KAIROS - "Social justice group says Ottawa cut its funding..."

 Christians of Palestine Decry Absence of Any Hope:

http://www.mathaba.net/rss/?x-622388

Unionist wrote:

[b]has anyone heard from the Liberals, NDP, Bloc, or Greens!?[/b]

[url=http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/calls+Christian+funding+outrageous/236... calls Christian funding cut 'outrageous'[/url]

Quote:

The New Democratic Party called Monday for the restoration of $7 million in government funds to KAIROS, a mainstream Christian organization that has received government funds for foreign projects for 35 years.

It also demanded an apology from Immigration Minister Jason Kenney for "an outrageous mistake" of accusing KAIROS of anti-Israeli activities and anti-Semitism.

Unionist wrote:

Ever since it was revealed (by anti-semite Jason Kenney)

Jason Kenney is an anti-semite???

Diogenes wrote:

Unionist wrote:

Ever since it was revealed (by anti-semite Jason Kenney)

Jason Kenney is an anti-semite???

Yes, of course - he hates Jews and loves Israel - he actually whitewashes the crimes of Hitler against the Jews. [url=http://rabble.ca/babble/national-news/jason-kenney-considers-opposition-... explained it all in this thread[/color][/url]:

Unionist wrote:

[url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1087973.html][color=blue]Canada minister blasts "dangerous" leftist-Islamist anti-Semitism[/color][/url]

Quote:

A "new anti-Semitism" that emanates from an alliance of Western leftists and Islamic extremists is more dangerous than the "old European" form of Jew-hatred, Canada's minister of citizenship, immigration and multiculturalism said as he wound up a four-day trip to Israel Sunday.

It is difficult to quote more from this article and remain cool-headed. I have said before that Jason Kenney is a Jew-hater, like his master Harper, besides both of them being Islamophobes and fawning bootlickers of the U.S. They seem intent on proving the point over and over every day.

Isn't it time to pull the plug on Harper and his gang?

Green Grouch wrote:

Sure, if anyone can figure out how to do it. FYI that the Bloc also came out in support of KAIROS post-Kenney Komments, but I don't have the link handy.

Swallow already linked to it above:

[url=http://www.blocquebecois.org/bloc_manchette.asp?id=9926531][color=red]Mi... Oda must explain why she is withdrawing funding from Kairos[/color][/url]

Unionist - " Ever since it was revealed (by anti-semite Jason Kenney) that the real reason for cutting off Kairos was its alleged stand on Israel and Palestine - has anyone heard from the Liberals, NDP, Bloc, or Greens!?

They all issued early press releases condeming the cut-off - but no one knew the reasons then (e.g. see speculation above about oil sands, etc.).
Political cowardice when it comes to Israel still stalks the halls of Parliament."
 
The Greens have sent out another release today. We were working on it over the weekend.
 


http://tinyurl.com/yhkx5yu
Quote
22 December 2009 - 3:39pm
OTTAWA -- Immigration Minister Jason Kenney confirmed last week that the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) decision to end its 35-year relationship with KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives was indeed politically motivated.
"Accusing KAIROS of being an anti-semitic group is truly reprehensible," said Stephen LaFrenie, Green Party's International Cooperation Critic. "Worse is the fact that the human rights work sponsored by KAIROS will be compromised by these irresponsible comments made on an international stage."
The Jewish community in Canada was also recently the target of a highly controversial Conservative mailer that painted the Liberal Party as anti-semites after attending Durban 1 a 2001 UN conference on racism.
"Not only are they wrong in their actions towards KAIROS, a group I fully support, but in an effort to further pander to and exploit the fears of my fellow Jews around the survival of the State of Israel they have shown an utter lack of leadership, as they divide Canadians along ethnic and religious lines," said Ralph Benmergui, Senior Advisor to the Green Party of Canada and creator of the Vision TV mini-series My Israel.
"We need to ensure that these types of slanderous allegations by Ministers do not go unpunished," said Elizabeth May, Leader of Canada's Greens. "It begs the question, what does a member of Harper's cabinet need to do to be dismissed?" end quote
-30- 

Quote:

I think Kenney is too stupid to be this clever.

I think a lot of Kenney's positioning and posturing is related to his wonder boy communications director - Alykhan Velshi. 

Quote:

(Wikipedia) Velshi has written extensively about foreign policy, particularly with regard to the Middle East. His position is pro-Israel and aligned with the neoconservative tendency in George W. Bush's administration. In a December 2002 letter to the right-wing National Post newspaper, he argued that Canada should ban the political wing of Hezbollah. While attending the LSE, he wrote an academic piece defending George W. Bush's argument for "preemptive" war in Iraq as being grounded in both historical precedent and "original texts on international law". Just before graduating, he wrote an article for the National Review entitled "Choosing Sides: The challenge for Muslims", in which he argued that moderate Muslims were often reluctant to counter what he described as "Islamist extremism". This article favourably quoted George W. Bush's remark, "You're either with us or you're with the terrorists". In January 2006, he criticized the Globe and Mail newspaper for referring to Israel's separation barrier as a "wall"; Velshi argued that it should be called a "fence..."

In late 2008, Velshi promoted the Harper government's position that conscientious objectors from the United States military are not legitimate refugees in Canada. A few months later, he defended the government's decision to restrict certain aspects of Canada's refugee and immigration process. He argued that failed refugee claimants and others were abusing the federal pre-removal risk assessment program (which is intended to ensure that people will not be deported from Canada to face torture in other countries).

 

Quote:

“Canadian government has now…implemented a zero tolerance approach to anti-Semitism in Canada. What does this mean? In part it means we have eliminated any government funding relationship with organizations…who are taking a leadership role” in the campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel. That's why, he said, “we have defunded organizations most recently like KAIROS who are taking a leadership role” in this campaign.

 I'll have to review the video later to check the "...'s" but my recollection is that he made the link very clear in his speech to the applause of a bunch of people in the audience.

Even Selly in the Nat Post points out Kenny's unbelievable "No-I never-said-such-a-thing-who-do-you believe-ME-or-my-words?"  (of course the NP blog entry  exists in the interests of "balance" ---to be submerged in limitless pile of Kenny praise)

Quote:

Today: Ready for the punch line? Mr. Kenney pops up in the Toronto Star (a) to deny having called KAIROS anti-Semitic; (b) to deny having cut off funding to KAIROS because it's anti-Israel (let alone anti-Semitic); and (c) to deny having had anything whatsoever to do with cutting off KAIROS's funding in the first place...

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2009/12/24/...

You have to wonder if Kenny is getting nervous about a possible libel suit.

hsfreethinkers wrote:

[URL=http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/742495]Jason Kenney has something to say[/URL]

This letter by Jason Kenney refers to an op-ed piece by Rosie DiManno - Agency's anti-Israel role is obvious - that supported Jason Kenney's comments regarding KAIROS.  I was not impressed.

It the heartening to read the letters to the editor that came in response.   A total of 14 out of 16 letters took exception to DiManno's drivel, which gives one hope that Kenney has seen his last cabinet post and his last election win.

...

KAIROS in the Battle of the Blogosphere... Ezra Levant and claims of "scrubbing" refuted:

http://bigcitylib.blogspot.com/2009/12/ezra-goes-smearing.html

Canada Cut Funds To Anti-Israel Groups

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,1340,L-3834666,00.html

'Pro Palestinian, Christian groups among those targeted by Canada's government'

I think 3% might be on the high side, but that's about the only thing you missed.

Now where did WFPD mention Kenney?

Jaku to be fair there are probably some more radical leaders in the Jewish community like Frank Dimant or the head of the JDL who may have made such suggestions.

I certainly would be interested in seeing if any credible political leaders or even more mainstream Jewish leaders have made such comments.

Beautifully said Contrarianna.

During press coverage of the United Church session last summer, Bernie Farber of the CJC was quoted more often that anybody from the United Church.  All the UC did was debate, amoung many things, the merit of a boycott of products made in the illegal settlements of the West Bank. 

Farber and the National Post made such a stink about it, it had no hope of being endorsed.

But Kenney has made it clear that even debating a boycott qualifies as new age anti-semitism. His quote comes from a recent speech he made in Israel at some Global forum to Combat Anti-semitism.

Jaku, Prophit and Gus - this is more than just circumstantial evidence. Connect the dots and stop insulting us with these red herrings.

 

This whole convoluted discussion is a red herring. Calling critics of Israel "anti-semitic" is only one small weapon in the arsenal of those who whitewash crimes against humanity and violations of international law.

It's the overall message of: "Israel is like us; they look like us, they share our values, they fear the Arabs as we do, they're on our side..." It takes many many forms. This is the message propounded by them all, from Dimant to Farber to Harper and (in less toxic form but with the same insidious content) by Ignatieff and Layton and Duceppe.

That's why not one of them will even stand up and repeat the minimalist demand that "Israel must withdraw, NOW, from the illegally occupied territories", let alone suggest an end to warmongering and apartheid and the disinheritance of the Palestinian people.

Jaku wrote:

So let me re-state the question in my terms, who of any significance claims that criticizing Israel's violations of international law is now anti-Semitic in Canada.

Jaku wrote:

Call them red herrings all you wish. What you have demonstarted to all but those who want it to be as you claim is that no politician or mainstream Jewish leader has ever made such claims.

It is not a matter of "calling" it a red herring. It either is, or is not a red herring, on the basis of logic.
It is a red herring because it is designed to mislead people into thinking that there is no prevalent ongoing smearing of those who bring into light Israel's crimes.

How did you do that? Well, by the use of a related logical fallacy, the inverted straw man.(see below for a straw man definition).

Though I outlined it in my previous post, let me make it clearer here:
 
A prime purpose of the very prevalent smear of "the new antisemitism" is to distract from the details of documented ethnic cleansing and oppression by Israel. How better to do that than to short circuit protest by denying the validity of the evidence, that is, by claiming the complainants are just being irrational (antisemitic)--ie. "move along folks, nothing to see here, they are "antisemitic"".

So, tell me, who wishing to suggest that complainants are just being irrational (antisemitic) would begin a propaganda statement with an admission of the reality of Israel's crimes--how difficult is that to understand?

====

From fallacyfiles.org :
[quote]The Straw Man is a type of Red Herring because the arguer is attempting to refute his opponent's position, and in the context is required to do so, but instead attacks a position—the "straw man"—not held by his opponent. In a Straw Man argument, the arguer argues to a conclusion  that denies the "straw man" he has set up, but misses the target. There may be nothing wrong with the argument presented by the arguer when it is taken out of context, that is, it may be a perfectly good argument against the straw man. It is only because the burden of proof is on the arguer to argue against the opponent's position that a Straw Man fallacy is committed. So, the fallacy is not simply the argument, but the entire situation of the argument occurring in such a context. [quote]

Embassy Magazine, jan 20:

'Calling out NGO Monitor'
(Embassy magazine's editorial slams NGO Monitor, Kenney + Harper)
http://embassymag.ca/page/view/edit-01-20-2010

'The truth about KAIROS, NGO Monitor'
(KAIROS' exec direc washes Steinberg and NGO Monitor's mouth out with soap)
http://embassymag.ca/page/view/corkery-01-20-2010

 

hsfreethinkers wrote:

Martha B wrote:

This is really confusing. I deplore Kenney's removal of Kairos funding but have Jewish leaders made this anti-Semitic claim or not?

Well, see [URL=http://www.cjc.ca/2009/12/07/cjc-at-parliamentary-inquiry-into-antisemit..."CJC at Parliamentary Inquiry into Antisemitism"[/URL]. Excerpt:

Quote:

Antisemitism’s latest mutation, which affords it yet another alibi once again redefines its Jewish target. Instead of “the Jewish religion” or “the Jewish race” or  ‘the Jewish culture of decadence” or “Jewish financial influence”, the target is now often redefined as “the Jewish State” (and of course the International Jews who support it)  

The cause no longer calls itself antisemitism, but rather anti-Zionism and its new alibi is that what is being targeted is not individual Jews, nor Judaism as religion, but rather the alleged misdeeds of the State founded by Jews as a Jewish National Homeland.
[...]
The “new” antisemitism likewise employs double standards and resorts to demonization in order to delegitimize the world’s only Jewish State and those who support it.  
[...]
We urge you to bell the cat of antisemitism, including explicitly recognizing that so-called anti-Zionism can and often does, cross over into antisemitism.

There can be little doubt that anti-Zionism can morph into anti-Semitism. This is no proof however that Jewish leaders made specific charges as earlier suggested is it?

And from the
Independent Jewish Voices Press Release: Jewish group slams Minister Kenny’s attack on Kairos

Quote:

OTTAWA, Dec. 21 /CNW Telbec/ – Independent Jewish Voices-Canada (IJV) condemns Immigration Minister Kenny’s politicized move to defund social-justice church-group Kairos, which received government funding for 35 years. Kenny said this occurred because, in 2007, Kairos offered a grant to Sabeel, a Palestinian NGO that doesn’t mirror Conservative policy.

“This is the new McCarthyism. If you don’t tow the government line, you get your funding cut. From this week’s conference in Israel to the Canadian Parliamentary Committee to ‘Combat Anti-Semitism’, Kenny strives to stifle all criticism of Israel, falsely labelling it anti-Semitic,” says IJV spokesperson Sid Shniad.

Having worked with Sabeel, IJV was surprised by the accusation. “Sabeel doesn’t tolerate racism, especially, anti-Semitism,” Shniad said.

Explaining why the funding was cut, Kenny’s office referred to a report of NGO Monitor, a right-wing Israel-based activist group, which had erroneously stated that Sabeel supported sanctions against Israel.

NGO Monitor is headed by Gerald Steinberg, a professor at Bar Ilan, known as Israel’s most right wing university. Sabeel has made no statement on sanctions or divestment.

http://ijvcanada.org/racism/new-antisemitism/jewish-group-slams-minister...