Friends choosing sides

Editorial

A full-page advertisement in a recent issue of independent Vancouver weekly, the Georgia Straight (page 21 of the June 27-July 4 edition), demanded that Canada change its foreign policy to call for an immediate withdrawal of Israel to that country's pre-1967 borders. Sponsored by the Canada-Palestine Support Network, the ad was endorsed by a number of signatories, including several Canadian Jews and a long list of perpetual do-gooders. The ad was clear in blaming Israel for the violence in the region.

"While proclaiming that all peoples in the region have a right to security," one paragraph safely began, before adding: "successive Canadian governments have condoned Israel's systematic violation of the Palestinian population's basic human right to live free of military coercion and violence."

The earlier statement "proclaiming that all peoples in the region have a right to security" apparently obviated the need to explicitly express the Israeli people's right to live free of terrorist "coercion and violence."

The ad went on.

"Collective punishment, land expropriation, home demolitions, extra-judicial killings and the daily humiliation of an entire population provide fertile soil for the growth of brutality and the perpetration of atrocities." In other words: Israel brings violence on itself.

In bold print, the ad demands: "End the occupation NOW!"

Among those supporting the message were members of Parliament Libby Davies and Svend Robinson, numerous labor leaders, cultural workers like Anton Kuerti and David Diamond, Vancouver politician/activists David Cadman and Anne Roberts, and left-wing personalities Naomi Klein, Judy Rebick and Murray Dobbin. As individuals, anyone has a right to sign their name to anything one wishes. However, as a matter of citizenship, influential people like those who signed the ad have an obligation to inform themselves of the facts. Some of those on the list certainly have considered the matter deeply and come to a conclusion that we might disagree with. Others probably have very little foundation in the issue and signed on merely because the Palestinians happen to be the haute cause right now.

In many cases, the names associated with organizations (for example, Bill Saunders, president of the Vancouver and District Labor Council) had an asterisk next to their names indicating that the affiliation was mentioned "for identification purposes only."

There were, however, groups like CUPE Toronto District Council and Rape Relief, which were listed as supporting organizations.

This is a different matter entirely. An organization like Rape Relief is founded on the assumption that women can approach the agency for assistance without fear of judgment. Knowing that the organization has given its name in a publicly declared stand against Israel, could a Jewish or Israeli-Canadian victim approach Rape Relief confident that they will be aided without judgment?

What about a labor union? Could a Jewish or Israeli-Canadian worker depend on fair and equitable treatment, knowing their union's official, publicly stated views on Israel?

We hope so, but even if these organizations successfully isolate their political stands from their advocacy work, a public statement like this ad cannot help but make clients, members or potential allies uncertain about the reception they might receive from these groups.

There is another element of the ad that would be comical were it not so tragic. The people who have signed in support of the Palestinian cause and against Israel are a who's who of Canadian activism and the arts.

We have previously pointed out the irony of Canadian unions speaking out against the only country in the region that respects free collective bargaining.
Now we are confronted with Canadian artists attacking the only country in the region where they would be free to express themselves the way they are free to do in Canada.

We have environmentalists siding against Israel, the world leader in researching alternatives to fossil fuels and halting desertification.

We see groups that are supposed to defend the rights of women siding with a culture that views women as (at best) second-class citizens.

We see at least one gay man criticizing the only country in the region that legally protects people of his orientation.

We see the head of Langara College's journalism program siding with the Palestinians, whose leadership has never demonstrated even the faintest association with western-style freedom of the press.

Of course, all of these people are free to state their views. If only they gave a little more thought to the views they are endorsing.

^TOP