Racist Bigotry Thrives

The lunatic left ably aided by some aggrieved Palestinians living in Canada who cannot leave the Middle East in its own singular geography has infiltrated Canadian academic institutions, unions and garnered the sympathy of the United Church sufficiently to feel confidence in the success of its public relations slander against the State of Israel. It is reflected in similar exertions of similar groups across North America and Europe. The agenda is the single-minded campaign to smear Israel as a racist country with aspirations to prosper at the expense of the defenceless.

That Israel has welcomed people from around the world, not just Jews, but people of African, Indian, Arab, British and American extraction is quite beside the point. That the state is also one that proclaims itself a safe haven for all Jews is the point. Just as countries around the world exist to primarily reflect the needs of their national ethnic groups; the Koreas, Japan, China, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Saudi Arabia, so too does Israel exist to represent world Jewry.

If Israel is a racist society then so too is Chile, Argentina, Vietnam, Egypt, Iraq and Syria. Does the world launch annual events to decry their racist apartheid policies? Israeli residents and citizens who practise religions other than Judaism may do so in peace and security; can we say the same for Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, and Syria? It is Israel singly, spectacularly, which stands out as the world's sole pariah of racist ideology when the reality of her policies are otherwise.

But truth and reality are elusive fragments in the chain of events inexorably leading disparate religious, ideological and political groups to feverishly fashion together a scapegoat for the world's shortcomings. Gays and lesbians, unionists, well established and safe in Israel; all of whom are given short shrift at best, jail sentences, torture and death at worst in Arab countries, decry Israel's 'apartheid' policies.

Anti-Semitism is denied as the fulcrum that propels this lever of racism, but it is central.

Among universities in Canada that permit 'freedom of speech' and the 'free expression' of opinion, York University stands out and alone as an exemplar of anti-Semitic permissiveness, aiding the Israeli Apartheid Week celebrants to vilify and deride a country which more than most others takes its responsibilities to all its citizens seriously. The event leads to a frenzy of vicious Jew-baiting and hatred resonates in the hallowed halls of higher education.

Doesn't that represent a parody unparalleled? At last Canadian lawmakers, those whom we elect to high political office are taking a good, hard look at this persistent revitalization of racism directed toward Jews and Israel, and have stood up to condemn it. From Ontario's parliament, thanks to MPP Peter Shurman who led a motion to denounce the event, to MP Tim Uppal who plans to introduce a motion:

"That this House considers itself to be a friend of the State of Israel; that this House is concerned about expressions of anti-Semitism under the guise of "Israeli Apartheid Week'; and that this House explicitly condemns any action in Canada as well as internationally that would equate the State of Israel with the rejected and racist policy of apartheid", there is cause for hope.

As for York University, it seems somehow fitting that a Canadian blogger who describes Jews as "diseased and filthy", "scum of the earth", "psychotic", and "mass murderers", who blogs on his Internet site about Jews, Christian and moderate Canadian Muslims as "traitors", now under investigation by a joint 13 Ontario municipal police forces, would be attending York University.

It is also fitting that a Palestinian journalist on staff at the Jerusalem Post, is on a speaking tour in Canada, his topic: "The Arab-Israel Conflict on the Ground: A Journalist's Perspective." His not to white-wash Israel, but to place matters into perspective of justness and fairness; his a moderate voice of reason. Khaled Abu Toameh brings to public attention, as Palestinian affairs journalist for the Post, decades of experience.

It is his considered opinion that "We should not be surprised if the next generation of jihadists comes not from the Gaza Strip or the mountains and mosques of Pakistan and Afghanistan, but from university campuses across the U.S." And, he might very well add, across Canada. Mr. Toameh's lectures introduce people to his insight into Palestinian life and the challenges faced there, calling for democratic reform.

He also responds to the need to dispel myths and propaganda emanating from anti-Israel organizations. York University's administration might think of the appropriateness of inviting Mr. Toameh to speak there, give him a podium to elucidate the situation in the Middle East and to bring a little perspective on the moderate end of things, as an enlightening and enlightened experience.