As you may know, the Canadian Government is hosting a meeting of the Inter-parliamentary Coalition to Combat Anti-Semitism in Ottawa this week from November 7th-9th. It is widely expected that the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Anti-Semitism (CPCCA) will use this opportunity to present the findings of their recent inquiry into anti-Semitism in Canada.
To coincide with these meetings, the Toronto-based Palestine Freedom of Expression Campaign has released our own report –
“The CPCCA’s Hidden Message: Silencing Criticism of Israeli Apartheid - A Critical Report on the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Antisemitism”.
The full report is available online http://tinyurl.com/PFEXreport
As our report shows, this critical analysis of the CPCCA is widely shared. See, for example, two statements below:
KHALED MOUAMMAR - Toronto
Mouammar is the President of the Canadian Arab Federation (CAF). “The Canadian Arab Federation supports any initiative genuinely aimed at ending anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and all forms of racism. It has become clear that the CPCCA’s goals have far more to do with creating a political climate in which criticism of Israeli policies that violate Palestinian rights and international law will be treated as anti-Semitic hate speech. CAF expressed these concerns in a submission to the CPCCA, but we were not even invited to testify.”
ALAN SEARS - Toronto
Sears is a Jewish Canadian who is a professor at Ryerson University and a member of Faculty for Palestine. “I am deeply concerned that the CPCCA is aiming to redefine anti-semitism, shifting the focus from protecting the human rights of Jewish people to suppressing debate about Israeli policies and Palestinian rights. CPCCA’s mandate was biased from the beginning and it invited very little testimony from those who did not agree with their perspective. Faculty for Palestine is deeply disturbed by the CPCCA’s threat to academic freedom and freedom of dissent in this country.”
To ensure our critical analysis is available to parliamentarians, PFEX mailed a copy of the report to all Members of Parliament last week.
In that mailing we included two other important documents (also available on our website and attached here):
* "Palestinian civil society condemns repression in Canada against Palestine solidarity campaigns and
humanitarian efforts" (May 26, 2010) - a statement by the Palestinian Boycott Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC)
* "Le message caché du CPCCA: Faire taire la critique de l'apartheid Israélien" - French translation of the
report's Executive Summary
TAKE ACTION TODAY!
i. Read the report and attached statement from the Palestinian BNC, and share widely.
ii. Write to your MP. Remind them to read the report and ask them to support it. Encourage others to contact their MPs.
For more information on Palestine Freedom of Expression campaign:
http://www.
To contact us, send an e-mail to:
pfex@freeexpressionpalestine.
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