? To say this as a generalization of Jews would be considered beyond the pale...rightly so; a double standard by any measure.
Helpful hints on Israeli apartheid laws: the proposed 'Loyalty Oath' (2); giving Israeli neighborhood community groups the power to vet and reject prospective residents (3); the land laws that the state utilizes to ensure to this day that only Jews reside on land that was wrenched from the indigenous Palestinians (4); the marriage laws (5); Jews-only roads (6); military order 1650 empowering the expulsion of Palestinians from their homes in the West Bank (and making them actually pay a fee to cover their expulsion's expense) (7); etc.
With the exception of Gaza, the truth of the matter is that Jews and Palestinians do not live apart. One group is the preferred group with full rights of citizenship; the other does not have equal rights. In the West Bank and Gaza, Palestinians have no rights at all, including the right, it seems, to be represented by those they would democratically choose if given the opportunity. Fayyad and Abbas have no mandate and it behooves Clinton to acknowledge that Palestinian elections are long-overdue.
Anyway, the U.S. shot the Palestinians in the foot when it made this latest deal: to block any Palestinian proposal with the U.N. security council to unilaterally declare its statehood, in exchange for an Israeli promise to halt - for all of three months?! - expansion of illegal settlements in the West Bank. This is a complete non-starter guaranteed to deliver a still-birth of a peace deal. No one could blame the Muslim world for thinking that was the aim all along. (8)
Speaking of feet, there are quiet efforts afoot to move the goal posts of what meets the definition of anti-Semitism; some would like it to be categorized as hate speech to suggest that Israel is not a 'Jewish collectivity' when over 20% of Israel's citizens are Arab-Israeli. Include Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and the refugees and the numbers are closer to a 50-50 even split. That's right. I said it. (9)
I read today that USAID helps fund with our tax dollars settler roads in the West Bank. (10) And of course that hardly tells the whole tale of the annual billions in U.S. tax dollars that enable Israel.
All gold carrot and no stick is a poor policy when applied solely to one side of a two-sided dispute.
________________
Notes:
(1) Article, 'South Africa is already here'; Zvi Bar'el; Haaretz; Oct. 31, 2010;
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/south-africa-is-already-here-1.322052 ;
(2) 'Israeli Arab MK: Loyalty oath relegates Israel's Palestinian citizens to inferior status
In a New York Times op-ed, Ahmed Tibi says the loyalty oath is a 'punch in the
gut to Palestinians who for more than 60 years have struggled to achieve equal
rights in Israel'; Haaretz; Oct. 22, 2010;
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/israeli-arab-mk-loyalty-oath-relegates-israel-s-palestinian-citizens-to-inferior-status-1.320624 ;
(3) 'Knesset panel approves controversial bill allowing towns to reject residents
Israeli Arab MKs al-Sana and Tibi walk out on committee discussion, calling it a
'criminal law' aiming to prevent Arabs from joining Israeli towns'; By Jonathan Lis
and Jack Khoury; Oct. 27, 2010; Haaretz; [*FTA: 'The committee's chairman,
David Rotem (Yisrael Beiteinu), responded to claims the bill was meant to reject
Arabs from joining Israeli towns. "In my opinion, every Jewish town needs at least
one Arab. What would happen if my refrigerator stopped working on a Saturday?"]
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/knesset-panel-approves-controversial-bill-allowing-towns-to-reject-residents-1.321433 ;
(4) 'Who needs the JNF?'; Haaretz editorial; Sept. 23, 2007;
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/who-needs-the-jnf-1.229832 ;
(5) 'The existing laws suffice'; Haaretz; July 31, 2003;
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/the-existing-laws-suffice-1.95824 ;
(6) 'Peace Now slams gov't W. Bank Investments'; by tovah lazaroff and rebecca anna stoil; JPost;
08/26/2007; http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=73272 ;
(7) Israeli military order 1650; Wikipedia;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_military_order_1650 ;
(8) 'The endgame for the peace process - Indepth
Future historians will argue over the precise moment when the Arab-Israeli peace process died;
Robert Grenier; Al-Jazeera; Nov. 21, 2010;
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/2010/11/20101120114435124111.html ;
(9) 'Hate Speech Laws to Shield Israel From Accountability?'; Diane V. McLoughlin; Nov. 8, 2010;
http://www.mcloughlinpost.com/Hate-Speech-Laws-to-Shield-Israel-from-Accountability.html ;
(10) 'US Funds Israel's Apartheid Roads Plan'; Jonathan Cook; ANTI-WAR.COM; May 16, 2010;
http://original.antiwar.com/cook/2010/05/15/us-funds-israels-apartheid-roads-plan/ ;
copyright 2010, Diane V. McLoughlin
All Rights Reserved.
Hate Speech Laws to Shield Israel from Accountability?
Hate Speech Laws to Shield Israel from Accountability?
by Diane V. McLoughlin, November 8, 2010
main website: mcloughlinpost.com
An international conference on anti-Semitism (the Inter-parliamentary Coalition Combating Anti-Semitism - ICCA) is taking place November 7 - 9th, 2010, in Ottawa, Canada. An *'Ottawa Protocol' is to be declared on the last day of the conference. One hundred parliamentarians from 45 countries are reportedly being hosted by the coalition's Canadian counterpart, the CPCCA (Canadian Parliamentary Coalition Combating Anti-Semitism.)
I have had difficulty ascertaining whether or not the conference is open to the media. There is a rumor going around that it is a closed event. I have been assured that the conference is closed to me, however, according to Fleishman-Hillard, a private public relations firm hired to vet enquiries regarding this publicly-funded event. Clues as to why the committee chose Fleishman-Hillard can be found on the PR firm's website:
'Fleishman-Hillard’s Ottawa office is a leader in helping Canadian and international companies shape the national agenda. We help influence public policy...and...fundamentally change public attitudes...[we] help clients influence what Canadians are thinking and talking about...We bring together all aspects of government relations, regulatory affairs, strategic communications, issues management and research services to help public, private and not-for-profit clients influence the audiences that matter to them most.' (1)
The Canadian government is providing almost $500,000 dollars to finance this event (1a), with the apparent aim of fundamentally altering law on an international scale. It appears to be all of a piece that the CPCCA would hide behind a PR firm, seeing as they actively excluded participation of such groups as Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East in CPCCA hearings; they have so far chosen not to release the CPCCA's final report, as well.
The goal of stamping out the embers of anti-Semitism - racist hatred of Jews - is noble. But why is the scope of discussion not broader, to reject racism and discrimination in all forms? For the fact of the matter is that
there are racist pinheads in every society, including amongst Jews themselves.
For instance, rabbis of a prominent religious school in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Yitzhak Shapira and Yosef Elitzur, published a 230-page book earlier this year entitled, 'The King's Torah' (Torat Hamelech)
which in part details under which conditions it is permissible to kill non-Jews, including babies.
According to these teachers, it is permissible to kill babies if it prevents them from growing up to be enemies. (1b)
The only time a human being could argue in defense of killing another groups' babies is when he believes his group is more worthy of life itself. These are teachers that shape the minds of the next generation, as they contemplate life while residing on ethnically-cleansed Palestinian land.
(art by Latuff)
The ramifications of what may be the ICCA's true goal are profound, to whit: To silence criticism of
the State of Israel. I am deeply concerned that the ICCA and CPCCA intend to use the fight against racism as a shield to cover for it. To do so would cause Israel to be more vulnerable to attack by those it oppresses, not less so, by tightening the screws on non-violent resistance rather than concentrating on which choices might lead to a just peace.
The number-one declaration coming out of last year's ICCA conference (1c), is as follows (emphasis added):
'We today in London resolve that; challenging antisemitism Parliamentarians shall expose, challenge, and isolate political actors who engage in hate against Jews and target the State of Israel as a Jewish collectivity'.
Democratic societies believe it is imperative that people be free to say things that are unpopular or offensive to some, in order that we might maximize our opportunity to be acquainted with the unfettered truth.
When speech is free, what is true has the opportunity to shine bright against what ought to be exposed, challenged and isolated: falsehood. Messing with this fundamental law is a dangerously foolish gambit.
The ICCA, chaired by Canada's former Justice Minister Irwin Cotler, calls criticism of Israel the 'new anti-Semitism'. One might note that one of the six identified on the ICCA's steering committee, Mr. Yuli Edelstein, happens also to be chief of public affairs for Israel, aka director of 'hasbara' (propaganda.) Edelstein is a Jewish settler on illegally occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank. He, quite understandably under the circumstances, does not believe that 'settlements' - read colonization and ethnic cleansing - is any impediment to achieving peace with the Palestinian people. (1d)
If the drivers behind the ICCA-CPCCA initiative get their way, perhaps in future one could be fined or jailed for pointing out that the State of Israel is rife with discriminatory attitudes against its minority. Israel is, after all, a pluralistic society; over 20% of Israel's citizens are Arab.
Of course, it is also true that there are those within Israel, such as Israel's own foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, who propose a solution to this thorny problem: A 'transfer' of Israel's Arab-Israeli citizens, in order to achieve maximum purity of the Jewish 'collectivity'. (2a; 2b).
At the beginning of the 21st century, aren't we bigger than this?
Apparently not. Israel's far-right coalition government has passed legislation this year that would require all future non-Jewish applicants applying for Israeli citizenship to swear an oath of loyalty to Israel as a Jewish democratic state.
Ironically, as ultra-Orthodox Jewry reject nationalism, they themselves will be exempt from having to swear
this oath. (3a) (3b) (3c)
The fact is that there are many Jews both within Israel and without, including Canadian Jews, who vociferously object to the odious and malevolent mistreatment of the Palestinian people.
Regarding peace in the Middle East, my own view is that so much Palestinian land has been stolen and overrun by Jewish fanatics that the two-state solution has been rendered moot. (4) According to Jewish historian Ilan Pappe, the U.S. government thought so too, all the way back to 1948. (5; pg. 123.)
The population numbers, many may be surprised to learn, of Israeli Jews to Palestinians, are roughly equal: One group enjoys full legal rights and the vote, while the other does not. Within Israel, Arab-Israelis (also known as Israeli-Palestinians) are discriminated against throughout - jobs, education, housing, municipal services, health - you name it; in Gaza and the Occupied Territories, Palestinians have no rights, subsisting under brutal military occupation, or in squalid refugee camps in bordering states.
The Israeli-Palestinian problem emerged from the pogroms and centuries of horrific mistreatment of Jews in Europe and elsewhere - including, one notes, in Canada itself. The Palestinians have been defacto forced to pay for the crimes of others with their homes, land and lives.
By 1948, Jewish extremists instigated a deliberate military-precision ethnic cleansing program against a people who were inclined to peaceful coexistence with their Jewish neighbours. Methods included rounding up Palestinian males 13 years-old and up, to murder them in cold blood; biological warfare; creeping into villages in the dead of night to throw bombs in Palestinian homes as families slept; the genocide of entire villages; firing down upon stampeded Palestinians, leaving them as their only recourse to flee drowning, into the sea (ibid); that last is one of many ironies, as this is what Palestinians are accused of wanting to do to Israeli Jews.
In the end I think the biggest problem to overcome is Fear (combined with an historical sense of entitlement, and religious dogma).
A word about Gaza is in order. Palestinians in Gaza are scapegoated for the current impasse. Jews claim they 'gave up' land in Gaza; that from their 'sacrifice' all they got were rockets in return. This is a false representation of the facts.
The Palestinians in Gaza are refugees of the ethnic cleansing operations of 1948-49. The land modern-day Jews were dragged from in Gaza a few years ago for the most part did not belong to them. But the villages and homes in Israel belonging to Palestinians who languish in refugee camps in Gaza and Lebanon and Jordan have yet to be returned.
I personally would not argue with the theoretical position that painful concessions will have to be made on both sides to achieve peace. But peace cannot possibly be achieved without an honest accounting of who lost what; and that is not happening at all, so far as I can see.
I believe one bi-national state with equal rights for all is the peaceful and just solution moving forward. But I also believe that for some, on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian divide, this is the most threatening thing to say of all. The one-state solution is, nevertheless, a view increasingly discussed. I have no dog in this hunt for a just peace other than compassion for those who suffer, along with a deep concern otherwise over the increasingly unstable state of global affairs. I am neither Jewish or Palestinian. I have been truly blessed in my friendships with both Jews and Palestinians; friendships which have deeply enriched my life.
If justice and peace can be equitably achieved in a two-state arrangement that both sides accept, then (an agnostic) hallelujah! But as it now stands, what those such as Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu call a two-state solution, is one in which much of the best land stolen is never returned, in exchange for borders Israel continues to control with their miitary, barbed wire and watch towers.
Current negotiations themselves are entirely bogus, as the Palestinians are being illegally represented by a cabal whose electoral mandate was thin at best - if it ever existed at all - one which has long since expired.
If this intellectual envelope, 'the new anti-Semitism', is successfully pushed by the ICCA, then it begs the question, what might be the suggested remedy against those criticizing Israel's oppression and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people? Mere vilification? Or arrest and imprisonment - for daring to criticize the odious, murderous and racist policies of a state.
In my wildest dreams I could not have imagined Jews proposing shutting up criticism of a state, after what Nazi Germany wrought against them.
Shut up criticism of one state and other states are sure to follow, too, demanding the same legalistic papering-over of their own racist or discriminatory crimes; a cultural imperative, they will argue, and thus, beyond anyone's reach in trying to advocate for equality and justice for the marginalized and oppressed.
For anyone with a lick of common sense, this is a a bad bargain being hammered out in bad faith in the backrooms and corridors of power.
In short, if I were deemed worthy to attend and participate at the ICCA conference, I would loudly and proudly stand to affirm:
Down with anti-Semitism. Up with freedom - to advocate for justice, and to criticize the politics of any state, including the current apartheid condition of Israel.
_____________________________________________________________
References:
(1) Ottawa - Fleishman-Hillard Canada - website;
http://fleishman.ca/our-offices/ottawa/ ;
(1a) Article: Government of Canada supports international conference on anti-Semitism:
http://news.gc.ca/web/article-eng.do?m=/index&nid=553729 ;
(1b) 'Police release rabbi arrested for inciting to kill non-Jews'; Chaim Levinson; Haaretz; July 27, 2010;
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/police-release-rabbi-arrested-for-inciting-to-kill-non-jews-1.304261 ;
*(1c) ICCA, The London Declaration; Feb. 17, 2009;
http://www.antisem.org/london-declaration/ ;
*Article, 'For the record: the full text of the Ottawa Protocol';
Inside Politics Blog (CBC); Kady O'Malley; Nov. 10, 2010;
http://www.cbc.ca/politics/insidepolitics/2010/11/for-the-record-the-full-text-of-the-ottawa-protocol.html ;
(1d) Article: 'Israel struggles to combat image problem'; Jonathan Cook; Mar. 26, 2010; Middle East Online;
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=38083 ;
(2a) Interesting article discusses Lieberman's 'transfer' proposal, in the Philedelphia Jewish Voice, 'Population Transfer in Perspective'; 2006(?); Dr. Alex Grobman;
http://www.pjvoice.com/v18/18003transfer.aspx ;
(2b) Also on Lieberman, Washington Post: 'Israeli Foreign Minister Breaks with Netanyahu Over Peace Talks'; Checkpoint Washington; Colum Lynch; Sept. 28, 2010;
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/checkpoint-washington/2010/09/israeli_foreign_minister_break.html ;
(3a) ABC News, 'Israeli Cabinet Approves Loyalty Oath'; Simon McGregor-Wood; Oct. 11, 2010 ;
http://abcnews.go.com/International/israeli-cabinet-approves-loyalty-oath/story?id=11849413 ;
(3b) See, also, Haaretz, 'Cabinet approves loyalty oath, but only for non-Jewish citizens'; Jonathan Lis; Oct. 10, 2010;
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/cabinet-approves-loyalty-oath-but-only-for-non-jewish-new-citizens-1.318212 ;
(3c) See also, this cogent and intelligent discussion - Huffington Post's, 'Why This Zionist Opposes Israel's Loyalty Oath';Moriel Rothman; Oct. 21, 2010;
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/moriel-rothman/why-this-zionist-opposes-_b_771439.html ;
(4) Americans for Peace Now, 'Facts on the Ground'; c. 2010; an interactive map of Jewish settlements
in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), otherwise referred to as the West Bank;
http://peacenow.org/map.php ;
(5) Book: 'The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine'; Ilan Pappe; One World Publications Ltd.; 2006; 313 pgs.;
Website: Inter-Parliamentary Coalition Combatting Anti-Semitism (ICCA) ;
http://www.antisem.org/ ;
Canadian Parliamentary Coalition for Combatting Anti-Semitism (CPCCA)
http://www.cpcca.ca/home.htm ;
Copyright 2010, Diane V. McLoughlin
All Rights Reserved.
by Diane V. McLoughlin, November 8, 2010
main website: mcloughlinpost.com
An international conference on anti-Semitism (the Inter-parliamentary Coalition Combating Anti-Semitism - ICCA) is taking place November 7 - 9th, 2010, in Ottawa, Canada. An *'Ottawa Protocol' is to be declared on the last day of the conference. One hundred parliamentarians from 45 countries are reportedly being hosted by the coalition's Canadian counterpart, the CPCCA (Canadian Parliamentary Coalition Combating Anti-Semitism.)
I have had difficulty ascertaining whether or not the conference is open to the media. There is a rumor going around that it is a closed event. I have been assured that the conference is closed to me, however, according to Fleishman-Hillard, a private public relations firm hired to vet enquiries regarding this publicly-funded event. Clues as to why the committee chose Fleishman-Hillard can be found on the PR firm's website:
'Fleishman-Hillard’s Ottawa office is a leader in helping Canadian and international companies shape the national agenda. We help influence public policy...and...fundamentally change public attitudes...[we] help clients influence what Canadians are thinking and talking about...We bring together all aspects of government relations, regulatory affairs, strategic communications, issues management and research services to help public, private and not-for-profit clients influence the audiences that matter to them most.' (1)
The Canadian government is providing almost $500,000 dollars to finance this event (1a), with the apparent aim of fundamentally altering law on an international scale. It appears to be all of a piece that the CPCCA would hide behind a PR firm, seeing as they actively excluded participation of such groups as Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East in CPCCA hearings; they have so far chosen not to release the CPCCA's final report, as well.
The goal of stamping out the embers of anti-Semitism - racist hatred of Jews - is noble. But why is the scope of discussion not broader, to reject racism and discrimination in all forms? For the fact of the matter is that
there are racist pinheads in every society, including amongst Jews themselves.
For instance, rabbis of a prominent religious school in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Yitzhak Shapira and Yosef Elitzur, published a 230-page book earlier this year entitled, 'The King's Torah' (Torat Hamelech)
which in part details under which conditions it is permissible to kill non-Jews, including babies.
According to these teachers, it is permissible to kill babies if it prevents them from growing up to be enemies. (1b)
The only time a human being could argue in defense of killing another groups' babies is when he believes his group is more worthy of life itself. These are teachers that shape the minds of the next generation, as they contemplate life while residing on ethnically-cleansed Palestinian land.
The ramifications of what may be the ICCA's true goal are profound, to whit: To silence criticism of
the State of Israel. I am deeply concerned that the ICCA and CPCCA intend to use the fight against racism as a shield to cover for it. To do so would cause Israel to be more vulnerable to attack by those it oppresses, not less so, by tightening the screws on non-violent resistance rather than concentrating on which choices might lead to a just peace.
The number-one declaration coming out of last year's ICCA conference (1c), is as follows (emphasis added):
'We today in London resolve that; challenging antisemitism Parliamentarians shall expose, challenge, and isolate political actors who engage in hate against Jews and target the State of Israel as a Jewish collectivity'.
Democratic societies believe it is imperative that people be free to say things that are unpopular or offensive to some, in order that we might maximize our opportunity to be acquainted with the unfettered truth.
When speech is free, what is true has the opportunity to shine bright against what ought to be exposed, challenged and isolated: falsehood. Messing with this fundamental law is a dangerously foolish gambit.
The ICCA, chaired by Canada's former Justice Minister Irwin Cotler, calls criticism of Israel the 'new anti-Semitism'. One might note that one of the six identified on the ICCA's steering committee, Mr. Yuli Edelstein, happens also to be chief of public affairs for Israel, aka director of 'hasbara' (propaganda.) Edelstein is a Jewish settler on illegally occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank. He, quite understandably under the circumstances, does not believe that 'settlements' - read colonization and ethnic cleansing - is any impediment to achieving peace with the Palestinian people. (1d)
If the drivers behind the ICCA-CPCCA initiative get their way, perhaps in future one could be fined or jailed for pointing out that the State of Israel is rife with discriminatory attitudes against its minority. Israel is, after all, a pluralistic society; over 20% of Israel's citizens are Arab.
Of course, it is also true that there are those within Israel, such as Israel's own foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, who propose a solution to this thorny problem: A 'transfer' of Israel's Arab-Israeli citizens, in order to achieve maximum purity of the Jewish 'collectivity'. (2a; 2b).
At the beginning of the 21st century, aren't we bigger than this?
Apparently not. Israel's far-right coalition government has passed legislation this year that would require all future non-Jewish applicants applying for Israeli citizenship to swear an oath of loyalty to Israel as a Jewish democratic state.
Ironically, as ultra-Orthodox Jewry reject nationalism, they themselves will be exempt from having to swear
this oath. (3a) (3b) (3c)
The fact is that there are many Jews both within Israel and without, including Canadian Jews, who vociferously object to the odious and malevolent mistreatment of the Palestinian people.
Regarding peace in the Middle East, my own view is that so much Palestinian land has been stolen and overrun by Jewish fanatics that the two-state solution has been rendered moot. (4) According to Jewish historian Ilan Pappe, the U.S. government thought so too, all the way back to 1948. (5; pg. 123.)
The population numbers, many may be surprised to learn, of Israeli Jews to Palestinians, are roughly equal: One group enjoys full legal rights and the vote, while the other does not. Within Israel, Arab-Israelis (also known as Israeli-Palestinians) are discriminated against throughout - jobs, education, housing, municipal services, health - you name it; in Gaza and the Occupied Territories, Palestinians have no rights, subsisting under brutal military occupation, or in squalid refugee camps in bordering states.
The Israeli-Palestinian problem emerged from the pogroms and centuries of horrific mistreatment of Jews in Europe and elsewhere - including, one notes, in Canada itself. The Palestinians have been defacto forced to pay for the crimes of others with their homes, land and lives.
By 1948, Jewish extremists instigated a deliberate military-precision ethnic cleansing program against a people who were inclined to peaceful coexistence with their Jewish neighbours. Methods included rounding up Palestinian males 13 years-old and up, to murder them in cold blood; biological warfare; creeping into villages in the dead of night to throw bombs in Palestinian homes as families slept; the genocide of entire villages; firing down upon stampeded Palestinians, leaving them as their only recourse to flee drowning, into the sea (ibid); that last is one of many ironies, as this is what Palestinians are accused of wanting to do to Israeli Jews.
In the end I think the biggest problem to overcome is Fear (combined with an historical sense of entitlement, and religious dogma).
A word about Gaza is in order. Palestinians in Gaza are scapegoated for the current impasse. Jews claim they 'gave up' land in Gaza; that from their 'sacrifice' all they got were rockets in return. This is a false representation of the facts.
The Palestinians in Gaza are refugees of the ethnic cleansing operations of 1948-49. The land modern-day Jews were dragged from in Gaza a few years ago for the most part did not belong to them. But the villages and homes in Israel belonging to Palestinians who languish in refugee camps in Gaza and Lebanon and Jordan have yet to be returned.
I personally would not argue with the theoretical position that painful concessions will have to be made on both sides to achieve peace. But peace cannot possibly be achieved without an honest accounting of who lost what; and that is not happening at all, so far as I can see.
I believe one bi-national state with equal rights for all is the peaceful and just solution moving forward. But I also believe that for some, on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian divide, this is the most threatening thing to say of all. The one-state solution is, nevertheless, a view increasingly discussed. I have no dog in this hunt for a just peace other than compassion for those who suffer, along with a deep concern otherwise over the increasingly unstable state of global affairs. I am neither Jewish or Palestinian. I have been truly blessed in my friendships with both Jews and Palestinians; friendships which have deeply enriched my life.
If justice and peace can be equitably achieved in a two-state arrangement that both sides accept, then (an agnostic) hallelujah! But as it now stands, what those such as Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu call a two-state solution, is one in which much of the best land stolen is never returned, in exchange for borders Israel continues to control with their miitary, barbed wire and watch towers.
Current negotiations themselves are entirely bogus, as the Palestinians are being illegally represented by a cabal whose electoral mandate was thin at best - if it ever existed at all - one which has long since expired.
If this intellectual envelope, 'the new anti-Semitism', is successfully pushed by the ICCA, then it begs the question, what might be the suggested remedy against those criticizing Israel's oppression and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people? Mere vilification? Or arrest and imprisonment - for daring to criticize the odious, murderous and racist policies of a state.
In my wildest dreams I could not have imagined Jews proposing shutting up criticism of a state, after what Nazi Germany wrought against them.
Shut up criticism of one state and other states are sure to follow, too, demanding the same legalistic papering-over of their own racist or discriminatory crimes; a cultural imperative, they will argue, and thus, beyond anyone's reach in trying to advocate for equality and justice for the marginalized and oppressed.
For anyone with a lick of common sense, this is a a bad bargain being hammered out in bad faith in the backrooms and corridors of power.
In short, if I were deemed worthy to attend and participate at the ICCA conference, I would loudly and proudly stand to affirm:
Down with anti-Semitism. Up with freedom - to advocate for justice, and to criticize the politics of any state, including the current apartheid condition of Israel.
_____________________________________________________________
References:
(1) Ottawa - Fleishman-Hillard Canada - website;
http://fleishman.ca/our-offices/ottawa/ ;
(1a) Article: Government of Canada supports international conference on anti-Semitism:
http://news.gc.ca/web/article-eng.do?m=/index&nid=553729 ;
(1b) 'Police release rabbi arrested for inciting to kill non-Jews'; Chaim Levinson; Haaretz; July 27, 2010;
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/police-release-rabbi-arrested-for-inciting-to-kill-non-jews-1.304261 ;
*(1c) ICCA, The London Declaration; Feb. 17, 2009;
http://www.antisem.org/london-declaration/ ;
*Article, 'For the record: the full text of the Ottawa Protocol';
Inside Politics Blog (CBC); Kady O'Malley; Nov. 10, 2010;
http://www.cbc.ca/politics/insidepolitics/2010/11/for-the-record-the-full-text-of-the-ottawa-protocol.html ;
(1d) Article: 'Israel struggles to combat image problem'; Jonathan Cook; Mar. 26, 2010; Middle East Online;
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=38083 ;
(2a) Interesting article discusses Lieberman's 'transfer' proposal, in the Philedelphia Jewish Voice, 'Population Transfer in Perspective'; 2006(?); Dr. Alex Grobman;
http://www.pjvoice.com/v18/18003transfer.aspx ;
(2b) Also on Lieberman, Washington Post: 'Israeli Foreign Minister Breaks with Netanyahu Over Peace Talks'; Checkpoint Washington; Colum Lynch; Sept. 28, 2010;
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/checkpoint-washington/2010/09/israeli_foreign_minister_break.html ;
(3a) ABC News, 'Israeli Cabinet Approves Loyalty Oath'; Simon McGregor-Wood; Oct. 11, 2010 ;
http://abcnews.go.com/International/israeli-cabinet-approves-loyalty-oath/story?id=11849413 ;
(3b) See, also, Haaretz, 'Cabinet approves loyalty oath, but only for non-Jewish citizens'; Jonathan Lis; Oct. 10, 2010;
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/cabinet-approves-loyalty-oath-but-only-for-non-jewish-new-citizens-1.318212 ;
(3c) See also, this cogent and intelligent discussion - Huffington Post's, 'Why This Zionist Opposes Israel's Loyalty Oath';Moriel Rothman; Oct. 21, 2010;
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/moriel-rothman/why-this-zionist-opposes-_b_771439.html ;
(4) Americans for Peace Now, 'Facts on the Ground'; c. 2010; an interactive map of Jewish settlements
in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), otherwise referred to as the West Bank;
http://peacenow.org/map.php ;
(5) Book: 'The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine'; Ilan Pappe; One World Publications Ltd.; 2006; 313 pgs.;
Website: Inter-Parliamentary Coalition Combatting Anti-Semitism (ICCA) ;
http://www.antisem.org/ ;
Canadian Parliamentary Coalition for Combatting Anti-Semitism (CPCCA)
http://www.cpcca.ca/home.htm ;
Copyright 2010, Diane V. McLoughlin
All Rights Reserved.
December 03, 2010
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