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CRITICIZE ISRAEL – GO TO JAIL?
Should Canada criminalize criticism of Israel as antisemitic hate speech? Some Canadian parliamentarians think so. The Harper government recently gave $450,000 to support an international conference that brings together in Ottawa in November Zionist supporters from parliaments around the world. Their goal is to expand the definition of antisemitism to include criticism of Israel.
The Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Antisemitism (CPCCA) is the Canadian branch of this effort. It’s an informal coalition of MPs from the Conservative, Liberal and NDP that has been studying the growing threat of what they call a “new antisemitism.”
The CPCCA , which will release a report at the conference in Ottawa, is expected to recommend changes to the human rights legislation or hate laws that would make it illegal to criticize Israel.
Responding to this threat to free speech, Michael Keefer, a University of Guelph professor, has written an important book, Antisemitism Real and Imagined, that provides an in-depth investigation of the extent of antisemitism in Canada, the ideology of the “new antisemitism,” and the role of the CPCCA as a mechanism to protect Israel.
In an attempt to raise awareness of the imminent danger, Dr. Keefer is conducting a western Canada tour that begins in Vancouver.
Hear MICHAEL KEEFER, along with MICHEAL VONN, Policy Director for the BC Civil Liberties Association. The meeting is co-sponsored by Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), and organized by the Seriously Free Speech Committee.
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