More news out of Concordia...

An SPHR speaker was permitted to speak at Concordia, even when Barak was not, reports The Link:

"But according to Jason Portnoy, co-president of Concordia Hillel, this was not of his group's making.
We didn't have anything planned, he said. We agree with [Tarazi's] right to speak here. We don't agree with what he has to say, but we agree with his right to speak in the same way that we expect the organizers of this event to respect the rights to speak of our speakers."

No such luck.

The Silhouette: Opinions Section

McMaster students: The Silhouette has included an opinion piece that while it includes some true statements, is very critical of McMaster's Zionists.

"To be a Jew is not necessarily to be a Zionist. To be a Zionist is not necessarily to condone Israeli political action. The Zionists at McMaster may disagree with me, but I believe that one can support the idea of a State of Israel while at the same time condemn the ways in which it was established and the ways it continues to 'defend itself,' or rather, the type of political personality that it has developed."

and

"The Jewish Students Association should represent all Jews and Jewish viewpoints and its apparently strengthening alliance with the McMaster Zionists sends the simple message that all Jews support Israel. I strongly feel that this message is not at all simple, nor is it accurate."

Email: silopinions@msu.mcmaster.ca

Repeat Offender: Peak picks up Daily story

The marvel of campus syndication means that the SFU Peak was able to pick up the The McGill Daily feature article about birthright. Hat tip to reader Marc for pointing this out.

If you would like to write a letter to the editor, e-mail letters(at)mail.peak.sfu.ca

.

If people know people at Simon Fraser, perhaps pass this along.

One for the good guys

This week's Excal has Jewish students on campus finally showing some initiative with student Daniel Held writing in this opinion piece about Barak and how it relates to freedom of speech at York: "Pipes and Davis come from different worlds. Each has a right to speak, a right to teach and every student has a right to learn from them. The threats of violence by pro-Palestinian protesters cannot be rewarded by surrendering to their demands. Violence does not grant a veto. Violence cannot be the censor of freedom of speech. Violence has no place on a university campus. "

Yay Daniel.

Other interested students should write to letters@excal.on.ca. I can guarantee that next week will be "Israel is evil" week again.

I appreciate the IDF

Dan Freeman-Maloy's most recent editorial deserves its own post. Only a bit of it is about Israel, but what is, is telling.

The campaign manager for “Progress not Politics,” which presently controls the York Federation of Students (YFS), personally introduced Day’s talk as “our version of ‘shock and awe,’” (“Shock and awe” was the name of the US war plan to invade Iraq with a blitz of technology-intensive attacks). In October 2003, along the same lines, current YFS president Paul Cooper helped to organize an “Appreciation Day” for the Israeli army.

Good for Paul.

Say it loud, say it proud: I support the Israeli Defence Forces and their work to defend Israel.

Excal this week

Three articles this week and another editorial from Dan Freeman-Maloy round out this week's opinion sections of "Israel-Palestine Weekly" very well.

First off, props to Evan Lewis, a McGill grad who told it like it was in response to a ghastly piece in a previous issue (it's short enough that I can quote the whole thing.)

Recognize Israeli freedoms

By Evan Lewis
Contributor

Re: “Imprisoning the Intifada,” opinions, September 15, 2004

After spending four years at McGill University in Montreal, I have certainly read my fair share of baseless claims about Israel, which serve no purpose other than to vilify the country. I certainly was not surprised to read “Imprisoning the Infitada” by Ghada Taweel on September 15 in Excalibur.

Just how a campus paper can consent to such an unfounded statement like “Israel continues to practice torture” baffles me. The last time I checked, Israel was one of the only countries in the entire world to outlaw the use of torture. It’s funny how Taweel forgot to include this tidbit of fact.

Seemingly, a lot of facts seem to be missing in this piece. It is my hope that readers of this paper at York University see this too.

It gets worse.

Then, a personal attack on Hillel past president Joride Saperia, who wrote an op-ed last week:

Saperia’s letter is an abhorrent attempt to condemn all those who disagree with him. His analysis does not further the Sudanese plight.

And even worse.

One more op-ed.

The Israelis and their supporters must come to understand that no matter how many Palestinian homes are demolished, no matter how many people are jailed, and no matter how many Palestinian men, women and children are killed, the struggle to end Israeli occupation will continue.

Translation: We can expect more terrorists bombing innocent children eating at pizza shops and vacationing on Sukkot.

Say it like it is, Tarek Hammam. You want more innocent people to die.

This week

The holidays are over, things are heating up everywhere, and here are some tidbits from different campus papers.

In Brock, a Letter to the Editor:

7) Peace will never come to the Middle East while the Bush regime skews its policies towards Israel.

At U of Calgary, this news brief about an Israeli film series:

"When most people think of Israel, often the first word that comes to mind isn't 'film'. 'Ethnic conflict', 'terrorism' and 'war' are probably more commonly associated with that part of the world. An Israeli film series playing at the University of Calgary the next month may change that. Its primary focus is the human element in the religious conflict between the Israeli and Palestinian peoples. "

At Concordia, the Barak controversy is drawing student comment:

"I am truly embarrassed by such failures in a democracy in the 21st century. I am afraid to ask, but if my fellow students are not interested in free speech and inquiry for all of us on campus, regardless of a speaker's political opinions, than what exactly are we learning at school?"

At McGill, a new Jewish museum is making the daily news:

"It should be a learning laboratory for students who are interested in the history of Canada," he said.

The Montreal Jewish Museum will be part of an existing network of similar museums around the world with whom the committee intends to cooperate, coordinate, and share exhibitions. "

Religious sensitivity is an item of concern at UofT Scarborough:

"No, it's not that I wasn't invited, or that I didn't want to attend the first Megapub of the year. I was at home for the Jewish holiday, Rosh Hashanah, one of the most important religious days of the Jewish calendar.

Since realizing that the first major social event of the year was happening on a religious day, I have been debating just how sensitive the SCSU and other student organizations should be towards significant days of faith. "

Over here in the blogosphere, we are working very hard to put together our team of people who are going to report from their various campuses.

Email aliza1019[at]excite[dot]com if you want to be a part of it.

Conflict at Concordia event

This piece from the Link about a possible Barak visit to Concordia has been picked up on the Canadian University Press newswire and has been reprinted in The McGill Daily.

Details of the proposed talk were hard to come by from the university administration. Communications officer Dennis Murphy said only that a request has been submitted and is under review by a committee consisting of himself, vice-president services Michael di Grappa and other members of the administration.

"A request was received for Mr. Barak to give a lecture at a specific site at Concordia and that request is being looked at," said Murphy.

The site for the speech could prove to be an important factor in how smoothly the speech—if approved and coordinated—unfolds. In a memo released by the university after the Netanyahu events, it was recommended that the speech should have been held at the university's campus west of downtown, where it could have been easier to control the large crowd.

Both pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian groups are hoping for a different outcome this time.

Erik Yingling, vice-president of information of the Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights, said he sees the request for Barak to speak as provocation and that bringing controversial political figures to Concordia will only disrupt a campus that has been relatively peaceful since Netanyahu's attempted visit.

"It will divide people literally and figuratively. We spoke with a few people who aren't even necessarily supportive of the Palestinian cause and they rolled their eyes and said 'are you serious?' It's a no-brainer, people are going to be very upset."

I received an email that Concordia has denied the request - from Montreal Hillel:

FREEDOM OF SPEECH DENIED
AT CONCORDIA


First Ehud Barak, WHO'S NEXT ???


Join us for a FREE SPEECH RALLY:
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2004
12 PM at the corner of McKay and
De Maissoneuve


Please read the open letter below for more information.
Dear fellow student,


We are writing to ask for your support. Last week, Concordia University denied former Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Barak permission to speak anywhere on campus - including the quiet, and more easily guarded, Loyola campus - hiding behind a "security risk assessment".


They claim that they cannot effectively secure their campuses. We say that it is their duty to protect their students and to allow freedom of speech to exist on their campuses.


A small group of thugs are holding an entire university community hostage and deciding who is allowed to speak and who is not. All people who value democratic principles such as freedom of expression and speech should share our outrage with this intolerable situation.


This is not acceptable in our Quebec and Canadian society. We ask for your cooperation in FREEING speech. We will be gathering outside Concordia's Hall building on Tuesday at 12pm (Corner Mackay and Maisonneuve) calling for the Board of Governors, the Administration, the Faculty and students of Concordia to reclaim their campus.


This is a historic opportunity and no matter what your political affiliation is... This affects you!


Today is a day of great sadness for freedom of expression at universities and in Canadian society.


We invited Ehud Barak so that we could all learn from him. We have been told that the Administration has restored peace to its campuses. This unfortunate incident has demonstrated that we have appeased the violent side but we have not achieved true peace. Peace should not be confused with appeasement.


We will know that we have peace on campus when we can all learn together-when we can all reason together, safely, intelligently and constructively. For that, we and our parents sacrifice so much- in order to pay tuition and learn at this school.


In return, all we demand, is equal treatment and a safe learning
environment, just like everyone else.


Is that too much to ask?


Looking forward to your support,


Yacov Fruchter
Montreal Hillel President


Jason Portnoy
Concordia Hillel co-President

Check out the Hillel website for more details.

Last week, updated=this week

Last week, I wrote:

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.

Here we go this week :

"In her treatment of terrorism, we again notice Ms. Libman's bias. She rightfully denounces Beslan, the bus bombing in Beersheba, and 9/11. But she avoids putting these events into context. She conveniently forgets to mention the virtual razing to the ground of the Chechen capital of Grozny (home to one million people). She also forgets to mention that four times more Palestinians than Israelis have been killed during this Intifada. When a Palestinian bomber hits a bus full of civilians, that's terrorism, but when an Israeli helicopter gunship fires rockets into a crowd of civilians and one "suspected militant", that's also terrorism!"

No, that's self-defense, if the "suspected militant" is a known murderer.

Also, props to Hillel past-president Jordie Saperia for this excellent op-ed.

McGill continues in the train of schools (at last count, now four) that have hosted Uri Davis.

McGill Daily coverage:

The State of Israel is not a real democracy but an apartheid state aided by Canada in its deflagration of human rights, accused Dr. Uri Davis, founder of the Movement Against Israeli Apartheid in Israel.

More to come.