De la judéophobie

Le terme judéophobie a été introduit par Maxime Rodinson pour décrire les phénomènes antijuifs dans l’histoire . Si l’antisémitisme participe de la judéophobie toute forme de judéophobie ne saurait se réduire à ce phénomène historiquement circonscrit qu’est l’antisémitisme. Il est vrai que le terme judéophobie a pu prendre une connotation particulière depuis que Pierre-André Taguieff a écrit ce mauvais pamphlet qui s’intitule La nouvelle judéophobie, ouvrage remarquable par les amalgames qu’il commet dans la plus pure tradition stalinienne, mêlant les islamistes, les nouveaux historiens israéliens, les trotskistes, les marxistes compatissants et les chrétiens sentimentaux.

Academic Freedom Threatened
in Ontario Universities
Margaret Aziza Pappano

In the aftermath of the most recent Israeli assault on the Palestinian people, we now know that many buildings of the Islamic University in Gaza have been destroyed, as at least ten bombs have hit this so-called “military target,” including a residence for female students. Students waiting for a bus were hit. How will they hold classes now? Even before this, classes were piecemeal, governed by such unavoidable distractions as failure of electricity and sudden erection of checkpoints. Students in Gaza and in the West Bank struggle to get an education and professors struggle to teach classes. I once ran a workshop on applying to graduate schools in the U.S. and Canada for Palestinian students in which I had to field questions like, how do I explain that I am 35 and still working on a BA because my university was closed for five years and I was imprisoned for two? How do I explain that I can't get a letter of recommendation because my professor was killed? As we encounter frustrations like too-large seminars and inadequate teaching support, North American academics may have difficulty imagining such dire circumstances as the stuff of daily life.

While most academics would agree that a university should be a place where critical debate is fostered, what is academic freedom when the freedom to attend classes without being bombed isn't even assured? Academic freedom falters it seems when it comes to Palestine, whether in the Middle East or in North America. Not only is there no realizable academic freedom for Palestinians, but also, even in North America, students and faculty raising critical viewpoints about Israel find themselves muffled, accused of anti-Semitism, threatened with disciplinary action, or, in the case of former Depaul University professor, Norman Finkelstein, out of a job entirely.

In Canada, the annual educational event known at “Israeli Apartheid week,” held on university campuses, has faced repeated attempts to suppress it. What justification can be found to block an event in which scholars and activists speak about the history of the region, with a focus on the illegal occupation of Palestinian territory, information that is taught in history and political science classes and available in books published by university presses? Yet, 125 University of Toronto faculty members signed a letter, published in the National Post, in which they “request[ed] that the administration stop this hateful and divisive event from returning to our University.”

More worrisome, however, is that the administration on some campuses has actually endeavoured to comply, a trend that should alarm anyone who cares about the integrity of their university. In February of last year, the McMaster University administration attempted to ban the use of the term “Israeli apartheid” by Student Union clubs on campus, including “activities promoted under the banner, 'Israeli Apartheid Week.'” It was only after a concerted protest and huge rally that the administration backed down from what would likely have been an illegal action anyway.

This year's event has been marked by a similar action at Carleton University. The Israeli Apartheid week poster was banned by the university's Equity Services because of its graphic, a drawing of an Israeli bomb being dropped on a child, who is labeled “Gaza.” The SAIA (Students Against Israeli Apartheid) chapter was informed that the “image could be seen to incite others to infringe rights protected in the Ontario human rights code.” The interim Provost and Vice President of Carleton, Feridun Hamdullahpur, circulated a letter to the entire Carleton community in which he threatened indefinite expulsion for anyone contravening the code; although vaguely worded, the letter alludes to “harassment and intolerance which can take the form of inappropriately challenging or questioning a person's race or beliefs.” One has to wonder how this stock anti-war graphic can be seen as “inappropriate,” unless Carleton is concerned to protect Israel's image rather than the rights of its students to free expression.

York University and the University of Toronto have both witnessed similar attempts to harass students and faculty expressing advocacy for Palestinian rights.

In May of 2008, Professor David McNally, then chair of the Department of Political Science at York, received a disciplinary letter from his dean. His crime? Speaking at an “unauthorized student rally” “by means of amplification.” It turns out that it was no coincidence that the rally in question was a pro-Palestine rally. McNally had spoken at another rally the day before (for the group No One is Illegal) at precisely the same time and in the same space and with the same amplification system and received no disciplinary letter. Hence, he was forced to conclude that the underlying crime was not speaking at an unauthorized rally or by means of any particular audio aids but in fact speaking in support of Palestinian human rights. There was clear evidence of bias. With the help of his union, McNally was able to get the charges dropped. However, he wonders if it might have turned out otherwise, given different circumstances. Would a faculty member with less compelling evidence and less of a public profile and academic stature had to face disciplinary action? McNally relates that several untenured faculty commented nervously on his case. Even if the action against him was eventually withdrawn, it seems to have sent its intended chilling effect to other academics inclined to advocate for Palestinian rights.

Students Against Israeli Apartheid at York and the University of Toronto have also faced disciplinary action. While members of York SAIA admit that they do not always manage to comply with the arcane and nearly impossible rules to get official permits and room bookings through university channels, they do so with the understanding that most other student groups do likewise. However, unlike other student groups, they are fined, their room bookings cancelled, and their group subjected to disciplinary proceedings. In October 2008, SAIA at the University of Toronto discovered that all of its requests for room bookings for their conference, “Standing Against Apartheid” were abruptly denied. Recently, through the freedom of information act, they were able to obtain the official correspondence behind this action. To their astonishment, they discovered an email trail, going all the way to the University President, discussing what rationale to use to deny them the rooms before they were even booked. From the emails, it is clear that the University of Toronto administration actively conspired to block the event from the university campus, even if they found a loophole to do so.

In 2004, York Social Science Professor David Noble distributed pamphlets after a film screening in which he suggested that there were links between the York University Foundation and Canadian pro-Israel lobbies. The next day, York University administration issued a media release denouncing him. After an arbitration process that took several years, Noble's name was eventually cleared and the administration was found guilty of violating his academic freedom. As part of a lengthy report prepared by CAUT (Canadian Association of University Teachers), Noble's cause and that of others, most prominently Daniel Freeman-Maloy, an undergraduate student and Palestinian activist unjustly expelled from the university, are shown to be part of a larger pattern in which there are “threats to and breaches of the right of free expression and academic freedom at York University.”. Many of the students and faculty whose rights have been violated are those who have been actively involved in advocating for Palestinian rights and indeed the report does contain evidence pointing to a pro-Israel bias among the York administration.

Israeli Apartheid Week raises such ire that Professor Shahrzad Mojab, former Director of the Women and Gender Studies Institute at the University of Toronto, was assailed just for a routine publicizing of the event. She reports that in 2005, the first year of the event, the Institute posted the announcement on its listserve, as it does for any number of other non-Institute events. However, she and staff members received threatening phone calls and email messages from anonymous callers and objection email messages from colleagues on campus. She found herself isolated and nasty slogans were written on an anti-war poster on her office door. Many, even a former President of the university, complained about the use of the Institute's listserve to publicize the event. One colleague publicly called her an anti-Semite when she was being introduced at a panel. Although Mojab filed a complaint, there has been no follow-through to clear her name. Mojab noted that although the Institute publicized many other “politically-sensitive” and even controversial events, none received this type of reaction.

A pattern of intolerance for speech about Palestinian human rights appears to have established itself in Canadian universities. Supporters of Israel's military occupation often claim the opposite – that universities are havens for speech against Israel. Certainly, there is “speech against Israel” in terms of events like Israeli Apartheid Week, now in its fifth year at the University of Toronto, that seek to raise critical perspectives about the occupation. Such speech, we should acknowledge, is part of normal academic discourse that examines racism, colonialism, and militarism in their many forms and in general steers clear of promoting government propaganda. Such speech is now under threat in Ontario universities, even as there is a growing interest in having informed and critical discussions about Israel's military occupation. In five years, Israeli Apartheid Week has expanded to an event now encompassing about forty cities around the globe.

The recent slaughter of Gaza demonstrates that it is more important than ever for academics to speak out and use the resources of the university to make the world aware of the gross injustices perpetrated by Israel's military occupation. Academics have been slower to respond than their colleagues in labour unions, many of whom have passed resolutions supporting the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) campaign, a non-violent movement designed to pressure Israel into compliance with international law. Yet, recent weeks have seen momentous change in universities as student unions have signed on to the Palestinian Right to Education campaign and thousands of faculty have signed petitions to condemn the attack on Gaza and express solidarity with Palestinian colleagues. In Montreal, a group of faculty has endorsed the BDS campaign and in the U.S., Hampshire College has voted to divest from six companies with ties to Israel. As students and faculty raise their voices against the predation of the Israeli army on Palestinian civilians, universities must be made safe spaces for expressing dissent and telling the truth about who is suffering in Palestine. •

Margaret Aziza Pappano is Associate Professor, English, Queen's University and a founding member of Faculty 4 Palestine.

They were part of the peace settlements in Cambodia, Somalia and Bosnia, they negotiated with militant groups like the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka or the IRA in Northern Ireland and a few of them were also engaged in the Middle East peace process. Fourteen elder statesmen from Europe, Australia, South America, Africa and Asia are calling in an open letter for the Mideast Quartet, comprised of the European Union, United Nations, Russia and the United States, to end their diplomatic boycott against Hamas.

The signatories of the letter, which is being published exclusively by SPIEGEL ONLINE in Germany and the Times of London on Thursday, include former Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami; Alvaro de Soto, who served as the UN envoy for the Middle East Quartet from 2005 to 2007; Lord Chris Patten, the former British governor of Hong Kong and European Commissioner; and Lord Paddy Ashdown, who served as the High Representative for Bosnia-Herzegovina and oversaw the implementation of the Dayton Accords.

[...]

Former Israeli Foreign Minister Ben-Ami told SPIEGEL ONLINE the letter was directed equally at the European Union and the United States, but also at Israel. "Israel has to start thinking outside the box. I can recall the case of the Palestine Liberation Organization. The PLO didn't recognize Israel as a precondition, but as a result of the Olso process. The same should happen with Hamas."

Anyone with half a brain would know that it's in everyone's interest to encourage young British Muslims into peaceful democratic political actions because apathy is not the only alternative.

By smearing these men and their community in this way, the police, or whoever directed them, have set back community relations by years and made easier the job of the Islamist fanatics, who seek to lure these communities on to the rocks of separatism, extremism and violence.

...the most important news out of the Middle East today may be the announcement in Cairo that Fatah and Hamas have agreed in principle on the formation of a national unity government by the end of March.
...
Such a Palestinian national unity government could offer a viable Palestinian negotiating partner, a way to channel reconstruction aid into Gaza, an end to the endlessly destructive Fatah-Hamas conflict, and even an indirect way for Hamas to honor the Quartet's conditions.

Viva Palestina! update : Egypt will allow convoy to enter Gaza
.

This might be encouraging too.

According to the article, there's a lot of hard negotiating between the two groups before this becomes a reality. But if they can pull it off I think it would make it much more difficult for the Israeli government to claim it has no one to negotiate with.

H/t to Laura Rozen.

The international criminal court is considering whether the Palestinian Authority is "enough like a state" for it to bring a case alleging that Israeli troops committed war crimes in the recent assault on Gaza.

The deliberations would potentially open the way to putting Israeli military commanders in the dock at The Hague over the campaign, which claimed more than 1,300 lives, and set an important precedent for the court over what cases it can hear.

As part of the process the court's head of jurisdictions, part of the office of the prosecutor, is examining every international agreement signed by the PA to decide whether it behaves - and is regarded by others - as operating like a state.

Following talks with the Arab League's head, Amr Moussa, and senior PA officials, moves have accelerated inside the court to deliver a ruling on whether it may be able to insist on jurisdiction over alleged war crimes perpetrated in Gaza, with a decision from the prosecutor's office expected within "months, not years".

International law defines “apartheid” as a crime against humanity. Labelling Israel as an “apartheid” state is a deliberate attempt to undermine the legitimacy of the Jewish state itself.

Criticism of Israel is legitimate. Attempting to describe its very existence as a crime against humanity is not.

-----Original Message-----
From: Gary Keenan [mailto:garydkeenan@yahoo.com]
Sent: Thu 3/5/2009 5:58 PM
To: Michael - M.P.Ignatieff
Cc: Gilad Atzmon; john and betty beeching; Linda Belanger; Dick Birley; Stewart and Alicja Brown; Canadian Arab Federation; donald currie; Gerry Deagle; Dr. M. I. Elmasry; richard fahlman; hani faris; Daryl Fieber; Norman Finkelstein; Ken Hiebert; Hayssam Hulays; Rafeh Hulays; George Irani; erik kalaidzis; Steve Kalil; Bill Kaufmann; Hanna and Marion Kawas; Dalal Kawas; Luay Kawasme; Salem Kittani; Writers Letter; Henry N. Lowi; Rafe Mair; Ali Mallah; Linda McQuaig; Leslie McWhinnie; Riad Muslih; Michael Neumann; Rula Odeh; Canadian Jewish Outlook Carl Rosenberg; Dr. Rabab; Bahija Reghai; Nizar Sakhnini; Omar Shaban; Abdullah Shaban; Sid Shniad; Orest Slepokura; Angie Tibbs; Stuart Whitney; Stephen Whitney; Dr. Ismail Zayid; Zerbisias, Antonia
Subject: Re: Your Response re Gaza


Mr. Ignatieff

What a gutless and unprincipled response. You are far too intelligent, educated and world travelled to be unaware of the irrefutable fact that the root cause of the Israel/Palestinian-Arab conflict is Israel's illegal and belligerent, indeed, brutal, occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, East Jerusalem (including its illegally extended boundaries), the Gaza Strip (still "occupied" under international law as Israel controls its entrances, exits, airspace, sea access, imports, exports and reserves the right to intervene militarily while refusing to live up to its commitments under both the July 7/08 cease-fire and the one ending its recent assault), as well as Syria's Golan Heights and Lebanon's Shebaa Farms.

Instead of pandering to a particular voting bloc, I respectfully urge you to muster up the courage and moral integrity to adopt an honest and fruitful policy. For instance, give the Liberal Party's total support to the 2002 Arab League's Beirut Summit Peace Initiative which offers Israel full recognition as a sovereign state, exchange of ambassadors, trade relations and full peace in exchange for its withdrawal from all lands it invaded in June 1967 and has occupied since along with its commitment to cooperate in achieving a "just solution" to the Palestinian refugee problem/crisis.

Look around you and comprehend the fact that a sea change is occurring regarding this now over 60 year conflict. For instance, Britain has just declared it is prepared to recognize Hezbollah and more and more diplomats etc. are calling for Hamas to be included in peace talks with Israel. (How can we call upon Hamas to recognize Israel when Israel does not recognize itself, i.e., define its borders and has not formally accepted the creation of a viable sovereign Palestinian state?)

Although its image has been deteriorating at an accelerating rate for years, due in large measure to its recent slaughter of 1,400 defenceless Gazans, including about 450 children (not to mention its massive destruction of homes, schools, factories, etc.), Israel is now viewed by the vast majority of the western world (including Canadians) as a pariah state; most certainly not one that shares the "same values" as Canadians.

I refuse to believe that you personally subscribe to the views you publicly express. You are no fool. I remain convinced that what you truly believe was expressed when you accurately described Israel's actions during its 2006 barbaric blitzkreig invasion of Lebanon as "war crimes."
I look forward to you and the Liberal Party doing what is right for all peoples of the Middle East, the world, and Canada by adopting a foreign policy based primarily on the sanctity of hard-won international humanitarian law that came about largely due to the monstrous crimes of Hitler and his fellow thugs, including the systematic murder of six million Jews.

Finally, I remind you that Canada is a signatory to the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention. Please act accordingly

Regards,
Gary Keenan



--- On Thu, 3/5/09, Ignatieff, Michael - M.P. <IgnatM@parl.gc.ca> wrote:


From: Ignatieff, Michael - M.P. <IgnatM@parl.gc.ca>
Subject: Response to Gaza email
To: "'garydkeenan@yahoo.com'" <garydkeenan@yahoo.com>
Date: Thursday, March 5, 2009, 2:15 PM








Dear Sir/Madam:

Thank you for your letter regarding the situation in Gaza.

The Liberal Party shares your concerns about this conflict and the suffering and loss of life on all sides.

Following the recent ceasefire, we continue to stand with the international community in its efforts to build a lasting peace in this region. As a Party, we believe that the basis of this peace must be a safe and secure Israel that is recognized by and living side-by-side in peace with a viable Palestinian state. It must also include a full resolution of the many complex issues affecting this region. Ultimately, the best way to resolve the conflict is direct negotiation between the parties, with the assistance of the international community.

The Liberal Party's position reflects our long-standing commitment to peace, stability, justice and human rights in the Middle East. It also recognizes Canada's proud humanitarian reputation. In the aftermath of this conflict, we must engage with the international community, which the Harper Government has largely failed to do, in order to ensure that humanitarian assistance reaches those who need it and to help restore the communities that have been affected by the conflict.

Thank you again for taking the time to share your views on this important issue.

Sincerely,


The Office of the Leader of the Opposition