Bulletin award is scandalous

Letters

This letter was originally sent to Susan Graham, director of Pluri Vox Media Corp., and is reprinted with permission.

Dear Director:
On Sept. 13, 2002, the Jewish Western Bulletin (JWB) reported that "The Ethnic Press Council of Canada Inc. has selected the Jewish Western Bulletin as one of the best ethnic publications in Canada." The report went on to say that "The papers nominated were judged on how well they promoted the Canadian context (aspects such as brotherhood, anti-racism and equality) to their readership while maintaining the specific community needs of the readership."

Your Web site reported the event without listing the recipients: "Pluri Vox representatives were on hand as the Ethnic Press Council of Canada celebrated its 25th anniversary on Sept. 1, 2002, at the Canadian National Exhibition grounds. Awards to recognize the efforts of members of ethnic media for encouraging the participation of different ethnic communities in the enrichment of multiculturalism in Canada were presented by Heritage Minister Sheila Copps."

We believe that your decision to give the JWB such an award is scandalous and outrageous. We further believe such an award promotes the victimization of the Palestinian people in general and the Palestinian Canadian community in particular. It also supports institutions that promote hatred, prejudice, racial superiority, intolerance and war crimes rather than harmony, tolerance, equality and peace with justice.

Following are some examples of the venomous articles the JWB carries:

1. In an April 12, 2002, editorial "Equivocating terrorism," the JWB supported the Israeli aggression and re-occupation of Palestinian territories in violation of the Oslo accords, international law and UN Security Council resolutions. It equated the Palestinian struggle against the brutal Israeli occupation with the Al Qaeda attacks on the Twin Towers. "The contradictory nonsense that has come from Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham in recent weeks is a perfect example of why Israel cannot guide its actions based on the whims of overseas 'friends.' Israel is in a fight for survival and, in the midst of a worldwide so-called War on Terrorism, we must learn the difference between national defence and barbarous terror. How clear does it need to be? Israel=Twin Towers. PLO=Al Qaeda." (In fact, some of that "fight for survival" has now been labelled as war crimes from none other than Am-nesty International <http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/recent/MDE151432002?OpenDocument>.)

2. On Aug. 16, 2002, the JWB carried an article by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin in his weekly JWB column under the title "Punishment of terrorists" where he called for the annihilation of all the Palestinians. He declared: "There are no innocent citizens of terrorist societies."

3. On April 5, 2002, the JWB ran an editorial that slandered and libelled ALL people of Palestinian decent. It stated that the Palestinians "worst of all, have had their minds manipulated and filled with hatred in an effort to build public support for the politically motivated agenda of genocide practised by their leaders, Yasser Arafat chief among them." It went on to add, "Blind hatred and bigotry trumped even self-interest – so much so that the Palestinians have managed to convince a sizable cadre of what should be their best and brightest young people that death in suicide bombings is more valid than making something of the life one was given on earth."

The JWB carries many stories and even guest editorials from the right-wing Israeli paper the Jerusalem Post, owned by Conrad Black and his Hollinger International. We have never seen any articles in JWB from Israeli peace and human rights groups such as Gush Shalom, Betselem or the Israeli Committee against House Demolitions, or even from the liberal leading Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz.

The JWB, by demonizing the Palestinians, is promoting racism and hatred against the Palestinian community in Canada. Also, by blindly supporting the war crimes committed against Palestinians in the name of Jews and Judaism, it is also promoting hatred against Jews. Long-time Israeli peace activist Uri Avnery in a recent article stated, "The Sharon government is a giant laboratory for the growing of the anti-Semitism virus.... Israel manufactures and exports the anti-Semitism that threatens Jews around the world" and "Jewish organizations are pushed into defending Israel and giving it unqualified support. This support enables the anti-Semites to attack not only the government of Israel, but the local Jews, too."

The Jewish Western Bulletin is a mouthpiece for Israeli practices that propagate superiority and discrimination against anybody that is non-Jewish in Israel/Palestine. The JWB supports the Israeli Law of Return, which explicitly excludes relatives and family of the 22 per cent of Israeli citizens who happen to be non-Jewish. The JWB also supports the Jewish National Fund that discriminates against not only Palestinian Israelis but against all world citizens who want to buy or lease land that is controlled by this fund. The JNF and its affiliates control 93 per cent of the land in Israel, most of it stolen from the Palestinian indigenous people.

By giving your award to the JWB, you have become a party to what it espouses: spreading hatred against the Palestinian people. You have also become a party to the Israeli war crimes (Amnesty International, Nov. 4, 2002) that the JWB supports and propagates, often even in contradiction with Canadian foreign policy.

We trust that you will bring our concerns to all the Pluri Vox Media Corp. board.

Hanna Kawas, Chairperson
Canada Palestine Association, Vancouver

Editor's note: While it is true that Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, in his weekly column, wrote an article under the title "Punishment of terrorists," there was no mention of Palestinians in the piece. The discussion surrounded the punishment of those who do not obey the Noahide laws, specifically referring to the prince of Shechem, who rapes Dinah, and his people. Mr. Kawas draws his own conclusion that the terrorist society to which Riskin refers is that of the Palestinians.

With regard to the point that the Bulletin only prints right-wing material, we can refer Mr. Kawas to specific articles in which we have reported on the opinions of members of Peacemaker Community Israel and Bustan L'Shalom, as well as those of Jeff Halper and Salim Shawamreh of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions. In April, we published a piece from Jews for a Just Peace in which the results of Israel's actions are called "an unmitigated disaster."

As to the choice of newswire services, we are not free to print anything we like from any newspaper. The choice of the Jerusalem Post is a financial one as Ha'aretz's cost for reprint rights is prohibitive. We would be happy to include material from Ha'aretz, should anyone be interested in subsidizing our ability to do so.

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