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Jan. 25, 2013
CIJA head advocates broader tent
Shimon Fogel leads first West Coast townhall meeting.
PAT JOHNSON
A year and a half after several major Canadian Jewish organizations were folded into a single umbrella agency, that agency’s head says that the reorganization has eliminated the “built-in competition between organizations” and has “made us much, much richer by focusing in and looking at things in a holistic way.”
Shimon Fogel, chief executive officer of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), was speaking at King David High School Sunday night in what was billed as a CIJA Townhall Meeting. Fogel outlined the broad policy priorities of the national Jewish and Zionist advocacy umbrella and justified a trip he made last year to meet with leaders in Ramallah, the de facto capital of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.
In addition to the benefits from an organizational standpoint, he said, the integration of Jewish and Israel advocacy into one body has eliminated the “cynical trade-offs” in which some engaged in the past. An example, he said, would be a union that would work with the Jewish community on labor relations or social policy and, by virtue of that collaborative work, may have felt free, on the other hand, to criticize Israeli policy. As a specific example, Fogel pointed to former member of Parliament Svend Robinson, who was a strong advocate for Soviet Jewry, which may have allowed him to escape some criticism for positions he was taking on Israel at the same time. The new situation, in which Israel and Jewish advocacy are under one umbrella, prevents this sort of dichotomy, Fogel said.
“We demand some degree of consistency,” he said.
Fogel acknowledged that the reorganization, which saw CIJA subsume groups including Canadian Jewish Congress, the Canada-Israel Committee and National Jewish Campus Life, was “fraught with a lot of angst.” Some people, he said, were concerned that the domestic social policy agenda of the Jewish community would suffer because of an emphasis on foreign-policy concerns. He said that, after the first year, he is confident that the volume of activity on the domestic agenda has allayed those fears. CIJA, he said, has taken up issues like Jewish chaplaincy in the corrections services, free speech versus protection from hatred, immigration and aboriginal affairs.
“We had some losses,” he acknowledged, noting the decision by the United Church of Canada last summer to condemn Israel and boycott Israeli goods. But, he added, “It wasn’t all a failure.”
The organization learned the value of consultation, he said. The purpose of the creation of CIJA, he added, was to make Jewish communities across the country feel ownership over Jewish advocacy. After the United Church’s decision, Fogel said there was a decision to hold off on relations with the United Church at the national level until consultations took place throughout the country at local levels with Jewish organizations about how to proceed.
A similar tack, he said, will be employed as the organization determines how big a tent the Jewish and Zionist organization should pitch.
“We have a problem in the Jewish community,” Fogel said. “We are not monolithic…. There are a multitude of different perspectives.” He added, “The broader that we can make the tent, the richer we will be for it.”
He continued, “At the same time, there are some things that do cross over a line.” Challenging the legitimacy of Israel to exist as a Jewish state is a definition of that line, he said. “When you move over that line, I think it’s fair to say you can’t be in the tent.”
Some who must be brought into the tent, Fogel said, are younger Canadian Jews. He cited CIJA’s internship program on Parliament Hill as a notable success in which Jewish young people become involved in the Canadian political system, with 90 percent of internship alumni remaining in the public sector.
CIJA is also the umbrella for Jewish campus life in Canada and Fogel addressed the changing atmosphere at Canadian universities around issues of Israel.
“We’ve seen an evolution in the challenges that confront us on campus,” he said. Aggressive anti-Israel activities, such as Israel Apartheid Week, which Jewish students on campus said made them feel unsafe several years ago, have declined in significance, he said. Emphasis shifted from students to university administrations as they were called upon to referee the use of public space on campus. Fogel said the Jewish community has developed strong relations with university administrators who see the advocacy organization as constructive partners in balancing free expression with the right of students to feel free from hatred or discrimination.
“The real source of the challenge for us on campus today is academics,” he said, citing “postmodern, postcolonial, anti-Western” and “aggressively liberal” academics.
“I’m not sure we have a solution for that one yet,” he said.
During the lengthy question-and-answer period, Fogel was challenged about CIJA’s trip last year to visit Palestinian leaders in Ramallah. Fogel said he has met with Palestinian leaders many times over the years, with CIJA and its predecessors. He stressed that this particular meeting took place while they were already in Israel on CIJA business and that the visit to the Palestinian Authority was at the PA’s request. He emphasized the importance of CIJA engaging with the Palestinian leadership.
“It’s important for us to know what they’re saying,” he said.
If there was any question about the value of meeting with Palestinian leaders, Fogel said, it was eliminated by a single exchange that he said was worth all the effort of going to Ramallah. He met with the well-known Palestinian politician Hanan Ashrawi, whom he described as “the smartest Palestinian leader, bar none.” What he learned in that meeting, he said, will guide CIJA’s approach to the issues.
Fogel was discussing with Ashrawi ways to improve economic conditions and increase optimism among the Palestinian people, but Ashrawi’s approach, he said, was eye-opening: “I don’t want to make the occupation palatable,” Fogel quoted Ashrawi as saying.
What she meant, Fogel suggested, was she wants her people to suffer, with the intent that suffering will lead the Palestinian body politic to maximalist policies that Ashrawi and other Palestinian leaders seek.
Fogel acknowledged that his organization could have done a better job communicating the reasons for his visit to Ramallah, after the mission received criticism.
“I think that we were a little clumsy in the way we shared information with the community,” he said. But the trip adds to the credibility of his organization, he argued, saying that CIJA cannot be accused of not knowing the Palestinians or being aware of their situation, having gone there, seen the situation on the ground and met with their leaders.
The meeting Sunday night drew approximately 50 people.
Pat Johnson is a Vancouver writer and principal in PRsuasiveMedia.com.
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