What is behind Canada’s “orphan vote” at the UN?

by Marion Kawas

Last month, the Canadian government changed its vote at the United Nations Third Committee on a resolution entitled “The right of the Palestinian people to self-determination”, from a “no” vote to a “yes”. That vote was maintained today at the UN General Assembly when it came up for final ratification. However, this single yes vote, or “orphan vote”, is just one of the 20 votes that Canada casts on resolutions regarding Israeli violations of human rights and international law, and support for Palestinians. On all other votes, Canada so far has stuck to its decade-old tradition of steadfast support for Israel at the UN by either voting against or abstaining on these resolutions.

If the Trudeau government really believed in the resolution they just voted “yes” on, why has this not translated into a change on at least some of their other votes as well? Why have they insisted on altering only this vote and going out of their way to assure the Zionist lobby that nothing else will change? Is it political opportunism, and if so, what are the motives?

There has been a lot of speculation that Canada is doing this to try and gain a seat on the UN Security Council in 2020. That analysis does fit with the hype that accompanied the initial vote change, that presented it as something significant and worthy of extended media coverage. Even though it was just a single vote and it was also made abundantly clear from the beginning that no other votes would change. But if it is a Security Council seat that is in play here, who are the advisers or other international players that have assured the Trudeau government that changing just this one vote will suffice? That this will be enough to garner support of sufficient members of the UN when the time comes? That the stink of hypocrisy that floats over changing only this one vote and absolutely no others will be brushed aside?

Along with the Security Council seat, other analysts have suggested the influence of being in a minority government as a factor. And the highlighting of the hypocrisy of the Liberals during the recent election on this issue of their UN voting record by the #IVotePalestine campaign may also have struck a nerve.

It may well be a combination of all of the above and even more that has not yet come to light.

All we can say for sure is that Canada changed one vote, and nothing else. Not only has the overall voting record at the UN remained identical, but Trudeau’s statements on other issues, like the recent protest at York University, have been the predictable regurgitation of the Zionist narrative.

It is important, however, to recognize that the Canadian government can stand up to the Israel lobby when it so wishes and when it suits its interests. It’s just that this behaviour, on the rare occasions that it occurs, is not and has never been predicated on any concern for Palestinian human rights or aspirations, but rather on purely imperial and self-centred motives.

We are left with only one conclusion – that Canada has not changed its policy on Palestine. Period. Although all of us in the solidarity movement are desperate for, and would be uplifted by, a genuine and serious change in Canada’s relentless anti-Palestinian tirade, this is not it.

It is flawed to claim that something is a good step in the right direction, unless it actually is followed by other similar steps on the same path. Otherwise it is simply a one-off exception, and activists need to understand why it is happening and what is the agenda. Liberal politicians in Canada are well-known for playing with the rights and demands of the Palestinian people, and this would not be the first time that such crass opportunism has happened.

Whether Trudeau is desperate for the legacy of the Security Council seat, or is using the tragedy of what the Palestinians suffer on a daily basis to prove he can stand up to Trump, or is trying to cement his standing in the midst of a shaky minority government, it is unconscionable to use the Palestinian people and their over 70 years of dispossession as pawns in his personal chess game. And that is not something for which he deserves any praise.

Article on Mondoweiss

Anti-Palestinian Racism is rampant in aftermath of York Student Protest!

(The coverage of our statement and other updates on Palestine Chronicle).

Last month, Palestinian students and their supporters at York University were thrust into the spotlight after holding a protest against an event that brought former Israeli soldiers to campus. What happened during that evening and the ensuing aftermath have been an eye-opening expose on how the Zionist lobby works to discredit and falsely smear Palestinian activists as “violent” and “anti-Semitic”.  A master class in how alarmist hyperbole, mixed with a dash of blatant fabrications, and then repeated often enough, can become accepted “fact”.

Students Against Israeli Apartheid SAIA-York and the other groups on campus should be commended for not only standing strong despite all the invective thrown at them, but also for forcing the parameters of the follow-up discussion to be broadened. The position of the university administration has changed since the initial reaction, although their false parity of penalizing both SAIA and the Zionist club on campus and their insistence on forced “mediation” is akin to telling Rosa Parks to sit and negotiate with the KKK.

However, York has now also been obliged to call for an independent inquiry into what happened, following a strongly worded letter from Amnesty International. We are certain that if there had not been such significant pushback since day one from so many diverse student and community groups, the university would have proceeded with sanctioning only SAIA and the pro-Palestinian protestors.

We hope that this investigation will deal with the behaviour of Herut Canada and how their Toronto leader, as early as November 22, stated that her security organizer had invited not only the Jewish Defense League, but also “Jewish motorcycle groups” who came out and provided “protection” for the event. Are we to believe that York University, or any post-secondary institute in Canada, approves of student groups bringing members of a motorcycle gang on campus for event security? We can only imagine the howls of indignation if SAIA had invited an “Islamist motorcycle group” (if one existed) to help them with security at their protest.

In fact, one of these biker groups mentioned by the Herut coordinator, Lauren Isaacs, is The Riders of the Covenant. Their FB page states the following: “The ROC seek to unite active, proud motorcycle riders and members of the public in using their combined influence to promote and protect the democratic, Judeo-Christian, civilized western societies way of living.” Really?! This is what York University stands for?

You would expect York University administration to clearly disassociate themselves from such blatant racism, and also denounce those who brought such forces onto campus. But no, they are busy focusing on their phony “facilitated mediation” and bragging about their “commitment to inclusion, respect and diversity”.

Multiple accounts of what happened on November 20th have been published that discredited the Zionist claims; but both the corporate media and politicians, especially PM Justin Trudeau, are maintaining the narrative that it was the student protestors that were “violent” and “anti-Semitic”. Just this past week, Trudeau insisted on repeating his smears during a ceremonial Menorah lighting on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. Lets reflect for a minute on how this seamless transition between a religious ceremony and an attack on students for exercising their democratic rights is considered acceptable. In fact, Trudeau also used the same occasion to declare how his government’s “enduring friendship with Israel remains”, after receiving criticism for his orphan vote at the United Nations Third Committee last month.

And the media. First the fabrications by the Jerusalem Post about who chanted what at the protest and then further inflammatory headlines and articles by the Toronto Sun, part of the PostMedia conglomerate. Both the Post and the Sun were forced to put revisions on at least one of their stories about what happened, and Canada Palestine Association has now submitted a complaint to the National NewsMedia Council about the Sun reporting.

What happened that night at York, and what followed and will still follow, is a critical test for Palestinian solidarity activism in Canada. The Zionist lobby is clearly becoming increasingly desperate and aggressive in its efforts to discredit and remove the Palestinian voice. This is a watershed moment for all activists – either we stand strong together or be prepared to weather the consequences, perhaps for years to come.

The Canadian media and Canadian politicians, including the PM, are as guilty as the Zionist and pro-Israel lobby in promoting anti-Palestinian racism. We in Canada Palestine Association tell all of them that racism against Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims is as repugnant and offensive as any other form of racism.

Media Complicity in Demonizing Palestinians

York University Update

“The damage has been done, the smear was repeated and repeated, and a half-hearted revision five days after the first story will not undue the harm that has been caused.”

This quote is from the article posted on the CPA website yesterday, entitled “Jerusalem Post admits to printing false info about York University protest”. That article detailed how false and dangerous accusations against pro-Palestinian supporters in a Jerusalem Post story had lacked any credible evidence and were eventually revised in updated versions.

But indeed, the smear becomes accepted fact. Just today, November 28, 2019, the Toronto Sun carried an inflammatory article by Joe Warmington, entitled “Did York University protestors commit a hate crime?” repeating the same false accusation, again referencing the Jerusalem Post and its quote from Shar Leyb. The original Sun article declared: “One person they may want to talk with is Calgary-born Shar Leyb, a Reservists on Duty speaker who — according to the Jerusalem Post — said “there were hundreds of posters that read ‘stop the IDF killers on campus,’ and ‘we do not let Zionists on York University campus” and we heard some outside chanting “Intifada, Intifada, go back to the ovens, you belong in Europe.’ I have never felt so much hate in my life.”

However, after we pointed out to them in an email exchange that even the Jerusalem Post had revised that quote and removed the second part of it, the Sun has now also revised their story. Mind you, they did not feel compelled to alter the misleading title.

Following the original exchange with the Jerusalem Post and a further query by Dimitri Lascaris, the paper is now on the 5th version of this particular article. FIVE versions in less than a week. Surely that points to the lack of any credibility of the one biased source for this information. Nonetheless, JPost still insists on repeating it in their introductory paragraph, although attributing it to only “several” protestors.

Even the right-wing FrontPage Mag has revised its story on who alleges to have heard this “chant” and the exact wording involved, but they also are still insisting on leading with this claim in their article and even in their title. Their source is also Shar Leyb, not surprisingly the same source as the Jerusalem Post.

This is how media works to demonize Palestinians and their struggle. First, its an angry mob of 600 who chanted this offensive slogan, then it was downgraded to a handful or several protestors. Then the actual quote from the one source is completely removed from the Jerusalem Post. But the seed has been planted and the tags of racist and anti-Semitic have been loosely thrown around, with even the spectre of “hate crimes” brought up. Will anyone, including PM Justin Trudeau, bother to review all of these developments and admit they were wrong to issue their dangerous accusations of anti-Semitism? And recognize the harm caused by their rush to embrace such fabrications and deceptions?

Jerusalem Post admits to printing false info about York University protest

Anatomy of a Zionist Smear Campaign

By Marion Kawas

On November 20, 2019, Israel advocacy club Herut Canada held a public meeting entitled “Reservists on Duty” at York University in Toronto. The meeting billed itself as a chance to hear from “real Israeli soldiers” about the “Arab-Israeli conflict, BDS and much more”.

Pro-Palestinian groups on campus and their supporters were concerned and outraged that the university administration was even allowing the meeting to go forward and called for a public rally to protest such an event. The Jewish Defense League JDL in Canada quickly announced that they would be on campus to “counter” the rally; despite an official warning from the university administration, the JDL were present, were provocative and violent, and sent one protestor to hospital.

The JDL head even posted a video of himself during their counter-demo saying “We’re getting the job done here at York University, the JDL is here in force, we’ll do what we have to do…”; screenshots of FB posts from JDL supporters or members bragged about how “one of my boys knocked one of their guys out”. Never Again Canada, a leading pro-Israel group, posted a video on their FB of this injured person with the Islamophobic intro: “Dirty screeching Islamist banseeshes unconscious on the floor…”

However, despite all of this open admission of violence and shocking racism, Canadian politicians including PM Justin Trudeau have leapt to the defense of the JDL provocateurs, not the students and their right to protest.

The Zionist lobby went into overdrive as soon as the event finished and tried to take hold of the narrative. The first reports tried to emphasize how “violent” the students and their supporters were (even though it was one of their numbers who suffered a concussion) and repeatedly misrepresented the chant of “Viva, viva, intifada”, claiming it was somehow a slogan calling for the destruction of Israel.

However, the campaign to rewrite what happened at York really took off after a Jerusalem Post story was posted on November 21, 2019 (then dated Nov. 23 and revised Nov. 26), that opened with the following in the original version:

“’Intifada, Intifada, go back to the ovens,’ 600 violent, pro-Palestinian protesters chanted at Jewish students on Wednesday during a pro-Israel event at York University.”

And note the parameters here: 600 violent protestors (a coordinated action by the whole rally) chanting at “Jewish students”.

Almost every story written by pro-Israel commentators after that referenced this Jerusalem Post report, flaunting it as evidence of the nasty type of “anti-Semitism” inherent in Palestinian events. And it is a serious and dangerous accusation, one that you would think would require fact-checking and proof before printing.

I double-checked with the Jerusalem Post regarding any verification for the claim in their story. The author of the article replied in an email: “One of the speakers who was there – Shar Leyb – told me that this was chanted by the group while they were setting up for their event. I have a recording of him telling me this from when we spoke on Thursday afternoon.”

So there you have it. No hard proof, nothing but anecdotal and second-hand evidence from one extremely biased source with a very specific agenda.

And then, mysteriously, a few hours after my first email to Jerusalem Post, there appeared an updated version of the article with an editors note at the bottom saying: “A mistake in editing accidentally attributed the chant “Intifada, Intifada, go back to the ovens” to all of the protestors at the event. This was not the case. The comment was made by a handful of protestors to some of the organizers.”

A mistake in editing!! So clearly the first claim was bogus, false and could not be verified. Are we to believe the new version, which again will be solely based on the word of the same speaker from the event? The damage has been done, the smear was repeated and repeated, and a half-hearted revision five days after the first story will not undue the harm that has been caused. This is journalism at its worst; it is dangerous and shows no regard for the consequences of such a smear campaign. It also cheapens and distracts from the real acts of anti-Semitism.

It is incumbent on the Jerusalem Post to release this audio recording they claim to have, because we need to clarify how this dangerous fabrication came about. Was it from the speaker, Shar Leyb, or was it from the newspaper staff itself?

Multiple groups and individuals from diverse backgrounds who were at the event, including the Palestinian students, a member of Independent Jewish Voices Canada, folks from Christian Peacemakers Team and CUPE 3903 to mention just a few, had already strongly disagreed with these reports of what took place. Furthermore no video evidence had been produced to back up the claim; lawyer Dimitri Lascaris wrote a comprehensive blog piece that carefully documented and refuted the accusations of the Israel lobby.

He said in a follow up email: “I was not there but I have spoken to numerous participants and have viewed over 50 distinct video clips of the event, including videos posted on Never Again Canada and by other promoters of Israel. I heard no such language in any of the videos. Moreover, if in fact the group chanted this and a pro-Israel person in the crowd heard it, it is inconceivable that there would not be a recording of it. Surely someone would have shot a video of this and shared it widely on social media and with the Jerusalem Post.”

The events at York University have already taken on an international dimension with coverage from media in Lebanon; there was also a joint statement of support issued by the South African Union of Students and BDS South Africa in which they condemned “the recent violence against human rights defenders at York University in Canada.”

Many activist and community groups in Canada are calling for PM Justin Trudeau to stop slandering the student protest as “anti-Semitic” and “violent”, and are also calling on the York university administration to better protect students. This behaviour from politicians and officials is dangerous and inflammatory; it can and most likely will lead to further anti-Palestinian racism and targeting of student activists. How sad that once again, as in Gaza, the Israel lobby succeeds in convincing others to blame the victim for the violence inflicted on them.

As noted by Canada Palestine Association in their statement to the Canadian PM:

“It is not racist to protest against the occupation army that daily humiliates and subjugates our people. It is not racist to protest against the Israeli military that earlier this month murdered 9 members of the same family in Gaza, and then claimed it was a “mistake”.

It is legitimate for Palestinians and their supporters to ask the Israeli military, press, and government: how many mistakes will Palestinians be forced to endure, how many mistakes will be allowed for the pro-Israel hasbara?

What happened at York University, both during and after the Nov. 20 meeting, is a microcosm of developments in the Palestinian solidarity movement: support is building, people are pushing back and challenging the Zionist lobby narrative, and pro-Israel groups and the Israeli government themselves are becoming increasingly desperate in their efforts to stop the cracks in their crumbling hegemony over public opinion.

This article was carried in Palestine Chronicle.

Tell PM Justin Trudeau: Stop slandering Palestinian students!

Canada Palestine Association-Vancouver is outraged at the dangerous accusations that are being circulated after the events on November 20, 2019 at York University.

In the evening of November 20th, an Israel advocacy club at York University hosted an event featuring former IDF soldiers. The meeting billed itself as a chance to hear from “real Israeli soldiers” about the “Arab-Israeli conflict, BDS and much more”.

Pro-Palestinian groups on campus and their supporters were, not surprisingly, outraged and called for a rally to protest such an event. The Canadian Jewish Defense League JDL then publicly announced it was planning to be at the York campus to “counter” the planned protest. Even the university administration felt compelled to warn the JDL in an official letter “to not engage in inappropriate behaviour”. 

What transpired that night is already known – the protest went ahead, the JDL was on campus and insisted on being violent and disruptive, and one pro-Palestinian supporter was sent to hospital. However, the response after has been more shameful than what actually took place.

The Zionist lobby rushed to focus in on allegations that it was the pro-Palestinian protesters that were violent and “anti-Semitic”, and even claimed that the chant of “Intifada, intifada, go back to the ovens” was part of the protest (but offered no proof). Multiple witnesses at the scene have stated they observed no such behaviour and others who have viewed most of the videos that have been posted from the evening (and there are many) made the same observation. They also point out that if any evidence existed, it would surely have been made public by now.

And CUPE 3903 from York, whose member was the one sent to hospital, also issued an official and strongly-worded statement slamming the university administration for its failure to protect its students and employees.

But none of this seems to have stemmed the tide of once more blaming the victim for what befalls them. As in Gaza, where Palestinians are routinely blamed for “bringing Israeli violence on themselves”, so goes the narrative at York University. Never mind that the JDL head posted a video of himself during their counter-demo saying “We’re getting the job done here at York University, the JDL is here in force, we’ll do what we have to do…” or that screenshots of FB posts from JDL supporters or members bragged about how “one of my boys knocked one of their guys out”.

First the university administration took a one-sided position, right wing politicians like Ontario premier Doug Ford got in on the act, and finally PM Justin Trudeau joined in on November 22 tweeting his condemnation of the students.

We call on all Palestinian community and solidarity organizations to speak out about this threat to our right to protest, our right to our lived narrative and our right to bring the Palestinian story forward. We also call for an apology from PM Trudeau. It is not racist to protest against the occupation army that daily humiliates and subjugates our people. It is not racist to protest against the Israeli military that earlier this month murdered 9 members of the same family in Gaza, and then claimed it was a “mistake”.

What is RACIST is to side with Israeli war crimes, ethnic cleansing and terrorism. What is RACIST is to blame the Palestinians, the victims, and then tell them they have no right to raise their voices against their oppression.