The Hate Continues at UBC

The University of British Columbia (UBC) is hosting an anti-Israel event on Friday December 2 featuring a journalist sympathetic to the leaders of the terror organization, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

Jon Elmer, a photojournalist, will be at UBC’s Woodward Building on Friday night to lead a discussion hosted by a so-called Boycott Israeli Apartheid Campaign. Elmer has described the PLFP prisoners responsible for the murder of Israeli Cabinet Minister Rehavam Ze'evi as “political prisoners” and  the PFLP, a violent group devoted to the elimination of Israel and listed as a terrorist organization by the European Union and the Canadian and US governments, as “activists.” 

http://www.facebook.com/events/305647632798778/

This event, called “Ghetto Palestine,” represents another occasion when radical fanatics whose interest is the elimination of Israel are attempting to insinuate themselves into mainstream Canadian universities.

Trouble in left-wing paradise

An anti-Semitic British journalist has revealed a rift in the anti-Israel movement that is pitting anti-Semites and Holocaust deniers against traditional socialists who are opposed to Israel but uncomfortable with extreme Jew hatred.

The catalyst for the rift comes in the person of Holocaust denying anti-Semite Gilad Atzmon. A former Israeli Jew who now considers himself neither Israeli nor Jewish, Atzmon is the author of the recent book The Wandering Who. His book has been praised by anti-Semites such as Richard Falk, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on Palestine, and anti-Israel conspiracy theorists such as John Mearsheimer.

Lauren Booth, half-sister of Tony Blair’s wife and a distant relative of Abraham Lincoln’s assassin, John Wilkes Booth, reports in a lengthy, outraged diatribe that The Palestine Solidarity Campaign now refuses to be associated with Atzmon because of his anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial. Atzmon has a particular brand of Holocaust denial by which he does not dispute that the Nazi killed Jews but in the face of overwhelming documented evidence, suggests the numbers are vastly smaller than reported and that it was not part of a systematic attempt by Hitler’s forces to exterminate the Jewish people.

According to Booth,” the Palestine Solidarity Campaign has revealed itself to be ethically compromised at the highest level…

This week, Sarah Colborne, director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, was quoted in the pro Israeli paper, the Jewish Chronicle, as supporting a boycott of the highly renowned musician and academic Gilad Atzmon”

Siding with Atzmon and other Holocaust deniers, Booth expresses outrage that such a prominent outspoken anti-Zionist would be shunned by their movement. This is in character for Booth, who according to her blog is an employee of the Holocaust denying regime of Mahmoud Ahamdinejad where she presents for PRESS TV, the Iranian state-controlled English language news service. Booth, who reports numerous failed attempts to stop drinking alcohol, attributes her recent conversion to Islam in Iran to her new found abstinence and has had a number of anti-Semitic outbursts of her own in recent years.

This recent rift demonstrates the extent to which the pro-Palestine movement is in many cases led and dominated by those whose primary motive is the hatred of Jews and the destruction of Israel, rather than merely disagreement with Israeli politics and policies.

Counter Antisemitism: Join FSWC's "Silence is NOT Golden" Campaign

It's getting harder to ignore the headlines in the news. As antisemitic activity, whether in the guise of anti-Zionism or just plain Jew hatred becomes more prevalent, especially on university campuses, we have to realize the unthinkable is becoming more and more commonplace. From union support for anti-Israel flotillas to antisemitic speakers at universities and public spaces across the country, the time has come to admit the hard truth: antisemitism in Canada is once again rearing its ugly head.

READ MORE. . .

UNESCO on the move. . .

Once again Palestinians are attempting to whitewash Jewish history and declare the Hebron Cave of Patriarchs a Palestinian heritage site.

Read More

What stops the world from taking out Assad?

 By Avi Benlolo in the Huffington Post

Where is the international outrage against Syria? Where are the so-called activists who readily boycott Israel on university campuses or the hypocrites who mislabel it an apartheid state? Where are the fake humanitarian flotillas to Damascus? Neither a peep nor a whisper -- only a whimper.

The Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's days are numbered. As he continues to kill his own people, the pressure to bring him to justice will increase; his ruthless actions have
even convinced the violence-tolerant Arab League to fire a few warning shots across his
bow by suspending him from their midst. In an ominous sign of his growing isolation,
Turkey and Jordan have also jumped on the anti-Assad bandwagon and are offering their
own criticism and advice. But for now, he continues to rule Syria with an iron fist and a
bloodied conscience. 
As Western countries congratulate themselves on their role in helping to end the
intractable and rapacious Gaddafi dictatorship (and keep their fingers crossed that
whoever follows will not be worse), many wonder why we don't employ the same Right
to Protect (R2P) reasoning used to end Libya's nightmare to help the Syrians as well.

READ MORE . . .

Hypocrisy at UNESCO - again.

In an astonishing display of hypocrisy, UNESCO has chosen Syria to be the Arab representative on a committee dealing with the implementation of human rights. According to UN estimates, the brutal regime of Bashar al-Assad has slaughtered 3,500 of its own people and arrested tens of thousands more in an effort to halt anti-government protests.

Avi Benlolo says the Holocaust is a 'moral compass for humanity' on SUN TV

FSWC President and CEO Avi Benlolo spoke with Michael Coren, host of 'The Arena' on SUN TV, about the importance of Holocaust remembrance and the need for more education and tolerance.

CLICK HERE to watch interview

Academic antisemites support Holocaust Denial

The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, a book John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt published in 2007 alleges hugely disproportionate and negative influence by the “Israel Lobby” in American foreign policy. The work and its authors have been criticized for vague definitions of what constitutes the “Israel Lobby” as well as distortions and errors in their reporting, just as the work has become a favourite of anti-Semites and neo-Nazis who see it as proof of a Jewish conspiracy.

Mearsheimer, a Political Science professor at the University of Chicago, and Walt, a Harvard professor of International Affairs, have both rejected claims that their work was motivated or influenced by anti-Semitism.

But the two authors of “The Israel Lobby” have raised new questions by Mearsheimer’s endorsement and Walt’s defence of his co-author when the former praised the work of  Gilad Atzmon. Atzmon is a former Israeli Jew, whose anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial have alienated him from even many anti-Israel organizations.  http://www.hudson-ny.org/2564/mearsheimer-falk-atzmon-anti-semitic-book

Mearsheimer has praised Atzmon’s new anti-Semitic tome, The Wandering Who, and was backed up by Walt in an article in Foreign Affairs. http://walt.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/09/25/mearsheimer_responds_to_goldbergs_latest_smear

Atzmon received another prominent endorsement from Richard Falk, the UN Special Rapoteur on Palestine, who has his own history of shameful behaviour in this area after he published an anti-Semitic cartoon on his blog. http://www.unwatch.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=bdKKISNqEmG&b=1316871&ct=10896001

Falk is the only Special Rapoteur in the history of the United Nations to be condemned by a UN General Secretary. Ban Ki Moon condemned Falk after comments he made which suggested that the United States government was responsible for the terrorist attacks of 9-11.

Remembrance Day: Standing on Guard for Freedom

On Nov. 11, Canadians will once again turn their attention to our fallen soldiers on Remembrance Day. Remembrance is one of the most sacred acts of humanity. Not only does it sanctify the dead, it also provides moral nourishment to the living. If the saying that those who forget the past are destined to repeat it is true, remembrance is integral to ensuring a better, more peaceful world for future generations.

In this day and age, when morality is defined by self need; when hypocrisy in the name of human rights has turned the world upside down, when individualism has overtaken community, and when the underpinnings of freedom and democracy have been eroded, Remembrance Day is an annual reminder of who we are and what we ought to stand for.

READ MORE . . .

United Church Minister on vilification of Israel tour

A United Church of Canada (UCC) minister by the name of Chris Ferguson, (http://www.united-church.ca/getinvolved/global/ferguson)  who is the UCC representative to the UN on Palestinian issues, is doing a cross country tour to vilify Israel. Ferguson puts all the blame for the occupation of the West Bank on Israel and is a proponent of the Kairos Palestine Document which demonizes Israel by saying the occupation is “a sin against God and humanity.” 

http://www.oikoumene.org/gr/resources/documents/other-ecumenical-bodies/kairos-palestine-document.html

It refers to Israel as “the enemy” and in language worthy of medieval fanaticism, frames  Israel’s actions in theological terms as “evil”

The Kairos document and Ferguson are not only one-sided, but extraordinarily offensive; the document completely devalues the need for Israeli self-defence, and Ferguson regurgitates the anti-Zionist canard that borders on anti-Semitism by suggesting that Christian support for Israel is based on Christian guilt for the Holocaust, rather than Israel’s legitimate self-defence requirements. Ferguson’s shallow argument is an insult to Christians and Jews who understand that Israel has not only the right but the duty to protect its citizens. Israel continues to press for a negotiated two-state solution, but has been met with intransigence from the Palestinian leadership combined with a lack of demonstrated capability (or desire) to prevent ongoing terrorist activities.

Ferguson continually refers to Israeli “human rights violations” without any mention of ongoing Palestinian support for terror, incitement to hate and the ongoing and public messages from Palestinian leaders stating that their true intent is to eliminate Israel. And of course, he makes no reference to the other Arab forces that are determined to annihilate Israel with whom  Palestinian factions are aligned.

Ferguson can be heard discussing his tour and the anti-Israel propaganda he is purveying in this interview: http://rabble.ca/podcasts/shows/redeye/2011/10/exploring-reality-palestinian-christians

FSWC Baffled by U of T response re Muslim cleric

FSWC continues to follow the story of the radical Muslim cleric, Abdullah Hakim Quick, who is presenting an 18-week seminar at the University of Toronto’s Muslim Student’s Association (Click here to read more in the Canadian Jewish News).

In response to FSWC’s letter of concern that the university is supporting hate speech by permitting him to lecture on campus, and despite Quick's previous statements concerning Jews, infidels and, especially his declaration that the "punishment for homosexuality is death," (Listen here) , University of Toronto Vice-President, Human Resources & Equity, Angela Hildyard responded, “. . . There is every expectation that Dr. Quick's teaching will be open and respectful. . ."

FSWC remains baffled by this statement and uncertain what this expectation is based on; his declaration that homosexuals deserve death seems clear. We will persist in following this story and will provide further updates as they become available.