Canada’s State-Sponsored Fight Against State-Sponsored Anti-Semitism

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A year ago Parliamentarians and Experts From 50 countries, and six continents assembled together for a conference on Combating Antisemitism in Ottawa, Canada, where the Ottawa Protocol was released. In it was the groundbreaking alarm against state-sanctioned anti-Semitism and the resurgence of anti-Jewish libels, including Holocaust denial. The conference was hosted by the Inter-Parliamentary Coalition for Combating Antisemitism (ICCA) and was the largest of its kind. Delegates explored data to learn about and discuss strategies to combat Antisemitism globally. Less than three months ago, these efforts culminated in the historic step of signing “The Ottawa Protocol to Combat Anti-Semitism,” described in the Huffington Post article: Canada Gets Tough on anti-Semitism. Canada’s Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, affirmed that “those who would hate and destroy the Jewish people would ultimately hate and destroy the rest of us as well.”

It is clear that in Canda the delegitimization of Israel must be delegitimized through a devised state formula that could match the drives to isolate Israel. A working formula was officially introduced to the Government of Canada, culminating in the signing of the historic Ottawa Protocol at the end of September. Preceding it was a report by a coalition of current and former parliamentarians which concluded that incidents of anti-Semitism are on the rise in Canada, especially on University Campuses. The coalition called upon the Government of Canada to combat this wave, which it had been investigating since November of 2009, and had then hosted an international conference on anti-Semitism in Ottawa a year later. The coalition concluded with key recommendations: i) that police forces across Canada be better trained to deal with anti-Semitism ii) that universities host conferences to counter events such as “Israeli Apartheid Week” and iii) that there should be a clear definition of what anti-Semitism entails.

While there are those fooled into believing that they are supporting the rights of the Palestinian “underdog”against the brutality of an “apartheid” regime, and therefore lobbying for Palestinian statehood on that behalf, the entire Middle East peace process is a façade, with the ultimate aim not of having a Palestinian State, which the Palestinians have been offered time and again only each time to reject the offer without even a counter-offer, but to destroy Israel — first by demonizing it, as laid out in the Palestinian Authority and Hamas Charters—the ultimate Nazi-inspired, anti-Semitic texts.

According to a recent survey by the Anti-Defamation League [ADL], anti-Semitism is on the rise in America with 15% of the population— some 35 million — saying they “hold deeply anti-Semitic views”. 19% of those surveyed believe that Jews hold too much control on Wall Street, while 30% believe that Jews are more loyal to Israel than to America – a statistic that prompted ADL director Abraham Foxman to say that stereotypes about Jews and money endure.

This troubling survey is reminiscent of the negative portrayals by Josef Goebbels, the Third Reich’s Minister of Propaganda for the Nazi Party, of the Jewish people, and the blame falsely attributed to them for global economic and social problems. Such propaganda was intended to dehumanize Jews and lay the groundwork for the Holocaust. Other studies have also perceived a rise in Anti-Semitism, with observable links to outbreaks between Israel and the Palestinians, across Europe and in Canada.

To battle anti-Semitism effectively, it is critical to understand what drives it and why a state-sponsored model for fighting it is essential to match a societal corrosion similar to the one that led up to the Holocaust, and that created the deadly alliance among Arabs, Palestinians and Nazis that is still operational today.

Canada has demonstrated an effective approach to combat anti-Semitism, starting with consistently adhering to principles of justice and fairness in recognizing the rights of the Jewish people and the State of Israel, and Canada has stood up to global bullying while enduring criticism from enemies of Israel, both international and domestic.

The recent controversy surrounding the U.S. Ambassador to Belgium Howard Gutman highlighted the question of what anti-Semitism entails. Gutman described two types of anti-Semitism : “classic bigotry” against Jews and “growing anti-Semitism,” resulting from an inability to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He continued to explain that there is anger, resentment and sometimes hatred as a result of ongoing tensions between Israel and Palestinians and other Arab neighbors over territory that is apparently disputed. For this, Gutman was viewed as blaming Israeli policy toward the Palestinians for anti-Semitism, prompting Republican candidates Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich to call on President Obama to dismiss him. Children of Jewish Holocaust Survivors called on Obama to renounce Gutman’s “wild theories,” which the organization termed “particularly troubling given the ongoing campaign by the White House to undermine Israel.”

Zionism, Israel, the Jewish people and the history of Judaism, are, of course, linked. There are those who assert that to criticize Israel is not anti-Semitic; yet an anti-Semitic agenda has been smuggled into the mainstream discourse through virulent and often seriously questionable criticisms of Israeli political policy. The vitriol continues to be freshly churned out from The Middle East where the Islamist-oil machinery manufactures a steady supply of fuel for global propaganda, in which Jews are demonized and martyrdom praised in Palestinian school textbooks. Israel’s so-called practices of: colonialism, “occupation,” alleged “apartheid” and dubious “war crimes” against the Palestinian people have become a global chant. The momentous Goldstsone Report that created a brouhaha further fueled this propaganda, but when recanted, the damage had already been done and Judge Richard Goldstone’s repentant statement — “If I had known then what I know now, the Goldstone Report would have been a different document”–had little impact.

When US Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich referred to the Palestinians as an “invented” people and the current stalled peace process “delusional”http://elections.nytimes.com/2012/primaries/candidates/newt-gingrich?inline=nyt-perNewt Gingrich, he was on the mark. Gingrich added that the leadership of the Palestinian Authority, which has pledged to respect Israel’s right to exist – but never as a Jewish state, only a 23rd Muslim one — really harbors “an enormous desire to destroy Israel.” On November 16^th, Mosab Hassan Youcef — the eldest, now disowned, son of one of the founders of Hamas, Sheik Hassan Youcef — verified Hamas’s agenda for the peace process in front of a packed Toronto synagogue, where he issued the warning: “If israel fails, the West will fail”. Another co-Founder of Hamas, Mahmoud al Zahar, said, “There is no place for you [Jews] among us , and you have no future among the nations of the world. You are headed to annihilation.” The head of Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah described Israel as a “cancerous entity” of “ultimate evil” whose “annihilation … is a definite matter;” and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas wrote his PhD on Holocaust denial. This sort of hate and murderous ambition against the Jewish people are commonplace among leaders of terrorist organizations.

The anti-Semitic disease was transmitted politically, as history documents, by members of Hitler’s Third Reich who created the Holocaust. This poisonous political influence was transmitted by the Founder of Palestian Radicalism , the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini who collaborated with Adolph Hitler and Adolph Eichmann. Al-Husseini so despised Jews, that when he learned that Eichman intended to swap thousands of Jewish children for German POWs, he protested vehemently, forcing Eichman to cancel the swap. Its cancellation resulted in those Jewish children being sent to death camps in Poland. 90% of Bosnia’s Jews were also slaughtered by al Husseini’s influence. One of al-Husseini’s many cousins was Hamida Khalifa al-Husseini, who happenend to have a son, Rahman Abdul Rauf al-Qudwa al-Husseini, a great admirer of his “uncle,” the Grand Mufti — and who eventually changed his name to Yasser Arafat and headed up the Palestine Liberation Orgnization.

Current day global attitudes toward Israel fall along the continuum of this alliance formed between the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and Hitler, and are highly influenced by the Arab-Israeli conflict. The Jewish Center for Public Affairs identified a “new wave” of anti-Semitism traced to the September 2000 Palestinian intifada; the Center pointed out an observable positive correlation between the Israeli-Arab conflict and upsurges in anti-Semitic incidents. This pattern is evident in both multicultural Canada and Europe. David Goldberg, an independent policy analyst and former director of research and education for the Canada-Israel Committee, points out that the Muslim population has grown exponentially while the size of the Jewish Community has remained stable. He makes the case that Muslims have followed the model of organizing ceated by the Jewish Community, and have built themselves prominent Muslim advocacy groups such as the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CAN), the Canadian Islamic Congress (CIC), and the Canadian Arab Federation (CAF), all of which have become increasingly radical in their views, and increasingly intensified by the developments in the Middle East and the Palestinian issue. During the Gaza war (December 2008-January 2009) , Hezbollah and Hamas flags were raised at anti-Israel rallies in Toronto. Canada’s Immigration Minister, Jason Kenney, criticized their presence and then declared his unconditional support for Israel’s right to defend itself against terrorism. In response, the CAF president, Khaled Mouammar, called the Minister a “professional whore.” It got worse. Kenney proclaimed that groups such as the CAF and CIC that support banned terrorist organizations should not receive tax-payer support through federal funding, and he withdrew funding from the CAF, setting off a furor with NGOs that support the CAF. Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East was among those to support Mouammar in a castigating report which branded Israel an Apartheid Regime, while presenting the CAF as a glowing organization, “dedicated to combating racism and hate in all of its forms.” Mouammar then called the CAF and himself victims of “a well-planned Zionist campaign waged by the Canadian Jewish Congress and B’nai Brith Canada and supported by some politicians…to suppress all criticism of Israel and equate it with anti-Semitism.” It is clear that individuals or groups that support terrorist organizations that seek to wipe Israel off the map should not be receiving taxpayer funding to push its agenda of anti-Semitism in the face of their public denials, yet still such groups bully politicians and have a strong influence on public discourse. It also should be of serious concern that many displays of public maps have totally excluded Israel: at London School of Economics , at the U.N on a British airline and on maps distributed by the P.A.

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Christine Williams is a Canadian journalist and award-winning interviewer. She produced and hosted the national Canadian talk show “On the Line” on CTS TV, in the course of which she conducted over 1,600 interviews. Many of her shows focused on Islam, featuring moderate and Islamist Muslims alike and prompting her to do extensive research. Ms Williams is now embarking on a new political prime time program: “On the Front Line with Christine Williams” which will continue to explore the evolution of Islam in the West.

She is a regular blogger for NewsRealBlog.com, where her articles are frequently republished online at USA Today. Many—particularly those dealing with Islam– have appeared in FrontPage Magazine and Islamist Watch, among others

She debuted in television in 1999 on CTS-TV as an anchor, news editor and producer for the investigative multi-faith program “Faith Journal,” which won three international awards during her tenure.

She is currently working on a book project exploring Muslim Reform.