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M. Spector
\,,/ rabble-rouser-l33t \,,/
Member: 9273
Joined: Feb 19 2005
March 3, 2010 - 4:28pm
#1

@synthome: Maybe you could explain for me, with specific references to her speech in the legislature, exactly where DiNovo disagreed in any way with either the text of the resolution put forward by Shurman or with any of Shurman's remarks.

You're the disingenuous one when you suggest that nobody is trying to shut down IAW. When resolutions are passed and speeches made in legislatures condemning the very existence of Israeli Apartheid Week, and suggesting that it is a criminal activity, it's abundantly clear what the intention is.

Look at Shurman's words, for example:

Quote:
The use of the phrase "Israeli Apartheid Week" is about as close to hate speech as one can get without being arrested, and I'm not certain it doesn't actually cross over that line....

That is precisely what Israeli Apartheid Week does not do, and in our free environment, in our hate-free public forum, it has no place....

Tell the people behind this odious distortion of facts and language that we don't do what they're trying to do in Ontario, that there is no Israeli apartheid, and that there should be no Israeli Apartheid Week suggesting anything to the contrary.

Andrea Horvath got it right when she wrote:

Quote:
On Thursday, MPP Peter Shurman (Thornhill) introduced a private member's motion that was divisive by nature. Singling out activists or shutting down debate, on this or any other matter, is not constructive and is entirely unhelpful.

And of course a year ago, as Judy Rebick and Alan Sears reminded us here on Rabble, there have been several past attempts to shut down IAW:

Quote:
The Equity Office at Carleton University banned the Israeli Apartheid Week poster and the Provost issued a statement that threatened students with expulsion. B'nai Brith took out newspaper ads calling on University Presidents to "prevent Israeli apartheid week" in order to "take a stand against anti-Semitism on campus." This builds on a pattern established last year, when McMaster University banned the use of the term "Israeli apartheid" (eventually rescinding the ban) and the University of Toronto cancelled room bookings for a Palestine solidarity student conference.


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Israel is an apartheid state and that is why they are losing legitimacy By: Judes (27 replies) March 2, 2010 - 1:16pm