Jewish Students Respond to Israel Apartheid Week
March 2, 2010 - 11:45am
http://www.shalomlife.com/eng/7024/Jewish_Students_Respond_to_Israel_Apa...
The 6th Israel Apartheid Week started on Monday in campuses across Canada and around the world. Once again Jewish students will have to face anti-Israel propaganda as they walk to and from classes on campuses.
Actually there are many Jewish students involved in IAW. If you mean supporters of Irael Apartheid then it is hard to feel sorry considering that Palestinians have to deal with much worse as they walk to and from classes.
Actually, there are only a few Jewish students involved in this campaign to deligitimize and demonize Israel. The vast majority of Jewish students, in my respectful view, fully denounce IAW as do people like Michael Ignatieff and many other MPs and MPPs
I guess is anecdotal evidence vs anecdotal evidence with respect to Jews students participation? What isn't anecdotal is that according to the UN resolutions on Apartheid, Israel fits the description. It's shameful that politicians like Ignatieff and the Ontario legislature have taken it upon themselves to support apartheid.
It is ludicrous, as Shalom Life tries to do, to argue this is a threat to "Jewish" students. IAW is a legitimate critique of Israeli policies that have been responsible for the mass oppression of the Palestinian people. Many many Jews, myself included, have fought for justice for South Africans living under Apartheid, First Nations people living in Canada, Chileans living under the Pinochet dictatorship and we see the struggle for Palestinian justice as perfectly in keeping with all these "legitimate" struggles. The attempt to equate criticism of Israel with anti-semitism is a pathetic attempt to reinforce the injustice of Israeli policy by attacking it foes.
It is ludicrous, as Shalom Life tries to do, to argue this is a threat to "Jewish" students. IAW is a legitimate critique of Israeli policies that have been responsible for the mass oppression of the Palestinian people. Many many Jews, myself included, have fought for justice for South Africans living under Apartheid, First Nations people living in Canada, Chileans living under the Pinochet dictatorship and we see the struggle for Palestinian justice as perfectly in keeping with all these "legitimate" struggles. The attempt to equate criticism of Israel with anti-semitism is a pathetic attempt to reinforce the injustice of Israeli policy by attacking it foes.
I think that nailed it on the head.
Don't any of you recall how tough it was being a white student during the 1980s, when there were all those boycotts and rallies against South African apartheid? It was tough just stepping outside one's door. The anti-white hysteria was everywhere.
If you think it was bad in Canada imagine the problems the Dutch had when people condemned all Afrikaners and by definition included every single person in the world of Dutch origin. The anti-Dutch hysteria was truly distressing for those Dutch people who supported the apartheid state.
It hurt Mrs Thatcher's feelings too.
While everything else you said was spot on, united, sadly, I don't think this attempt is "pathetic" at all. It's very, very dangerous--more dangerous for Jewish people and Israelis everywhere the more people believe it is true.
[Edited - what's the point in feeding the trolls?]
I'll just say that it's ironic, the way apologists for Israeli apartheid are trying to spin support for ending apartheid as "racism".
Nice peice by the Israeli-American filmaker Udi Aloni http://www.counterpunch.org/aloni03022010.html
"It seems that for the first time in many years the Israeli peace camp is now reaping the fruits of its labor. Petrified by the success of the struggle which exposes Israel as an apartheid state, the state's power players have begun a smearing counter-campaign, wasteful and vile, which sweeps Israel's severe human rights violation under the carpet. The campaign includes for example, the Reut Institure's report, which portrays BDS activists as a kind of Elders of Zion cabal, acting according to methods taken from the famous (forged) protocols."
Michelle: I think, based on Dillon123's second post in this thead, that the OP is sarcastic. I could be wrong.
Oh dear. My apologies Dillon123. I completely interpreted you wrong. :) Anyhow, I edited my post before I realized my mistake, so it's just as well.
Ha ha, no problem. It's hard to detect such things in text sometimes.
Actually, there are only a few Jewish students involved in this campaign to deligitimize and demonize Israel.
Binyamin Netanyahu is not a Jewish student - what are you talking about?
It hurt Mrs Thatcher's feelings too.
skdadl, are you alleging that Thatcher actually had feelings?
While everything else you said was spot on, united, sadly, I don't think this attempt is "pathetic" at all. It's very, very dangerous--more dangerous for Jewish people and Israelis everywhere the more people believe it is true.
Your point is well taken Catchfire. I remember being at a march during the attack on Gaza and a man in the demonstration yelled something at one of those bone heads supporting Israel on the sidewalk. I can't remember exactly what he said but it was along the lines of "you believe that because you're Jewish". I talked to him about the fact that I'm Jewish and that it was rather Zionism that created the problem, not Jews, and he quickly apologized for his ignorance and I was convinced he was sincere in his apology. The blame does rest partially with those that try and draw Zionism and Judaism so closely together that it is sometimes hard to tell the difference.
I'd like to say I support the intent of the anti-Israeli apartheid movement. And I hope it works to help end Israeli apartheid. But Israel is a relative newcomer to oppressive rule. It was built up over the years by US military aid, and by annual US government aid which is said to be more than the total US aid donated to Africa and South America combined.
What about targeting the largest military aggressor nation next door to Canada with divestment and sanctions? If fascism can be likened to a poisonous snake, then wouldn't it make sense to sever the head with our pocket knives instead of clipping the tail?
Too many threads around, and I didn't want to derail the Facebook thread. Bravo to Murray Dobbin:
Israel's Apartheid: Blacks in South Africa never faced a 20-foot wall dividing their communities. Palestinians' land is still being seized, their orchards bulldozed.
For the first two weeks of March, Palestine's supporters around the world focus public attention on Israel's continued brutal occupation of the West Bank and its even more vicious siege of Gaza. They do so through Israeli Apartheid Week and this is the sixth year the public education campaign has taken place.
One of the principal signs of its success has been the ferocious counter-campaign by supporters of Israel. Like so much of the history of Israel's powerful propaganda machine, the facts about Israeli separation of Jews and Arabs -- also known as apartheid -- are beside the point. The response to criticism of Israel has always been one of self-righteous indignation and outrage, accompanied by charges of anti-Semitism.
Indeed! Well said.
It hurt Mrs Thatcher's feelings too.
skdadl, are you alleging that Thatcher actually had feelings?
We could say "some of her robotic circuitry was damaged".
Can the thread headline please be changed to "SOME Jewish students respond to Israeli Apartheid Week"?
Or - "Israel apologists freak out over Israeli Apartheid Week"?
Ken, you'll recall the OP and thread title were sarcastic - but I agree with you, the title is very misleading. I'd prefer it just said, "Israeli Apartheid Week, continued", because with all the proliferation it's hard to know where to post on-topic items.
I do realize the OP was being sarcastic. Those who happen on the thread title as written might not get that(at least until they got halfway down the thread).
How about "That Darn Israeli Apartheid Week!"?
When Jews are allowed to live in Gaza as equal citizens, build synagogues and hold public religious services, own property, serve in the government, then it will be time to talk about Israeli Apartheid. Until then, the real apartheid is being practiced by somebody else.
When Jews are allowed to live in Gaza as equal citizens, ...
"Citizens"?? of what? Which state? Gaza? "Equal"? What a farce.
Anyway, the נטורי קרתא are proud Jews who practise their faith without fear. They have never recognized the "state" of Israel, and they are staunch supporters of the national liberation struggle of the Palestinian people.
Who the hell are you, and why are you appropriating their noble name?
Hear! Hear!
www.nkcanada.ca/
and that aint all either...
Young US Jews Aim 'Occupy' Movement at Birthright Israel
http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/young-u-s-jews-aim-occupy-movement-a...
"In a mission statement titled 'Occupy the Occupiers: A Jewish Call to Action,' The Young Jewish and Proud (YJP), described as the youth wing of the left-leaning Jewish Voice for Peace movement, called out to young Jews to 'stand up to the 1% in our own community, the powerful institutions that support Israel's corporate-brokered military control of the Palestinian people and act as gatekeepers for our community."
Now there's a flicker of that often referred to light.
When Jews are allowed to live in Gaza as equal citizens, build synagogues and hold public religious services, own property, serve in the government, then it will be time to talk about Israeli Apartheid. Until then, the real apartheid is being practiced by somebody else.
That sentiment is way outside the babble policy statement. Keep it up, and you're gone.
I suspect that "Neturei" wants to be banned, so that she or he can claim to have been censured.
I don't need to claim to be censured. I already have been censured, particularly by "Unionist". Unionist asks who the hell I am. I would invite her or him to answer the reciprocal question first.
I don't mind being censured, but I very much hope not to be censored. That, however, is not in my hands, but in the hands of the illustrious moderator of this website.
I didn't know that nkcanada.ca had a monopoly on the moniker Neturei Karta, which means in Aramaic "Guardians of the City".
Perhaps the moderator of this website could enlighten us all as to what part of the babble policy statement the sentiment in my previous message has allegedly violated. Is it contrary to the babble policy statement to mention that Jews are not allowed to reside in Gaza (much less practice their religion there), and to suggest that this prohibition might be redolent of the South African Group Areas Act of 1950?
By the way, I am a paid up member of the New Democratic party, and quite progressive and anti-racist.
My grandfather who was also very progressive and anti-racist, was expelled from the Communist Party in Poland back in the early 1960s when Poland went through an anti-Semitic spasm (thinly disguised as anti-Zionism), so if I am booted from this website, I will in a certain manner of speaking be continuing the family tradition!!
Just get rid of this fucking troll, please. He can go brag about following his disgusting reactionary tradition.
Is this any way to treat a comrade, brothers and sisters?
As a retired moderator, I haven't banned anyone in just ages. Thankyou for this opportunity to keep my hand in the game so to speak. It's still fun
That sentiment is way outside the babble policy statement. Keep it up, and you're gone.
WTF?
Thank God for oldgoat.
And vice versa.
Perhaps the moderator of this website could enlighten us all as to what part of the babble policy statement the sentiment in my previous message has allegedly violated. Is it contrary to the babble policy statement to mention that Jews are not allowed to reside in Gaza (much less practice their religion there), and to suggest that this prohibition might be redolent of the South African Group Areas Act of 1950?
By the way, I am a paid up member of the New Democratic party, and quite progressive and anti-racist.
and lots more where that came from too...of course if he'd been cheering on our own Charlie Bouchard - NATO's General Butcher - bombing Libya back to the stone age, or our NATO barbarism in Afghanistan [to theirs AND ours ] - there might not have been a problem, correct? His questions should be answered of course...
What's interesting is the similarity between the arguments being put forward by the apologists for Israeli apartheid today and the arguments put forward by apologists for South African apartheid pre-1990.
South African apartheid apologists used to point to various repressive regimes in nominally independent African states and use that as an excuse to support the apartheid regime. "What about Idi Amin in Uganda...or Bokassa in the Central African Republic?" we'd hear. The idea being that until every black majority state or national liberation movement was "pure", it was quite okay for the "civilized" white majority to enslave the black majority. Also, they'd conveniently forget that most of the repressive regimes in Africa were installed by western imperialism. Idi Amin in Uganda for instance was installed in 1971 largely with the help of British and Israeli intelligence services.
So today we hear Israeli apartheid apologists pointing to various repressive regimes in the Arab world (mostly maintained in power by western imperialism) and using that as an excuse to support Israel's repressive apartheid policies against the Palestinians. It's a tired old argument and ...complete bullshit.
I thought that Idi Amin called himself the Conqueror of the British Empire and that he ordered the execution of Dora Bloch, a 74 year old lady who was a passenger on the Air France aeroplane that was hijacked in 1976, and who was taken to hospital during the hostage-taking at the Entebbe airport. Dora Bloch wasn't an Israeli citizen, so animus against Israel couldn't have been the motive for killing her. Could it be, just possibly, that Amin ordered her killed because she was Jewish? If Israeli intelligence had a role in putting a chap like that in power, then they obviously weren't very intelligent, were they? And if the Israeli intelligence are such bumblers and fumblers, how the heck did they manage to snatch Mr. Eichmann?
Come now folks, we need to get our stories straight. Next thing, we'll hear that the when Mr. Klinghoffer was shot and thrown overboard into the Mediterranean, wheelchair and all, it was all a stage-managed plot by the Mossad to provide a cover story to deflect everyone's attention from Israeli apartheid.
Anyway, for all those folks who think that Israel practices apartheid, why don't you send a complaint to Dr. Ahmad Tibi, the Deputy Speaker of the 18th Knesset and ask him why he associates himself with an apartheid state. His email address is: atibi@knesset.gov.il.
When did the megaphone go out? How come I'm always the last to hear it. Anyway, thanks for your contribution, Percy, but I don't think you're here in good faith.
[Troll spray deleted - Catchfire beat me to the draw!]
isn't it actually the state of israel that is preventing people from going to gaza? And when they did allow their citizens in, it was in the form of exclusive jewish only settlements that evicted everyone else?
israel controls who goes in or out, so you can't claim it's the gazans who are "enforcing" some form of "apartheid" in the OT....
Actually egypt shares a border with Gaza, though I assume only the Jewish treatment of Palestinians is of concern here. Double standards, demonization, and deligitimization is exactly where valid criticism of Israel crosses into antisemitism.
I see the Zionists are sending in reinforcements to keep this thread going, even though it's nowhere near Israeli Apartheid Week.
Double standards, demonization, and deligitimization is exactly where valid criticism of Israel crosses into antisemitism.
It can't cross into antisemitism. There's a checkpoint to keep us lesser types out.
Paranoid Android
Well, SJ, that's some good that has come out of this. Paranoidandroid? Ciao, bro.
I have read through the above comments with much interest, but would like to point out a misconception that sadly a lot of well meaning people have about the situation in the Middle East. I trust that the contributors to this discussion are sufficiently well-informed and educated to receive these remarks in the progressive spirit in which they are given.
In actual fact, the so-called "Palestinian people" does not exist. To anyone who studies the history of the region seriously, it is clear that there are no meaningful cultural, lingusitic, ethnic or religous differences between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing the progressive stuggle against the colonialist Israeli state and to establish a unified Arab republic in the region. Therefore it is only for practical reasons that we should speak about the existence of a Palestinian people, in order to oppose Zionism and the imperialism that it represents.
Dr. Mohsen Zuheir.
In actual fact, the so-called "Palestinian people" does not exist.
I suppose you could say the same about the Pakistani people. Before 1947, Punjab was one. So was Bengal. Same language, same "ethnicity", blah blah. The imperialists split them up. And joined them together! (East and West Pakistan, now split again).
Here's the point: You may say Palestine was populated by Arabs for many centuries if you like. I don't know when they became "Palestinians". But my guess is that if they weren't "Palestinians" before 1948, they certainly were afterward - created by the Zionists, by the naqba - created and re-created in the struggle for liberation against colonialism and imperialism. Just as many of the European nations and nation-states were created with the decline of the feudal empires. And if that wasn't enough, the indifference and enmity of the surrounding Arab neocolonial regimes gave another boost to Palestinian nationhood.
So I take your point in the spirt in which it is intended. But at a time when enemies of humanity, from Netanyahu to Obama to Harper, are denying the national rights of the Palestinian people, I think your point belongs in academia or some library, not in modern political discussion. That's my opinion, in any event.
Mr. Unionist
Hi Doc! Welcome to babble. Thanks for taking the time to disabuse us of our foolish, well-meaning notions. Do you know this guy? He has similar views. To wit:
For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan.
Sad about his untimely end.
I guess he's feeling better now. Although thirty-two years of death seems to have left him slightly disoriented, given that he's reversed his first and last names in his posts.
I'd suggest the good "doctor" take a nap, but that's probably redundant.
Take two pills, and seance me in the morning.
Source
If Palestinian people don't exist, that leaves me with an obvious question: Those folks I saw in Ramallah, Hebron and Nablus... were they robots or holograms?
It's animatronics. Retirees from Disneyland put the whole thing together. Amazing work on their part, actually.
"The Israeli army and the government and the Zionist movement need to understand that their weapons of murder and their methods of torture will not stop us, will not silence us..."
http://electronicintifada.net/blog/linah-alsaafin/video-and-testimony-is...
"Just in case there was an iota of doubt left in your mind, Israel was officially declared an apartheid state by a session of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine in Cape Town on 7 November.."
http://www.opednews.com/articles/BDS-update-BDS-unites-Eas-by-Eric-Walbe...
Treat the so-called "Walk for Israel" like the white-power rally that it is.
Tell that to Olivia Chow.
start telling the 90% of Jews who insist on supporting
the Apartheid state that if they like it so much they should go and live there. They're not welcome in Canada.Wait...what the FUCK?
He be gone
Hey, he was only SS 1. Are there more coming?
Actually there was another unused one which I also closed
he was a major SShole.
"Burn Down Al-Aqsa Mosque? Of Course' (and vid)
http://972mag.com/watch-hilltop-youth-burn-down-al-aqsa-mosque-of-course...
"Kahane lives!:" Hilltop Youth
'I will always be a loyal disciple of Rabbi Kahane" - Meir Weinstein JDL Canada