Suggested Voting for MEC Board of Directors

March 25, 2010

For the past two weeks we have been emailing the 14 candidates running for the Mountain Equipment Co-op board of directors (deadline for online voting is April 9 at noon PST) to ask about their position on ending MEC sourcing from Israeli companies, in line with the Palestinian-led call for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS). We believe that having progressive candidates who are willing to consider ending MEC’s “partnerships” on the board is one important element in the Canada-wide campaign to get MEC to stop supporting occupation and apartheid.

Based on the responses we have received, we suggest voting for the following candidates, who seem most open to addressing the issue of MEC continuing to support Israeli apartheid by sourcing products from Israel.

All MEC members can vote for up to three candidates to fill vacancies on the board, but you can vote for less than three. All MEC members can also vote for a series of special resolutions, which require a 75% majority to pass. We believe many of these resolutions are in response to a regular resolution brought forward at the last AGM to call on MEC to stop sourcing from Israel, and limit the democratic participation of MEC members in the ethical policies of the co-op.

To vote you must be 16 or older and a MEC member as of January 7, 2010. You can vote online until noon PST on April 9 at the MEC election page. If you don’t have your voting PIN, click on the link “Get your PIN.”

Vote by phone at 1.877.561.8888. Wait for the prompt and select up to three candidates, then press star (*). Your selections will be played back to you for confirmation and this is the only point you can change your vote. Then you can vote on Special Resolutions.

SUMMARY OF SUGGESTED VOTING

CONSIDER VOTING FOR Margie Parikh, George Pinho and Geoffrey White (details on all candidate responses are below).

Special Resolution 1: Vote NO
Special Resolution 2: Vote NO
Special Resolution 3: Vote NO
Special Resolution 4: We have no position on this resolution
Special Resolution 5: Vote NO

CANDIDATE RESPONSES

CONSIDER VOTING FOR:

Margie Parikh (“My view is that we have many, many options available to us for sourcing. Although clearly not everyone agrees where we should source and if we should boycott Israeli products for their continued oppression of the Palestinian people, surely we do not need to be supporting questionable regimes or practices. I see no reason for us to continue to offer these products. There are so many other options! I support local sourcing and when sourcing overseas (and in Canada) we should be making a stand and offering more fairly-traded and environmentally-friendly products.”)

George Pinho (“I think this is something we should look into but not just for Israel, for any country where human rights issues are a problem. The issue is where does one draw the line? Certainly, many people think Israel is an area of concern as do I, but what about the US invading Iraq and Japan illegally hunting whales and dolphins. Once MEC starts down this path, it will be difficult to know where to stop. My approach would be to assess the concern of the MEC membership on this topic. If enough concern exists, I think it is our duty to adopt a position on this matter.”)

Geoffrey White (“My intent is to take a reasoned, judicious approach to this issue, and all other policy and business issues facing the Co-operative. I also say this: I don’t want MEC to act one way regarding one country and a different way regarding another, and I don’t want MEC standing by when law (or common decency) is being violated. These two principles are not isolated from one another, as I’m sure you already appreciate.”)

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Yves Engler Interview in Vue Weekly

March 24, 2010

This week’s Vue Weekly features an interview with Yves Engler on his new book, Canada and Israel: Building Apartheid. Engler will be in town for the Edmonton launch on Wednesday, March 31. Click here for full event details.

ISRAEL-PALESTINE: Canada’s complicity
Yves Engler explores how Canada helped build apartheid in Israel

Samantha Power / samantha@vueweekly.com

For years the mythical advice to travellers has been to sew a Canadian flag patch to your back pack. The world loves Canadians. We created peacekeeping, we rushed in to save hundreds of thousands in the Second World War, we … haven’t done a lot in the 50 years since any of our grand, celebrated international actions. Lately Canada has not fared so well. Stalling tactics at December’s Copenhagen Climate Summit, growing international opposition to Canada’s tar sands and, recently, a confused position on women’s health, to the point that Britain has wondered whether Canada understood British intent to create women’s health as a G8 priority. But this should not come as a surprise to Canadians.

Canadian author Yves Engler’s last book opened up the case for Canada’s failing status as a world leader as well as complicity with some of the most egregious international crimes, including forced relocation of Colombia’s population for Canadian mining projects and support for coups of democratically elected leaders. Canada is not the star many Canadians believe we are on the international stage.

With the debate over Israel and Palestine becoming a growing topic on Canadian campuses and amongst Canadian youth, Engler has returned to shed light on Canada’s historical relationship with Israel and how that has led to Israel’s ability to continue to suppress Palestinians. His new book, Canada and Israel: Building Apartheid, deconstructs the historical and unilateral support Canada has given Israel over Palestine for decades.

Many Canadians would like to believe we have not taken a side in this international dispute. But the truth is, from the very beginning, Canada has supported Israel, and that support, with this Conservative government, is only becoming stronger.

Canada’s junior foreign minister Peter Kent has publicly stated, “An attack on Israel would be considered an attack on Canada.” Harper’s Conservative government has also cut $7 million funding to Kairos, a Christian aid agency that has stated they are working toward a “just peace” in Israel and Palestine. And just recently, the federal government cut $15 million in funding to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. Canada has a position on the conflict, and it clearly supports Israel. And according to Engler, it’s been that way since the beginning.

“Despite mythology of Canada as an honest broker, this country has been overwhelmingly supportive of Israel.” says Engler, “There are very few institutions that are not supportive of Israeli policies. A handful of unions in this country. That does not reflect the vast majority of people’s opinions in Canada. University administrations tend to be quite hostile to Palestinian activists but, increasingly, student bodies and university professors are increasingly hostile to their insitutions’ complicity with Israeli policy.”

Engler’s new book outlines just how Canada has supported Israel over the years from selling a significant number of weapons—which Israel subsequently used in its attacks on other countries, to abstaining on UN resolutions calling for Israel’s withdrawal from occupied territories, to extending millions of dollars in lines of credit and loans to Israel. Engler believes Canadians should be upset by this.

“The controversy comes from the fact there are some people who do not want to admit the extent to which Israel’s reality of a brutal colonial nature that has stolen Palestinian land for basically a century now and continues to steal or disposess Palestinians of the final 22 percent of historic Palestine in the West Bank and Gaza.”

In the 2008 Israeli led offensive, over 700 Palestinian civilians lost their lives in Gaza, while three Israeli civilians lost theirs. So while it should never come down to numbers and both sides violated international law, it’s perceptions that often rule the day. FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting) reports that there is not a straightforward representation of attacks in Western media, but that Hamas was more often given the blame in media reports for the latest round of attacks in Gaza. It’s these perceptions that Engler is driving at with his newest book.

“There hasn’t been a countervailing political force that rejects Canadian support for Israeli policies. So there has been very little literature produced with solidarity with Palestinians and being critical of Canada’s position on Israel.”

Even traditionally progressive groups have not taken on the challenge of analyzing Canada’s position on Israel. Just as Michael Ignatieff criticized apartheid weeks across Canada it was revealed he had once stated that the situation of Palestinians in the West Bank were similar to the “bantustans” of South African apartheid. Engler believes Ignatieff’s original statement in 2002 is his personal feeling, but that he has been forced to state a new policy. “His position is reflective of the political culture of this country.”

And it’s a position the political left in Canada knows well. No major political party has defended Palestine since the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation denounced anti-semitism, but refused to endorse Zionism. But, according to Engler’s new book, by 1945 the CCF fully endorsed the creation of a state in Israel.

But Engler believes all that is changing with growing support for Palestinian solidarity. “Studies show the more Canadians know about the Palestinian issue, the more they’re supportive of the Palestinian cause.” With the recent controversy over the naming of Israeli Apartheid Weeks across the country Engler believes the solidarity movement is actually gaining ground, and that Harper’s drastic cuts to Palestinian aid groups are actually a sign that Canadians are waking up to the reality of the Palestinian story. “Apartheid week attendance is growing. Every event has had a growth in attendance … Two decades ago groups like Kairos were not particularly pro-Palestinian, these groups have been changing their position on the issue. The backlash—it’s a response to the growing Palestinian solidarity movement.”

For now, Engler hopes the discussion becomes more balanced, “Part of the discussion with Palestinian solidarity activists [is] just talking about [the fact] that a girl born in Gaza deserves equal rights to a girl born as a Jewish Israeli 25 kms away. Just saying that challenges the political culture in this country. What this book is trying to do—politically speaking—is to make the critique or the challenge to the Canadian establishment a lot more explicit.” V

Wed, March 31 (4:30 pm)
Canada and Israel: Building Apartheid Book Launch
Telus Centre room 236
University of Alberta campus

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Action: Canada Obstructs Barghouti Visit

March 23, 2010

Please take 30 seconds to support Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East by expressing your outrage at the Canadian government’s obstruction of Dr. Mustafa Barghouti’s visit to Canada.

Dear Friends,

After weeks of waiting for the Canadian government to issue a visa, Dr. Mustafa Barghouti and CJPME have been forced to cancel his upcoming speaking tour. Despite the urgency of the issue being brought directly to high-level officials in Foreign Affairs and Immigration and Citizenship, the government continued to delay the issuance of a visa, resulting in a cancellation of Barghouti’s visit. In the past, Dr. Barghouti has received a visa to Canada within 24 hours after applying. CJPME believes these delays are part of the Harper government’s broader strategy of muzzling or obstructing any voice critical of the policies of the Israeli government.

Please protest this obstruction by clicking here. Your email will be sent to the leaders of all political parties, as well as selected MPs in your locale.

Please share this with other like-minded friends and acquaintances.

More Information

Dr. Barghouti applied for a visa on March 5th, for entry into Canada on March 19th, yet despite the urgency of the issue being brought directly to high-level officials in Foreign Affairs and Immigration and Citizenship, the government delayed the issuance of a visa to the point where Barghouti missed two key flights, resulting in a cancellation of his visit. In addition to being a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, and a former presidential candidate, Dr. Barghouti is a recent Nobel Peace Prize nominee. In the past, Dr. Barghouti has received a visa to Canada within 24 hours after applying.

Dr. Barghouti was scheduled to speak at three public events in Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa on the topic: Palestinian political dynamics and the realities for Middle East Peace. Dr. Barghouti also had appointments with several prominent members of parliament schedule for Monday, March 22nd. The delays with Dr. Barghouti’s visa were brought to the attention of Foreign Affairs and Citizenship and Immigration as early as Wednesday March 17th, with Minister Cannon being directly advised of the situation. On Thursday, March 18th, the Deputy Minister of Citizenship and Immigration advised the Bloc Quebecois critic Thierry St. Cyr that officials were aware of the urgency of the matter, but were still doing checks on Barghouti, and his host organization Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME.)

“This seems to be another example of the Harper government’s dislike for free speech,” declared Thomas Woodley, President of CJPME. “Dr. Barghouti has long advocated for a peaceful transition to a two-state solution in Israel-Palestine – his message should appeal to anyone with a sincere commitment to Middle East peace.” Dr. Barghouti’s record is without blemish: he is a physician and an independent Palestinian politician with a known commitment to non-violence. CJPME believes that the Harper government’s obstruction of Dr. Barghouti’s visa is part of a broader strategy to muzzle or obstruct any voice critical of the policies of the Israeli government.

Warmest regards,

The CJPME Leadership

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National Day of Action at MEC

March 23, 2010

DAY OF ACTION: SATURDAY, MARCH 27th
Tell Mountain Equipment Co-op to Stop Supporting Israeli Apartheid!

Saturday, March 27th, 1 pm – 3 pm
Please join us for a picket at Mountain Equipment Co-op in Edmonton:
12328 102 Avenue NW

Help us spread the word! Join the Facebook event page and invite your friends to come!

Please contact us for more details if you can join us.

***

On Saturday, March 27th, Palestine Solidarity Network is joining Palestine solidarity activists across Canada in calling on Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) to ends its partnerships with Israeli factories and to stop sourcing from Israel. Until MEC does so, we will continue to pressure MEC to act in accordance with their stated ethics by ending its partnership with Israeli factories. Information pickets will be held outside Mountain Equipment Coop (MEC) stores, asking shoppers not to buy Israeli goods at MEC.

This action is in solidarity with the Second Global BDS Day of Action that Palestinian civil society has called for March 30, 2010. The first Global Day of Action for BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) against Israel came in the wake of last year’s brutal three-week assault on Gaza. The Israeli military killed more than 1400 Palestinians, at least 80% of them civilians, according to the Israeli human rights group B’tselem.

Judge Goldstone’s 500-page report to the UN concluded that Israel’s attack was “designed to punish, humiliate and terrorize a civilian population.” More than one year later, Israel continues its suffocating blockade of the Gaza Strip which has been described by Jimmy Carter as “one of the greatest human rights crimes on Earth.”

Over the last year, the global movement calling for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions has accelerated, with the explicit aim of forcing Israel to comply with international law. In Canada, members have been asking MEC to end its “partnerships” with Israeli factories, including military contractors, that produce MEC branded seamless underwear and hydration systems. These partnerships are antithetical to MEC’s promotion of itself as an organisation with “rigorous ethical sourcing requirements,” and a “business [that] can advance human rights.”

MEC’s house brand “partner” for hydration systems is Source Vagabond, an Israeli military designer and contractor that boasts on its website (http://source-military.com) “[Founder] Yoki and most of the members of our R&D team are experienced ex officers of elite IDF (Israeli Defence Forces) units.” Also, “50,000 [of its hydration packs] have been purchased by the IDF” and were almost certainly used during Israel’s recent massacre in Gaza that killed more than 430 Palestinian women and children, according to B’tselem.

During the Gaza assault, Source’s slogan was “Hydration is Essential In the Heat of Battle.” But apparently not for the more than 500,000 Palestinian civilians who had no running water in Gaza during January 2009 because of the deliberate Israeli military attacks on civilian infrastructure such as power plants, wells and water lines, as documented in the Goldstone report.

As Naomi Klein said in January 2009, “The best strategy to end the increasingly bloody occupation is for Israel to become the target of the kind of global movement that put an end to apartheid in South Africa.”

Until MEC reverses it’s position on sourcing from Israel we are asking MEC members to take the actions below:

WHAT YOU CAN DO

* Do not buy products made in Israel at MEC

* Leaflet a MEC store (please join us for the information picket on Saturday, March 27th).

* Ask friends and relatives not to buy Israeli goods at MEC.

* Vote for MEC board members who support a boycott of Israeli suppliers and vote against the 2010 special resolutions that give the MEC board the explicit power to censor future AGM resolutions

* Keep up to date by subscribing to our email list at boycottapartheid@gmail.com

* Whatever else you do, please write/fax/phone the CEO and board of MEC telling them of your actions and asking that MEC halt all dealings with Israeli companies. Please email CEO dLabistour@mec.ca and cc any emails to boycottapartheid@gmail.com

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Action: Tell the NDP to Leave CPCCA

March 21, 2010

Now that the Bloc Quebecois has openly repudiated the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Anti-Semitism (CPCCA) and walked away from it, an opening exists to pressure the NDP to do likewise. PSN urges everyone who values freedom of expression for Canadians and who believes in social justice for the Palestinians to write to these NDP caucus members asking them to do the right thing by removing their two MPs from the coalition.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Event: Canada and Israel: Building Apartheid Book Launch

March 20, 2010

Edmonton book launch of Canada and Israel: Building Apartheid
with author Yves Engler
Wednesday, March 31 (4:30 pm – 6:30 pm)
Telus Building Room 236/238, U of A Campus
(Click here for map)

Help us spread the word! Invite your friends to the Facebook event.

Despite most Canadians’ strong desire for this country to be an honest broker and peacekeeper in conflicts around the world, Canada’s foreign policy has become the most pro-Israel in the world, says Yves Engler, author of the new book Canada and Israel: Building Apartheid, available now from Fernwood Publishing.

“Our government has taken Canada’s foreign policy, which was always at least 80 per cent pro-Israel and moved it to 99.9 per cent pro-Israel at a time when the most right-wing government in the history of Israel is in power,” said Engler. “I believe most Canadians will be shocked to read how one-sidedly pro-Israel Canada has been and is today.”

Canada and Israel: Building Apartheid is the first critical primer about Canada’s ties to Israel. It is a revealing account of Canadian complicity in 20th and 21st century colonialism, dispossession and war crimes. The book documents the history of Canadian Christian Zionism, Lester Pearson’s important role in the United Nations negotiations to create a Jewish state on Palestinian land and the millions of dollars in tax-deductible donations used to expand Israeli settlements in the West Bank. It argues that while both Liberal and Conservative governments have taken one-sided pro-Israel foreign policy stances, Canada’s current foreign policy is the most pro-Israel in the world.

This book is the first critical primer about Canada’s ties to Israel. It is a devastating account of Canadian complicity in 20th and 21st century colonialism, dispossession and war crimes. The book documents the history of Canadian Christian Zionism, Lester Pearson’s important role in the United Nations negotiations to create a Jewish state on Palestinian land, the millions of dollars in tax-deductible donations used to expand Israeli settlements in the West Bank and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service ties to Israel’s Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations (Mossad).

Former Vice President of the Concordia Student Union, Yves Engler is a Montréal activist and author. He has published three books: The Black Book of Canadian Foreign Policy; Playing Left Wing: From Rink Rat to Student Radical; and (with Anthony Fenton) Canada in Haiti: Waging War on The Poor Majority.

Praise for Canada and Israel: Building Apartheid

“Yves Engler’s meticulously researched volume refutes, for anyone who still believes it, the myth that Canada is or ever has been an honest broker in the Middle East. Reading Engler’s work leaves one with the inescapable and sad conclusion that the essence of Canadian policy has always been support for the establishment and continued dominance of an expansionist Zionist state in the territories that now comprise Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank. As a former Zionist youth leader, I thank Engler for setting the record straight and can only lament our country’s historical and ongoing contribution to the tragedy enveloping the long-suffering peoples of the Promised Land, Arab and Jewish.” – Gabor Maté, Physician and author of In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters With Addiction.

Praise for Engler’s Black Book of Canadian Foreign Policy

“Yves Engler’s penetrating inquiry yields a rich trove of valuable evidence about Canada’s role in the world.”
-Noam Chomsky

Praise for Yves Engler

“Yves became a foreign-policy expert by working as a night doorman in Montreal…He’s in the mould of I. F. Stone, who wasted no time with politicians, who all have an agenda, but went instead straight to the public record.”
- Rick Salutin, Globe and Mail

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Action: Ask MEC Board Candidates Their Position on Apartheid

March 9, 2010

The Palestine Solidarity Network-Edmonton is part of a cross-Canada effort calling on Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) to end its “partnerships” with Israel companies as part of the 2005 Palestinian-led call for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS).

Mountain Equipment Co-op currently sources 19 individual products from Israeli companies. These include products made by Source-Vagabond, an Israeli military contractor whose founder, Yoki Gill, and most its management are “experienced ex officers of elite IDF (Israeli Defence Forces) units.” MEC also partners with Israeli factories in the production of its “housebrand” line of seamless undergarments.

Despite this relationship, MEC claims that it maintains a policy of “ethical sourcing” with the headline question, “We believe business can advance human rights. What do you think?” on its company blog. On the same blog, MEC defends sourcing from Israel by saying, “In short, we will not take sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” ignoring the fact that by continuing to source from Israel it is directly support apartheid against the Palestinians, which is anything but not taking a side.

We think that MEC should take a side against Israeli Apartheid. You can help.

From now until April 9, all MEC members can vote online to select who will represent membes on the Board of Directors. PSN is asking all members to email MEC board candidates to ask them their position on sourcing from Israel, and to only support those candidates who take the position of ending MEC’s relationship with Israel.

Step 1:

Cut and paste the following addresses into the BCC field of your email program:

candidate_poulton@mec.ca; candidate_kramer@mec.ca; candidate_odriscoll@mec.ca; candidate_pinho@mec.ca; candidate_holt@mec.ca; candidate_parikh@mec.ca; candidate_hansen-carlson@mec.ca; candidate_blair@mec.ca; candidate_white@mec.ca; candidate_gibson@mec.ca; candidate_mcneill@mec.ca; candidate_osler@mec.ca; candidate_factor@mec.ca; candidate_schneiderman@mec.ca

Step 2:

Write a short and polite email asking the candidate to clarify their position on sourcing from Israel. These emails are more effective if you customize them, and can be as simple as writing, “I would like to know your position on ending sourcing of MEC products from Israel. Please email me your position on this important issue so that I can select candidates who I feel will live up to the ethical standards I believe are important to MEC.”

You can also point out in your own words:

- that you believe that continuing to source from Israel is not a way to take a neutral position in the conflict
- that you believe that sourcing from Israel is a violation of MEC’s stated commitment to ethical sourcing
- that you will only support candidates who advocate for ending MEC’s relationship with Israel
- that you expect a response from the candidate

Step 3:

Press send!

Please send any responses you get to your inquiry to mec.election.action@gmail.com so we can post the positions of the various candidates.

Step 4:

Be sure to vote online before April 9 for the candidates who agree that MEC shouldn’t buy Israeli apartheid.

You can also take these actions to get MEC out of Israel:

* Do not buy products made in Israel at MEC

* Leaflet a MEC store (the next national day of action against MEC is March 27).

* Ask friends and relatives not to buy Israeli goods at MEC.

* Whatever else you do, please write/fax/phone the CEO and board of MEC telling them of your actions and asking that MEC halt all dealings with Israeli companies. Please email CEO dLabistour@mec.ca and cc any emails to boycottapartheid@gmail.com

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Israeli Apartheid Week on Al Jazeera

March 9, 2010

Al Jazeera English’s Inside Story looks at Israeli Apartheid Week. Worth watching.

A controversial campaign in the Western world links Israel’s treatment of Palestinians to the treatment of blacks in apartheid South Africa, called the Israeli Apartheid Week. Inside Story asks: Is criticism of specific Israeli policies raising doubts about Israel’s right to exist? And is Israel now on the PR offensive to fight back?

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Toronto Star Op-ed on IAW

March 3, 2010

A relatively balanced op-ed by the Toronto Star’s Thomas Walkom on Israeli Apartheid Week. Unlike most IAW critics, Walkom actually took the time to go to IAW events rather than just regurgitate accusations of it being a “hate-fest.”

The Star will likely get a response to the article, so be sure to email Thomas Walkom to thank him for bringing some balance to the hysteria, and/or send a letter to the editor in response to Walkom’s column.

Apartheid week one-sided but not anti-Semitic

By Thomas Walkom
National Affairs Columnist

I went to an Israeli Apartheid Week event Monday evening to see what all the fuss was about.

Israeli Apartheid Week is an international, pro-Palestinian teach-in that, for the last six years, has taken place annually at about 40 campuses worldwide. Detractors call it poisonous and anti-Semitic. Last week, the Ontario Legislature got into the act by unanimously passing a resolution that condemned it for inciting “hatred against Israel” and diminishing “the suffering of those who were victims of the true apartheid regime in South Africa.”

Thornhill Conservative MPP Peter Shurman called it “about as close to hate speech as one get without being arrested.” Toronto Liberal MPP Mike Colle said it was organized by “hate-mongers” and was based on the systemic hatred of “Israel and anything Jewish.”

I didn’t notice any hate-mongers at the Ryerson University lecture Monday night. It was clearly a partisan crowd – lots of Palestinian flags and kaffiyehs. The two speakers, South African political scientist Na’eem Jeenah and Canadian freelance journalist Jon Elmer, will never win any prizes as friends of Israel (Elmer at one point described Israeli officialdom as “the enemy.”)

But Jew-haters? Not according to anything I heard or could find. Indeed, back in 2006, Jeenah publicly denounced Iran’s infamous Holocaust revisionism conference as a misconceived attempt to deny a historical and moral crime committed against Jews.

It’s also hard to accuse Israeli Apartheid Week of being anti-Semitic when small Jewish organizations, like Independent Jewish Voices, are sponsors.

The apartheid charge against Israel is not new. It’s based largely on that country’s policies in the occupied Palestinian territories – policies deliberately designed to create separate Israeli-only settlement enclaves linked by Israeli-only roads on lands that, according to the United Nations (and Canada), do not belong to Israel.

South African Nobel Prize winner Desmond Tutu has explicitly referred to Israel’s actions in the occupied territories as apartheid. So has John Dugard, a respected South African lawyer who, until 2008, was the UN’s special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories.

So too has former U.S. president Jimmy Carter (although he recently apologized for saying anything that “may have” stigmatized Israel).

Henry Siegman, former national director of the American Jewish Congress, wrote two months ago that Israel is “the only apartheid regime in the Western world.” The Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem has called Israel’s occupation “reminiscent of … the apartheid regime in South Africa.”

Even Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff – who as a practising politician now finds himself denouncing Israeli Apartheid Week – has made the comparison, writing in 2002 of the occupied West Bank as a “Bantustan, one of those pseudo-states created in the dying years of apartheid.”

Are all of these people hate-mongers?

What is true about Israeli Apartheid Week is that it is a root-and-branch attack on how Israel operates, both internally and in the occupied territories. The organizers’ stated aims are to create an international boycott and divestment campaign that will force Israel to change – just as similar pressure 20 years ago forced apartheid South Africa to change,

In particular, they want Israel to adhere to UN resolutions calling on it to pull out of the occupied territories and let Palestinian refugees who fled the country in 1948 return home. They also want Israel to change land ownership laws they say discriminate against the 20 per cent of its citizens who are not Jewish.

Controversial? Yes. One-sided? You bet. Fully achievable? I doubt it. But unless you think that criticizing Israel’s complex system of ethnic preferences is an attack on all Jews, this is nowhere near anti-Semitism.

Thomas Walkom’s column appears Wednesday and Saturday.

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Tell Ignatieff You Believe in Free Speech

March 1, 2010

Federal Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff today issued a statement condemning “unequivocally and absolutely” Israeli Apartheid Week events, accusing organizers of “singl[ing] out Jewish and Israeli students” and making them “feel ostracized and even physically threatened.”

If you disagree with this blatant misrepresentation of IAW events, we encourage you to write to Mr. Ignatieff and the Liberal Party to express your concerns.

You can email Michael Ignatieff at IgnatM@parl.gc.ca.

The main contact for the Liberal Party of Canada is info@liberal.ca.

To get contact information to send a fax or hard copy to Michael Ignatieff, click here for contact information.

Here is the full text of Ignatieff’s statement:

Statement by Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff regarding Israeli Apartheid Week
Published on March 1, 2010

OTTAWA – Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff made the following statement today:

“On university campuses across the country this week, Israeli Apartheid Week will once again attempt to demonize and undermine the legitimacy of the Jewish state. It is part of a global campaign of calls for divestment, boycotts and proclamations, and it should be condemned unequivocally and absolutely.

Apartheid is defined, in international law, as a crime against humanity. Israeli Apartheid Week is a deliberate attempt to portray the Jewish state as criminal.

The activities planned for the week will single out Jewish and Israeli students. They will be made to feel ostracized and even physically threatened in the very place where freedom should be paramount — on a university campus.

Let us be clear: criticism of Israeli government policy is legitimate. Wholesale condemnation of the State of Israel and the Jewish people is not legitimate. Not now, not ever.

The very premise of Israeli Apartheid Week runs counter to our shared values of mutual respect and tolerance, regardless of nationality, race or creed. It is an attempt to heighten the tensions in our communities around the tragic conflict in the Middle East.

On behalf of the Liberal party of Canada and the Parliamentary caucus, I urge all Canadians to join with us in condemning Israeli Apartheid Week, and to reject, in principle, all forms of anti-Semitism, racism and intolerance, both within this country and around the world.”

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