ENGLISH:
To: The Canadian parliamentary parties
Independent Jewish Voices Canada wrote this petition concerning the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Antisemitism (CPCCA). The CPCCA is planning hearings and a report to further repress attempts to support Palestinian human rights or criticize Israel.
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The Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Antisemitism (CPCCA) (1) is conducting eight hearings starting November 2 to December 14. “Witnesses” have been selected from some 150 submissions to further the CPCCA’s political agenda.
Many of those critical of the CPCCA agenda to equate criticism of Israel or Zionism as anti-Semitism made submissions (2). To the best of our knowledge, they have all been excluded from the hearings.
The CPCCA’s goal is to criminalize criticism of Israel and Zionism, not to hold impartial hearings.
Therefore, we oppose the CPCCA as an ideologically biased organization with an agenda that will harm free speech and human rights activity in Canada.
We oppose the CPCCA’s Orwellian distortion of anti-Semitism. It is a danger to both Canadian liberties and to the genuine and necessary fight against anti-Semitism.
BACKGROUND
The CPCCA and Canada’s Israel representatives are waging a propaganda and legal battle to silence the expanding number of people and organizations who support Palestinian rights or are critical of Israel for its illegal occupation, invasions and siege of Palestine.The CPCCA is joining the Conservative government, the B’nai Brith, and the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC), in an ambitious plan to censor civil dialogue by deliberately confusing criticism of Israel and Zionism with anti-Semitism. The CJC calls on the CPCCA to help mobilize police, federal and media resources to suppress such criticism. (3)
Members of the CPCCA cite university activism such as Israeli Apartheid Week as evidence of the “new Antisemitism”. They are panicking at the growing non-violent Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israel, just as Canada previously opposed the anti-Apartheid movement against a racist South-African state. They are alarmed at the growing number of Jews and Jewish organizations challenging Israel’s occupation and impunity.
HOW THE “NEW ANTISEMITISM POLITICS” WORKS
The CPCCA writes: “Antisemitism is an age-old phenomenon, yet it is always re-invented and manifested in different ways. For example, while accusations of blood libel are still being made against the Jewish people, instead they are being directed against the State of Israel, such that anti-Zionism is being used as a cover for antisemitism.”Prime Minister Stephen Harper in 2008 stated that criticism of Israel is anti-Semitic. Canada boycotted the Durban II UN Conference against racism on the grounds that its criticism of Israel is anti-Semitic. CPCCA co-founder Liberal MP Irwin Cotler wrote that anti-Semitism is manifested when the UN resolves that ‘Zionism is Racism’, and by calling Israel an apartheid state.
During the brutal invasion of Gaza, the Canadian Jewish Congress, the Canada-Israel Committee and the B’nai Brith collaborated with the Harper government in a public campaign attacking Gaza solidarity demonstrators as hate mongers and anti-Semites.
Federal Minister Jason Kenney spoke out against, and the B’nai Brith urged university presidents to ban Israeli Apartheid Week. They warned Jewish students that York University is a hotbed of anti-Semitism. British MP George Galloway was banned from Canada because of his support for Palestinians.
The Harper Government and the B’nai Brith soundly denounced the UN Goldstone Report of war crimes committed by Israel and Hamas during the Gaza invasion this January. It was researched and authored by Judge Richard Goldstone, a Jewish South African who also investigated war crimes in the Balkans.
Now, the CPCCA is attempting to provide political ammunition to further repress free speech in Canada if people support Palestinians or criticize Israel.
Robert Fisk, internationally renowned Middle East correspondent recently remarked “By libelling serious critics of Israel as anti-Semites, these people genuinely undermine real anti-Semitism by making it respectable, and shame on them for doing so.”
Join us in this necessary action to fight racism and defend free speech and human rights advocacy.
References
(1) www.cpcca.ca
(2a) Wrong way to “fight anti-Semitism” By Outlook: Canada’s Progressive Jewish Magazine,
(2b) Independent Jewish Voices submission to the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Anti-semitism
(3) Submission to the CPCCA by the Canadian Jewish Congress
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FRANÇAIS
À l’attention des parties conservateur, libéral, néo-démocrate et vert
La présente pétition a été rédigé par Voix juives indépendantes – Canada concernant la “Coalition parlementaire canadienne pour combattre l’antisémitisme“(CPCCA) . La CPCCA organise présentement des audiences et prépare un rapport visant à réprimer davantage, toute tentative de défense des droits humains des PalestinienNEs, et de critique des pratiques de l’état d’Israël.
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La Coalition parlementaire canadienne pour combattre l’antisémitisme (CPCCA) (1) organise huit audiences qui auront lieu du 2 novembre au 14 décembre. Les critères de sélection des “témoins” proviennent des 150 soumissions présentées qui souscrivent au programme politique sous jacent de la CPCCA.
Le programme de la CPCCA affirme que toute critique d’Israël, ou du sionisme, doit être considérée comme étant une manifestation de l’antisémitisme. À notre connaissance, les soumissions présentées qui s’y opposent, (2) ont été exclues des audiences.
Le but de la CPCCA n’est pas de tenir des audience impartiales, mais plutôt de criminaliser les critiques de l’état d’Israël et du sionisme.
Nous nous opposons, par conséquent, au CPCCA étant donné son programme idéologiquement tendancieux qui porte atteinte à la liberté d’expression et à la de défense des droits humains au Canada.
Nous nous opposons aux tentatives de dénaturer l’antisémitisme qui sont le propre du révisionisme “orwellien” de la CPCCA . Celui-ci porte atteinte, non seulement aux droits et libertés au Canada, mais aussi, à la l’authentique lutte contre l’antisémitisme.
Références
(1) www.cpcca.ca
(2a) Wrong way to “fight anti-Semitism” By Outlook: Canada’s Progressive Jewish Magazine,
(2b) Independent Jewish Voices submission to the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Anti-semitism(3) MÉMOIRE DU CJC À LA COMMISSION D’ENQUÊTE CPCCA
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