A screenshot of the CIJA video What Would We Do?
The continuing terrorist attacks in Israel against Jewish Israelis are becoming more frequent and more deadly. Palestinian political leaders, religious officials and media have applauded the attackers as “martyrs,” spread anti-Jewish conspiracy theories and called for more attacks against Jews. In response, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) has launched a campaign to mobilize community members to take action.
The objective of the campaign is to raise awareness among Canadians about the ongoing threat of Palestinian terrorism and the incitement that fuels it. CIJA is asking the community to take a number of actions, including sharing content in social media, signing a petition that will be presented to Canada’s leaders when Parliament returns and writing Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion asking him to speak out against Palestinian terrorism.
“Like many around the world, we are extremely concerned about the rising tide of violence against Jews in Israel, perpetrated by terrorists who are incited to violence by the Palestinian leadership,” said Shimon Koffler Fogel, CIJA chief executive officer. “We want to provide our community with a meaningful way to stand up for our extended Jewish family in Israel who are living under constant threat.
“The Take Action campaign is designed to raise awareness about the violence and what drives it,” continued Fogel. “Questions we are asking Canadians to consider include ‘What would we do if this were happening in Canada?’ and ‘What would we expect our allies to do if Canadians were being run down, stabbed and shot in the streets?”
Campaign components include the video at youtube.com/watch?v=cMYS1qSKQTs called What Would We Do? The video is a series of news clips that take real events that have happened in Israel, such as stabbings and car bombs, and put them into a Canadian context, as having happened in Montreal, Toronto and Winnipeg.
At takeactionisrael.ca, there is the petition to sign, which condemns Palestinian terrorism and incitement. As well, there is a link to a template email that can be personalized and sent to Dion that reflects the person’s concerns and asks Dion to speak out against Palestinian terrorism.
As well, people can donate to help spread the word: 100% of donations will be used to educate Canadians about the reality of the situation in Israel, the dangers posed by Palestinian terrorism and incitement, and the real obstacles to peace.
The fourth component of the campaign is a request that people forward the call to action to a friend, share it on Facebook, Twitter or other social media, and encourage friends and family to visit the website takeactionisrael.ca, as well as to learn more about the situation in Israel at learnmoreisrael.ca.
The campaign will run as long as the current wave of terror continues.