Şener Aktürk and Mujeeb R. Khan, "How Western anti-Muslim bigotry became respectable," Zaman, January 3, 2010.

As scholars who work on the centuries-old Islamic presence in Europe and the continent’s first post-Holocaust genocide against, not coincidently, the Muslims of Bosnia and Herzegovina, we were deeply disturbed but not surprised that an ostensibly tolerant and pluralistic Western democracy like Switzerland would vote by a margin of 57 percent to ban the religious symbol of 400,000 of its Muslim residents because they felt “threatened” by the grand total of four minarets that exist there.

While secularism and constitutional safeguards for religious freedom are seen as hallmarks of the post-Enlightenment West, Europe and the West have traditionally been far more hostile to religious-cultural pluralism than Buddhist, Confucian, Hindu and Islamic societies, which historically viewed religious and cultural heterogeneity and pluralism as the natural order of things.

The Swiss referendum was the tip of an iceberg reflecting both deep and age-old historic prejudice against a Muslim presence on the continent as well as a recent concerted ideological campaign to construct Muslims as the “other” on the part of rightwing racist movements in Europe and their fellow travelers in the neo-conservative and Southern Evangelical movements in the US. While secularism and constitutional safeguards for religious freedom are seen as hallmarks of the post-Enlightenment West, Europe and the West have traditionally been far more hostile to religious-cultural pluralism than Buddhist, Confucian, Hindu and Islamic societies, which historically viewed religious and cultural heterogeneity and pluralism as the natural order of things. This historic reality explains to a large degree why, in contrast to Europe, such religious diversity survived into the modern era in these societies, albeit not always harmoniously. Indeed, the famous thesis of the Belgian historian Henri Pirenne was that the very notion of “Christendom” or “the West” first emerged from the ruins of classical civilization in opposition to northern pagans and southern Muslim and Jewish infidels whose presence in Europe was actually coterminous with the spread of the Holy Roman Empire and Church in large areas of the continent.

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Şener Aktürk is a postdoctoral fellow at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies and a visiting lecturer in the department of government at Harvard University. Mujeeb R. Khan is affiliated with the department of political science at UC Berkeley and has published widely on Muslim-Western relations including in “East European Politics and Societies.”
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"Jewish Canadians Concerned About Suppression of Criticism of Israel," Mostly Water, March 15, 2009.

[A number of blogs, including Mostly Water and Galloping Beaver have reproduced the statement below, but without one crucial bit of information. If you are a Canadian Jew and would like to sign the petition or work with these people in some other way, where do you go? Sources published the entire release with this information at the bottom:

For more information contact:
James Deutsch, M.D., Ph.D.
Phone: 416-363-3751 Ext 2011
Email: concernedjewishcanadians@connexions.org

Judith Deutsch, M.S.W., R.S.W.
Phone: 416 929-8180
Email: concernedjewishcanadians@connexions.org

Miriam Garfinkle, M.D.
Phone: 416-897-0008
Email: concernedjewishcanadians@connexions.org
-jlt]

This statement was rejected by both the Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail (as an op-ed). Please help this important statement get into broad circulation - pass it on to your networks (faculty, community, MPs, university presidents, unions etc.). You may also wish to write to the Star and Globe editorials and express your dismay that they have chosen not to publish it.

Jewish Canadians Concerned About Suppression of Criticism of Israel

Over 150 Jewish Canadians signed a statement expressing their concerns about the campaign to suppress criticism of Israel that is being carried on within Canada. The signatories include many prominent Canadians, including Ursula Franklin O.C., Anton Kuerti O.C., Naomi Klein, Dr. Gabor Mate, and professors Meyer Brownstone (recipient of Pearson Peace Medal), Natalie Zemon Davis, Michael Neumann, and Judy Rebick.*

The signatories are particularly concerned that unfounded accusations of anti-Semitism deflect attention from Israel’s accountability for what many have called war crimes in Gaza. They state that B’nai Brith and the Canadian Jewish Congress have led campaigns to silence criticism of Israel on university campuses, in labor unions and in other groups. Immigration Minister Jason Kenney and Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff unquestioningly echo the views of these particular Jewish organizations.

They strongly state that they are against all expressions of racism. While firmly committed to resisting any form of prejudice against Jewish people, their statement explicitly states that these spurious allegations of anti-Semitism bring the anti-Communist terror of the 1950s vividly to mind. The statement underlines the immeasurable suffering and injustice to the Palestinian people due to the severe poverty, daily humiliations, and military invasions inflicted by the State of Israel.

Statement: Jewish Canadians Concerned about Suppression of Criticism of Israel

We are Jewish Canadians concerned about all expressions of racism, anti-Semitism, and social injustice. We believe that the Holocaust legacy "Never again" means never again for all peoples. It is a tragic turn of history that the State of Israel, with its ideals of democracy and its dream of being a safe haven for Jewish people, causes immeasurable suffering and injustice to the Palestinian people.

We are appalled by recent attempts of prominent Jewish organizations and leading Canadian politicians to silence protest against the State of Israel. We are alarmed by the escalation of fear tactics. Charges that those organizing Israel Apartheid Week or supporting an academic boycott of Israel are anti-Semites promoting hatred bring the anti-Communist terror of the 1950s vividly to mind. We believe this serves to deflect attention from Israel’s flagrant violations of international humanitarian law.

B’nai Brith and the Canadian Jewish Congress have pressured university presidents and administrations to silence debate and discussion specifically regarding Palestine/Israel. In a full-page ad in a national newspaper, B’nai Brith urged donors to withhold funds from universities because "anti-Semitic hate fests" were being allowed on campuses. Immigration Minister Jason Kenney and Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff have echoed these arguments. While university administrators have resisted demands to shut down Israel Apartheid week, some Ontario university presidents have bowed to this disinformation campaign by suspending and fining students, confiscating posters, and infringing on free speech.

We do not believe that Israel acts in self-defense. Israel is the largest recipient of US foreign aid, receiving $3 million/day. It has the fourth strongest army in the world. Before the invasion of Gaza on 27 December 2008, Israel’s siege had already created a humanitarian catastrophe there, with severe impoverishment, malnutrition, and destroyed infrastructure. It is crucial that forums for discussion of Israel’s accountability to the international community for what many have called war crimes be allowed to proceed unrestricted by specious claims of anti-Semitism.

We recognize that anti-Semitism is a reality in Canada as elsewhere, and we are fully committed to resisting any act of hatred against Jews. At the same time, we condemn false charges of anti-Semitism against student organizations, unions, and other groups and people exercising their democratic right to freedom of speech and association regarding legitimate criticism of the State of Israel.

Signatories:

Abigail Bakan
Adam Balsam
Sharon Baltman
Julia Barnett
Lainie Basman
Jody Berland
Sam Blatt
Geri Blinik
Anita Block
Elizabeth Block
Sheila Block
Hannah Briemberg
Mark Brill
Stephen Brot
Meyer Brownstone
Eliza Burroughs
Smadar Carmon
Gyda Chud
Charles P. Cohen
Nathalie Cohen
David Copeland
Natalie Zemon Davis
Eliza Deutsch
James Deutsch
Judith Deutsch
Abbe Edelson
Jack Etkin
Elle Flanders
Danielle Frank
Ursula Franklin
Dan Freeman-Maloy
Miriam Garfinkle
Alisa Gayle
Jack Gegenberg
Mark Golden
Brenda Goldstein
Sue Goldstein
Cy Gonick
Marnina Gonick
Rachel Gotthilf
Amy Gottleib
Kevin A. Gould
Daina Green
Lisa Frances Greenspoon
Ricardo Grinspun
Cathy Gulkin
Rachel Gurofsky
Deboran Guterman
Yesse Gutman
Freda Guttman
Judy Haiven
Michael Hanna-Fein
Jean Hanson
Jan Heynen
Maria Heynen
Adam Hofmann
Jake Javanshir
Jeannie Kamins
Marylin Kanee
Howard S. Kaplan
Gilda Katz
Maxine Kaufman-Lacusta
Mira Khazzam
Bonnie Sher Klein
Mark Klein
Martin Klein
Naomi Klein
Joshua Katz-Rosene
Ryan Katz-Rosene
Judy Koch
Anton Kuerti
Jason Kunin
Aaron Lakoff
Michael Lambek
Natalie LaRoche
Richard Borshay Lee
Andy Lehrer
Gabriel Levin
Gabriel Levine
Joel Lexchin
Kim Linekin
Abby Lippman
Lee Lorch
Martin Lukacs
Audrey Macklin
Elise Maltin
Richard Marcuse
Wayne Mark
Gabor Mate
Arthur Milner
Anna Miransky
Dorit Naaman
Joanne Naiman
Neil Naiman
Michael Neumann
David-Marc Newman
David Noble
Clare O’Connor
Robin Ostow
Andre W. Payant
Jenny Peto
Simone Powell
Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
Fabienne Presentey
Yacov Rabkin
Diana Ralph
Naomi Rankin
Judy Rebick
Ester Reiter
Jillian Rogin
Richard Roman
Joseph Rosen
Herman Rosenfeld
Martha Roth
Marty Roth
Ruben Roth
E. Natalie Rothman
B. Sack
Ben Saifer
Miriam Sampaio
Jacob Scheir
Fred Schloessinger
Alan Sears
Shlomit Segal
Edward H. Shaffer
Noa Shaindlinger
Ray Shankman
Eva Sharell
Elliot Shek
Sid Shniad
Max Silverman
Samuel Singer
Elizabeth Solloway
Susan Starkman
Greg Starr
Jonathan Sterne
Jeremy Stolow
Rhonda Sussman
Vera Szoke
Joe Tannenbaum
Howard Tessler
Marion Traub-Werner
Ceyda Turan
Sandra Tychsen
Cheryl Wagner
Jon McPhedran Waitzer
David Wall
Naomi Binder Wall
Kathy Wazana
Karen Weisberg
Barry Weisleder
Paul Weinberg
Judith Weisman
Suzanne Weiss
Abraham Weizfeld
Ernie Yacub
B.H. Yael
Yedida Zalik
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Elizabeth Redden, "On Israel, Shifted Ground," Inside Higher Ed, March 6, 2009.

[Frances Edwards, the moderator of the Akiva Tor event, describes what he feels to be the university's proper role:

“My concern is for the university and what the university means to a community. We’re not intending to be an advocate for any particular point of view but rather to serve as a speaker’s corner, a common ground, where people of different opinions can get together and at least hear each other.”

This article by Elizabeth Redden is an excellent example of long journalism about a far-reaching event. -jlt]



The ground seems to have shifted, activists on all sides say. What they make of it varies.

A shift toward more visible pro-Palestinian or anti-Israel sentiment has been profound on some campuses, prompted, in part, by the winter war in Gaza. Where some describe a corresponding disintegration of civil discourse or a scapegoating of Israel for a complex set of problems, others celebrate a newfound space in which to be critical of Israel -- to mount a challenge to what they see as a dominant discourse, so to speak.

The two perspectives don't have to go hand in hand, but at times, they seem to.

Take Emory University, for example, where about a third of undergraduates are Jewish. “The situation’s very interesting because in the past Emory was not a political school at all,” said Jessica Fraidlin, a sophomore involved with several Israel advocacy organizations, including Emory Students for Israel. “We’ve always had a very strong Jewish community, but we’ve never had an opposing side.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen the level of so many students being afraid. I’ve never heard a faculty member threatened before.” Author

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Re: Cotler's speech on the new anti-semitism: response to comments

I agree with Mound of Sound that Cotler's speech on the new anti-Semitism is "a smear job aimed at silencing by intimidation any legitimate criticism of Israel and its policies toward the Palestinians," but MoS underestimates the role of legitimate fear in the politics of Israel.

Fear of so many things--fear remaining from the Holocaust and a fear that things will "go bad" again. (See, for example, Avraham Burg on Democracy Now! and his book, The Holocaust is Over, We Must Rise From its Ashes) Fear of being isolated, of what Avi Shlaim calls "Arab determination not to permit Jewish independence in the Middle East" (The Iron Wall, 369). Fear that derives from a well-remembered tradition of persecution, slavery, and suffering.

These are legitimate fears, like the fear associated with global thermonuclear war. Sometimes paranoia is a "rational" response. "If you aren't paranoid, you don't understand what's going on."

That the Israeli political establishment and their apologists abroad capitalizes on this fear in numerous ways, including propaganda, is beyond question.

But I think Cotler's speech emerges from a trinity of unassimilated and related events in Israeli history: (1) the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin and (2) the "death" of Ariel Sharon. The apotheosis of Avigdor Lieberman (3) acted as a trigger.

There is much here to be feared. Rather than search inwardly for lessons to be learned, Cotler looks for someone to blame. We needn't take it personally. As Gene points out, it doesn't work any more anyway. Anyone who actually bothered to read them knows that the statements of the Durban I Human Rights conference from the earlies drafts to the final statement address anti-Semitism on practically every page.

But anti-Semitism is not the only form of racism that requires attention. Moreover, neither Israel nor the US is above reproach. That is what so many western observers found objectionable about Duban I.

The question of Zionism as a form of racism is still a legitimate subject for debate. The details of the process by which that question was "decided" at the UN make an interesting study.

More urgently, if we are to take Cotler's reaction--and the National Post's decision to amplify it--seriously, we need to ask what is the meaning of this most recent Israeli election.

When Ariel Sharon slipped into a coma, Israel entered the final stages of a dramatic generational change. Just months before, Sharon staged the unilateral "withdrawal" from Gaza. Events since that time clearly show that no one capable of playing the next move has emerged in Israeli politics. The political center of gravity has moved more decisively from the left and farther to the extreme right, even more than it has in "third way" states like the UK , Chile, the US or even Canada. It also appears to have been a shift away from PMs who are generals to PMs who once were captains in the IDF.

Much is still in doubt about what this generational change will entail. Will Israelis decide that being a democratic state must take second place to being a Jewish one? Will the two-state solution be replaced by demands for a single state throughout the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean? Challenges to American military aid to Israel could threaten the "cold peace" with Egypt. Events at the latest Davos meeting suggest that relations with Turkey, the first Islamic state to recognize Israel in 1949, are also in the worst shape ever. The failure to take advantage of what may have been the best opportunity in its brief history to make peace with the Palestinians also has to be added to the list of possible changes.

The Iranian boogie man is the outward projection of a far more serious loss of confidence in the Israeli polity. All the kings horses (tanks, helicopter gunships, nuclear weapons, etc.--all the "Iron Wall" paraphernalia) couldn't stop rocket attacks on Sderot. Tough lesson. It's the one the US didn't learn in Vietnam, Canada isn't learning in Afghanistan. These are practical questions compounded by difficult moral ones.

The failure of Israel and its international cheerleaders to subordinate spectacular military power to the principles of any kind of respectable political wisdom has led to dramatic new successes in the movement to pressure Israel with boycotts, divestments, and sanctions. Some of the most active participants in these movements are diaspora Jews and marginalized left-wing Israelis.

Meanwhile, Avigdor Lieberman, an ultra-nationalist, extreme right wing secular politician, has unlocked a corridor to power for the fanatic forces in Israeli politics that brought Rabin down in 1995. Now the vulnerability of the captains and the suicidal vigor of these internal contradictions are on center stage and in the spotlight.

These considerations give Israel plenty to worry about. Us too. Cotler's speech expresses these fears in a code that is understood mainly by insiders in a venue consisting mainly of those same insiders. But the publication of the speech in in one of Canada's national newspapers is an invitation either to sympathize or to shut up. It's a move that might have worked twenty years ago. Not now.Recommend this Post

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Irwin Cotler, "The global reawakening of anti-Semitism," National Post, February 21, 2009.

[This has already touched off an interesting controversy among the comments to the article. I don't think it will be going away any time soon. Cotler does not give any indication of the terms under which he believes deep criticism of Israel may be entertained as it routinely is entertained of other nations, including, but not limited to, the US, UK, Russia, Georgia, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Cuba, France, Germany, China, etc. Not all people of Jewish descent embrace Israel as "the collective Jew" standing on the international stage in place of them all. In a recent interview with Gila Svirsky, Co-Chair of BT'selem, I asked what her message was for North Americans. "Don't abandon us," she said. "Don't abandon us to our lousy politicians." -jlt]

Following is the keynote address by the Honourable Irwin Cotler at the founding conference of the Inter-parliamentary Coalition for Combating Antisemitism (ICCA)

What we are witnessing today - and which has been developing incrementally, sometimes imperceptibly, and even indulgently, for some thirty-five years now - is a new sophisticated, globalizing, virulent and even lethal antisemitism, reminiscent of the atmospherics of the 30s, and without parallel or precedent since the end of the Second World War.

The new anti-Jewishness overlaps with classical antisemitism but is distinguishable from it. It found early juridical, and even institutional, expression in the United Nations' 'Zionism is Racism' resolution - which the late US Senator Daniel Moynihan said "gave the abomination of antisemitism the appearance of international legal sanction" - but has gone dramatically beyond it. This new antisemitism almost needs a new vocabulary to define it; however, it can best be identified using a rights-based juridical perspective.

The new antisemitism involves the discrimination against the right of the Jewish people to live as an equal member of the family of nations - the denial of, and assault upon, the Jewish people's right even to live - with Israel as the 'collective Jew among the nations'.

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