Shopping for human rights

 Passed yesterday in the House : 

"That, given Canada and Israel share a long history of friendship as well as economic and diplomatic relations, the House reject the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which promotes the demonization and delegitimization of the State of Israel, and call upon the government to condemn any and all attempts by Canadian organizations, groups or individuals to promote the BDS movement, both here at home and abroad."

Liberals and Conservatives - Yes - 229 votes

NDP and Bloc - No - 51 votes

You can see how each MP voted at the link at top or watch them vote here : "Opposition Motion : Israel"

137 Liberals out of 184 voted in favour, 44 Liberals skipped the vote, and only 3 voted against it : Larry Bagnell, Nick Whalen, and Rene Arsenault.

92 Cons voted in favour while 7 skipped the vote.

Elizabeth May last week : "I will not be supporting it, but I want to make it very clear that the Green Party and I personally do not support the BDS movement." She also skipped the vote.

What's this crap about "demonization and delegitimization of Israel"?

Does everyone get that BDS is basically about shopping?

We're talking about making shopping choices to apply pressure to support Palestinian human rights here. 

And now we're being condemned by our government for what we think about making those choices?   Unbelievable.

.



Update : Scott Vrooman : Parliamentary debate on Israel boycott misses the point





Real News Network : Brace Batchoun of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East :

.

Patrick Martin, Globe & Mail : Parliament votes to reject Israel boycott campaign

Antonia Zerbisias, Al Jazeera : Canada jumps on the anti-BDS bandwagon
.

Cons struggle to find their opposition feet

"They're stealing all our best shit," wailed CPC MP Remplestiltskin from her parliamentary selfie twitter account, rattling off all the HarperGov ideas embraced by the Liberals since they formed a majority government in October :

Saudi arms deal - check
TPP signed - check
Return of the F35 bid - check
Keystone XL pipeline - check
Energy east pipeline - check
Voted for C-51 - check
Canadian Wheat Board stays ditched - check
Investor-state dispute mechanism ISDS - check and check
CIRDI mining company catspaw reconfirmed - check
Covered for CSIS in torture cases - check
Voted against all measures for Palestine at the UN - check

"And you just know they're going to vote in favour of our motion condemning BDS in the House next week," she fumed, although she allowed this has in fact always been Justin Trudeau's position. 

"The Conservative Party worked very hard for ten years to remake the Canadian brand and it's like the Liberals stole all our best ideas and stuck their own name on them."

A Liberal source who spoke on background thinks his CPC colleague is over-reacting.
"There's lots of other Con ideas left the official opposition can raise in the House," he said. 
"New wars, for instance. While Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan says Canada could soon join a military coalition to return to Libya, we haven't said we're going to actually bomb any new countries so there's that."

"Look on the bright side," he continued. "Remember 18 months ago when that delegation of Liberal and Conservative MPs and senators went to Jerusalem and sang O Canada at the Canada-Israel Solidarity Rally during Day 23 of Operation Protective Edge? 

Remember how rewarding it felt to be Conservatives and Liberals working together in support of Israel's collective punishment of Palestinians?"

"Sunny ways are here to stay," he quipped. "Better get used to it."

 Rempelstiltskin™ : the Salamander

Greenwald/Fishman @The Intercept : Greatest Threat to Free Speech in the West: Criminalizing Activism Against Israeli Occupation
.

Standing with Israel through fire and water and sunny ways

This is what we look like at the United Nations General Assembly right now - one of a half dozen outliers of little red squares on the big screen voting NO on every single vote to do with Palestine.  It's the same look we've had for over a decade - standing with Israel through fire and water and now sunny ways - in the yearly UN ritual of non-binding resolutions on a humanitarian disaster that inconveniently implicates Israel.

The other NO voters are always Israel, the US and their coalition of the willing islands where the US has military bases, and occasionally Australia. We do not choose to abstain from voting, as some of the other 193 member nations do when they object to some part of the language of a resolution being biased or too critical of Israel; we just vote NO to all of it. 

Last Tuesday we voted against this one, sponsored by South Africa, calling for Palestine's right to sovereignty over her own natural resources :

December 22 2015 - Resolution 70/225 :

“Permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and of the Arab population in the occupied Syrian Golan over their natural resources”   (document A/70/480) excerpted :

"Deploring the detrimental impact of the Israeli settlements on Palestinian and other Arab natural resources, especially as a result of the confiscation of land and the forced diversion of water resources, including the destruction of orchards and crops and the seizure of water wells by Israeli settlers.... Further calls upon Israel to cease its destruction of vital infrastructure, including water pipelines, sewage networks and electricity networks" 

• 164 in favour
• 5 against, (Canada, Israel, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, United States)
• 10 abstentions (Australia, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Honduras, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, South Sudan, Togo, Tonga, Vanuatu).

Here's another dozen Canadian NO votes on Palestinian issues from the last month :

December 17 2015 

Resolution 70/441 : The right of the Palestinian people to self-determination 

• 177 in favour
• 7 against (Canada, Israel, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, United States)
• 4 abstentions (Cameroon, Honduras, Tonga, South Sudan).

December 10 2015
Resolution 70/108 : Assistance to the Palestinian people -introduced by Luxembourg on behalf of the EU and yet to be voted on.

A representative of the Permanent Observer for the State of Palestine noted the World Bank had recently assessed the economy of Gaza to be “on the verge of collapse” and more than 100,000 Palestinian civilians remained displaced after 2014"

Israel responded that it "made continuous efforts to improve the well-being of the Palestinian people in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip" and blamed the Palestinian Authority for "evading its responsibilities regarding governance in Gaza".

December 9 2015

Resolution 70/90 : Israeli practices affecting the human rights of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem 

• 158 in favour
• 8 against (Australia, Canada, Israel, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, United States) 
• 10 abstentions (Cameroon, Central African Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Honduras, Liberia, Malawi, Paraguay, Togo, Vanuatu)

Resolution 70/89 : Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and the occupied Syrian Golan

"by which it condemned Israel’s continuing settlement activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, as violations of international humanitarian law" 

• 161 in favour
• 7 against (Canada, Israel, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, United States)
• 8 abstentions (Australia, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, Honduras, Paraguay, Togo, Vanuatu) 

Resolution 70/88 : Applicability of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, of 12 August 1949, to the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and the other occupied Arab territories

"The Assembly reaffirmed the Geneva Convention’s applicability, and further demanded that Israel accept the Convention’s de jure applicability in those territories"

• 163 votes in favour
• 6 against (Canada, Israel, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau, United States)
• 8 abstentions (Australia, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, Paraguay, Togo, Vanuatu)

Resolution 70/87 : Work of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories 

• 158 in favour
• 8 against (Australia, Canada, Israel, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, United States) 
• 10 abstentions (Cameroon, Central African Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Honduras, Liberia, Malawi, Paraguay, Togo, Vanuatu)

Resolution 70/86 : Palestine refugees' properties and their revenues

"By its terms, the Assembly reaffirmed that Palestine refugees were entitled to their property and to the income derived therefrom"  

• 167 in favour
• 7 against (Canada, Israel, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, United States)
• 4 abstentions (Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Paraguay, Vanuatu)

Resolution 70/85 : Operations of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East 

• 169 votes in favour 
• 6 against (Canada, Israel, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau, United States)
• 5 abstentions (Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Nauru, Paraguay, Vanuatu)

Persons displaced as a result of the June 1967 and subsequent hostilities

• 164 in favour 
• 7 against (Canada, Israel, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, United States) 
• 7 abstentions (Cameroon, Central African Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Honduras, Liberia, Paraguay)

Report of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories

"the continuing detrimental impact of ongoing unlawful Israeli practices and measures in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, such as excessive use of force by Israeli occupying troops against Palestinian civilians" 

• 92 in favour
• 9 against (Australia, Canada, Israel, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Panama, United States)
• 75 abstentions

November 24 2015 

Resolution 70/15 : Peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine excerpted :

"The Assembly reaffirmed the need to achieve a peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine. It called for the intensification of efforts by the parties, including through negotiations, with the support of the international community, towards the conclusion of a final peace settlement, as well as urging renewed international efforts to achieve a comprehensive, just and lasting peace, based on the relevant United Nations resolutions; the terms of reference of the Madrid Conference, including the principle of land for peace; the Arab Peace Initiative adopted by the Council of the League of Arab States at its fourteenth session; the Quartet road map to a permanent two-State solution to the conflict; and existing agreements between the Israeli and Palestinian sides."

• 155 in favour 
• 7 against (Australia, Canada, Micronesia, Israel, Marshall Islands, Palau, United States) 
• 7 abstentions (Cameroon, Honduras, Nauru, Paraguay, South Sudan, Togo, Tonga).

Resolution 70/14 : Special information programme on the question of Palestine 

• 155 in favour 
• 7 against (Canada, Israel, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, United States)
• 7 abstentions (Australia, Cameroon, Honduras, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, South Sudan, Tonga)

Resolution 70/13 : Division for Palestinian Rights 

• 99 in favour 
• 8 against (Australia, Canada, Micronesia, Israel, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, United States)
• 59 abstentions

Resolution 70/12 : Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People 

• 102 in favour
• 8 against (Australia, Canada, Micronesia, Israel, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, United States)
• 57 abstentions

General Assembly of the UN Resolutions for November and December 2015

Sunny ways.


.

Making a killing on Gaza

As blogged here a month ago, Israeli writer/researcher Shir Hever told the Real News Network that Israeli security companies are using the Gaza conflict to market the tools of occupation to other countries :

"... when they go to arms trade shows and show their equipment, they say this has already been tested by the Israeli army on actual people. You can only have that because of the occupation. So every new weapon is first sold to the Israeli army, shot at Palestinians. Then you can sell it." 

Fast forward to two articles from today's Haaretz : 

For Israeli arms makers, Gaza is a cash cow
Protective Edge’s marketing edge

“Battle-tested” is the best marketing slogan for defense industries the world over, so for Israeli military manufactures Operation Protective Edge has yielded a major competitive edge. 

"What has proven itself in battle is much easier to sell.  Immediately after the operation, and perhaps even during, all kinds of delegations arrive here from countries that appreciate Israel’s technological capabilities and are interested in testing the new products.”

Arms sales set to rocket after showcase during Gaza conflict

"Since 2000, when the second intifada broke out, Israel has had some form of military operation lasting a few weeks every few years: Defensive Shield (in the West Bank) in 2002; the Second Lebanon War in 2006; Cast Lead in 2008-09; and Pillar of Defense in 2012. In almost every case, new military technology or weapons were used – which had a positive effect on overseas sales.

The numbers show that, after the initial period of criticism against Israel after the various operations quiet down, sales pick up. And there has been continuous growth in defense exports in recent years. In 2002, such exports were worth $2 billion, grew to $3.4 billion in 2006, and were $6 billion in 2012."

"After the initial period of criticism against Israel after the various operations quiet down, sales pick up."

The article explains the close ties between the IDF, the Defence Ministry, and Israel's three main arms makers - Elbit Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems - and how "many of the senior executives in the defense industries still hold senior positions in the reserves" :

One of the systems that was used in Protective Edge was developed by one of the defense companies as a result of a need raised by a reserve officer who participated in Operation Cast Lead. The officer convinced people in his company to invest in developing the system, and the product went operational during Protective Edge."

It also notes that by exporting 80% of Israel’s defense production, the remainder can be sold more cheaply to the IDF.  So which countries are buying that "battle-tested" 80% ?

"$3.83 billion-worth of deals were signed in 2012 with Asian countries; $1.73 billion with European nations; $1.1 billion with Canada and the United States; $604 million with Latin America; and $107 million in Africa. Haaretz has found there were deals with at least 33 more countries, including many in the Third World."

On the "stars" of arms used against Gaza :

"The Tamuz missile – from Rafael’s “Spike” family of missiles – is equipped with a video camera and can hone in on a target, moving or static, at distances of up to 20 to 25 kilometers. Reports say the IDF has used Tamuz some 200 times during Protective Edge."

A reporter embedded with an IDF unit reported it was a Tamuz missile that killed 15 displaced Palestinians and wounded 150-200 others sheltering in an UNRWA school in Beit Hanoun on July 24 after UNRWA asked for time to evacuate civilians which was not given.

Results like that must really cut down on printing costs for trade show brochures.

The Haaretz article Arms sales set to rocket after showcase during Gaza conflict is behind a paywall but the same article is publicly available under the alternative header How Israel's arms manufacturers won the Gaza war 

.

"The Jewish State Solution" comes to Canada

West Bank settler Moshe Feiglin is a deputy speaker in Israel's Knesset and head of the largest faction within Netanyahu's Likud party. Today, actually, he is acting speaker. 

Three months ago on May 6, Feiglin was in Toronto for a speaking event put on by the Jewish Defence League (JDL) and the Toronto Zionist Council : 
An Evening with MK Moshe Feiglin : "The Jewish State Solution".  

Feiglin doesn't use the word Palestine as he contends Palestine does not exist. 

Shorter Feiglin : revoke the Oslo Accords, conquer Gaza, expel as many Arabs as possible, repopulate the area with Jews from other nations.

On July 15, 2014, the day Netanyahu made him a member of Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Feiglin published the following :

"My Outline for a Solution in Gaza - Moshe Feiglin

Ultimatum – One warning from the Prime Minister of Israel to the enemy population, in which he announces that Israel is about to attack military targets in their area and urges those who are not involved and do not wish to be harmed to leave immediately. Sinai is not far from Gaza and they can leave. This will be the limit of Israel’s humanitarian efforts. Hamas may unconditionally surrender and prevent the attack. 

Attack – Attack the entire ‘target bank’ throughout Gaza with the IDF’s maximum force (and not a tiny fraction of it) with all the conventional means at its disposal. All the military and infrastructural targets will be attacked with no consideration for ‘human shields’ or ‘environmental damage’. It is enough that we are hitting exact targets and that we gave them advance warning. 

Siege – Parallel to the above, a total siege on Gaza. Nothing will enter the area. Israel, however, will allow exit from Gaza. (Civilians may go to Sinai, fighters may surrender to IDF forces). 

Defense – Any place from which Israel or Israel’s forces were attacked will be immediately attacked with full force and no consideration for ‘human shields’ or ‘environmental damage’. 

Conquer – After the IDF completes the "softening" of the targets with its fire-power, the IDF will conquer the entire Gaza, using all the means necessary to minimize any harm to our soldiers, with no other considerations. 

Elimination- The GSS and IDF will thoroughly eliminate all armed enemies from Gaza. The enemy population that is innocent of wrong-doing and separated itself from the armed terrorists will be treated in accordance with international law and will be allowed to leave. Israel will generously aid those who wish to leave. 

Sovereignty – Gaza is part of our Land and we will remain there forever. Liberation of parts of our land forever is the only thing that justifies endangering our soldiers in battle to capture land. Subsequent to the elimination of terror from Gaza, it will become part of sovereign Israel and will be populated by Jews. This will also serve to ease the housing crisis in Israel. The coastal train line will be extended, as soon as possible, to reach the entire length of Gaza.
According to polls, most of the Arabs in Gaza wish to leave. Those who were not involved in anti-Israel activity will be offered a generous international emigration package. Those who choose to remain will receive permanent resident status. After a number of years of living in Israel and becoming accustomed to it, contingent on appropriate legislation in the Knesset and the authorization of the Minister of Interior, those who personally accept upon themselves Israel’s rule, substance and way of life of the Jewish State in its Land, will be offered Israeli citizenship."

No longer differentiating between Hamas and Gazans, on July 23, 2014, Feiglin wrote :

"The residents of Gaza were not occupied by the Hamas; they voted for the terror organization in democratic elections, by a huge majority, by virtue of its uncompromising struggle against Israel.

For this reason, the separation between the armed Hamas terrorists and those ‘not involved’ or ‘innocents’ is false. The Gazans are now paying for the choices they have made."

Feiglin was banned from entering the UK in 2008, but has made regular JDL-sponsored speaking trips to Canada. In November 2012, JDL Canada and JDL UK visited Feiglin in Israel. 

This week, CBC and CTV reported the JDL will be opening branches in Calgary and Montreal and then Ottawa and Vancouver, but mentioned nothing of its past history. 
The Natty Post did rather better :

"The JDL is not without controversy itself.

In its 2000-01 report on terrorism, the Federal Bureau of Investigation described the group’s U.S. wing as a “violent extremist Jewish organization.” Members have been linked to numerous violent acts in the U.S. and Israel since the JDL was founded in 1968. In 2001, its leader was arrested and charged for a plot to bomb a mosque and the office of an Arab-American congressman.

JDL Canada is not considered a terrorist organization."

JDL event organizer Julius Suraski accompanied Harper on his visit to Israel in January.

.
Update : Mondoweiss, August 6, 2014: 
Moshe Feiglin’s vision of liberating Gaza by driving Palestinians into the Sinai

.

When will Canadian MPs show this kind of guts?

Over 20 strong statements from members of the Conservative, Labour, and Liberal Democrat parties in UK 10 days ago, even before the most recent Israeli shelling of UN schools and hospitals with one child now being killed in Gaza every hour.

Note how these British MPs have vaulted right over the despicable cowardly practice, apparently obligatory among politicians in Canada and the US, of "fair and balanced" mealy-mouthed equating of the occupied and occupier - as if the blockaded and collectively punished people of Gaza (600 dead civilians) are somehow responsible for the security of their occupiers in Israel (2 dead civilians) with its Iron Dome and $3billion a year in US aid.

Yes, and while we're at it, when will the Canadian media show this kind of guts? 
Jon Snow, Channel Four :


.

Canada Park

When Stephen Harper visits Israel this weekend, he will likely make a stop at Canada Park, opened by John Diefenbaker in 1975 and completed in 1984.

Twenty-two years ago, CBC's Fifth Estate aired the powerful program above on the origins of Canada Park, built on top of three Palestinian villages bulldozed by the Israeli army and paid for by 15 million dollars in Canadian donations to the Jewish National Fund who continue to maintain upkeep of the park.

Harper announced his intention to visit Israel from the Jewish National Fund's annual Negev fundraiser in Toronto in December, where he performed various songs onstage for the crowd and was honoured with having the Stephen J. Harper Hula Valley Bird Sanctuary Visitor and Education Centre in Israel named after him. 

Perhaps one day Canada will have a Bibi Netanyahu Bird Sanctuary in the Alberta tarsands.

In his speech at the Negev Dinner last month, Harper stated :

"... how easy it is to drift away from Israel. We understand that the future of our country and of our shared civilization depends on the survival and thriving of that free and democratic homeland for the Jewish people in the Middle East."

An Israeli soldier, who as a young man took reluctant part in driving the 10,000 Palestinians from their homes on the land now occupied by Canada Park, sees our interference differently. Quoted from the CBC show above :

"I think it's a very stupid idea on the part of those Canadian people who helped calling this park Canada Park. It's no business of any Canadian to intervene in a disputed issue. The land of Palestine is disputed between two peoples and let us not call any park Canada or Japan before peace is settled."

Jun 19 Update : Of the 208 members of Harper's taxpayer-paid entourage enroute to the Steve 'n Bibi show in Israel, at least seven are from the Jewish National Fund.
.

A Merry Banksy Christmas

Five years ago, BBC correspondent Aleem Maqbool walked from Nazareth to Bethlehem, retracing the route taken by Mary and Joseph by donkey as told in the Bible. 
For ten days he and his donkey successfully negotiated the queues, turnstiles and x-ray machines at some military checkpoints while being turned away at others despite his foreign passport and Israeli press credentials.

On the morning of December 22 on his trek, he talked to a New Yorker who had emigrated to the Jewish settlement of Shilo built on Palestinian land in the middle of the West Bank.

That evening he stayed with a Christian family in Bir Zeit. 

I was told that the family's former house and the land around it had been confiscated by the Israeli army as it was next to the checkpoint to the north of the village (which I had entered earlier). There had been no compensation, they said. 

Earlier this year, the younger son had been arrested by the army in a 3am raid on the house. His brother told me that he had been held without charge (something the Israeli authorities call "administrative detention") for six months before being released.

And so it goes ...

Fun fact : The 4,000 square meter Stephen J. Harper Hula Valley Bird Sanctuary Visitor and Education Centre in Israel will be built an hour and a half's drive northnortheast of Nazareth. It was announced at the yearly Negev Gala in Toronto earlier this month. 

A week ago, in response to international protest, the Israeli government temporarily shelved plans to forcibly evict 40,000 Bedouins from their 'unrecognised' ancestral villages in the Negev and move them to government-designated 'towns'. Bedouin homes in the Negev are destroyed for not having the necessary Israeli permits.

.

Poodling up on the world stage

I rather take exception to Glenn Greenwald's characterization of Canada in yesterday's Guardian as the US's "new rightwing poodle to the north".

Sure, we joined the U.S., Israel, and 7 other nations  to oppose upgrading the UN observer status of the Palestinian Authority from "entity" to "non-member state".

And yes, we stood on an even smaller world stage this week with the US, Israel, Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Palau in voting against UN inspection of Israel's nuclear program - 174 to 6. 

But hey, when Israel announced it would "punish" the Palestinians for the UN vote by approving 3,000 more settlements, Canada made a point of declining to join the US in making a frowny face about it. 

So there. 


h/t West End Bob
.

"This is the Freedom Ride of this era"

"This is the Freedom Ride of this era - to get on this boat, make it to Gaza, to join our stories to their stories, to know that these oppressions can be ended."

Toronto Star reporter Jim Rankin is filing live reports from Greece onboard the Canadian boat Tahrir carrying 19 Canadians to Gaza, two of whom have been arrested and held without charges. The ship was boarded by the Greek authorities and towed back to port four miles short of international waters after making a run for it. It is now reportedly leaking diesel and taking on water, having been damaged while being detained.

Meanwhile ....
Haaretz : Israel, Greece mark growing ties with joint air force drill

Greek and Israeli air forces hold two-week-long drill as the two countries' ties tighten following Greek government's attempt to halt the Gaza-bound flotilla from departing.

The Guardian : Greek coastguard forces Gaza 'freedom flotilla' vessel back to port

"Spiros Spirou, the provincial official in charge of the Ionian islands, told the Guardian that he "admires and supports the activists' struggle" and said he would make no attempt to stop the ship if it left harbour. "Greece loves peace, but at this moment it can't confront more powerful economic forces," claimed Spirou, adding that official attempts to tie the flotilla up in bureaucracy and paperwork were merely a pretext to preventing it from sailing at all."

"more powerful economic forces"
Israel must be congratulated on outsourcing its Gaza blockade by extending military control of its coastal waters to include those of Greece.

h/t #AntoniaZ and #flotilla2
.

Libby Davies - in perspective

"Why should the Arabs make peace? If I was an Arab leader I would never make terms with Israel. That is natural: we have taken their country. Sure God promised it to us, but what does that matter to them? Our God is not theirs. We come from Israel, it's true, but two thousand years ago, and what is that to them? There has been antisemitism, the Nazis, Hitler, Auschwitz, but was that their fault? They only see one thing: we have come here and stolen their country. Why should they accept that?"

~David Ben Gurion, Prime Minister of Israel, to Nahum Goldmann, President of the World Jewish Congress, in 1956
The Jewish Paradox, p. 99. Grosset & Dunlap (1978).

"Uh ... '48. I mean, it's the longest occupation in the world but I'm not going to argue numbers - it's too long, right? This is the longest occupation in the world and people are suffering."

~ NDP Deputy Leader Libby Davies to blogger/interviewer David Katz, answering the question : "When do you believe the occupation in Israel started - '48 or '67?" at a rally protesting Israel's assault on the aid flotilla to Gaza

"The central remark causing the uproar was that Israel had been occupying Palestinian territory since 1948. This is factually correct. In the 1948 Israeli War of Independence (known to the Palestinians as the ‘Nakba’) more than 750,000 Palestinians were forced to leave what later became the State of Israel. They have never been allowed to return. Much of the land that these people left had been designated by the United Nations Partition Plan of 1947 as Palestinian territory," IJV-C spokesperson Haiven explained.

But pointing out this fact is not tantamount to denying Israel’s right to exist. Says Haiven, "Historians (including Israeli scholars like Benny Morris), governments and individuals all over the world acknowledge that Israel seized Palestinian territory in 1948 (and again in 1967) and expelled the Palestinian residents. Nevertheless, the prevailing consensus is that Israel has the right to exist within the territory it was occupying at the end of its War of Independence (the so-called ‘Green Line’.) Even the PLO has conceded this point."

~Independent Jewish Voices Canada condemns what it calls a “feeding frenzy” around NDP Member of Parliament Libby Davies, June 16, 2010.

By comparison, the noosemedia coverage of Steve and Bob Rae and Thomas Mulcair - all three parties! - condemning Libby Davies has shifted its focus from lawfare to strawfare.
The greater point here is : do we want our parliamentarians speaking their minds, or do we want them carefully tailoring their remarks to conform to Steve's bizarre and bullying framing of contentious issues like Palestine? Because if we let Steve away with that, we have already lost.
.

The Cons - All Israel all the time

Two days ago Jason Kenney's communications director Alykhan Velshi tweeted that Con MP Tim Uppal from the inquiry panel at the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Antisemitism will be looking for unanimous all-party approval when he introduces a motion to condemn the use of the word 'apartheid' as applied to Israel in the House of Commons this week :

"That this House considers itself to be a friend of the State of Israel; that this House is concerned about expressions of anti-Semitism under the guise of "Israeli Apartheid Week"; and that this House explicitly condemns any action in Canada as well as internationally that would equate the State of Israel with the rejected and racist policy of apartheid."

Apartheid Week.
While I suspect that Uppal and friends would still condemn the protest even if the name was changed to Israel Not Very Nice This Week, Antonia Zerbisias at The Star pointed out :

"The moment that Israel is generally recognized as an apartheid state is the moment when the boycotts and divestments begin in earnest. Which is why Israel must fight to keep the label out of the language surrounding the Jewish state."

Here's the UN's definition of apartheid. You can make up your own mind whether it fits :

United Nations International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid,Article II[1] :

For the purpose of the present Convention, the term 'the crime of apartheid' shall apply to the following inhumane acts committed for the purpose of establishing and maintaining domination by one racial group of persons over any other racial group of persons and systematically oppressing them:

a. Denial to a member or members of a racial group or groups of the right to life and liberty of person
i. By murder of members of a racial group or groups;
ii. By the infliction upon the members of a racial group or groups of serious bodily or mental harm, by the infringement of their freedom or dignity, or by subjecting them to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;
iii. By arbitrary arrest and illegal imprisonment of the members of a racial group or groups;

b. Deliberate imposition on a racial group or groups of living conditions calculated to cause its or their physical destruction in whole or in part;

c. Any legislative measures and other measures calculated to prevent a racial group or groups from participation in the political, social, economic and cultural life of the country and the deliberate creation of conditions preventing the full development of such a group or groups, in particular by denying to members of a racial group or groups basic human rights and freedoms, including the right to work, the right to form recognised trade unions, the right to education, the right to leave and to return to their country, the right to a nationality, the right to freedom of movement and residence, the right to freedom of opinion and expression, and the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association;

d. Any measures including legislative measures, designed to divide the population along racial lines by the creation of separate reserves and ghettos for the members of a racial group or groups, the prohibition of mixed marriages among members of various racial groups, the expropriation of landed property belonging to a racial group or groups or to members thereof;

e. Exploitation of the labour of the members of a racial group or groups, in particular by submitting them to forced labour;

f. Persecution of organizations and persons, by depriving them of fundamental rights and freedoms, because they oppose apartheid.

Last Thursday MMP Peter Shurman put forward a similar motion condemning Israeli Apartheid Week to the Ontario legislature, where it purportedly received support from all parties, including Cheri DiNovo of the NDP.
Shurman :

"I move that in the opinion of this House, the term "Israeli Apartheid Week" is condemned as it serves to incite hatred against Israel, a democratic state that respects the rule of law and human rights, and the use of the word "apartheid" in this context diminishes the suffering of those who were victims of a true apartheid regime in South Africa."

This would work better for Shurman had many Israelis and South African leaders who once lived under apartheid in South Africa not already offered their opinion that Israel does practice apartheid.
Back to Shurman :

"In fact, the values of Judaism and of Israel were bedrock values for the foundation of Canada, and those values from Judaism and from Israel date back over 3,000 years - all to say that if you're going to label Israel as apartheid, then you are also calling Canada apartheid and you are attacking Canadian values."

Canada does indeed have its own apartheid problems which is why we have not signed on to the above UN Convention on Apartheid nor the UN Declaration on Aboriginal Rights.

But Shurman's Canada = Israel equation just echoes last week's "An attack on Israel would be considered an attack on Canada" from Junior Foreign Affairs Minister Peter Kent, and this government's determination to defund and muzzle any Canadian NGOs which have had the temerity to suggest that the slaughter and oppression of Palestinians should not go unremarked upon in Canada.

Very good discussion as to the fairness and efficacy of using the word apartheid in comments over at Pogge's.

But why are the Cons pushing so hard on this?
Because it's a perfect issue with which to divide the opposition. The Con base will just agree to the McCarthyite motions en masse; some Libs and more particularly the NDP will tear each other apart over it while risking being smeared as anti-Semitic to their ridings by the Cons if they refuse to give preference to Israel over the rights of Canadian citizens.

Stinks, doesn't it?
.
(Edited for spelling and clarity)
.
Update, 1pm : Well, that was quick. Iggy goes the HarperCons one better via

Skdadl : Ignatieff condemns fellow citizens, defends foreign government
.

First KAIROS, then UNRWA ... and Frank steps in it.

Last month Jason Kenney explained his government's decision to cut off funds to the church aid group KAIROS thusly:

"Our government is working to dismantle the client relationship that existed between the government of Canada and organizations whose priority is seemingly to advocate for the legalization of banned terrorist organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah, as well as deny the Jewish people's right to a homeland."

Or, as Minister of International Cooperation Bev Oda put it, "the program didn't meet CIDA's current priorities".

Naturally enough, the churches comprising KAIROS -the United Church of Canada, the Anglican Church of Canada, the Presbyterian Church in Canada, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, and the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops - did not much care for Kenney's insinuations.

This month Oda doesn't think the UN's Palestinian refugee agency meets CIDA's current priorities either :

Embassy Mag : Outcry erupts as Canada starts to move away from Palestinian refugee agency

"The government has quietly taken what many consider the first step to cutting ties with the UN agency responsible for supporting more than 4.67 million Palestinian refugees scattered throughout the Middle East."

While not cutting the actual amount of the aid, funding of UNRWA is being shifted away from its traditional core funding for food, clothing, health services, and schools - to food aid only.

"Jewish organizations have long alleged that UNRWA has been infiltrated by groups like Hamas" and "that funds given to the UN agency are being diverted to the group".

B'Nai Brith and the Canada-Israel Committee have both released statements applauding the government's decision, while pro-Israel websites and media have reported widely on the change. Mr. Dimant said his organization had been advocating in favour of moving away from UNRWA for a long time"

Frank Dimant, CEO of B’nai Brith Canada and a member of the Cross-Cultural Roundtable on Security at Public Safety Canada, is pleased the government has adopted his viewpoint:

"This is certainly a step in the right direction," he said. ... "I believe it's a very progressive step forward. ... I think that it is strange, to say the least, that there is a specific refugee agency just dedicated for the Palestinians and that all the millions of other refugees in the world are serviced in a different category."

Oh, good one, Frank.
I'm willing to bet you do not think it at all strange, to say the least, that there is a Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Antisemitism and that all the millions of other people in distinct minorities in Canada are not serviced by their own pet privately-funded parliamentary coalition.
.

Israel will defend soldiers against war crimes charges

CTV : The Israeli government will defend soldiers against any war-crimes charges they may face related to civilian deaths that occurred during Israel's three-week military offensive in the Gaza Strip.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sunday that special legal teams would be appointed for soldiers, who he promised would receive the full support of the Israeli government.
"The state of Israel will fully back those who acted on its behalf," Olmert said. "The soldiers and commanders who were sent on missions in Gaza must know that they are safe from various tribunals."

What exactly is the legal defence for executing nine year olds at close range with two bullets to the head ?

h/t Gene @ Filasteen in comments at the Beav
.

How's that "ceasefire" going?

(Reuters) : Israel completes Gaza troop withdrawal
"Israel completed a troop pullout from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Wednesday, starting its relationship with U.S. President Barack Obama by leaving Palestinian land devastated by its 22-day offensive.
"We've redeployed on our side of the frontier and we will follow events closely," said Mark Regev, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. "If Hamas breaks the ceasefire, we of course reserve the right to act to protect our people."

Meanwhile, today : Israeli gunboat fire wounds 2 Gazans
"An Israeli gunboat firing off the shores of Gaza City has wounded a man and a girl.
The Israeli military says it was firing to deter a Palestinian fishing vessel that had strayed off-limits.
A shell fired by the boat hit a house in a beachside refugee camp. Another shell landed about 100 yards (meters) away in an empty area near a U.N. aid distribution center."

Yesterday Israeli troops shot and killed two Gaza farmers along the border - 28 year old Kassab and 18 year old Ibrahim. Amy Goodman interviews their surviving brother.

Israel has told the United Nations and other aid groups they must apply for project-by-project Israeli approval and provide guarantees none of the work will benefit Hamas, Western and Palestinian officials said.
Israel, the officials said, is also preventing the Western-backed Palestinian Authority from transferring cash to the Gaza Strip to pay its workers and others hard-hit by war.

Chomsky : Undermining Gaza

Noam Chomsky
Foreign Policy In Focus
January 16, 2009

DOSSANI: The Israeli government and many Israeli and U.S. officials claim that the current assault on Gaza is to put an end to the flow of Qassam rockets from Gaza into Israel. But many observers claim that if that were really the case, Israel would have made much more of an effort to renew the ceasefire agreement that expired in December, which had all but stopped the rocket fire. In your opinion, what are the real motivations behind the current Israeli action?

CHOMSKY: There's a theme that goes way back to the origins of Zionism. And it's a very rational theme: "Let's delay negotiations and diplomacy as long as possible, and meanwhile we'll 'build facts on the ground.'" So Israel will create the basis for what some eventual agreement will ratify, but the more they create, the more they construct, the better the agreement will be for their purposes. Those purposes are essentially to take over everything of value in the former Palestine and to undermine what's left of the indigenous population.
I think one of the reasons for popular support for this in the United States is that it resonates very well with American history. How did the United States get established? The themes are similar.

continued at FPIF ...

"Building facts on the ground"
The "ceasefire" negotiated by the 2nd highest recipient of US foreign aid, Israel, and the 3rd highest recipient of US foreign aid, Egypt, is the new name for the continued supervision of the collapse of Gaza. Previously it was called "ending the occupation".

h/t Waterbaby for FPIF link