Ben Fefferman, the Hasbara Fellowships campus co-ordinator, at U of Toronto, produced a compelling video on Israel Apartheid Week.
The first time this event was staged was four years ago at the University of Toronto and the Major Jewish Organization decided the best thing to do is nothing.
It is now held in 8 countries on 40 campuses.
This is what our students must endure.
Israel Apartheid Week gains momentum
I just saw a clip on INN tuesday night live : here is a link to their web site and Inn look for clip
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/TV/?act=one&id=2426
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/static/pictures/resized/100-100/24/24502.jpg
they call themselves THE ZIONIST FREEDOM ALLIANCE http://www.zfa.org.il/
I think they are on to something and it might have some value that can be emulated by other groups.
Absolutely agree.
Narvey I did reply but it disappeared
Narvey, The student campus war against the Jews is only one of the battlefield venues. Essentially all Jews are targeted but in different forms different forums and like in the 60’s and 70’s Israel baiting and bashing is the main club being wielded. You know this is not only Israel oriented as from all that I see the Jewish communities both in Canada are far from being united in common cause and common recognition of what they are up against. Back when I was in school is was mostly the socialist/ communists that were in the vanguard of anti Israel and anti semitic activities on campus, those were the heady days of anti Vietnam and Israel was linked as the equal of America as the Wests Evil imperialists. IN those days the anti Israel movement didn’t have nuch effect on America of the Jews who were compared to today vastly more united in common cause. We handled our problems rather well and Israel doing what she had to do strengthened our position. |We didn’t back down from any confrontation and it worked.
I do not advocate violence but I would not shy away from it either. I learned that whether the Bully is a skin head neo Nazi or Black militants you stand your ground and give as well as get. Since most are cowards just having enough good Jews and friends willing to stand up to any bullying will in most cases end with the enemy backing down. A Jew afraid of violence is finished before he starts. Its like hanging a sign on your rear saying kick me and they will.Never go crying to the administration as that sends the signal you are weak and a cry baby.
I have always been against the separation wall as we knew it was meant as just that a separation barricade demarcating a political line more than an anti terror barrier. It was only when Bush came out against it that the whole of the Israeli right in a knee jerk reaction suddenly came out in favor.
What makes this round of anti Israel and anti Jewish activities and threats more difficult and more ominous is that the enemy seems to not be monolithic it is a coalition of many groups with diverse agendas and Israel and Jews seem to be one of their only commonality. You can’t go after only one as they might not represent the others and they all have different agendas apart from being anti Israel and anti Jewish. Jews Must stay together on this one and it is OK to coopt any friends in the battle. Jews should look here to build anti (you name them) groups with their own coalitions seeking common cause in opposition and for that they don’t have to be pro Israel just anti the groups you are opposed to. Betar is right to a point but a lot more is needed. I wold go so far as to get funding to have you name the number of the biggest looking tough guys you can find to be very visible in every on campus ralley demonstration, debate or any activity where Jewish groups feel threatened and vulnerable by these hate Jews and Israel groups . fighting fire with fire is a workable on the spot solution that can serve notice the the Jews won’t be bullied and coerced!The Jewish organiztion might be forced by Students actions to be more responsive , who knows?
Yamit, while I share your frustration and I may even agree with you, I hestitate to say so because I do not know what mean and so I am asking what do you mean by:
1. you can’t fight present and future wars using the mindset and tactics of yesterday.
What mindset and what tactics do you refer to?
What kind of mindset and tactics are you saying is necessary?
2. In order to counteract first their perception of us we must after proper recognition of the threat move into an aggressive defense and from there to aggressive attack.
What is the threat? What makes you think that there has not been a proper recognition of the threat?
Does your adjective aggressive go so far as to mean resorting to violence? If so, I would disagree, because violence is counter productive.
Short of violence, I have advocated not only a more aggressive approach, but a multifaceted one that employs various strategies and tactics and targets not only the anti-Israel crowd, but the universities and academic elite that provide the anti-Israel/Jewish crowd with a soap box from which to spew their venom and lies.
But again on this point, I would like to know whether you are advocating violence as a legitimate tactic?
3. Israel may be key here but you should not and cannot rely and trust that Israel will come through and provide the defensive umbrella.
I don’t know where you got that idea because that does not seem to be the thinking at all, even with the various Jewish organizations that I have repeatedly written to, urging them to adapt to the situation faced and devise strategies and tactics I have proposed that are specifically designed to meet varied challenges.
Please explain what you mean by this.
greenmamba: A version of your idea has been initiated by Betar,
See: http://www.jewishtribune.ca/TribuneV2/content/view/470/37/
The “Terror Built this Fence” campaign is better than what Jewish students have been told to do by mainstream groups: to sing and dance and highlight the positives of Israel.
When confronting people whose minds are bent on hate and destruction it will require a more robust campaign such as greenmamba’s “Palestinian Nazism Week” or “The Catastrophe of Islamic Conquest Week” to mount an effective defense in the eyes of the community.
The problem is that everyone from the Presidents of the universities to the young students mimicking their “Palestinian” activist friends to the union leaders who sound like Nazi sympathizers to the anti-Semitic Jews speaking up for Palestinians – all of them see the Jewish community as an easy mark that will hide, say very little (they laugh at our letters) and has no desire to counter the growing storm.
What the general community does not yet realize is that most of them are also in the sights of these same hate groups. Conservative groups have been targeted, secularists have been targeted, and gay groups have been targeted (even though they side with the Palestinian hate groups). If we start talking with our friends instead of worrying about dialogue with a Muslim community that refuses to stop or even condemn these acts, then we stand a fighting chance; otherwise, if we listen to the mainstream leadership, we will fail and this will spread uncontrollably and in very ugly ways.
Bill I know you see the threats but you see the threats within the frame of reference of past Jewish American and Canadian defenses against antisemitism in North America, that being employing Jewish proficiency in Using the Law Jewish communal organizations skills and power. The power of the Law and Logical and factual argument, all well and good but I fear you can’t fight present and future wars using the mindset and tactics of yesterday.
Jews are targeted today by a convergence of groups and ideologies because we are perceived as being weak and vulnerable. In order to counteract first their perception of us we must after proper recognition of the threat move into an aggressive defense and from there to aggressive attack. Israel may be key here but you should not and cannot rely and trust that Israel will come through and provide the defensive umbrella. I don’t even know what Jewish communal organizations are doing today or what the influence and functions are today but I fear that they are not up to the current tasks. The enemy respects only power and force debate will fall on closed minds especially where it counts. If the whole of the Jewish communities do not unite in common cause and attack back individual actions such as yours, Gary’s Bill’s and Ted’s will be equal to vaccinating already dead patients.
I don’t think this wave of antisemitism will just blow over and the disunity and refusal of Jews to take the threats seriously will only fan the flames. I had thought that 65 years after the Holocaust that some lessons had been learned but It seems not.
The only antidote I can think of is to mount a counter-campaign entitled, “Palestinian Nazism Week.” I’m quite serious about this and there’s plenty of evidence to support the thesis; far more than that linking Israel to Apartheid.
This is a time to fight fire with fire …. like the 1948 Jews did.
Yamit, you have Gary and I very wrong to suggest we are oblivious to what is going on around us.
We are amongst the handful who have repeatedly tried to do something to get major Jewish organizations to respond to this situation.
As for suggesting you were living in a bubble, I am afraid I do not recall saying that or the context I might have said it in.
Bill Narvey on another thread said I was living or thinking in a bubble well I think You Canadians and American Jews are living in a Bubble. You are being attacked and measured for ultimately pine boxes and you Jews don’t see it coming and don’t want too!
Please see this excellent article by a very understanding editor concerning the situation at McMaster:
http://www.ancasternews.com/opinions/article/124828
There is a rumor that the banners for Israel Apartheid Week (2009) have already been approved by McMaster University. If this is true, then any gains that were made on the Mac campus to prevent the hatefest will have been for nothing.
The President puts freedom of speech and his campaign to attract an Islamic centre funded by The Sheikh of Sharjah ahead of quelling the hate speech that he had a chance to stop (by supporting his Provost’s wish to stop it).
See: http://www.thespec.com/article/277052
The Major Jewish Organizations seem to be AWOL and downplaying the significance of this growing horror. They seem to think that they are on top of the situation but I see no evidence of any real support for our students to suggest that they are right.