Rachel Marcuse visits the Golan Heights in part two of her journey.
Zionism
My Taglit-Birthright Israel experience: 'Outing' myself on a kibbutz
Earlier this month, activist Rachel Marcuse spent 10 days in Israel as part of the Taglit-Birthright program -- a fully sponsored trip for young North American Jews to learn more about the country. She went to bear witness and ask questions about the Israeli state's treatment of Palestinians, and to learn about other complex issues in Israel today. After the program, she spent another 10 days elsewhere in Israel and the West Bank of Palestine talking to Israeli Jews, Arab Israelis, international activists, and Palestinians. This is the second of a seven-part series on what she found.
Ottawa tilts towards Israel in a nonsensical way
Retired diplomat Robert Fowler made a splash in March when he voiced the widely held view that Prime Minister Stephen Harper's slavish support for Israel was driven by ethnic politics. Fowler told a Liberal Party conference on Canadian foreign policy that "the scramble to lock up the Jewish vote in Canada meant selling out our widely admired and long-established reputation for fairness and justice."
New book investigates influence of Israel lobby on free speech at Canadian universities
No Debate: The Israel Lobby and Free Speech at Canadian Universities
(James Lorimer & Co,
2011;
$22.95)
Academic conferences don't usually muster public attention, but in 2009 the organizers of the blandly titled Israel/Palestine: Mapping Models of Statehood and Paths to Peace found themselves at the center of a media shit storm fuelled by the hysterical rhetoric of pro-Israel community groups and their supporters in the media. This reaction culminated in an unprecedented move by Conservative Minister of State Gary Goodyear to threaten the funding of Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) -- an arms-length agency created by an act of parliament -- if it did not commit itself to a review of the funding it had already awarded by an independent peer-review process.
Conservative MP David Sweet's attempt to obstruct Norman Finkelstein lecture on campus
Information received through a freedom of information (FOI) request has revealed that Conservative MP David Sweet intervened in February 2011 to help obstruct a lecture by Israel-Palestine expert Dr. Norman Finkelstein. Finkelstein, author of numerous books on the Palestine-Israel conflict -- and often critical of Israel -- was scheduled to speak at Mohawk College in Hamilton, Ontario at an event organized by Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME.) Although the room booking had already been confirmed and paid, within days of a meeting organized by Sweet with college officials, Mohawk College quadrupled the price of the room booking by applying an additional $1500 in security fees.
Free speech and speaking up for Palestinian rights in Canada
On Feb. 12, Palestinian solidarity and free speech activists spoke on a panel in Vancouver about the repression of rights of pro-Palestinian activists in Canada.
Omar Chaaban - Solidarity with Palestinian Human Rights - UBC
Jenny Peto - Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid (Toronto)
Brian Campbell - Seriously Free Speech Committee
