Fabienne Preséntey, Independent Jewish Voices and Canada/Québec Committee of the Charter of Human Responsibilities

Over the last months the real issues of our rights and what kind of democracy we choose to live with have been seriously challenged. Recent events, such as the federal government’s unbridled blindness in choosing to equate all criticism of Israeli practices and policies as antisemitism and set up the Canadian Parliamentary Committee against Antisemitism (known as CPCCA) in order to prove that 1. Canada and more precisely Canadian university campuses have become the “hot beds” of antisemtism and 2. any discussion and/or criticisms of Israeli policies and practices are to be criminalized as “hate crimes”. That committee not only refused to hear submission from groups that challenged their basic premise, they brought what they call “Israeli experts” to testify to the rising degree of hate acts perpetrated against Canadian Jews. Unfortunately, rather than seriously dealing with racism in Canada, the Commission has succeeded in giving the country a taste of what McCarthism (the 1950′s red baiting anti-communist trials in the USA) tactics of social control and government fomented social divisiveness are really like!! Then it was “red baiting”, an alright war against the left and the jews – now it’s about fear mongering about Muslim’s, the left and freedom of speech.

Not satisfied with this waste of public funds, the Harper government  pursues it’s absurd drive to wipe  Canada clean of it’s hard won ethical and responsible social gains,  by attacking full force” Rights and Democracy“, a Canadian human rights organisation,  supporting both Israeli and Palestinian organisations working on human rights issue. By cutting the funding first, to a Canadian Muslim organisation, CAF ( Canadian Arab Federation) last year, to KAIROS this year, and then via “Rights and Democracy“, cutting funds to  Bet’selem, Al HAQ and Alternatives – they have attempted in the best pre-emptive military tradition of the right, to equate funding for Palestinian human rights organisation with hatred against the Jews!

Not only has Canada’s PM made sure that our national tradition as upholders of human rights be totally undermined and tarnished – Harper seems to have chosen to take the same road as Christian Zionist supporters of the State of Israel and use “Muslim fear mongering” as the pivotal strategy in defense of the Jewish people. Silence is no longer an option! It is our responsibility as Jews to fight for the rights of all people’s and certainly against this type of action which will only backfire against Jews here and elsewhere!

To put it bluntly, using racist fear mongering against one community in order to prop up another is not only a misguided understanding of what “Human Rights” stand for, but it is also a tragically irresponsible approach to governance. By dismantling, muzzling and imposing a Israeli partisan directorship on “Rights and Democracy”, Harper and the Canadian government have made a clear decision to trample on the democratic rights of Canadians in order to benefit from the financial kick-backs being an unconditional friend of Israel brings.  As Peter Kent, the Conservative minister of state for foreign affairs of the Americas stated in an interview in Shalom life in February 2010, “PrimeMinister Harper has made it quite clear for some time now,” he said, “and has regularly stated that an attack on Israel would be considered an attack on Canada.”

What if we reversed that statement – could every attack against Canada be possibly construed as being against Israel – the point here, is that this type of thinking hides a much more somber reality, one that we as Canadians of all backgrounds need to be concerned about! We cannot have our rights and our democracy high-jacked by the demagogic grand standing of our politicians hidden agenda’s.

We must address all human rights violations, whether here in Canada, Israel, the US, France or China!

And for the record………how is democracy in Israel doing because in the last weeks as israeli’s (jewish) and palestinians and internationals – together – fight the expulsion of Palestinian families from their homes in Sheik Jarrah, the democratic Israeli state is indulging in “Midnight arrests. Defamation of human rights organizations. Expulsion of journalists. Human rights demonstrations broken up with violence. Censored films. Confiscated laptops.” ( Jewish Voice for Peace)

And that is only a small percentage of the repression that is actually taking place in Canada’s best friends democratic front yard!