The concept of intersectionality recognizes that multiple forms of oppression and discrimination can impact individuals at the same time. For example, African-Americans experience systemically and socially both economic disadvantage and racial discrimination. Black women face an addition layer of intersectional oppression and black LGBTQ people add homophobia to the mix.
Intersectionality can be problematic for the Jewish community. As we have discussed in this space previously and will again, despite historical realities, Jewish people are often perceived by others as an advantaged, rather than a disadvantaged, minority. It does not take long on the sort of online forums where the term intersectionality is commonly used before stereotypes of Jewish power show up. Similarly, Zionism is seen by some not as the realization of an indigenous rights movement for self-determination that it is, but rather as a form of colonialism.
In one of the most self-evident examples of intersectionality’s potential blind spots, the intersection of Palestinian rights and gay rights begets ludicrousness like Queers Against Israeli Apartheid, which makes common cause with extremists who throw homosexuals off roofs in order to condemn the perceived colonialism and myriad other “sins” of Zionism. Very frequently, in the discourse found in some far-left circles, antisemitism is dismissed because it does not fit the ideology of those who determine where the intersections are. Or, rather, it is made to not fit.
This is too bad, because selecting which humans are eligible for inclusion in a human rights movement based on immutable characteristic is, by definition, a human rights movement founded on false premises.
Of course, social theory and the real world are disparate points on a spectrum. A beautiful real-world example of something we might term intersectionality took place last week here in Vancouver.
Bernard Richard, British Columbia’s Representative for Children and Youth, spoke at the ceremony for the awarding of this year’s Janusz Korczak Medal for Children’s Rights Advocacy. He observed that it might be difficult for some people to see the parallels between a Jewish Pole who died in the Holocaust and a social worker and activist who is a Canadian First Nations woman. But the inspiring intersection of these two lives makes eminent sense.
Dr. Janusz Korczak, as regular readers know, was a hero of the Holocaust who chose to accompany the 200 children in the care of his orphanage to their deaths in Treblinka, despite the Nazis offering him a reprieve. But he is a hero not only for the way he died, but for the work of his life. Seen as the originator of the children’s rights movement, Korczak insisted on the recognition of children’s innate humanity – rather than merely their potential – and insisted on seeing children as individuals fully deserving of respect and self-determination.
Far away in time and place, Dr. Cindy Blackstock insisted on the rights of indigenous Canadian children. A human rights complaint she initiated, which took nine years to wend its way through the byzantine structures of federal institutions, resulted in a January 2016 decision that Canada has consistently discriminated against the 165,000 aboriginal children who live on reserves, and their families, by systemically underfunding services to those children and youth based solely on their identities.
Blackstock was awarded the annual Korczak medal for exemplifying the values of Korczak in advancing children’s rights.
In her acceptance speech, Blackstock spoke of walking in the footsteps of ancestors and others who came before. Korczak and Blackstock are both models for all who seek to advance the condition of children in the world. It is impossible to imagine what future greatness may be inspired by their examples. A Polish Jewish man, Korczak effectively invented a concept that is now entrenched in United Nations testaments to the rights of the child, affecting the lives of potentially every child on earth. An indigenous Canadian woman, Blackstock shepherded a human rights challenge that will improve the lives of every child living on reserves in Canada, and their families.
Someday, who knows when or where, these two examples will inspire some other individual to stand up where injustice and inequality intersect with some other group of people. Then that individual will themselves become a model for others.
Last week, the B.C. Supreme Court rejected a petition to stop the University of British Columbia’s Alma Mater Society from holding a referendum April 3-7. The question being posed in the referendum is the same one the AMS asked of students in 2015: “Do you support your student union (AMS) in boycotting products and divesting from companies that support Israeli war crimes, illegal occupation and the oppression of Palestinians?”
The question was brought to the AMS by the UBC branch of the Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR), which collected the required number of signatures to have a referendum that was initially scheduled to take place in March. It was postponed when UBC third-year commerce student Logan Presch filed a petition against it. He and his legal representation secured a court order that resulted in the referendum’s delay.
Presch’s petition stated the proposed question “is divisive, creates a toxic atmosphere for students supportive of the state of Israel, and is destructive of open and respectful debate on an important issue.” It also raised safety concerns, he said, noting the 2015 referendum “drove a wedge between religious groups on campus who had previously enjoyed interfaith outreach and collaboration. Students outwardly opposed to the [referendum] encountered a hostile reaction and there were reported acts of antisemitism on campus.”
In an affidavit, Rabbi Philip Bregman, executive director of Hillel BC, recalled that, at that time, anti-BDS lawn signs at UBC were pulled down. He also cited a climate of “a lack of personal security that many Jewish students experience on campus that is exacerbated by referenda such as the proposed question. There is an important line between robust political discourse and circumstances where I am compelled to deal with the personal security of students who study and live on campus who feel threatened by the consequences of this type of proposed question, which I believe foments the antisemitism and hostility I have described…. I believe that these students’ concerns for their personal safety are justified, as acts of violence have often followed hostility to Jews.”
While not Jewish, Presch is a member of the Jewish Students Association and the historically Jewish Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity. He declined requests to comment but, in an affidavit filed with his lawyer, Howard Mickelson, Presch recalled that the first referendum created a “toxic environment on campus.” He said the question being posed by the AMS was contrary to its mission statement, which is to “cultivate unity and goodwill among its members” and to “encourage free and open debate as well as respect for differing views.” Presch also noted that the AMS code of procedure requires referendum questions to be capable of a “yes” or “no” answer, but that this question is “so loaded with assumptions (which are themselves highly controversial), that it will not be clear what a yes or no vote by my student colleagues will actually mean.”
Mickelson said the court recognized that the question was loaded and that the intention of a “yes” vote could be unclear for the AMS to act on, but denied the petition because the court determined “the society’s bylaws do not require that a question be fair as long as it can be answered yes or no. The standard for a qualifying question is a low one.”
Mickelson said the court recognized the “concerns for student safety” and acknowledged “the responsibility of the AMS and UBC to ensure student safety and respectful debate by all means necessary.”
“Although this case involves the political hot potato issue of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the role of BDS on campus, we argued that this was about the interpretation of this society’s bylaws,” said Mickelson, who represented Presch’s petition pro bono. “One of the arguments made by proponents of the question was that, in the context of a referendum, one party that is ‘funded’ or has ‘connections’ may be able to shut down the question against those that may not have the same level of funding…. I thought it was important for the court to understand that I was doing this pro bono.”
Though “disappointed” about the ruling, Bregman said “we really won the battles because the judge didn’t disagree with any of our arguments. We lost because the judge felt he was bound by a very poorly written bylaw by the AMS. So, we go forward fighting this nefarious referendum aimed at marginalizing and demonizing not only Israel but, by extension, those who support Israel.”
Bregman recalled that, in the spring 2015 referendum, UBC had the largest “no” vote ever seen in Canada at that time. “We’re ready to fight the referendum,” he said, adding, “But really, what we’re all about is dialogue and this is something that the SPHR has never taken us up on. Whereas we have dialogue with all sorts of groups on campus, the SPHR has rebuffed all of our efforts.”
The referendum question was to be directed at students starting Monday, as the Jewish Independent was preparing to go to press.
Lauren Kramer, an award-winning writer and editor, lives in Richmond. To read her work online, visit laurenkramer.net. This article was originally published by CJN.
Left to right are Kaila Kask (Mary Phagan), Emily Smith, Rachel Garnet and Alina Quarin with Riley Sandbeck (Leo Frank). (photo by Allyson Fournier)
On Aug. 17, 1915, 31-year-old Leo Frank was kidnapped from the Georgia State Penitentiary in Milledgeville by a Ku Klux Klan lynch mob and hanged by his neck until he was dead. His alleged crime: the rape and murder of 13-year-old factory worker Mary Phagan. His real crime: being Jewish, successful and a northerner in an impoverished Deep South still reeling from the humiliation of the Civil War and looking for retribution against its perceived oppressors.
The case has been the subject of novels, plays, movies and even a mini-series. But who would have thought that you could make a musical out of such a tragedy. Author Alfred Uhry (Driving Miss Daisy) and Broadway producer Hal Prince (Cabaret) did. Thus Parade was born, with music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown. It opened on Broadway in 1998, won two Tonys and went on to be produced across America to much acclaim.
Now, Fighting Chance Productions, a local amateur theatre company, is bringing this compelling story to Vancouver audiences for its Western Canadian première at the Rothstein Theatre April 14-29. Director Ryan Mooney and lead actor Advah Soudack (Lucille) spoke with the Jewish Independent about the upcoming production. But first, more background, because it is an incredible story.
Frank was a slight man – five feet, six inches tall, 120 pounds – with a nervous temperament. Born in Texas and raised in Brooklyn, he graduated from Cornell University with a degree in mechanical engineering and was enticed to move to Atlanta in 1908 to run the factory owned by his uncle. There, he met and married Lucille, a 21-year-old woman from a prominent Jewish family. The newlyweds lived a life of privilege and wealth in a posh Atlanta neighbourhood, Frank became the president of the local B’nai B’rith chapter. However, having been brought up in the vibrant Yiddish milieu of New York, he always felt like an outsider amid the assimilated Southern Jewish community.
The journey to his tragic demise started the morning of Saturday, April 26, 1913, when little Mary put on her best clothes to attend the Confederate Memorial Day Parade in downtown Atlanta. On the way, she stopped at the National Pencil Factory, where Frank was the superintendent, to pick up her weekly pay packet from his office. That was the last time she was seen alive. Her body, half-naked and bloodied, was found in the basement of the factory later that day. Shortly after, Frank was arrested by the police and charged with the crime along with the African-American janitor, Jim Conley.
The trial was a media circus fueled by a zealous district attorney, Hugh Dorsey, who was looking for a conviction in a high-profile case to popularize his bid for the governorship of Georgia, and Tom Watson, a right-wing newspaper publisher who wrote virulent, racist editorials against Frank, casting him as a diabolical criminal and calling for a revival of the Klan “to do justice.” Frank was convicted by an all-white jury on the testimony of Conley – who had turned state’s evidence in exchange for immunity – and sentenced to death in a trial that can only be characterized as a miscarriage of justice replete with a botched police investigation, the withholding of crucial evidence, witness tampering and perjured testimony. This was America’s Dreyfus trial and Frank was the scapegoat.
The conviction appalled right-thinking people and mobilized Jewish communities across America into action. William Randolph Hearst and New York Times publisher Adolph Ochs campaigned on Frank’s behalf. The conviction and sentence were appealed. Georgia governor John Slaton was lobbied to review the case. For two years, Frank sat in jail not knowing his fate until, one day, he heard that Slaton had commuted his death sentence to life in prison. In response, frenzied mobs rioted in the streets and stormed the governor’s mansion. A state of martial law was declared and the National Guard called out to protect the city. Against this backdrop, Frank was transferred into protective custody at the state penitentiary but that did not stop the lynch mob, some of whom had been jurors at the trial.
It wasn’t until 1986 that Frank was (posthumously) pardoned by the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles.
Jewish Independent: What attracted you to this play?
Ryan Mooney: Parade has been a favourite musical of mine for as long as I can remember. I was drawn to it because it is such a fascinating story, it speaks so much to its time and continues to speak to us. When people see it, they will want to know more. It has beautiful soaring music, is very emotional, but also it is real, so relatable. It will take you on a journey that will touch you in many ways.
Advah Soudack: The songs, the music. When I was going through the script and getting used to the music, I could not get through some of the songs without choking up, it was so emotional, beautiful and real.
JI: How would you classify it as a theatrical piece?
J.P. McLean (Britt Craig) and Advah Soudack (Lucille Frank) are part of the 25-person cast of Parade, which will have its Western Canadian première at the Rothstein Theatre April 14-29. (photo by Allyson Fournier)
RM: It is, in essence, a love story about a young man and a woman who learn through tragic circumstances to have a deeper love for each other and to appreciate each other’s kind of love.
AS: Leo sees love as a service, being a provider, while Lucille looks for love in spending quality time together and physical intimacy. Over time, their two loves unite.
JI: This isn’t your typical musical. It has a very dark side. It covers the kind of subject matter usually covered in narrative plays. Do you think people want to see this kind of musical theatre?
RM: Our company, as our name states, takes chances and we are taking a chance on this, but I think the risk is worthwhile and that audiences will appreciate the story. It seems to do very well wherever it plays – Broadway, London. We thought the Rothstein Theatre would be the perfect venue and we hope that the Jewish community will support us.
JI: Is this strictly a Jewish story?
RM: It is not necessarily just a Jewish story, it could be about anybody, anywhere. It is a fascinating look at a historic event through a musical lens. I don’t think Prince was trying to make a political statement when he produced the show but rather to educate people about the event. At the time of its first production, 1998, shows like Ragtime and Showboat were on Broadway alongside Parade. It seemed to be a time for examining how mainstream America treated those people it considered lesser citizens.
JI: What was it like to cast?
RM: The production requires a large cast: 25. I needed people who could sing and act. Lots of people auditioned and we ended up with a great cast, with the members spanning the ages of 18 to 60. What makes this show very relevant is that we have actors playing roles for their real ages, not trying to be someone younger or older, and that makes the production more realistic. I wanted at least one of the leads to be Jewish and Avdah was perfect for the role of Lucille.
AS: When I heard about this show, I jumped at the chance to apply. I had been out of theatre for about 10 years and I really wanted to get back into it. I was lucky enough to get a callback after my first audition and felt very proud of my performance the second time around. I was thrilled when I got the role.
JI: What is it like to deal with a true event as opposed to a fictional account?
RM: Because it is a real life story, there is so much more research you can do to make sure you get it right. I read Steve Oney’s And the Dead Shall Rise: The Murder of Mary Phagan and the Lynching of Leo Frank and gave it to members of the cast to read to get a feel for the characters and some background information. There is some material that did not make it into the musical but the play does essentially honour the accuracy of the event.
AS: I am reading the book right now and it is so fascinating to get the story behind the character and be able to use that as an actor.
JI: How are Leo and Lucille portrayed in the script?
RM: He is not portrayed that sympathetically. At the trial, he is really cold and does not look repentant but, ultimately, we see him break. If he were just shown as a martyr and everyone else a villain, that would not be interesting for the audience. Instead, the audience sees his flawed human character and that is why it is a great story to tell – [he’s] a person with faults that anyone can relate to.
AS: She is a Southern woman and a product of the American melting pot, more assimilated than Jewish, and that is how she survives. America wants you to become American first and everything else second. People like her thought like that and assimilated. Then, she is thrust into this case, where horrific things are being said against her husband on a daily basis in the newspapers and she has to deal with that. Yet, she stands by him and is one of his biggest supporters. She even went to the governor’s mansion to personally lobby him to intervene in the case. For a young Southern Jewish woman, that was a big step. So, you see her grow into this strong, independent woman.
She comes across very strong in the play, perhaps stronger than she really was in real life, but she was so committed to Leo’s cause and to him. She came every day to jail to visit him and bring him food. The circumstances of the tragedy allowed her the opportunity to become a heroine.
JI: What will the staging be like?
RM: The set is a long wall with platforms set at different levels. The lights will move through the different levels from scene to scene to create more of a cinematic flow, more like a movie than live theatre. We did not want the story’s flow to be interrupted by the audience clapping after every song. Of course, we do hope the audience will give a standing ovation at the end of the show.
JI: What do you expect audiences to take away from the musical?
RM: I want them to walk out with questions and want to look up more information about the case, but I also want them to leave with the understanding that all good art finds the grey in life and that everything is not black and white. One of the biggest issues in America today is the mentality that you are either with us or you are against us. The world is going in that direction and it is a hard place to be. You have to be able to see issues from all angles if you want to see any positive growth. There are some ambiguities in the show but there are also strong life lessons about the dangers of prejudice and ignorance.
A teenager was arrested last week in relation to the scores of bomb threats against Jewish institutions throughout North America and elsewhere. There was widespread relief over the arrest, on the assumption that most, if not all, of the threats had emanated from this one individual.
There was also astonishment and heartbreak, though, when the alleged perpetrator was identified as a Jew with dual American and Israeli citizenship. Very little is known beyond the basic facts of the arrest and that the young man, who lives in Ashdod, in southern Israel, has a brain tumour that affects his cognitive abilities.
The bomb and other threats, the graffiti, hate materials and cemetery desecrations experienced in various parts of the world recently have combined to create a sense of unease unprecedented in the memory of most North American Jews. If a young Jewish man was indeed the cause of much of this anxiety for so many, how are we supposed to respond to this news? Would we prefer it were a Ku Klux Klanner who did these deeds? Does it make a difference?
Certainly it makes a difference.
Rational or not, there is more of a sense of shame, betrayal and even fear. And, as a commentator wrote in the Forward, there is the question, “Will people take seriously future antisemitic threats, or will our concerns be dismissed if it’s another Jew who is responsible for them?” This idea – that future threats to our community could be dismissed because these repeated incidents emanated from a Jew – is threatening in itself.
The arrest brought confusion for many. How to respond? If these deeds were the doings of a Jew, is it antisemitism, or something else? The Anti-Defamation League was unequivocal.
“These were acts of antisemitism,” said Jonathan A. Greenblatt, chief executive officer of the ADL. “These threats targeted Jewish institutions, were calculated to sow fear and anxiety, and put the entire Jewish community on high alert.”
While it remains to be seen what personal, ideological or other motivations may have inspired these (and other) threats, their impacts are clear. The arrest does not erase the experiences of parents rushing their children out of swimming pools or seniors hurrying to evacuate buildings.
Beyond this, though, the sad circumstance is part of a larger narrative. Not only have current events given people with antisemitic ideas apparent permission to express these, we see the president of the United States hesitating and equivocating in condemning antisemitism and, worse, openly engaging in discriminatory statements and actions against Muslims and Mexicans.
Neither is the social disease of discrimination absent in Canada, as demonstrated by anti-Muslim comments and threats over – ironically – a parliamentary motion against Islamophobia, as well as the anti-Jewish remarks of some Muslim clerics in Ontario and Quebec.
But, Canadians can be proud of at least one thing. As British Columbia’s NDP leader John Horgan said in an interview with the Independent (see jewishindependent.ca/b-c-ndp-leader-talks-with-ji), these incidents have encouraged our elected leaders and ordinary citizens to stand together to reiterate our commitment to diversity and tolerance.
The best antidote to the bad things we see in the world is all of us standing up to do more of these good things.
A Jewish teenager with dual Israeli and American citizenship living in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon was arrested March 23 in connection to the more than 100 bomb threats against Jewish community centres and other Jewish institutions across North America since the beginning of 2017.
The suspect, 19, was arrested by Israel’s Lahav 433 police unit in the wake of a months-long investigation by Israeli authorities, who worked alongside the FBI and other international law enforcement agencies. Authorities did not release the suspect’s name. Additionally, police detained the suspect’s father on suspicion that he knew of his son’s activities.
Authorities believe the suspect was also behind a bomb threat against two Delta Airlines flights between New York and Tel Aviv in January 2015, the Times of Israel reported.
The JCC Association of North America said on March 23 that it is “gratified by the progress in this investigation” and praised law enforcement agencies’ “commitment and leadership.” But the umbrella organization for the community centres added that it is “troubled to learn that the individual suspected of making these threats … [is] Jewish.”
During a raid on the suspect’s home, authorities found an advanced computer lab with sophisticated equipment, including voice-altering technology, encryption methods and a large antenna that he likely used to phone and email bomb threats to Jewish institutions in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Israel.
It is believed the suspect has lived in Israel for several years, and that the Israel Defence Forces refused to draft him “on personal grounds after finding him unfit for service,” Haaretz reported.
Israel Police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said this arrest was part of a coordinated international operation. “This specific investigation was complex in terms of the suspect and its nature, and there was a significant breakthrough in the investigation, which led us to make the arrest of the suspect, who lives in southern Israel,” he told the Jerusalem Post.
Rosenfeld added that “he was the main suspect behind the numerous amount of threats which were made to different Jewish communities and organizations around the world.” Investigators, he said, will continue to “see if and how he was connected to the different Jewish communities in the U.S. That directs the investigation to the American connection. We are looking to see if there was an incident which triggered him to carry out threatening those communities.”
Israeli Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan congratulated police on the arrest and expressed his hope that it would bring an end to the threats against Jewish institutions.
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, meanwhile, said the Department of Justice “is committed to protecting the civil rights of all Americans, and we will not tolerate the targeting of any community in this country on the basis of their religious beliefs. I commend the FBI and Israeli National Police for their outstanding work on this case.”
Earlier this month, U.S. authorities arrested Juan Thompson, a 31-year-old former news reporter from St. Louis, in connection with eight bomb threats against Jewish institutions. At the time, law enforcement officials said Thompson was not believed to be the main suspect behind the threats, an assertion that is purportedly confirmed by the latest arrest.
Following the March 23 arrest in Israel, Anti-Defamation League chief executive officer Jonathan Greenblatt said that, even though “it appears that the main culprit behind the majority of these attacks has allegedly been identified, antisemitism in the U.S. remains a very serious concern.”
He said, “No arrests have been made in three cemetery desecrations [that occurred in early 2017] or a series of other antsemitic incidents involving swastika graffiti and hate fliers. JCCs and other institutions should not relax security measures or become less vigilant.”
– for more international Jewish news and opinion, visit JNS.org
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Canadian reactions
“We are relieved and grateful that authorities have located the individual believed to be responsible for these false threats. At the same time, we are shocked and outraged to learn that the alleged perpetrator of these crimes, which terrorized our community, is a Jewish dual American-Israeli citizen. He appears to have acted alone, and we unequivocally condemn his behaviour.
“While Israeli authorities deserve credit for arresting this individual, he was apprehended following a lengthy and complex global investigation that included Canadian and other global law enforcement partners. We remain deeply appreciative of the work of Canadian government, police and security agencies in supporting our community.
“While these threats proved to be false, the Jewish community remains a target of hate. We encourage communal institutions to remain vigilant and follow their existing security protocols.”
– David J. Cape, Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs
“If the allegations are true, it would prove to be shameful and disheartening.”
– Avi Benlolo, Canadian Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre
Sheikh Muhammad bin Musa Al Nasr is captured in a YouTube video dated Dec. 23, 2016, addressing a prayer meeting at Dar Al-Arqam in Montreal East. (screenshot from cjnews.com)
More videos of anti-Jewish sermons being delivered in mosques in Canada have come to light, the latest from the Dar Al-Arqam mosque in Montreal and the Al-Hikmah mosque in Toronto.
Sheikh Muhammad bin Musa Al Nasr is captured in a 20-minute YouTube video dated Dec. 23, 2016, addressing a prayer meeting at Dar Al-Arqam in Montreal East.
According to a translation of the Arabic by the Toronto-based online publication CIJNews, he says Jews are “the most evil of mankind” and that Allah has ordained that they be killed by Muslims.
“At the end of time when the Muslims will triumph over the most evil of mankind [and] the human demons, the stone and the tree will say: O Muslim, O servant of Allah, O Muslim, O servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him; but the tree Gharqad would not say, for it is the tree of the Jews,” the translation says.
Musa Al Nasr is identified as a visiting Jordanian cleric.
Similar messages have been delivered by Sheikh Abdulqani Mursal, an imam at Al-Hikmah in North York, reports CIJNews editor Jonathan Halevi, who is described as a reserve lieutenant-colonel in the Israel Defence Forces and a senior researcher of radical Islam at the Jerusalem Centre for Public Affairs.
Apparently drawing from Islamic scripture, Mursal taught that “the fate of the Jews is … to be killed by Muslims,” Halevi writes.
He read a hadith, or saying of Muhammad, that: “You will fight against the Jews and you will kill them until even a stone would say: Come here, Muslim, there is a Jew [hiding himself behind me], kill him.”
Whatever the source of these sentiments, Jewish groups decry them as hateful, incitement, possibly hate crimes.
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) said the published excerpt of Musa Al Nasr’s talk “mirrors, word for word, a similar genocidal declaration” in the charter of Hamas, which is designated as a terrorist organization by Canada.
“We are deeply troubled and angered that yet another imam has dehumanized Jews and glorified violence against them,” stated CIJA Quebec co-chair Rabbi Reuben Poupko.
Even more disturbing, he said, is that the mosque would disseminate Musa Al Nasr’s “incitement to violence and hatred” on the internet.
CIJA has submitted the latest material to police to determine if it violates Canada’s Criminal Code.
“We condemn these appalling sermons which … are a dangerous rejection of Canada’s core values of tolerance, pluralism and non-violence,” he said. “In light of similar incidents recently exposed in Montreal and Toronto, there is a real concern that the airing of hateful rhetoric – including antisemitism – has become routine at some mosques.”
B’nai Brith Canada has filed a formal complaint with police because it believes that this is hate speech. Musa Al Nasr is a “prominent member of the hardline Salafist movement in Jordan, where he lectures at the al-Ahliyya University in Amman,” it asserts.
According to B’nai Brith’s research, he delivered lectures more than a dozen times at Al-Arqam, which were recorded and uploaded on YouTube.
B’nai Brith chief executive officer Michael Mostyn expressed frustration that police have yet to lay charges in connection with a complaint it made in February when a video was exposed of another imam at another Montreal mosque pleading for the death of Jews.
The 2014 sermon by Sayed AlGhitawi, a guest imam at the Al-Andalous Islamic Centre, called on Allah “to destroy the accursed Jews” and “kill them one by one.”
“When will Canada finally recognize that we are not immune to racism and antisemitism, and that it is this type of rhetoric that directly leads to radicalization all over the world?” Mostyn asked. “What will it take before charges are laid for criminal incitement in Canada?”
At a sentencing on March 13, Arthur Topham, the man convicted of deliberately promoting hatred against Jewish people on his now-defunct website radicalpress.com, was given a ban on public online activity and a six-month curfew.
B.C. Supreme Court Judge Bruce Butler said Topham, 70, did “not call for violence; his views were political satire,” and said it was not Topham’s “intent to indirectly incite violence.”
On the racist, antisemitic website he founded and on which he posted vitriol until removing the site just prior to the sentencing, Topham wrote that Jews should be forcibly sterilized. He described Canada as being “controlled by the Zionist lobby” and Jewish places of worship as “synagogues of Satan.” He could have faced a sentence of up to two years in prison.
Unrepentant, Topham told the Quesnel courthouse he felt it was his “duty to alert the … public to the imminent threat …. [of] the Jewish lobby.”
In Feb. 27 posts on anti-racistcanada.blogspot.ca, Topham informed his followers that his Facebook presence and website would be removed from the web within two weeks and said he would be unable to publish “anything on ANY website that has my name attached to it. To do so would mean immediate jail for breaking whatever probationary restrictions that will be imposed on me.” He said his “immediate concerns are personal family issues and health challenges” and added he was “not planning on doing any interviews in the immediate future.” On March 8, he exhorted his followers to download any and all items from radicalpress.com for free.
B’nai Brith Canada, which had alerted the RCMP to Topham’s activities back in 2007, said it was “strongly disappointed” with the sentencing. In a statement, chief executive officer Michael Mostyn described the sentence as “a mere slap on the wrist which will do little to protect Canadian Jews or preserve the multicultural mosaic of our society.”
Mostyn continued, “Mr. Topham is a committed and unrepentant Jew-hater, who persisted in publishing lurid antisemitic content on his website throughout this legal process. Canada’s laissez-fair approach to hate crimes continues to fail minority groups and puts them at increased risk of attacks against their lives or property.”
Mostyn said the timing of the lax sentence was especially disturbing, “as Canada’s Jewish community reels from a series of bomb threats against our community centres, inspired by the same hateful ideology that drives Mr. Topham.”
Harry Abrams, who was the representative for the B’nai Brith Canada’s League for Human Rights in 2007, when he was first to raise the alarm about Topham’s antisemitic writing, described the sentencing as “a rope around [Topham’s] balls.”
“Somewhere in all this, the judge took pity on an old man with a sick wife and bought this thing that Topham and his friends were trying hard to sell: that all this was a parody, a satire,” Abrams said. “Sure, I’m disappointed with the sentence, but we have to look at the sum total of this thing. Topham has been exposed as a sick, crazy old man, his stuff is down from the internet and he’s restricted from posting online. This is what we’ve got to work with, and he’s not just given free rein to go back to beating on us Jews.”
Ryan Bellerose, advocacy coordinator for B’nai Brith Canada’s League of Human Rights for Western Canada, described the sentence as “a little ridiculous.”
“He was convicted of hate speech and he’s got a curfew? This almost sends a message that you can pick on Jews and it’s totally OK, you won’t have an existential payment for it,” he said. “We finally managed to get someone charged and convicted on a hate crime in Canada and the message they send with the sentencing is that it’s not taken very seriously.
“Everyone is talking about antisemitism right now, and the bomb threats to Jewish communities in Canada, which, of course, needs to be dealt with. But no one is even talking about this [Topham’s sentencing]. That’s an especially bad message to send in today’s climate,” said Bellerose.
Lauren Kramer, an award-winning writer and editor, lives in Richmond. To read her work online, visit laurenkramer.net. This article was originally published by CJN.
איומים על הג’י.סי.סי של ונקובר: ממשלת המחוז תעניק מאה אלף דולר להגברת הביטחון. (צילום: Cynthia Ramsay)
הג’י.סי.סי של ונקובר מצטרף לרשימה ארוכה של למעלה מ-140 מרכזים ומוסדות יהודיים בצפון אמריקה, הנתונים לגל אנטישמיות חדש בחודשים האחרונים, ומקבלים איומים שונים בהם הטמנת מטעני חבלה. בקנדה הושמעו איומים דומים בשבועות האחרונים שעבר כלפי מספר מוסדות היהודים בהם בטורונטו ובלונדון.
הג’י.סי.סי פונה ביום שלישי שעבר ב-9 בערב עת התקיימה בו הופעה של הזמרת הישראלית, מאיה אברהם ולהקתה (בסגרת פסטיבל ‘חופצה’), לאור איומים של הטמנת מטען חבלה. האולם בו התקיימה ההופעה היה ברובו מלא אך חוקרי המשטרה לא מצאו שום מטען חבלה. לאחר זמן קצר המשטרה הכריזה שאין סכנה נשקפת לציבור והבניין חזר לפעילות רגילה. ביום ראשון ב-11 בבוקר הג’י.סי.סי פונה שוב בגלל איומים על הטמנת מטען חבלה. הפעם הבניין לא היה עמוס במיוחד והפינוי היה מהיר. גם הפעם למרבה המזל היה מדובר באיומי שוא.
לאור האירועים הוחלט בג’י.סי.סי להגביר את האבטחה במרכז והארגון ביחד עם הפדרציה של מטרו ונקובר, משתפים פעולה עם משטרת ונקובר. בהקשר זה אומרים בפדרציה כי הוקצו למעלה מארבע מאות אלף דולר לאבטחת 29 מוסדות של הקהילה היהודית באזור ונקובר. גם ממשלת מחוז בריטיש קולומביה החליטה לעזור והעניקה מאה אלף דולר לפדרציה, לצורך הגברת אמצעי הביטחון בארגונים היהודים באזור.
סקס אנד זה סקוז’י
זוג שקיים סקס סוער בג’קוזי בעיר קולונה וכיכב בסרט הוידאו של מצלמת אבטחה, נתפס על ידי המשטרה המקומית. בית המשפט הטיל עונשים על השניים כולל מאסר על תנאי לשנה, באם יחזרו על אותו מעשה.
נוח מקדונלד בן ה-18 מקולונה ובת זוגתו המבוגרת שרה אן קלמנטי בת ה-45 מהעיר סרי, מצאו ג’קוזי פנוי בגינה של בית רצועת החוף של אגם אוקנגן. השניים בדקו דרך החלונות שאין אף אחד בבית ואז התפשטו, עישנו סמים ושתו אלכוהול, ולאחר מכן ביצעו סקס בתוך המים החמים. בסיום האקט ולאחר שנחו קצת, מקדונלד וקלמנטי חשבו אף לפרוץ לבית אך ברגע האחרון חזרו בהם. הם עזבו את המקום לאחר הערב המהנה אך לא תיארו לעצמם שמישהו עקב אחריהם. בעצם מדובר במצלמת האבטחה המותקנת בגינת הבית, שצילמה את כל הערב הסוער של הזוג בג’קוזי. בעל הבית, דבון סמיט, שהגיע למחרת בבוקר ראה שהכיסוי של הג’קוזי הוסר. אז הוא החליט לצפות בסרט הוידאו של המצלמה, ונדהם לראות מה מקדונלד וקלמנטי עשו בג’קוזי שלו. סמיט הזעיק מייד את המשטרה שלקחה את סרט הווידאו, ובמהירות הצליחה לעצור את מקדונלד וקלמנטי. השניים הובאו בפני שופט של בית המשפט בקולונה. הוא הטיל על מקדונלד קנס בגובה מאה דולר פיצויים לבעל הג’קוזי, וכן מאסר על תנאי למשך שנה באם יחזור על אותה עבירה. על קלמנטי שהביאה את הסמים לג’קוזי השופט הטיל שישה ימי מאסר, קנס בגובה חמש מאות דולר לטובת סמיט, עשרים שעות של עבודות שירות וכן מאסר על תנאי למשך שנה באם היא תחזור על אותה עבירה. במשטרה מבקשים לציין שאין איסור על זוג לבצע סקס בג’קוזי, אך במקרה של מקדונלד וקלמנטי, הם השיגו גבול ונכנסו לג’קוזי פרטי.
יצרנית הג’קוזי שראתה את הסרטון החם באמצעי המדיה החברתית החליטה להעניק לסמיט מנעול לנעילת הכיסוי לג’קוזי, ללא תשלום.
דיירים שגרים מסביב לאגם אוקנגן מציינים כי לאחרונה קרו מספר מקרים בהם צעירים התגנבו לגינות שלהם ונכנסו לג’קוזי. המשטרה הגבירה לכן את השמירה סביב הבתים שליד האגם.
The appeal of Arthur Topham, convicted of promoting hatred against Jewish people in November 2015, was rejected last month by the B.C. Supreme Court. On his website, radicalpress.com, Topham wrote that Jews should be forcibly sterilized. He described Canada as being “controlled by the Zionist lobby” and said Jewish synagogues are “synagogues of Satan.”
Harry Abrams, who was the representative for B’nai Brith Canada’s League for Human Rights in 2007, when he was first to raise the alarm about Topham’s antisemitic writing, said he’d like to see Topham receive the maximum sentence of two years.
“He was convicted in 2015 by a jury of his peers and he’s dragged it out, kept everything up on his website since then and added to it over all this time,” said Abrams, who now serves as chair of community relations for the Jewish Federation of Victoria and Vancouver Island. “It’s all been hateful, deliberate and with the intention of causing maximum pain and fear to Jews. He’s a sick guy and there has to be some kind of backstop on this.”
The Feb. 20 ruling is an important one, said Adam Fishman, who worked closely with Amanda Hohmann, national director of B’nai Brith’s League for Human Rights on this case.
“The argument by Topham’s lawyer, Barclay W. Johnson, that the law that criminalizes hate speech in Canada is unconstitutional, had no merit in my opinion,” Fishman said. “Basically, they were arguing that the presence of the internet and the fact that information is more widely available because of it, changes whether that material is constitutional or not. The judge firmly rejected that argument. He wrote in his decision that it actually makes the offence even more serious, by virtue of the fact that it’s much easier to disseminate hate today.
“This also means that when faced with incidents of hate, especially online, police and prosecutors should press charges because there’s no evidence those charges won’t succeed – so there’s no excuse for not enforcing them.”
Abrams speculated that Topham might try to appeal this conviction again in the B.C. Court of Appeal. Johnson said he had not received any instructions from his client on this matter.
Johnson had shared office space with Topham’s former lawyer, Doug Christie, who died in March 2013. “On his deathbed, I told [Christie] I’d look after the rest of his files, and this was one of them,” Johnson explained. “My interest was piqued by going over the issues related to freedom of expression. Ninety-nine percent of the material Arthur Topham posted from other sources is available on the internet, so the question is, what do you do about all this wickedness? I don’t think you use the Criminal Code. We argued that the protections afforded in Canada are of little assistance if you weigh them against what’s available worldwide.”
Johnson said Topham does not have a criminal record and was hopeful he would not serve time in jail. But Abrams begged to differ. “I really think he should spend a couple of years in jail. He’s sadistic and racist, and he’s worked really hard for it.”
Johnson added Topham’s sentencing is scheduled for this Friday, March 10.
Lauren Kramer, an award-winning writer and editor, lives in Richmond. To read her work online, visit laurenkramer.net. This article was originally published by CJN.
ויויאן ברקוביצ’י (צילום: Foreign Affairs/Government of Canada via National Post)
שגרירת קנדה בישראל לשעבר ויויאן ברקוביצ’י: “השימוש בביקורת על ישראל כדי לבקר את היהודים הוא פשוט אובסביבי”
“קל לבקר את ישראל וקל לפעול נגדה. בכל המוסדות באו”ם רואים את הפעילות הזאת. השימוש בביקורת על ישראל כדי לבקר את היהודים הוא פשוט אובססיבי”. את הדברים אמרה שגרירת קנדה לישראל לשעבר, ויויאן ברקוביצ’י, במסגרת ראיון שערך עימה אתר אנרג’י. ברקוביצ’י מונתה לתפקיד על ידי ראש הממשלה הקודם של קנדה, סטיבן הרפר, והיא נאלצה לפרוש מתפקידה לאחר כשנתיים וחצי בלבד (ביולי אשתקד), לאור החלטת ראש הממשלה הנוכחי של קנדה, ג’סטין טרודו, להחליפה בדבורה ליינוס, שהייתה השגרירה באפגניסטן וקודם לכן עבדה בשגרירות קנדה בוושינגטון. ברקוביצ’י שהיא עורכת דין יהודיה מטורונטו היתה חסרה ניסיון דיפלומטי. היא אף גרה תקופתה מסויימת בישראל ופעלה בעבר בין היתר בתחום התקשורת הקנדית. ברקוביצ’י נחשבה מטבע הדברים לפרו-ישראלית בצורה מובהקת, יצאה נחרצות נגד החאמס, הרשות הפלסטינית והמשטר האיראני ויתכן ובממשל של טרודו לא אהבו זאת. בקהילה היהודית בקנדה לא קיבלו את החלפתה בהפתעה של ממש.
בנוגע לעליית הימין הקיצוני והתגברות הלאומיות במדיניות המערב אמרה ברקוביצ’י: “תמיד הייתה אנטישמיות בארה”ב ובקנדה, בדיוק כמו התנועות החברתיות שפעלו בשנות השישים לא העלימו את הגזענות. גם אני עת הייתי השגרירה של קנדה בישראל, הואשמתי בחוסר נאמנות לארצי בשל היותי יהודייה”.
ברקוביצ’י לא מקבלת את הטענות שהממשלה בקנדה מתעלמת מהאנטישמיות. לדבריה: “זה פשוט לא בסדר העדיפות שלהם מפני שזה לא משרת את האינטרסים הפולטיים שלהם”.
באשר לשאלה האם לא נכון לפעול משפטית נגד ההסתה נגד היהודים ברשתות החברתיות, אמרה השגרירה לשעבר: “גם הנוצרים טוענים כך. אנו לוחמים בזירה התקשורתית, והגישה התבוסתנית שזה לא צודק לא תעזור. יש להילחם בצורה מאורגנת תוך שימוש בצעירים מוכשרים למלחמה הזו. אני ממליצה שתפסיקו ליילל ותתחילו להילחם. אנו חייבים להגיב, לפעול עכשיו”.
הג’י.פי.אס אשם: כך טען נהג שרכבו נמצא במנהרה של הרכבת הקלה בטורונטו
נהג שרכבו נמצא תקוע על פסי הרכבת הקלה בטורונטו מאשים את מכשיר הג’י.פי.אס, שלדבריו כיוון אותו למקום. הרכב מסוג מיצ’ובישי כסוף שנתקע גרם לשיבושי תנועה חמורים של מערך הרכבת הקלה בעיר, בשעות הבוקר העמוסות שנמשכו כשש שעות תמימות.
אחד הנהגים של הרכבת הקלה שהסיע את הרכבת בסביבות חמש בבוקר נדהם לראות רכב תקוע על המסילה באחת המנהרות בדאון טאון. הוא הצליח לעצור את הרכבת מבלי לפגוע ברכב והזעיק את אנשי התחזוקה. מנוף מיוחד הובא למקום (כיוון שגרר של רכבים גם כן היה נתקע על המסילה) כדי להזיז את הרכב, ולאפשר לחדש את תנועת הרכבות הקלות בעיר.
מסתבר שבעל הרכב שנתקע בסביבות חצות ברח תחילה ממקום האירוע. למחרת בבוקר הוא הגיע למנהרה וכשראה את מפעיל הרכבת הקלה עומד במקום לידה, הוא התחיל לברוח שוב אך נתפס על ידו. לטענתו הוא נהג הישר לפסים שבמנהרת הרכבת הקלה, כיוון שכאמור הג’י.פי.אס ברכבו כיוון אותו לשם. דובר מערך התחבורה הציבורית של טורונטו, ברד רוס, לא מקבל את גירסת הנהג, כיוון שהרכב נסע על פסים קרוב לשמונה מאות מטר אל כיוון תחנת יוניון (שהיא התחנה המרכזית של התחבורה הציבורית בטורונטו), וזה דבר נדיר. לדברי רוס קרו בעבר מקרים בהם בעלי רכבים נתקעו על מסילות התחבורה הציבורית אך אף פעם הרכבים לא נמצאו עמוק בתוך המנהרות. הנהג קיבל דוח ובשלב זה לא ברור אם יפתחו נגדו הליכים פליליים.
