zionists on rampage against growing support for Palestine in Canada

[yankeedoodle]

Fearmongering and intimidation by Canada's pro-Israel lobby
The level of vitriol and anti-Palestinian hatred being pursued by Israel lobby groups in North America is shocking as they frantically try to shut down growing support for Palestine.
https://mondoweiss.net/2022/05/fearmongering-and-intimidation-by-canadas-pro-israel-lobby/?utm_source=mailpoet&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily-email-hgs-mailpoet

Zionist lobby groups in Canada have been on an anti-Palestinian rampage in the last two weeks. Both B'nai Brith and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) have invested considerable energy in an inflammatory and over-the-top smear campaign against Palestinian-Canadian writer Khaled Barakat and the prisoner support group Samidoun. Just before that launched, B'nai Brith released its annual "Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents", which reached new lows in conflating criticism of Israel with antisemitism.

The intensified push in Canada seems to be in tandem with similar outrageous actions in the U.S. by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), whose CEO recently singled out several pro-Palestine advocacy groups claiming they were as dangerous as white supremacists.

These positions by the Zionist lobby groups in North America are not new of course; however, the level of vitriol and anti-Palestinian hatred with which they are now being pursued is shocking, as they frantically try to shut down the growing support for Palestine, especially on university campuses.

The case of Palestinian writer Khaled Barakat and the advocacy group Samidoun is a good example. The media focus by the National Post and its affiliates on the subject of Barakat's alleged role as a "senior member" of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), over the space of one week, has been astounding – a feature online article widely carried across the country, and then two further front page articles, including a full cover photo of Barakat on the April 30 print edition.

Based on this media frenzy, B'nai Brith and CIJA have renewed their push to have Samidoun placed on Canada's "terrorist list". They have been campaigning for this at least since February of last year; CIJA made it one of the points in its federal election platform last summer. This time around, B'nai Brith is even calling for the deportation of Barakat, a Canadian citizen. Samidoun has publicly stated Barakat is not a member of the group although they do respect him, as do many other community activists.

This is circular logic at its finest. You help orchestrate a media push (the author of the initial feature article even admitted he was approached by the pro-Israel lobby groups themselves with "their files"); this then gets picked up by a member of the Canadian Senate and is again amplified in the same media; and then you reiterate that drastic measures like deportation and "terrorist" listings are necessary. It doesn't matter that the original article that spawned all of this was a re-hash of old social media posts and based on allegations from Israeli intelligence and other official sources. Or that in March of last year, 35 concerned organizations had already put out a statement detailing their rejection of attempts to criminalize Samidoun and asking: "Should Canada's policies on these important issues be decided by what the Israeli government and its lobby dictates?"

Yet the language in the latest B'nai Brith "Deport Khaled Barakat" petition campaign goes so far as to make this ridiculous allegation: "Every second wasted places Canadian Jews and Israelis in additional danger, for no justifiable reason."

All of this comes in the context of B'nai Brith's 2021 Audit of Antisemitic Incidents, in which they lump together pro-Palestine actions and social media posts with actual vile acts of hatred against Jews. We know that their strategy is to implant the idea that defending Palestinian rights is antisemitic, but it also allows them to compile faulty and invalid statistics. Canada Palestine Association (CPA) released a statement on April 28, in which they questioned the credibility and the false foundation for B'nai Brith's data. The statement noted that this "data led them to conclude that 2021 was another record year for anti-Semitic incidents. And although their report does include clear cases of vandalism against synagogues and hate graffiti, how much of their 'assessed data' also includes cases of political protest by Palestinians and their allies?"

The photo that introduced the section on "Assessing the Data" was of a pro-Palestine supporter, holding up a sign saying "Canada & Israel: Allies in Apartheid, Allies in Colonialism". If this is the accepted basis for determining what is antisemitic in Canada, there may be a lot of calls for deportations on the horizon!

However, solidarity activists in Canada have no intention of allowing these types of warped and defamatory actions to hold sway; they know that support for Palestine is growing, and the stronger it becomes, the more ruthless the Zionist lobby will become. And although the federal Canadian government has not yet indicated that it is ready to put Samidoun on the "terrorist" listing or enact "deportation" procedures, activists know they can't count on politicians to uphold Palestinian rights or the rights of Palestinian-Canadians to freely express their political opinions. In fact, the record of the current Trudeau government would indicate the exact opposite. Their insistence on adoption and promotion of the IHRA definition and a steadfast refusal to recognize Israel as an apartheid state are cornerstones of a staunch pro-Israel policy. The fact that Marco Mendicino, the Canadian Minister of Public Safety (who handles the "terrorist listings" portfolio), is also vice-chair of the Canada-Israel Interparliamentary Group doesn't exactly inspire confidence in the impartiality of these government decision-makers.

A new statement "Stop the Smear Campaigns against Palestinian Advocacy" has gathered over 60 endorsements from Canadian and international organizations, as well as notable individual endorsers including Roger Waters, Jonathan Kuttab, Rehab Nazzal and Tony Greenstein.

Another action letter addressed specifically to the Canadian government, emphasizing that these smear tactics are unacceptable, has resulted in thousands of letters being sent to Canadian political leaders from all major parties. The action letter concluded: "Palestinian-Canadians and their supporters are frankly sick and tired of being the target of racist and defamatory attacks every time they speak up for the Palestinian peoples' national and human rights."

And that is the new reality, a reality that was built on the Unity intifada from May 2021 and has brought forth diverse voices to demand justice for Palestine; this is the growing momentum that the Zionist lobby is so desperate to try and suppress.

[yankeedoodle]

New group tries to stop talk of Israel apartheid among Canadian officials
In response to millions of Canadians demanding an end to Israeli apartheid, the Israel lobby is trying to define calls for Palestinian equality as antisemitism.
https://mondoweiss.net/2022/05/new-group-tries-to-stop-talk-of-israel-apartheid-among-canadian-officials/?utm_source=mailpoet&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily-email-hgs-mailpoet

A new initiative claiming to combat antisemitism in Canada's federal service is primarily about defending apartheid.

In December Canadian diplomats launched an initiative ostensibly designed to oppose anti-Jewishness within the federal government. The Jewish Public Servants' Network, reported the Canadian Jewish News, "was formed last year in response to a global spike in antisemitism following the most recent Israel-Gaza confrontation."

Leading anti-Palestinian activist Irwin Cotler assisted with launching the initiative and participated in the group's event on May 25. Their webinar, which included ardent Israeli nationalist and former senator Linda Frum, took place on the sidelines of a Canada-Israel conference in Ottawa.

The new group's spokesperson is Artur Wilczynski, a recently retired assistant deputy minister and senior adviser for people, equity and inclusion at the Communications Security Establishment (Canada's NSA). The former Canadian ambassador to Norway previously headed Canada's delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance and is a vocal proponent of the IHRA's anti-Palestinian definition of antisemitism.

Wilczynski came to my attention when he commented on a tweet about the upcoming CANSEC arms fair in Ottawa hosting Israeli company Elbit, whose subsidiary, IMI Systems, is the main supplier of bullets to the Israeli military and likely provided the ammunition used to kill Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh. Wilczynski wrote, "according to the Committee to Protect Journalists 17 journalists were killed so far this year around the world. While Shireen Abu Aqleh's death is tragic and demands accountability, others deserve it too. All journalists deserve protection."

Few would argue that "all journalists deserve protection". But a Canadian ally engaged in a long-standing occupation murdering the voice of an oppressed nation deserves far greater outrage than say a Mexican cartel murdering a reporter. Wilczynski's comment was similar to those who responded to Black Lives Matter protests by saying "all lives matter".

While he initially feigned concern for all journalists, Wilczynski's extreme Zionist views emerged quickly in his responses. He wrote, "completely comfortable criticizing Israeli policies. I believe calling Israel an 'apartheid' state is hyperbolic nonsense. The canard is as much a product of 1960s USSR disinformation and propaganda as 'the Protocols of the Elders of Zion' was of Czarist Russia."

But Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Al Haq, B'tselem and the UN Special Rapporteur on Palestinians have all concluded Israel is committing the crime of apartheid. Wilczynski is directly linking them to Soviet disinformation and indirectly to the famed anti-Semitic Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

In a subsequent tweet Wilczynski wrote, "I know it's the hope of Soviet apologists that if they repeat a lie often enough it will become the truth. It doesn't. I will continue to push back against the dystopian hyperbole pushed by those who want to destroy Israel — the country where HALF of the world's Jews live."

Wilczynski is arguing that defending Zionist colonialism and fighting antisemitism are intimately connected. For Wilczynski and the Israel lobby raising the specter of antisemitism in the public service is a way to intimidate government officials uncomfortable with apartheid or concerned about how pro-Israel positions impact Canada's standing. (Many in Global Affairs were frustrated Canada lost its second consecutive bid for a seat on the United Nations Security Council partly due to anti-Palestinian positions.)

The public servants' antisemitism initiative is best understood in the context of Israel apologists somewhat paradoxical predicament. The Trudeau government has been strikingly deferential, expanding the Canada-Israel free trade agreement, organizing a pizza party for Canadians fighting in the Israeli military, repeatedly declaring its devotion to an apartheid state, voting against 60 UN resolutions upholding Palestinian rights, suing to block proper labels on wines from settlements, creating a special envoy to deflect criticism of Israeli abuses, etc. But, at the same time, Israel and its supporters influence over informed liberal opinion has never been weaker.

Human rights groups' conclusion that Israel is guilty of the crime of apartheid is dripping into mainstream politics and if not dammed up it could turn into a river of criticism. Referencing Amnesty International's report, Liberal MP Chandra Arya recently asked Parliament about "Palestinians under Israeli apartheid" while the Hill Times published "Backbench Liberals shift from government in push for tougher response to Israel". Liberal MPs are under pressure to speak-up within their ridings and the NDP is increasingly referencing apartheid.

In response to millions of Canadians demanding an end to Israeli apartheid, the Israel lobby is trying to define calls for Palestinian equality as antisemitism. And if that's not successful, they at least want to change the subject.