January 24, 2010

Dear Embassy Editor :

RE: Jewish group brings strife to the community

Michael Fegelman’s letter repeats the National Post’s defamatory allegations against Independent Jewish Voices. The reality is that IJV represents Canadian Jews who share a commitment to social justice and universal human rights. We believe that both Palestinians and Israelis have a right to peaceful and secure lives, and that the best way to achieve this goal is to insist that all parties to the conflict in Israel and Palestine respect universal human rights and international law. IJV has come under attack by pro-Israel groups because we challenge their contention that they speak for Canadian Jews as well as their unqualified support Israeli behaviour even when it involves the violation of human rights and international law.

Embassy readers may be interested in some details about Mr. Fegelman’s organization, Honest Reporting Canada (HRC).  It is affiliated with HonestReporting. com (HR), an international pro-Israel pressure group that was established in 2000 to fight rising public sympathy for Palestinian rights and outrage over Israeli behaviour. As its web site states, “Israel is in the midst of a battle for public opinion – waged primarily via the media.” HRC’s mission is to attack media which publish stories critical of Israel’s human rights violations, in an effort to intimidate them into silence while getting HRC’s views published. The organization boasts that “Since 2003, HRC has prompted hundreds of apologies, retractions, and revisions from news outlets. These efforts are changing the face of the media and reporting of Israel throughout the world.”¹

HRC and its parent group HR have been denounced by responsible journalists. For example, Shlomit Kriger of the Ryerson Journalism Review describes HRC as one of the “savvy, aggressive special-interest groups” which are “exploiting people’s distrust of journalists to slant the news their way.”² Barbara Matusow, former senior American Journalism Review editor characterized HR as “a pro-Israel pressure group. … These so-called media monitors, who say they are only interested in fairness and balance, will seize on a word or a phrase and leave out the context.”³ That is precisely what Mr. Fegelman has done in his letter attacking Independent Jewish Voices.

The purpose of groups like HRC is to skew the news and muzzle accurate coverage that is unfavorable to Israel. We respectfully request that you make this known to your readers.

Sincerely,

Sid Shniad, Spokesperson, Independent Jewish Voices (Canada)

1.   “Our Mission” HonestReporting Canada

2.    Shlomit Kriger (Summer 2005) “Under Pressure”

3. Barbara Matusow (June/July 2004) “Caught in the Crosshairs”