B’nai Brith and JDL bullying tactics are not Canadian values (Canadian Arab Federation)
Canadian Arab Federation / La Fédération Canado-Arabe, January 23, 2007
Toronto - The Canadian Arab Federation (CAF) finds it extremely alarming that B’nai Brith and the Jewish Defence League (JDL) are frequently resorting to bullying and intimidation tactics to silence criticism of Israel.
CAF denounces the fierce attacks against the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation District 12 (OSSTF12) to prevent them from freely debating a motion critical of Israel submitted by two teachers – one of whom is Jewish. Pro-Israel groups directed vicious personal attacks against OSSTF12 executive, heaped vile and threatening comments against OSSTF12 staff over the telephone, and employed physical intimidation against OSSTF12 members who were on their way to attend the session that debated the motion.
The vicious campaign of intimidation orchestrated by the pro-Israel groups against OSSTF12 comes at the heels of similar campaigns last year against the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Ontario and the United Church of Canada for criticizing the Israeli occupation and human rights violations.
CAF respects the right of OSSTF12 or any organization to exercise their democratic right to debate any issue without fear and pressure. We live in a democratic society in which individuals and groups can freely debate all issues, especially those regarding social justice and human rights violations. B’nai Brith and JDL are shamelessly employing intimidation, fear tactics and harassment within the Canadian political landscape. Canadians should all be able to call a spade a spade, and a crime a crime, irrespective of the lobby backing the criminal.
Despite the bullying by B’nai Brith, the JDL and other pro-Israel groups, more and more people in Canada and around the world are speaking out against Israel’s racist policies and human rights abuses of Palestinians. In his book “Palestine: Peace not Apartheid” Jimmy Carter, former U.S. president and Nobel Prize winner, joins Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, another Nobel Prize winner, in openly bashing Israel for its policies and practices. Avrum Burg, who was speaker of the Israeli Knesset from 1999 to 2003, stated in an article which appeared in the UK’s Telegraph on 28 March 2004 that “The Israeli nation today rests on a scaffolding of corruption, and on foundations of oppression and injustice.”
Each time a teacher union, a trade union, a church group or world leader steps forward to break the code of silence around this issue, the more difficult it becomes for pro-Israel groups such as B’nai Brith and the JDL to spew their propaganda. The more people speak out against the crimes against humanity and atrocities committed in Palestine, the more the occupiers and their supporters will be ridiculed and ostracized.
For more information, please contact:
Khaled Mouammar
CAF National President
416-879-6766
benwalid@rogers.com
Comment by Brad Brzezinski, writing from on January 26th, 2007 at 11:01 am:
The job of our school system is to teach students to think. It must not attempt to teach them WHAT to think on controversial current affairs. There can be no negotiation on this principle and both left and right shouild be in agreement.
As for the CAF’s complaint about pro-Israel groups stifling debates, I seem to recall the CAF trying to get Michael Coren off the air because they didn’t like what he said. Hypocrisy is a part of life but the CAF’s level of self-servitude is unacceptable.
Brad Brzezinski, Ottawa
Comment by Adam Richards, writing from Canada on January 26th, 2007 at 3:43 pm:
These charges are ridiculous. Physical intimidation? Does that mean protesters legally carrying signs and chanting slogans? Your attempt to cast B’nai B’rith as thugs is only proof that you are doing exactly what you claim to be resisting: using slurs and personal attacks to disguise your own racism. I recall the last United Nations conference on racism, where pro-Palestinian groups passed out leaflets bearing the words Hitler was right. Palestinians in particular and Muslims in general have no monopoly as victims. Perhaps if the Palestinians grew up a little and stopped threatening violence, recognize the State of Israel and pledge long-term security, the present deadlock would change. As for Carter, his book has been criticized by practically every (non-Jewish) media outlet in the US and Canada, because his premise is biased from the beginning. Apartheid means that one ethnic group uses another for economic gain, among other things, whereas the Palestinians do nothing for Israel except cost them money.
Comment by Ted Turner, writing from on January 27th, 2007 at 8:00 am:
Hi Brad
I wondered where you went.
How are things in “the nations capital”?
Comment by Brad Brzezinski, writing from on January 31st, 2007 at 6:45 pm:
It’s cold but there’s hot air on the hill as usual Ted.
Comment by udo, writing from Canada on February 2nd, 2007 at 10:46 am:
What in heaven’s name has happened to the CAF? In the past under the leadership of Raja Khouri and Omar Alghabra it was a wise, strategic thinking advocacy organization. Today it has become extreme in its actions and in my view are turning off many Canadians never mind Canadians of Arab descent.
As well I am uncertain as to why the CAF is targeting the B’nai Brith and JDL. Neither seem to be recognized as mainstream in the Jewish community any longer. Had the Canadian Jewish Congress acted in the manner described the CAF may have had some cause. Yet in the end I adopt Brad’s view. Even though Bnai Brith is on the edge as is JDL, it has the right in a free and democratic society to air its views.
Comment by Jonathan O'hara, writing from on February 3rd, 2007 at 10:09 am:
Seems to me that the CAF is targeting Bnai Brith because they are polar opposites. As Udo explained at one time the CAF was a mainstream Canadian Arag organization that has become extreme, so to has Bnai Brith. Under the direction of Karen Mock Bnai Brith was a true human rights group today it has become a rather right wing voice of the Jewish community that has a small intense following. Same as CAF for their part.
On the matter at hand, in my view, the resolutions brought forward were so unbalanced that no person who understands the issues could possibly have voted for them. Palestinian supporters denigrate their cause when they are seen to be one-sided accusing Israel of every misdeed in the book without taking any responsibility for actions caused.
Comment by Jonathan O'hara, writing from on February 3rd, 2007 at 10:12 am:
Seems to me that the CAF is targeting Bnai Brith because they are polar opposites. As Udo explained at one time the CAF was a mainstream Canadian Arab organization that has become extreme, so to has Bnai Brith. Under the direction of Karen Mock Bnai Brith was a true human rights group today it has become a rather right wing voice of the Jewish community that has a small intense following. Same as CAF for their part.
On the matter at hand, in my view, the resolutions brought forward were so unbalanced that no person who understands the issues could possibly have voted for them. Palestinian supporters denigrate their cause when they are seen to be one-sided accusing Israel of every misdeed in the book without taking any responsibility for actions caused.