A year ago I wrote a column reflecting on the activities of the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Anti-Semitism (CPCCA), the Canadian branch of the Inter-Parliamentary Coalition for Combating Anti-Semitism. The latter is an international pro-Zionist group whose sole task is to redefine anti-Semitism to mean virtually any criticism of Israel. It developed at the behest of Israel when international criticism of the apartheid state began to seriously damage the image Israel so carefully established over decades -- you know the one, where Israel is the tiny democratic state whose existence is threatened by its powerful neighbours.
CPCCA
'The threat is from the new McCarthyism, not the new anti-Semitism'
Independent Jewish Voices aims to raise awareness about the work of the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Antisemitism and its attempts to silence criticism of Israel.
Related rabble.ca story:
The CPCCA should be reconfigured to combat racism against all peoples
In 1987, when caught in a lie about the Iran-Contra affair, President Ronald Reagan infamously said: "My heart and my best intentions still tell me that's true, but the facts and the evidence tell me it is not."
In 2010, Liberal MP Irwin Cotler pursues the same "logic" in his paper for the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Antisemitism (CPCCA ). Cotler is on the steering committee of the (international) Inter-Parliamentary Coalition for Combating Antisemitism (IPCCA). Cotler and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney helped to establish the CPCCA and are ex officio members.
Anti-Semitism and free speech: In Parliament this weekend
Coming Nov. 7 to 9: An international conference hosted in the Canadian Parliament Buildings, closed to the public and the media, financed by $451,280 of public funds, provided by Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Jason Kenney.
The guest: Inter-Parliamentary Committee to Combat Anti-Semitism (ICCA), chaired by Irwin Cotler, former Liberal Minister of Justice.
The hosts: Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Anti-Semitism (CPCCA), Minister Kenney and Irwin Cotler, key ex officio members.
Participants: Self-selected supporters of Israel who are members of Parliaments in various countries.
CPCCA, campuses and criminalizing criticism of Israel
This month, a serious attack was made against free speech in Canada. A pseudo-parliamentary committee calling itself the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Anti-Semitism (CPCCA) issued a report calling on the federal government to adopt a definition of anti-Semitism that would criminalize criticism of the state of Israel. The report claims to support free speech and open debate around the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, but its recommendations aim to silence pro-Palestinian voices, especially on campuses. The CPCCA's biased processes and dubious conclusions contradict its own argument for balanced debate, and make a mockery of the notion of disinterested parliamentary inquiry.