More on BDS, the Olive Tree Initiative and “Lip Service”

Note: On December 28, 2010 The Orange County Independent Force on Anti-Semitism issued an Open Letter Concerning the Olive Tree Initiative at UC Irvine to leaders of the Orange County Jewish Community. In the letter we urged  the Jewish Federation, The Rose Project and and Hillel to adopt the The Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties Funding Guidelines. As of this date, that letter has gone unanswered. (OCITF)

What’s the Matter with Boycotting Israel?

Nichole Hungerford on Mar 11th, 2011 Front Page Magazine

“How ironic — no, scratch that; how incredibly shortsighted — that just as Egypt starts to open up, an American Jewish community would start to clamp down.” This, Rob Eshman penned February 16th in a piece for the Jewish Journal in which he argued against the removal of Jewish communal funds from organizations engaged in BDS (boycott, divestment, sanction) strategies against Israel. To do so, as Eshman intimates, would be to close the Jewish community; to stifle the freedom of thought and expression from within its ranks. Although it is a well-meaning call for openness, it is, nonetheless, a deeply misguided assessment of the danger posed by the BDS movement. To understand the true nature of the movement, is to understand why it cannot be countenanced by the Jewish community in any form — at least not a Jewish community interested in the preservation of Israel.

Canadian MP: “Labelling Israel as an apartheid state was “offensive” to any reasonable person and a tactic of intimidation intended to foreclose debate.”

MPs Baird, Volpe blast anti-Israeli event

By Robert Sibley, Ottawa Citizen March 10, 2011

Two federal parliamentarians, John Baird and Joe Volpe, set aside their partisan difference Wednesday to denounce the promotion of “Israeli Apartheid Week” as morally, intellectually and historically incoherent.

 

Conservative MP Tim Uppal plans to introduce a motion before the Canadian House of Commons this week to condemn Israel Apartheid Week (IAW).

“In past years some students have opted not to go to class during IAW, and threats and dangers encountered by Jewish students have included swarming, confinement, racial slurs, and physical assault, according to the Canadian Federation of Jewish Students.”

Officials Condemn ‘intolerant’ Israeli Apartheid Week

By Cindy Chan
Epoch Times Staff

OTTAWA—The controversial Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW), which began Monday, has been marked by condemnations from Canadian officials denouncing the comparison between Middle East ethnic tensions and South Africa’s former policy of racial segregation.

“Where is, say, North Korean Gulag Week or Zimbabwean Idi Amin Week?”

National Post editorial board: Fighting toxic speech with smart speech

Posted: March 01, 2010, 8:00 AM by NP Editor

Editorial, Canadian politics

Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW), which begins today on many university campuses, is an odious and bigoted annual ritual. While organizers bill it as an exercise in “Palestine solidarity,” it typically features rabid expressions of hatred against Israel and its Jewish inhabitants. As a general principle, it goes without saying that criticism of Israel is not automatically tantamount to anti-Semitism. But the atmosphere at some IAW events blurs the line — with extremist speakers whipping crowds into the sort of frenzy one more usually sees in newsreel footage from the streets of Cairo or Gaza City. As a result, many Jewish students often report feeling intimidated on their own campuses.