Progressive Canadians Must Challenge Jewish National Fund's (JNF) Charitable Status

23 posts / 0 new

Tue, 2010-11-02 02:20

NDPP

Progressive Canadians Must Challenge JNF's Charitable Status - by Yves Engler

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11601.shtml

"Last month, Greg Selinger, the New Democratic Premier of the Province of Manitoba, and two of his ministers visited Israel. Among other things, the official delegation strengthened the longtime 'progressive' govenrment's ties to the Jewish National Fund (JNF).

The trip was a sad spectacle that should embarass every Canadian who opposes racism. Manitoba's ties to this openly racist institution are shocking, but also part of a decades old pro-Israel policy of the NDP that must be challenged by real progressives.

The Canadian branch of the JNF has been directly complicit in Palestinian dispossession...it is now time to launch a political campaign to push the Canada Revenue Agency to revoke the JNF's charitable status.."

Regions:

Wed, 2011-04-06 21:38

NDPP

Jewish National Fund: Complicity in Ethnic Cleansing - by Jillian Kestler-D'Amour

http://www.dominionpaper.ca/articles/3951

Thu, 2011-04-07 08:13

Caissa

Politics aside, and it probably isn't germane to the CRA, is there a case to be made that the JNF is in violation of the rules governing charitable status? If the purpose is to have the charitable status revoked that is probably the only route possible. If the the purpose is raising public awareness then the former is more likely to do achieve that goal.

Sat, 2011-04-30 13:54

northman_08

The notion that this represents ethnic cleansing is crazy, selective in its focus, and is based racism attitudes towards Jews. The war in the Israel / Palestine cast a pox on both their houses.. People left their homes as a result of war over 40 years ago. The same could be said for millions of people in dozens of countries. Why pick on Israel? The fact is Israel is the only place where you can be Jew, christian, Bahia, Muslim, gay, etc in middle east without fearing for your life. I have been a socialist my whole life; it is beyond me why leftist have been hoodwinked into believe these racist lies about Israel.

Sat, 2011-04-30 20:44

NDPP

don't worry, the political leadership of Canada subscribes to the same nonsense as you

Sun, 2011-05-01 03:25

genstrike

You know, it is also beyond me why some leftists are hoodwinked into believing racist lies about Israel, racist lies like the notion that Israel is not an apartheid state, that Palestinians aren't being terribly oppressed, that Palestinians deserve continued oppression, that Palestinians don't exist, and that speaking up against apartheid is the same as beign anti-semitic because apartheid apparently = Jews in the sick, twisted minds of apologists for Israel's apartheid policies.

Sun, 2011-05-01 08:23

northman_08

Apartheid??? I lived in Southern Africa. YOu can't compare the two. I am not saying that Isreal has not done things wrong. The point that I am trying to make is that this is/was a war and everyone has blood on there hands. What is unhelpful to peace is to single one side out. You can NOT compare Hamas to the state of Isreal. You are also ignoring the context and history. If you are going go back to 67 (when Isreal was attacked)then why not go back further or other countries in the region to understand it. Jews (and perhaps Assyrian) are the most percescuted group of people in history. What happen to the jews Iraq, Yemen, egypt, Lebannon etc... They were all driven out or killed. If you blame one side, you will never solve the problem. Instead od attacking me why don't you try to respond to what I am saying...

Sun, 2011-05-01 08:37

Maysie

Quote:

"The so-called ‘Palestinian autonomous areas' are bantustans. These are restricted entities within the power structure of the Israeli apartheid system."

"When in 1977, the United Nations passed the resolution inaugurating the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people, it was asserting the recognition that injustice and gross human rights violations were being perpetrated in Palestine. In the same period, the UN took a strong stand against apartheid; and over the years, an international consensus was built, which helped to bring an end to this iniquitous system."

"We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians."

- Nobel Peace Prize winner Nelson Mandela

Address by President Nelson Mandela at the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, December 1997

Sun, 2011-05-01 09:03

Unionist

northman_08 wrote:

Apartheid??? I lived in Southern Africa. YOu can't compare the two.

Yeah, I know. That was really something else. Sadly, it's gone now. Have you tried Israel?

Quote:
If you are going go back to 67 (when Isreal was attacked)...

You know, of course, that not even Israel claims it was attacked in 1967. When I read your statement, I thought of someone defending the cowboys by saying the Indians attacked them. But I hope you stick around here for a while, because I've been kinda lonely ever since my pet weasel escaped. Mind you, he attacked me first.

Sun, 2011-05-01 15:43

#10

MegB

Unionist wrote:

But I hope you stick around here for a while, because I've been kinda lonely ever since my pet weasel escaped. Mind you, he attacked me first.

*snort*

Sun, 2011-05-01 23:20

#11

Catchfire

northman_08 wrote:

Apartheid??? I lived in Southern Africa. YOu can't compare the two. I am not saying that Isreal has not done things wrong. The point that I am trying to make is that this is/was a war and everyone has blood on there hands. What is unhelpful to peace is to single one side out. You can NOT compare Hamas to the state of Isreal. You are also ignoring the context and history. If you are going go back to 67 (when Isreal was attacked)then why not go back further or other countries in the region to understand it. Jews (and perhaps Assyrian) are the most percescuted group of people in history. What happen to the jews Iraq, Yemen, egypt, Lebannon etc... They were all driven out or killed. If you blame one side, you will never solve the problem. Instead od attacking me why don't you try to respond to what I am saying...

Hi northman, welcome to babble! I'm Catchfire, one of babble's paid moderators. Your analysis of Israel's occupation of Palestine is extremely simplistic when it is not deeply flawed. As Unionist has pointed out, some of your errors are quite offensive. I suggest reading a lot of what babblers have to say about the Palestinian conflict before repeating mainstream media copy--my years at babble have taught me more than I could have imagine before I came here with my canned explanations. You may be surprised at what you learn.

Mon, 2011-05-02 12:37

#12

al-Qa'bong

To start, we missed commemorating Deir Yassin this year.

Deir Yassin Remembered

Mon, 2011-05-02 19:15

#13

northman_08

I respect your opinion. I have read a lot about this and lived in some the countries in question. Merely because an opinion is held by the media or not ,does not make it a good or bad opinion. Fact BOTH isreal and the PA authority have their own police, government, airports, seats on international bodies etc. The ANC had none of those things. The conflict was largely one sided in SA. In Isreal/PA, thousands of people have died on both sides. It is a war; both sides have done bad things. FACT: Isreal is ONLY country in teh region where you can be Muslim, CHristian, Jew OR GAY with out fear for your life. I have very good friend that is Baha'i from the region. The only country in region that was safe for him was Isreal. Isreal is clearly not without its problems but it simply wrong to say that they are worse than HAMAS. Please ( because would actually like to know ) tell me why you think that I am wrong. Talking is good for democracy.

My main point is that labelling one side in WAR as the bad guy never works. Also westerns on the left and right make the mistake of not understand the full sweep of history in old world. Ask yourself why are there no Jews ( or Assyrains) in Yemen, Iraq, Egypt, etc. Jews at one time made up 25% of the region's population. Now it is less than 1%. If person actually wants end that war, then you need to try to understand why both parties feel they need to continue. I don't think that is simplistic or offensive. My personally frustration is that most of North America's left has feel that they must pick sides ( or that this is helpful).

Mon, 2011-05-02 19:51

#14

2dawall

northman_08 wrote:

...

The conflict was largely one sided in SA. In Isreal/PA, thousands of people have died on both sides. It is a war; both sides have done bad things.

You say 'thousands of people have died on both sides'; are you seriously suggesting the loss of life on both sides has been equal? Can you provide some real numbers and real sources that would suggest that?

Have any Israeli babies died in the last year? Does it compare to how many the CIA World Fact book says in regard to how many Palestinian bablies have died?

Saying 'people have died on both sides' is extremely evasive and is typical of the pro-Israeli media verbiage that avoids any specific detail.

Mon, 2011-05-02 20:27

#15

al-Qa'bong

It isn't a war, at least in the sense that you're suggesting.

Mon, 2011-05-02 22:38

#16

genstrike

northman_08 wrote:

Apartheid??? I lived in Southern Africa. YOu can't compare the two.

Interestingly, the South African union activist I met at a CUPE convention a couple weeks ago would beg to disagree. So would many prominent figures from the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, such as Desmond Tutu and Ronnie Kasrils. And surely it is no coincidence that the struggle for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israeli apartheid is the most advances in South Africa.

Secondly, it's not an analogy. Apartheid is a legally defined term in international law, and it is the most comprehensive and apt term to define what is going on.

It's not the Palestinian solidarity movement which is appropriating the voices of South Africans, it is the people who want to censor the word "apartheid"

northman_08 wrote:

My main point is that labelling one side in WAR as the bad guy never works.

So, are you saying that we shouldn't have referred to the Francoists as "fascist" in 1936-39? That we shouldn't have condemned their terror against the Spanish people? That we shouldn't have considered the Nazis to be "bad guys"?

Mon, 2011-05-02 22:46

#17

genstrike

northman_08 wrote:
Fact BOTH isreal and the PA authority have their own... airports

Actually, that is the opposite of a fact. Atarot airport has been closed since 2001 and is under Israeli control, Yasser Arafat International Airport was rendered inoperable by the IDF, and there is an Israeli air blockade over Gaza Airstrip.

Tue, 2011-05-03 22:49

#18

northman_08

I have lived in South AFrica. It is simple NOT the same. Regardless of how one chooses to define the word; the division between Jews and PA is not the same as SA. Most noteably, about 25-30% of Isrealies are muslim from palenstine. In SA all black had restrictions place on where they could live. If an airport is open of closed in PA, that still is not the same as SA. The blacks of SA had nothing, no power, no control. The notion that Isreal can be compare to spain or hilter's Germany is well... Ironic. "Have any Israeli babies died in the last year?" Well, yes three children under five were stabbed in the beds a couple weeks ago merely because they were jewish. Sounds like a hate crime.

I am NOT trying to say the Jewish state is not without fault. The point is this IS a two sided conflict. Thousands of people from both Isreal and PA have died at each others hands. They may have used different weapons BUT the dead likely don't care about that. This vision of history and the present also ignores the wider context. millions of Jews have been systematically killed and cleanse from an whole sub-contentient. This does not give them a free pass morally, but it certainly explains why they react the way the do. Singling them out is unfair and counter productive. Isreal main condition for talking with hamas is that they recongize their right to exist; something that much of region refuses to do.

I have never understand why most of the left seems to only see one side of this complicated conflict. One can a socialist and support Isreal. I have been both for twenty years.

JNF is no different than any charity that supports a group people ( there are dozen of muslim charities or christian ones etc) I can not believe that anyone really believes that the Manitoba NDP leader is a racist.

Tue, 2011-05-03 23:03

#19

Unionist

northman_08 wrote:

Well, yes three children under five were stabbed in the beds a couple weeks ago merely because they were jewish.

Gee, the authorities haven't established that motive yet. Do you have some inside information on that crime?

Quote:
millions of Jews have been systematically killed and cleanse from an whole sub-contentient. This does not give them a free pass morally, but it certainly explains why they react the way the do.

Almost all my family was murdered in the Nazi genocide, yet I am a sworn enemy of Israel's criminal behaviour against the Palestinian people and its neighbours - and I also despise the notion that Jews belong in a separate "homeland", away from the nations where we have lived for thousands of years. I also deeply abhor the notion that because we were victims, we should seek out others to victimize. How do you explain [b]my[/b] reaction?

Quote:
Isreal main condition for talking with hamas is that they recongize their right to exist; something that much of region refuses to do.

Tell me something. Why wouldn't you want to have peace talks, after generations of conflict, unless the other guy says: "Ok, I recognize your right to exist"? Does Israel recognize Hamas's right to exist? Why do you feel that war and killing should continue until someone says what you want them to say?

Quote:
One can a socialist and support Isreal. I have been both for twenty years.

I don't mean to be rude, but who cares if you're a socialist, a capitalist, or a somnambulist? That's your own business. But you can't hide behind your personal political views when you support Israel's actions (that's right, it's a Hebrew word, [i]Yisrael[/i], named after Jacob who dreamed that he had wrestled with an angel, and therefore was given the nickname [i]Yisrael[/i], or "he fights with God"and it's spelt Israel, not Isreal).

Quote:
JNF is no different than any charity that supports a group people

That's just an ignorant statement, unless it's a deliberate malicious lie - but reading your posts so far, I'd say ignorance is a more likely explanation. Read about JNF and its treatment of Arabs as subhumans when it comes to land ownership. All charities do that? Inform yourself, before you make yourself look like a total fool.

Tue, 2011-05-03 23:16

#20

genstrike

northman_08 wrote:

I have lived in South AFrica. It is simple NOT the same. Regardless of how one chooses to define the word; the division between Jews and PA is not the same as SA. Most noteably, about 25-30% of Isrealies are muslim from palenstine. In SA all black had restrictions place on where they could live.

It doesn't have to be the same, the quesiton is whether the situation in Palestine falls under the legal definition of apartheid, as defined by the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid, and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. And it does.

I'm not saying it's identical, because there are obviously similarities and differences, but there are crucial parallels, and most importantly, it falls within the definition in international law. I'm not making an analogy here, my critique is grounded in international law.

northman_08 wrote:
If an airport is open of closed in PA, that still is not the same as SA. The blacks of SA had nothing, no power, no control.

Actually, you were the one who cited Palestinian airports as "proof" that it isn't apartheid. I agree that the airport question is inconsequential (the ICSPCA and Rome Statute both say nothing about airports), but I also highlighted it because in addition to being unrelated to the question of apartheid, your statement was also factually wrong.

northman_08 wrote:
The notion that Isreal can be compare to spain or hilter's Germany is well... Ironic.

No one compared Israel to Spain or Germany. You were the person who said that labelling one side in a war never works. So, I pointed out a couple cases that disprove that statement.

northman_08 wrote:
am NOT trying to say the Jewish state is not without fault. The point is this IS a two sided conflict. Thousands of people from both Isreal and PA have died at each others hands.

I agree. There are two sides. There is an oppressor trying to colonize Palestine, and an oppressed people forced to live under apartheid (or driven from their land into refugee camps) which is engaging in resistance - and that resistance takes on many forms in different times and places, and includes at times, armed struggle.

northman_08 wrote:
Singling them out is unfair and counter productive. Isreal main condition for talking with hamas is that they recongize their right to exist; something that much of region refuses to do.

Actually, Hamas has made overtures of peace and truces, but these have been rebuffed.

northman_08 wrote:
I have never understand why most of the left seems to only see one side of this complicated conflict. One can a socialist and support Isreal. I have been both for twenty years.

I suppose you can in theory be a socialist and support all sorts of terrible things, but my version of socialism is one which is anti-colonialist and anti-apartheid.

northman_08 wrote:
JNF is no different than any charity that supports a group people ( there are dozen of muslim charities or christian ones etc) I can not believe that anyone really believes that the Manitoba NDP leader is a racist.

The JNF supports colonialism. I can't think of a lot of charities which get support from the Canadian government whose projects include things like building forests on the ruins of Palestinian villages in order to whitewash the ethnic cleansing in the Nakba. As for Greg Selinger, I'm not saying that he is a racist, but his government, through it's attempts to build a special relationship with the Israeli state, a state that practices apartheid, is complicit in a racist, apartheid system and is in violation of the BDS call. I should add - this is a government which agrees with the wannabe censors at B'nai Brith that any mention of Palestinian suffering in schools is inappropriate.

Wed, 2011-05-04 14:50

#21

Dodger718

2dawall wrote:

Have any Israeli babies died in the last year?

A couple months ago, a 4 month old Israeli baby had her head cut off while she slept. He parents and two young siblings were also brutally stabbed to death in their sleep. So, yes.

Wed, 2011-05-04 20:56

#22

2dawall

The Zionist movement fully understood the fate of what was happening to the Jews but cared more about the fate of Israel.

On December 7, 1938, Ben Gurion, said "If I knew it was possible to save all the children in Germany by taking them to England, and only half of the children by taking them to Eretz Israel, I would choose the second solution. For we must take into account not only the lives of these children but also the history of the people of Israel."

It is you who is ignoring or sidestepping the ugly truth about Zionism.

northman_08 wrote:

... This vision of history and the present also ignores the wider context. millions of Jews have been systematically killed and cleanse from an whole sub-contentient. This does not give them a free pass morally, but it certainly explains why they react the way the do. Singling them out is unfair and counter productive.

Wed, 2011-05-04 20:57

#23

2dawall

And does that come close to the more than a thousand Palestinian babies who die every year? There is an attempt in this thread to equate that actions of Hamas and other groups to those by Israel. The comparison is ridiculous; Israel has a huge army, the Palestinians have been quartered off into bantustans. Israel is supported by the US and much of the West. Palestinians receive a few dollars here and there but they have no real means of defense. To suggest that there is some form of equality of force betweem the two is ridiculous and a pithy cliche pushed by Israel's supporters to diminish the intensity and meaning of Palestinian suffering.

Dodger718 wrote:

2dawall wrote:

Have any Israeli babies died in the last year?

A couple months ago, a 4 month old Israeli baby had her head cut off while she slept. He parents and two young siblings were also brutally stabbed to death in their sleep. So, yes.