(The following article is from the April 1-15, 2010 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)

PV Vancouver Bureau

     The campaign to shut down any criticism of the state of Israel ran into a couple of speed bumps in early March.

     In one development, the Bloc Quebecois has decided to resign from the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Antisemitism (CPCCA). MP Luc Desnoyers, one of two Bloc members formerly on the CPCCA Steering Committee, confirmed that the decision reflected the Bloc's unease in the face of "the inequality of opinions presented before the Coalition," and "the refusal of the Steering Committee to hear groups with opposing viewpoints."

     The Bloc formally requested last November that Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) and the Canadian Arab Federation (CAF) be heard by the Coalition, to diversify the almost exclusively pro-Israel viewpoints presented to the CPCCA. This and other requests went unaddressed by the Steering Committee, led by Conservative Scott Reid. Neither CJPME nor CAF was invited to participate.

     "CJPME is absolutely opposed to anti-Semitism," declared Thomas Woodley, President of CJPME. "Nevertheless, if an objective perspective is truly desired, the CPCCA hearings must welcome diverse, and potentially opposing viewpoints."

     The CPCCA is an ad hoc coalition which until now has included MPs from the four parties in Parliament. The CJPME has argued that the Coalition's position - that any criticism of Israel is anti-Semitic - violates Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

     In a related development, two attempts on March 11 to get the House of Commons to condemn "Israeli Apartheid Week" failed to receive the necessary unanimous approval of MPs in a voice vote.

     The first motion, introduced by Tim Uppal, the Conservative MP for Edmonton-Sherwood Park, stated: "That this House condemns Israeli Apartheid Week for seeking to delegitimize the State of Israel by equating it with the racist South African apartheid regime, and that this House continues to support a peaceful resolution through a negotiated two-state solution that respects Israel's right to exist."

     A slightly different resolution was then introduced by Bloc Quebecois MP Claude DeBellefeuille (Beauharnois-Salaberry): "That this House denounce the use of the word apartheid to describe the Israeli policy on Palestinians and the word anti-Semitic to describe any criticism against Israel, and that this House reaffirm its support for Israel's right to live in peace and security within sound, established borders, and reaffirm its support for the right of the Palestinian people to have its own state within sound borders and to live there in peace and security."

     The second motion also lacked unanimous support. In both cases, an unspecified number of NDP members voted "no."

     The defeat of Uppal's motion was welcomed by Independent Jewish Voices (IJV), a cross-Canada network of Jewish human-rights activists.

     "This shows courage to stand up to the Orwellian attempts by Israel's supporters to bully Israel's critics into silence," said IJV spokesperson Sid Shniad. "`Apartheid', the term Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak and former prime minister Olmert used to describe the occupation's effects, shouldn't be controversial. Whether or not you agree with the term `apartheid', all Canadians should defend free speech and oppose limiting debate, especially considering these terms are part of the Israel mainstream debate."

     IJV also commended Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath for calling a similar provincial motion by MPP Peter Shurman "divisive by nature". The group urged the Ontario legislature to reject such motions in the future.

     Meanwhile, the Canada-Israel Committee, a vocal pro-Israel lobby group, expressed "deep appreciation" for the Uppal motion.

     "The use of the term apartheid to describe Israel is scurrilous and completely false and serves to intimidate and ostracize Jewish students on campus," claimed the CIC. "The attempt to compare Israel, a democracy that provides full rights to its Arab minority population, is part of a larger concerted campaign to delegitimize the State of Israel."

     Moshe Ronen, CIC National Chair, condemned NDP House Leader Libby Davies (Vancouver East) "for not only scuttling any good faith attempt to reach all-party consensus on the issue, but publicly taking credit for it."

     Ronen attacked what he called Davies' "utter disregard for the plight of students who are bullied and intimidated on campus..."

     Davies has responded that "the Conservative motion was designed to be divisive and to censure legitimate debate on the issue of Israel's policies as well as to specifically target activists who are engaged in debate and other activities on various campuses across the country. I didn't support either motion, and whatever one thinks about the term `apartheid' in reference to Israel, I don't believe that Members of Parliament should have any role or influence in stifling open discussion and education on this issue. As someone who has visited the West Bank and Gaza twice (most recently in August of 2009), I know first-hand the impact and destruction caused by Israeli policies towards Palestinians."