Background: IJAN Toronto members, working with other local Jewish activists in Toronto, put together and op-ed piece and collected 161 names of Jewish Canadians within a week, debunking the myth that criticism of the Israeli state is anti-Semitic, or that Israel acts out of self-defense. It also decries recent attacks on Israeli Apartheid week at several Canadian Universities. The statement, “Jewish Canadians Concerned About Suppression of Criticism of Israel.” speaks about the current climate as analogous to the Red Scare of the 1950s. Both the Toronto Star and the national Globe and Mail refused to publish it. The piece was then placed as an “advertisement” in one of the free weekly papers in Toronto, NOW Magazine. It is currently circulating on various lists and websites on the Internet, and may eventually be placed as an advertisement in either the Globe and Mail or the Ottawa Citizen, if more money can be raised. And names keep coming in.
Weare Jewish Canadians concerned about all expressions of racism,anti-Semitism, and social injustice. We believe that the Holocaustlegacy “Never again” means never again for all peoples. It is a tragicturn of history that the State of Israel, with its ideals of democracyand its dream of being a safe haven for Jewish people, causesimmeasurable suffering and injustice to the Palestinian people.
Weare appalled by recent attempts of prominent Jewish organizations andleading Canadian politicians to silence protest against the State ofIsrael. We are alarmed by the escalation of fear tactics. Charges thatthose organizing Israel Apartheid Week or supporting an academicboycott of Israel are anti-Semites promoting hatred bring theanti-Communist terror of the 1950s vividly to mind. We believe thisserves to deflect attention from Israel’s flagrant violations ofinternational humanitarian law.
B’nai Brith and the Canadian Jewish Congress have pressured university presidents and
administrationsto silence debate and discussion specifically regardingPalestine/Israel. In a full-page ad in a national newspaper, B’naiBrith urged donors to withhold funds from universities because“anti-Semitic hate fests” were being allowed on campuses. ImmigrationMinister Jason Kenney and Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff have echoedthese arguments. While university administrators have resisted demandsto shut down Israel Apartheid week, some Ontario university presidentshave bowed to this disinformation campaign by suspending and finingstudents, confiscating posters, and infringing on free speech.
Wedo not believe that Israel acts in self-defense. Israel is the largestrecipient of US foreign aid, receiving $3 million/day. It has thefourth strongest army in the world. Before the invasion of Gaza on 27December 2008, Israel’s siege had already created a humanitariancatastrophe there, with severe impoverishment, malnutrition, anddestroyed infrastructure. It is crucial that forums for discussion ofIsrael’s accountability to the international community for what manyhave called war crimes be allowed to proceed unrestricted by speciousclaims of anti-Semitism.
Werecognize that anti-Semitism is a reality in Canada as elsewhere, andwe are fully committed to resisting any act of hatred against Jews. Atthe same time, we condemn false charges of anti-Semitism againststudent organizations, unions, and other groups and people exercisingtheir democratic right to freedom of speech and association regardinglegitimate criticism of the State of Israel.
Signatories:
Abigail Bakan
Adam Balsam
Sharon Baltman
Julia Barnett
Lainie Basman
JodyBerland
Sam Blatt
Geri Blinik
Anita Block
Elizabeth Block
Sheila Block
Hannah Briemberg
Mark Brill
Stephen Brot
Meyer Brownstone
Eliza Burroughs
Smadar Carmon
Gyda Chud
Charles P. Cohen
Nathalie Cohen
David Copeland
Natalie Zemon Davis
Eliza Deutsch
James Deutsch
Judith Deutsch
Abbe Edelson
Jack Etkin
Elle Flanders
Danielle Frank
Ursula Franklin
Dan Freeman-Maloy
Miriam Garfinkle
Alisa Gayle
Jack Gegenberg
Mark Golden
Brenda Goldstein
Sue Goldstein
CyGonick
Marnina Gonick
Rachel Gotthilf
Amy Gottleib
Kevin A. Gould
Daina Green
Lisa Frances Greenspoon
Ricardo Grinspun
Cathy Gulkin
Rachel Gurofsky
Deboran Guterman
Yesse Gutman
Freda Guttman
Judy Haiven
Michael Hanna-Fein
Jean Hanson
Jan Heynen
Maria Heynen
Adam Hofmann
Jake Javanshir
Jeannie Kamins
Marylin Kanee
Howard S. Kaplan
Gilda Katz
Maxine Kaufman-Lacusta
Mira Khazzam
Bonnie Sher Klein
Mark Klein
Martin Klein
Naomi Klein
Joshua Katz-Rosene
Ryan Katz-Rosene
Judy Koch
Anton Kuerti
Jason Kunin
Aaron Lakoff
Michael Lambek
Natalie LaRoche
Richard Borshay Lee
AndyLehrer
Gabriel Levin
Gabriel Levine
Joel Lexchin
Kim Linekin
Abby Lippman
Lee Lorch
Martin Lukacs
Audrey Macklin
Elise Maltin
Richard Marcuse
Wayne Mark
Gabor Mate
Arthur Milner
Anna Miransky
Dorit Naaman
Joanne Naiman
Neil Naiman
Michael Neumann
David-Marc Newman
David Noble
Clare O’Connor
Robin Ostow
Andre W. Payant
Jenny Peto
Simone Powell
Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
Fabienne Presentey
Yacov Rabkin
Diana Ralph
Naomi Rankin
JudyRebick
Ester Reiter
Jillian Rogin
Richard Roman
Joseph Rosen
Solomon Rosenbaum
Herman Rosenfeld
Martha Roth
Marty Roth
Ruben Roth
E.Natalie Rothman
B. Sack
Ben Saifer
Miriam Sampaio
Jacob Scheir
Fred Schloessinger
Alan Sears
Shlomit Segal
Edward H. Shaffer
Noa Shaindlinger
Ray Shankman
Eva Sharell
Elliot Shek
Sid Shniad
Max Silverman
Samuel Singer
Elizabeth Solloway
George Sorger
Susan Starkman
Greg Starr
Jonathan Sterne
Jeremy Stolow
Rhonda Sussman
Vera Szoke
Joe Tannenbaum
Howard Tessler
Marion
Traub-Werner
Ceyda Turan
SandraTychsen
Cheryl Wagner
Jon McPhedran Waitzer
David Wall
Naomi Binder Wall
Kathy Wazana
Karen Weisberg
Barry Weisleder
Paul Weinberg
Judith Weisman
Suzanne Weiss
Abraham Weizfeld
Ernie Yacub
B.H. Yael
Yedida Zalik
Melvin Zimmerman
