Anti-Semitism panel wants more action from Ottawa

[King_David]

The federal government needs to take more action to combat rising anti-Semitism in Canada and around the world, a report by a panel of MPs concludes.

................................snip....................

The report adopted the European Union's definition of anti-Semitism and urges the federal government and law enforcement agencies to do the same. It defines anti-Semitism as a certain perception of Jews that can be expressed as hatred toward them, in physical or rhetorical ways. Anti-Semitic acts can be directed at individuals, their property, or the Jewish community and religious facilities. It also says that expressions of hatred can target Israel, because it is considered a Jewish collectivity.

"Criticism of Israel is not anti-Semitic," Silva said, but he added that denying its right to exist, or seeking its destruction, could be considered anti-Semitic acts.

The report said there are "traditional anti-Semitic acts" such as firebombings and vandalism of Jewish facilities but that there is a "new anti-Semitism" that is taking hold in Canada, and internationally. It focuses more on Israel's role in the Middle East conflict with Palestinians, it said.

"In the most vile and clear expressions of the new anti-Semitism, Jewish support for Israel and the notion of Israel as a criminal state is used to further traditional anti-Semitic themes. These manifestations use the discourse of politics but, in fact, constitute masked hatred," the report states.



http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2011/07/07/pol-antisemitism-report.html

[AverageJoe90]

1. Amen to all that!

The revival of Anti-Semitism must be exposed & stopped as soon as possible.........

[shira]

2. Jews are whites who are economically well off, so they aren't oppressed and there is no antisemitism

:sarcasm:

[Ken Burch]

3. A statement that might be a devastating indictment of some people

if any human being had ever said anything remotely like it.

:eyes:

Antisemitism needs to be fought. It just doesn't deserve to be treated as if it is more prevalent or more virulent than all other forms of bigotry. Is that such a difficult thing to accept?

[shira]

4. Yes, antisemitism should be countered like any other form of bigotry but it's not...

For example, Hamas, the PLO, and many within the ISM/FGM movements are notorious antisemites but for some reason their bigotry is sanitized, or worse, the perverts in the last group are considered humanitarian heroes for peace.

Why is that, Ken?

I know of no other bigoted group (those who hate Arabs, Blacks, Muslims, Gays, Women) hailed as heroes for peace and human rights.

Help me understand what's happening here....

[Ken Burch]

5. Nobody's giving Hamas a pass on antisemitism

(The PLO isn't quite as bad). All anybody's saying is that the only way to end the war is to negotiate with all factions of the Palestinian resistance. You know as well as anyone else that negotiations with everyone on the Palestinian side, including Hamas, are the only possible way to end the conflict. Can't you just admit that and stop attacking people for facing the reality of the situation?

You know perfectly well that it's impossible for the IDF to crush Hamas militarily, or for Hamas to crush the IDF(significant numbers of whose troops are just as anti-Arabic as anyone in Hamas is antisemitic)militarily. Therefore, as was the case in Northern Ireland, "Peace through Victory" is not an option.

The only way to fight antisemitism is to work to end the Israel/Palestine dispute and to establish the right of self-determination for the people of Palestine. Once the Occupation ends, once the collective oppression of Palestinians ends, once the daily indignities and restrictions the Palestinian people are subjected to end, much of the resentment that Palestinians feel(resentment that has, tragically, curdled into antisemitism in some cases)will naturally vanish and the project of reconciliation will begin.
No, this won't be utopia, but it can't help to be an improvement in life for everyone on both sides. And only people whose lives are improving can be expected to gain humanity and to develop empathy for others.

That's once of the most important reasons that some of us work for justice for the Palestinian people-because we oppose all prejudice and support reconciliation among all.

Your insistence on endless denunciations and endless demands of denunciations can't ever be effective in fighting antisemitism. Denunciations for denunciations sake don't ever work on things like this.

Look back, for example, on how thoroughly useless and pointless the denunciations of the Soviet Union for its actions were. None of those denunciations(especially since the United States was just as reponsible for global oppression in the Cold War era as the Soviets were)made any difference at all. They sounded pompous, arrogant, self-righteous and shrill. And for the people they were meant to help, they did no good at all.

If you really cared about fighting antisemitism(rather than simply using its existence to indulge in point-scoring on the I/P issue), you'd join the people who call on Bibi to dismantle the West Bank settlements and end the Occupation. It's the settlements and the Occupation that give the darker and more cynical forces within Palestinian society a chance to get a hearing.

You would ALSO admit that the Palestinian resistance, whatever anyone can say about its tactics, is just as grounded in legitimate grievances as anyone else's resistance movement.

And you would agree that it's time to stop expecting Palestinians to accept the idea that Israelis have it worse than they do and are the greater victims in the post-1948 conflict. Let me say this very clearly so there can be no misunderstanding:

Prior to 1948, the Jewish communities of the world were the greater victims than the peoples of the Arab world in terms of suffering and oppression. Every decent human being acknowledges the injustices inflicted on world Jewry and the need to make sure those injustices are never repeated.

But it is not reasonable in the present day to expect Palestinians to accept the notion that Israelis, in the present day, are greater victims IN THE ISRAEL/PALESTINE conflict than Palestinians themselves are. Or that Palestinians and other Arabs are solely to blame for the conflict's origins and continuance. Or that Palestinians deserved to suffer for what European Christians had done in support of Hitler during World War II.

The truth is this:

1)Both sides in the I/P dispute now have a deep history of suffering and oppression.
2)Both sides are responsible for the continuation of military conflict.
3)Neither side is entitled to endlessly proclaim its moral superiority over the other, OR to use conflicts against others to justify what it does in this conflict.
4)Both sides are made up of ordinary human beings, therefore both sides have an equal capacity of acting with humanity or with savagery, depending on what the situation makes them feel obliged to do. Therefore, we can only change the people by changing the situation itself.

I'm just as committed to fighting antisemitism as you are. That doesn't require me or anyone else, to be an unquestioning defender or the Israeli government's actions OR of the strategies employed by the IDF high command.

Also, no, the ISM is not significantly antisemitic. Nobody tried to stop home demolitions in the Occupied Territories because they hated Jews-those who fought the demolitions did so simply because they believed that home demolitions were morally wrong. And Rachel Corrie was a person devoid of any form of prejudice. All the ISM is guilty of is disagreeing with you.

And none of us are obligated to denounce someone or something every time you demand a denunciation simply to prove that we are opposed to a form of prejudice. It goes without saying that the left opposes antisemitism. Denunciation on command is simply an utterly ineffective way to oppose it. It never succeeds in stopping it.

So, I'm begging you, please just accept my response here and don't go into your usual tactic of repeating an unanswerable question for the sake of repeating an unanswerable question.

If we all did what you wanted and just denounced, denounced, denounced and denounced again, it would be pointless. And, more important, it would be a criminal waste of time, since it would divert energies away from

[shira]

6. Are you kidding? Their antisemitism is whitewashed WRT reporting terror attacks against Jews

You know very well the goal is to portray Hamas and the PLO as poor, downtrodden helpless victims fighting the only way they can against nasty Nazi-like, racist oppressors who didn't learn their lesson from the Germans who once oppressed them (which is highly antisemitic).

Hamas and PLO motivations are very RARELY portrayed as having anything to do with antisemitism.

You must be kidding!

As to the ISM and FGM, yes Ken they are antisemites who promoted notorious bigot extraordinaire Gilad Atzmon recently to raise funds for the USBoatToGaza. They portrayed Vittorio Arrigoni (a very nasty antisemite) as a loving soul. They're against the 60 year occupation, meaning like Hamas they're against Israel's very existence. They believe Hamas has a right to violent resistance against innocent Jews and believe suicide bombings are noble (very much like Norm Finkelstein WRT Hezbollah). In addition they have worked in cooperation with and under the supervision of both Hamas and the IHH in both flotillas the past 2 years. Even the "Flytilla", which the ISM/FGM put together includes notorious antisemites like Mazin Qumsiyeh who routinely writes about Jews running the government, controlling money, Israelis being offspring of European Khazars, etc. Need I mention all the photos of the ISM/FGM being rewarded medals of honor from Hamas in years past (that the ISM/FGM have been very quiet about)?

If you missed seeing the proof for any of the above, let me know and I'll gladly present it to you.

Now why is all this suppressed and the FGM/ISM sanitized as being peaceful humanitarians when they're some of the most disgusting bigoted perverts around?