Intolerance in Corporate America
There are countless examples of antisemitism in corporate America, now well documented by Stop Antisemitism and referenced here.
It is almost impossible to keep up with the haters, especially when the tech giants both allow or disseminate the Jew hatred, rarely remove anything that isn’t totally violent against Jews and then do remove articles and information that indicates where antisemitism is coming from. Their shut down of topics and people they deem “conservative” violates their own moral code but it seems pervasive. Members of our own online community have at times been shut down or temporarily removed from a social media platform and nothing posted has been lethal, to say the least. It seems like controlling the discourse is the sole goal, limiting criticism of favoured view points, preferencing their chosen facts and projecting the voices that honour them while eliminating their critics works well while bolstering antisemitism on line.
A recent ad posted by FLAME, Facts and Logic About the Middle East, gives an example of corporate antisemitism, and reminds us why we must not ignore this, at our peril. While Ben & Jerry’s spoiled ice cream for us by announcing their boycott of Judea, Samaria and East Jerusalem, Not of China, Iran, Turkey, Venezuela, Cuba, North Korea, Russia, Libya, or other ignoble regimes (if they even sell in these places), FLAME makes it clear that we should hold Unilever, the corporate giant that owns B &J, responsible and boycott all of their products. Thankfully there are 35 US states that have anti-BDS legislation and several have initiated action against Unilever and/or taken their products off of government purchase lists. It’s important not to tolerate the BDS campaigns.
Don’t Ignore Ben & Jerry’s Antisemitic Policy; Even if You Don’t Like Ice Cream
Read ILF’s legal analysis of this antisemitic boycott.
Will Wonders Never Cease?
The above phrase, first printed in 1775, must have had the Arab-Israel normalization in mind, because it is a wonder, surprise, and delight to see that the Abraham Accords have held fast and are bringing true normalization between Israel and several Muslim countries. So, how far might the Abraham Accords extend? Read about the call from 300 Iraqi notables to have Iraq sign such an accord with Israel.
Sadly, as of the date of writing this article, we learn that the government of Iraq is seeking to arrest all of the signatories to the call for normalization. Many Kurdish notables are staying on in the Kurdish northern province of Iraq for their own safety. Embedded in Iraq culture is the message that they should hate Jews and negate Israel.
Another Positive Bit of News
From the Ukraine we learn that “thanks to a majority of 283 lawmakers out of 450, antisemtism is illegal but further the law now proscribes antisemitic sentiment as illegal. Most countries with laws against antisemitism, such as Germany, France and the Netherlands, criminalize various expressions of antisemitic hatred but not the condition of harboring it.
The Law on Prevention and Counteraction to Anti-Semitism in Ukraine defines antisemitism as ‘a certain perception of Jews, expressed as hatred of Jews.” It lists examples of this, including Holocaust denial and “calling for, concealing or justifying the killing or harm of persons of Jewish origin.’
The law does not mention Israel rhetoric, but Ukraine is a cosignatory to the IHRA definition of antisemitism, which defines some anti-Israel speech as antisemitic. The bill also does not address the growing phenomenon in Ukraine of glorifying Nazi collaborators as national heroes. And it does not stipulate punishments for those found guilty of violating the law.”
How about a New Solution?
Two of our favourite experts, Dr. Mordechai Kedar and Brig General Amir Avivi (res), among others are proposing a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict that must be considered. It is the establishment of Palestinian Emirates and can be found on their website. Remember to hit translate to English when opening the website. In sum, here is the Palestinian Emirate Program for peace and security:
“Against the background of peace agreements with Arab countries citizens of the State of Israel also seek a solution to the Palestinian issue, and when the Palestinian Authority loses legitimacy among the Palestinian public there is one alternative to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict"!
“The Palestinian Emirates Program is a political program that offers about two million Palestinian Arabs in Judea and Samaria, to be citizens of eight independent state cities, based on the thriving model of the United Arab Emirates in the Gulf and various emirates in Europe, such as Majorca, Menorca, Sardinia, Virgin Islands, Vatican, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, San Marino, Andorra and more.”
“The 8 emirates are the cities: Hebron, Jericho, Ramallah, Tulkarm, Qalqilya, Nablus, Jenin and the Gaza strip.”
Is it Islamophobic to Identify Antisemitism among Imams? What is Islamophobia?
To criticize Islam, to call out Islamic injustices, to name Muslim organizations as terrorist or terror supporting, to identify Jew hatred in the Quran, to argue against Sharia Law or the restrictions on freedoms under such law, can all be called “Islamophobia,” and are so called. But, if one cannot share an opinion on this faith, challenge specific views or beliefs, practices or customs, nor criticize a preacher of such views and practices, then it is freedom that is at stake, and not the religion of Islam.
In a recent study, conducted by an American Muslim, of sermons given by a core group of Imams in the US he found there is significant “linkage between the nature of antisemitism among Islamists and that of the Nazi regime in Germany.”
The professor, Mohammed Al-Azdee, did not expect this to be the case, rather believing that views about Israel, Jews and Judaism would not be so linked, but he was candid in presenting his findings at a conference on antisemitism hosted by the Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism (ISCA) at Indiana University, Bloomington.
The article by Ben Cohen that appeared in the Algemeiner of July 20, 2021 can be read here.
This begs the question as to what is to be done about this hateful spread of Jew hatred and how wide is the practice in Canada for we are rarely that far removed from the US on any subject?
The list of conference topics and participants can be found here.
What is Islamophobia?
In Toronto recently, Tarek Fatah, a vocal Muslim spokesperson for combating antisemitism in the Muslim world, an outspoken critic of Islamism, a journalist and author of The Jew is Not My Enemy, tweeted that Canada is not an Islamophobic country. He has oft written about the antisemitism in Islamist doctrine and practice and is part of a global Islamic reform movement. Fatah often takes heat from extremists, and even threats to his own safety. The result of a recent tweet, followed by a retweet by Canada’s Special Envoy on Holocaust Remembrance and Combating Antisemitism, must give us pause. The retweet, whether intentional or not (how can it not be?) resulted in the esteemed Irwin Cotler, a major spokesperson for the Jewish community, an expert on human rights, and an incredible spokesperson for combating antisemtism, was himself targeted by the anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian mafia and the Islamist organizations and individuals that push an anti-Islamophobia agenda, the legitimacy of which Fatah questions. That Cotler apologized for the retweet is the subject of this article by Diane Bederman, who points out the duplicity and danger in caving to those who would destroy us.
We ask, Mr. Cotler, why did you apologize?
A Serious Read for Our Leftist Jewish Friends from a Reform Rabbi
Ammiel Hirsch, a Reform rabbi, in an article in Tablet Magazine on September 26m 2021, calls out the antisemitism that is tolerated, proliferated, and needing to be obliterated from Reform and Reconstructionist Judiasm. The article is a condensed version of a Rosh Hashanah sermon from Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch, and it is an urgent read for those who think liberalism has the answers, but who fail to see how it has always failed the Jews. Rabbi Hirsch describes himself and his concern this way:
I am a liberal rabbi leading a Reform synagogue. And in my view, many liberal Jews are misled by the high-sounding rhetoric of anti-Zionist students, professors, thought leaders, influencers, and social media personalities.
Read Now and Share with all friends, family, educators, rabbis who see social justice as their calling, but are abandoning Israel.
Letter to the Minister of Education re Addressing Antisemitism at the Toronto District School Board
Several incidents recently gave rise to serious concerns of antisemitism at the TDSB and CAEF has expressed concern several times. We have written to the board members, to senior management at the TDSB, to the Ontario College of Teachers and to the Minister of Education, as well as to the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation.
We await a response to this letter.
Two Perspectives on Peace with the Palestinian Arabs Who Don’t Want Peace
Read Khaled Abu Toameh, in Gatestone Institute of September 28, 2021, an Arab journalist based in Jerusalem, explaining that the leadership of the Palestinians is not interested in economic well-being and prosperity for Arabs, but on destroying Israel.
Read David Suissa, in the Jewish Journal on September 26, 2021, on the damage proposed in the US Congress by a Two State Solution Act that would only serve to undermine peace.
Comentários