Lots of stuff going on this week....

Most campus papers are back in swing, here is a taste of Israel in Canadian campus media this week.

I wrote an Excal editorial, though I often feel like I'm trying to stop a tidal wave with a teacup. Expect responses to rip me apart.

Uri Davis spoke last week at York, UofT and Queen's :

"'Israel remains the only apartheid state that is a member of the UN,' he said."

It got no coverage at York and I can't find any from UofT.

The McGill Daily has a lot of interesting content this week, a feature article about birthright israel that I didn't read fully, and a news story about Palestinian refugees in Canada that contains a few choice statements about Israel, including:

“There are atrocities being committed in the name of Judaism. These refugees are living proof of the atrocities.”

The other thing going on at McGill, of course, is an anti-Semite who has been standing around with posters, and the students who are saying Enough is enough. From The McGill Tribune.

Guelph accidentally scheduled clubs day for Rosh Hashana. But then they moved it. (OK, that really has nothing to do with Israel. whatever.)

Out in BC, a solitary letter to the editor in the Navigator learns this from 9/11:

What the U.S. people, the west, and Canada, for that matter, need to do is to put pressure on Israel to cease oppression of the Palestine and negotiate a peace there. The west needs to been seen pressuring Israel and not as seen supporting them alone.

I urge anyone who feels so moved to write a letter, opinion piece, or forward me articles of concern.

Urgent: Responses needed!

In this week's opinion section of York's Excalibur, Ghada Taweel writes:

These facts indicate one thing: The arrest of Palestinians is not a rare act reserved for so-called “security threats”. The abuse detainees face is not random or the result of poor training. Rather, Israel’s detention policies and the use of torture form a conscious state policy. It is an integral part of a colonial system designed to quash resistance to occupation.

York students should not stand idly by while things like this are being written. We need to respond to articles like this so that people see there is another side to the story.

Email letters to letters@excal.on.ca.

Dan Freeman-Maloy, again

In a signed editorial in the most recent issue of Excalibur, Dan Freeman-Maloy writes about the state of the world and mentions specifically: "the eruption of the current Palestinian uprising sparked brutal Israeli repression."

He elaborates on the theme later in the article.

Brock student writes about Al-Jazeera

No real Israel connection, but interesting nonetheless.

Why Al-Jazeera is important for Iraqi democracy - Brock Press - Opinion

McGill students - a Tribune article

A note about sequence might be just what the doctor ordered in this 'news' piece in the McGill Tribune this week.

When nationalism distracts from athletes in skimpy clothes - The McGill Tribune - news:

"A few weeks ago, the judo competitor from Iran appeared at his weigh-in looking a little pudgy, and was disqualified.

After years of training, did he throw it all away by succumbing to the tempting aroma of moussaka on the evening of the event? Hardly. Arash Miresmaeili, disqualified himself rather than tangle with his Israeli competitor, Ehud Vaks. Iranian policy is not to compete against Israelis, because to do so would recognize Israel's legitimacy as a country.

The Olympics has always been political, in the way that any organization bringing people together inevitably becomes politicized. One group counts as a nation, while another does not. Victory becomes a matter of national status."

I encourage reading the entire article. The problem with the article is that it presumes that Miresmaeili disqualified himself for political reasons rather than being disqualified and announcing that he did so for political reasons, when in fact he was just getting porky.

Anyhow, this news piece reads like an op-ed and deserves a few comments on the absolute right of Israel to exist.

Letters can be sent in here.

Update: If you all don't think it's a big deal, then feel free to ignore it. My function is simply to "crawl" student newspapers, as it were, and report on mentions of Israel in any context. It merely caught my eye because it's labelled news, but incorporates the personal opinions of the writer (a big no-no for news writing.)