Is criticising Israel antisemitic?

Location

A Talk by Alan Sears

Professor of Sociology at Ryerson University and Member of Faculty 4 Palestine

Followed by a Round-table Audience Discussion

Organised by the Seriously Free Speech Committee
Sponsored by Canada Palestine Support Network (CanPalNet), Independent Jewish Voices Canada (IJVC) and NECEF Is Criticising Israel Antisemitic?

Israel's supporters are becoming increasingly aggressive toward anyone who dares to criticize Israel's actions. To deflect attention from Israel's illegal occupation, they lash out at critics, calling them racist or antisemitic.

Over past two years, attempts in Canada to silence criticism include:

* a SLAPP suit filed by Canwest over a parody of the Vancouver Sun's pro-Israel bias;
* banning Israel Apartheid Week posters on some Ontario campuses;
* attacking the United Church as antisemitic for passing a resolution on Palestine;
* refusal to allow British MP George Galloway into Canada to speak;
* attempts to censor the play Seven Jewish Children.

Antisemitism is discrimination or hatred against Jews just because they are Jews. Israel's supporters are campaigning for a definition of a "new" antisemitism, one that includes political criticism of the policies and actions of the state of Israel.

In February 2007, individual parliamentarians from across the world met in London and drafted The London Declaration on Combating Antisemitism based on a definition of "new" antisemitism:

Now Canadian parliamentarians have followed suit, creating an informal coalition to hold public consultations, called the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Antisemitism (CPCCA). Many Canadians worry that this coalition will work to incorporate this much broader definition of antisemitism into Canada's Criminal Code, effectively outlawing legitimate, reasoned and serious criticism of Israel. Groups such as the Seriously Free Speech Committee are calling on concerned citizens to write to the CPCCA to oppose this threat to free expression.

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