Please read these articles of interest that relate to the cuts to funding for KAIROS. The first full article posted below is an important article from The (Israeli) Alternative Information Center’s Michael Warschawski "on the use, and the emptying of all meaning, of the charge of anti-Semitism." This article has also been distributed by Muzzle Watch associated with the Jewish Voice for Peace. Also attached below is the article "$7 million muzzling shocker- Canadian government cuts off funds for church group it calls anti-Semitic," by Cecilie Surasky, Muzzle Watch, December 19, 2009. Both articles attack the use of the allegation of anti-Semitism to suppress criticism of Israel and its policies toward the Palestinians.
KAIROS is supported by virtually every major Christian church in Canada whose 12 representatives make up its Board of Directors. I wonder what would happen if these same Christian Churches (nominally representing about 75 to 80% of Canada's population) went after your Conservative government with the same gusto as Israel's supporters devote to their political endeavors? The two most important Canadian papers The Toronto Star and Globe and Mail have already published an editorial (the Toronto Star) and several op-eds condemning this action. See links below:
I am also attaching links to an article I wrote titled "Is it Anti-Semitic to Defend Palestinian Rights?" which was submitted to The Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Antisemitism and will appear in a forthcoming issue of Outlook magazine published by the Canadian Jewish Outlook Society. The first part has been published in their November-December issue. It also has been published in The Canadian Charger, Media Monitors Network, The Dominion (Canada) and a number of other ezines. The article quotes many Jewish critics of Israel's policies toward the Palestinians and argues that it is racism against Palestinians to use the allegation of anti-Semitism to suppress individuals who are defending Palestinian human rights. A revised version is being published as a chapter of a book to be published by The Canadian Charger responding to the Canadian Parliamentary Coalitiont to Combat Anti-Semitism.
Please restore the funding to KAIROS and stop using false allegations of anti-Semitism to enforce an anti-democratic, authoritarian and anti-Palestinian political agenda
Edward C. Corrigan
Barrister & Solicitor
Certified Specialist in Citizenship and Immigration
and Immigration and Refugee Protection
383 Richmond Street, Suite 902
London, Ontario, Canada
N6A 3C4
(tel) 519-439-4015
(fax) 519-439-7657
Toll free 1-800-883-6217
web site www.edcorrigan.ca
"Shabby Tory smears, Toronto Star Editorial, December, 20, 2009
http://www.thestar.com/
"Harper acting like an elected dictator," by Haroon Siddiqqui, The Toronto Star, December 20, 2009.
http://www.thestar.com/
"Stephen Harper and the Jewish Question," by Gerald Caplan, The Globe and Mail, December 11, 2009.
http://www.theglobeandmail.
Canada: "Is the Harper government playing the anti-Semitic card?" by Gerald Caplan, The Globe and Mail, (Canada's national newspaper) December 22, 2009
http://www.theglobeandmail.
"Is it anti-Semitic to defend Palestinian human rights?" By: Edward C. Corrigan, Dissident Voice, 1 September, 2009.
http://dissidentvoice.org/
This article "Is it anti-Semitic to defend Palestinian human rights?," was re-published by Occupation Magazine in Israel.
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_
Rabble also published an excerpt titled, "Suppressing dissent on campus?," by Edward C. Corrigan
Rabble.ca, September 1, 2009. Here is the link to the short article.
http://rabble.ca/news/2009/09/
Here are the articles written by Michael Warschawski and Cecilie Surasky from the Jewish Voice for Peace.
http://www.alternativenews.
An Outrageous and Pathetic Weapon Against BDS: Stop Instrumentalizing Anti-Semitism!
Canadian Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, Jason Kenney .
Canadian Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, Jason Kenney .
Every time the State of Israel is confronted with substantial international criticism for its political behavior and its violations of basic international standards, it counter-attacks by using the infamous tool of accusations of anti-Semitism. One remembers the campaign on anti-Semitism launched by Ariel Sharon and his friends throughout the world, Jews and non-Jews, after the murder of Muhammad al-Dura in Gaza in September 2000, in order to create a diversion (in the very words of Roger Cukierman, then chairman of the French Jewish umbrella organization—CRIF) and to transform the victim into a victimizer and the victimizer into a victim: for more than two years, western media “exposed” the anti-Semitism of the critics of Israel instead of denouncing the massacres committed by the Israeli military in Gaza and the West Bank.
Sixty five years after the end of WWII, the ashes of the victims of Nazi genocide have not yet disappeared from the sky of Poland, and the accusation of anti-Semitism remains connected to one of the bloodiest crimes of the twentieth century; as French journalist, Daniel Mermet, one of the targets of this campaign, pointed at, “no accusation can be worse, and even after you are proved not guilty of charge, the bad smell of such an accusation will be with you forever.”
The massacre in Gaza, a year ago, provoked a world-wide outrage, bigger even than in 2000-2002. The U.N. was forced to appoint an inquiry commission, and its report—the Goldstone report—is devastating for Israel. Moreover, for the first time since the establishment of the State of Israel, an international campaign calling for sanctions against Israel for its innumerous violations of international law, has been successful in drawing huge public attention and initiating a great number of mobilizations and initiatives around the world.
For the Israeli government and its friends, the time has come to take from the shelf the rusty old weapon of anti-Semitism accusations, a message that was heard loud and clear by the Canadian Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, Jason Kenney. At the Global Forum for Combating Anti-Semitism, held in Jerusalem on 16 December, the Minister stated: “We have articulated and implemented a zero tolerance approach to anti-Semitism.” So far so good, but he continued: "We have defunded organizations, most recently like Kairos, who are taking a leadership role in the boycott (against Israel).”
Accusing Kairos, an umbrella organization that includes most of the Christian churches in Canada, of anti-Semitism is ridiculous and pathetic. Ridiculous, because the record of Kairos is crystal clear on the issue of BDS and its position is not the one that Minister Kenney accuses it of, and pathetic, because it is a re-heated dish that will not work a second time.
Already in 2004, there were signs indicating that the instrumentalization of anti-Semitism by Israeli propaganda machine was losing its efficiency and even becoming counter-productive; no doubt that, five years later, only a few people will accept to be blackmailed by such an outrageous false-accusation.
Worse, however, is that this old/new maneuver by “friends” of Israel like Kenney, is a symptom of the banalization of anti-Semitism. If everything is anti-Semitism, then there is no anti-Semitism at all. But, unfortunately, anti-Semitism has not disappeared from our world, and manipulating it for goals that have nothing to do with it, is playing right into the hands of the real anti-Semites.
To Jason Kenney, one must say very clearly “stay out of our struggle against anti-Semitism, and do not try to manipulate it for causes totally foreign to the anti-racist values which are motivating it. It is too important and too serious to be instrumentalized by your political agenda.”
We are proud of the success of the international BDS campaign. Minister Kenney may disagree with it, but hands off of any accusation of anti-Semitism concerning our campaign. Anti-Semitism is a dangerous threat to the public health of our societies and so are accusations that are manipulated for a political agenda that has nothing to do with it.
http://www.muzzlewatch.com/
$7 million muzzling shocker- Canadian government cuts off funds for church group it calls anti-Semitic
Posted on December 19 2009 by Cecilie Surasky under BDS , Government , NGO Monitor.
Despite a 35-year collaboration, the Canadian church group KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives, “one of Canada’s most respected and important charitable organizations,” was stunned when their likely routine 7 million dollar request for the human rights program was denied by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). But they were even more surprised when they discovered why: although the group’s board had made public their opposition to sanctions and boycotts against Israel 2 years earlier, Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney in a speech he gave this week in Israel charged the group with being anti-Semitic for “taking a leadership role in the boycott.” Kenney, speaking at the Global Forum for Combating Anti-Semitism, said they were “defunding” groups as part of their new “zero-tolerance” approach to anti-Semitism. (Read the full text of his speech here. )
In his speech, Kenney included in a list of acts of anti-Semitism, like the spray-painting of swastikas on a Canadian Holocaust memorial, the spray-painting of the phrase “Stop the Israeli genocide in Gaza”.
Anti-human rights/Israel lobby group NGO Monitor built an extensive dossier on KAIROS– which represents Canada’s Mennonites, the Anglican, United and Catholic Churches and does work in some of the poorest regions of the world.
Kairos came under fire for co-sponsoring, along with 50 other groups, an international Sabeel conference in 2005 on morally responsible investment. (Sabeel is “an ecumenical grassroots liberation theology movement among Palestinian Christians,” and Jewish Voice for Peace frequently co-sponsors Sabeel conferences here in the United States.)
In this comprehensive and thoughtful 2008 strategy paper on using “economic advocacy measures… to advance peace between Palestinians and Israelis, ” KAIROS said:
KAIROS affirms the desire of the Israeli people for a secure homeland, recognizing the long, terrible and continuing history of anti-Semitism, and the vital role of Israel to Jewish people around the world. KAIROS also recognizes the great suffering of the Palestinian people, many of whom live as refugees in surrounding countries, and others who have lived under Occupation for 40 years, and affirms their right to a secure and viable homeland. KAIROS calls for an end to the Israeli Occupation of Palestinian Territories and for two secure states based on the June 4, 1967 borders.
They also explicitly rejected “sanctions against Israel” and “a boycott of products from Israel.” But in line with the universal recognition of the illegality of settlements, they did also advocate for things like:
limiting the geographical applicability of Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement to within the 1967 borders of the State of Israel; and
enforcing a certification of origin for goods coming from settlements in the Occupied Palestinians Territories;
and, almost identical to the Presbyterian Church USA’s strategy:
That where KAIROS members opt to pursue shareholder action respecting Canadian companies doing business in Israel or the Occupied Palestinian Territories (that are contributing directly or indirectly to violence, occupation or other human rights abuses in the region), shareholder action shall move through several stages, from dialogue with senior company management to filing shareholder proposals and, as a last resort, divestment.
So, after so much thoughtful and sensitive delving into ways to responsibly use economic pressure and investment, what did they get for their troubles? Charges of anti-Semitism.
(At Jewish Voice for Peace, where we have devised a similarly nuanced approach to economic pressure that works for us, choosing to focus on companies that profit from the occupation, or groups that fund settlements, we’ve seen from day one how pro-occupation groups purposefully and immediately ignore the facts, and raise the urgent flag of anti-Semitism as a strategy to kill virtually any resistance activity that goes beyond nicely asking the Israeli government to stop violating international law. Ironically, as they deny more and more people the right to boycott settlement goods only, they leave them with no choice but to boycott all Israeli products. )
A KAIROS official responded in The Star:
“It’s a horrible charge to make, and to do it with so little thought cheapens the reality of anti-Semitism in the world and diminishes the very careful attention that it deserves,” said United Church spokesperson Bruce Gregersen. “We’re quite disappointed in the government on this.
“The policies of KAIROS have all been approved by the collective board of KAIROS, so in a sense what Mr. Kenney is doing is accusing Canadian churches of being anti-Semitic and I think that’s really unfortunate,”
KAIROS director Mary Corkery told the Anglican Journal
“We do criticize actions of the Israeli government and we do support an independent, viable Palestinian state, so we have criticized the settlements, the barrier wall, the occupation of the West Bank, yes, but that can not be associated with anti-Semitism.”
Corkery said that Kairos had also heard from a number of Jewish people who objected to Kenney’s association of anti-Semitism with criticism of Israel. “They may not agree with us, but they don’t want that. That doesn’t honour anybody,” said Corkery.
KAIROS claims they were confused with a document that was recently released by Christian Palestinian leaders called Kairos Palestine, 2009: A Moment of Truth, which states “We see boycott and disinvestment as tools of justice, peace and security,” endorsing BDS as a form of solidarity for international faith-based organizations. Canada’s KAIROS has nothing to do with this statement.
The Liberal party believes KAIROS “was censured for joining seven religious denominations in speaking out against Conservative policies on climate change, overseas mining operations, aboriginal rights, immigration and international trade.”
We’ll give KAIROS the last word from their December 18 press statement:
Minister Kenney’s charge against KAIROS is false. KAIROS did not lead this campaign. In 2007, KAIROS took a public position opposing sanctions and a boycott of Israel.
A recently released document, Kairos Palestine, 2009: A Moment of Truth, is not a document of KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives. Kairos is a Greek word meaning “God’s time” and is commonly used by Christian groups.
A Minister of the Crown says that his government decided, for what is a highly political reason, to cut funds for a proposal developed in consultation with and approved by CIDA.
Canadians need the truth.
Two points must be made: criticism of Israel does not constitute anti-Semitism; and CIDA was developed to fund international aid and not to serve political agendas.
Minister Kenney’s statement, in a highly charged environment, raises very disturbing questions about the integrity of Canadian development aid decisions. If aid decisions are based on political rumour rather than on due diligence, development criteria and CIDA’s own evaluation process then this is a matter of grave concern for the entire international development sector — and for the Canadian people who pay for this aid.
Many non-governmental organizations have proposals before CIDA that have been on Minister Oda’s desk for months. Others are about to apply for funding. How can they possibly trust this decision-making process in the future?
In the past two weeks, Canadians from across the country have called for the restoration of CIDA funding to KAIROS.
People working for human rights are the true victims of the funding cut to KAIROS. This decision cuts funding for a new legal clinic in the Congo to help women who have been raped in the brutal conflict there. The 5,000 members of the Women’s Popular Organization in Colombia will lose funding for life-saving protection against rampant human rights abuses in their country.
To label KAIROS criticism of Israeli government actions as “anti-Semitic” silences dissent and honours no one. KAIROS has a clear position of support for the legitimate right of the Israeli people to a safe and secure state.
Actually, KAIROS, a third point needs to be made. It is true that there will always be some who harbor anti-Jewish hatred, like the vicious anti-Semite David Duke, who opportunistically join the Palestinian liberation movement and who should be opposed at every turn. (I’d argue that the entire Christian Zionist right is built on an anti-Semitic doctrine which wants to see Jews either incinerated or converted.)
But the fact remains that there is absolutely nothing inherently anti-Semitic about BDS ( boycotts, divestment and sanctions.) As Israeli professor Neve Gordon said, he supports it as a way to save Israel from itself. Further, it follows in a long and extraordinary tradition of nonviolent resistance to injustice, no matter where it occurs.
KAIROS has posted this list of seven ways you can help. Read it and act.
-Cecilie Surasky
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