On Tuesday, January 11, 2011, the Jewish Defense League of Canada (JDL) will be hosting a rally in support of the Islamophobic English Defense League (EDL) in Toronto. The JDL is hosting an online address from Tommy Robinson, the leader of the EDL. Both groups have a history of violence aimed at Arab and Muslim people. We are community groups that work daily to fight racism. We have come together to condemn the Jewish Defense League for their Islamophobia and for their support for the racist English Defense League.

Who is the English Defence League (EDL)?
The English Defence League is a far-right extremist organization that was founded in 2009. Their organizing principles are to oppose the ‘spread of Islam’ in the United Kingdom. The EDL has organized violent street marches that target Arab and Muslim people.They operate in the UK, but have been reaching out internationally to make links with extreme-right groups in Sweden, the United States, Canada and Israel. They are part of the alarming rise in fascist, racist and neo-Nazi organizing in Europe over the last few years, including attacks on Muslims, immigrants and Roma people.

Who is the Jewish Defense League (JDL)?
The JDL is a far-right, pro-Israel organization that was founded in the 1960s by Meir Kahane, an extremist who advocated violence against, and even the mass-murder of Palestinians and Arabs. The racist, violent ideology advocated by Kahane, and embraced by the JDL, has motivated hate crimes against Palestinians and other Arab people. An FBI report has identified the JDL as “a right-wing terrorist group” and Kach and Kahane Chai – two groups associated with the Kahanist movement – were even banned in Israel for their extremism.

In Canada, the JDL is allowed to operate with impunity. They have not been condemned by the government and are often interviewed by the media as a legitimate organization. They are led by Meir Weinstein – a longtime follower of Kahane, who was a spokesperson for the Kahanist movement and once joined a Facebook group called ‘Death to the Arabs’.  This rally is part of their escalating racist tactics – they have a history of bullying and intimidation of Palestine-solidarity activists in this city.

Who are we?
We are community organizations that are alarmed by the rise of extremist right-wing groups globally.  These groups are exploiting the global economic crisis, to stir up racist and anti-immigrant sentiment. We have seen the consequences of extremist right-wing organizing too many times in history. We will fight any attempts to use racism and hatred to divide poor and working people.

As community organizations that work daily to fight racism, we have come together to denounce this racist and fascist rally in our city. As long as groups like the JDL and EDL are spreading their hatred and violence, we will be here to oppose them.

RACISTS ARE NOT WELCOME IN OUR CITY!

Signed (in alphabetical order):
Anti-Racist Action (ARA) – Kitchener-Waterloo
Barrio Nuevo
BASICS Community News Service
Canadian Arab Federation
Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid (CAIA)
Common Cause – Toronto Branch
Community Solidarity Network
CUPE Local 1281
Educators for Peace and Justice (EPJ)
Faculty 4 Palestine
First Nations Solidarity Working Group
Greater Toronto Workers’ Assembly
Guelph Sense Of Security
Independent Jewish Voices Toronto
International Jewish Anti-Zionish Network (IJAN), Toronto
International Socialists
Justicia for Migrant Workers (J4MW)
KW Spot Collective
Labour for Palestine
Latin American and Caribbean Solidarity Network (LACSN)
No One is Illegal – Toronto (NOII)
Not in Our Name (NION): Jewish Voices Opposing Zionism
Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP)
Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG-Toronto)
Palestine House Community Centre
Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (QuAIA)
Socialist Project
Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA-UT)
Teachers for Palestine (T4P)
Toronto Coalition to Stop the War
Toronto New Socialists
Women in Solidarity with Palestine (WSP)

We invite groups to sign on to this Community Open Letter Denouncing the Jewish Defense League’s Rally in Support of the English Defense League. To sign on, please email endapartheid@riseup.net

The Bay drops Ahava: A victory for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement in Canada

By: Mary-Jo Nadeau
Published on Rabble.ca
January 20, 2011

This month, the Hudson Bay Company (HBC) have discontinued sales of Ahava cosmetic products. Ahava is an Israeli company that has been a target of the Palestinian campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel.

HBC was the main retailer in Canada that carries Ahava’s line, and has been targeted by a number of Palestine solidarity group over the past 18 months. Many participated in the campaign across the country, including Tadamon in Montreal, the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid in Toronto, with Canadians for Peace and Justice in the Middle East being the latest group to join in.

HBC’s decision was seen as a major BDS victory, and is being widely celebrated by BDS activists. After receiving a deluge of angry pro-Israeli e-mails and supportive pro-Palestinian e-mails, HBC partnered up with the Canada-Israeli Committee (CIC) to issue a joint statement announcing that the discontinuation of Ahava was a business decision, not a political one.

In addition to revealing that Ahava sales have been declining for some time, and admitting that it was not profitable to carry their products, HBC also affirmed their support for Israel and promised to launch a reformulated Ahava line the spring. Pro-Israel groups quickly declared victory and proclaimed that HBC made a business decision that had nothing to do with BDS.

A debate is now taking place within the BDS movement about whether the HBC decision is a victory. We believe that it is, and here’s why.Read more

Faculty for Palestine (F4P) Toronto, Canada – December 9, 2010

On December 7, 2010, members of the Ontario Legislature condemned an MA thesis written by Jenny Peto, a recent graduate of the Sociology and Equity Studies program at OISE-UT (Transcript from the Legislature). This unprecedented denunciation of an MA thesis in the legislature comes on the heels of criticism of the thesis by people associated with Israel advocacy organizations, which received coverage in the National Post and the Toronto Star.

Faculty for Palestine (F4P) is calling for immediate and widespread condemnation of the use of public power to intimidate individual students and faculty members and, ultimately, to regulate what can be said and done in Canadian universities. It is no coincidence that these MPPs are targeting the work of a well-known Palestine solidarity activist who has been outspoken in her support for the campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israeli apartheid.  These same MPPs have a consistent record of attacking Palestine solidarity activity and defending increased trade relations with Israel.  This is a blatantly political attack, and we reject these MPPs’ claim to be motivated by a concern about the scholarly legitimacy of Ms. Peto’s academic work.

We fully support and commend Ms. Peto and OISE-University of Toronto faculty for their continued defense of the thesis.  Entitled “The Victimhood of the Powerful: White Jews, Zionism and the Racism of Hegemonic Holocaust Education” Ms. Peto, who is herself Jewish and the grandchild of Holocaust survivors, takes a critical look at Zionist Holocaust education. She presents the argument that today, anti-Semitism and the Holocaust are often used to deflect criticism of Israel. Far from being an anti-Semitic tirade, this thesis is an anti-racist reclamation of Jewish history and a denunciation of those who abuse this history in support of the policies of the State of Israel including apartheid. What makes the attacks on Ms. Peto even more absurd is the fact that similar (yet not identical) arguments were made by Avraham Burg -former Speaker of the Israeli Knesset, former Cabinet Minister in Israel, and former Chairman of the Jewish Agency-  in his recent book The Holocaust is Over, We Must Rise from its Ashes. None of the MPPs or the pro Israel lobby groups rose to criticize him. In this case however, they were quick to condemn the academic work of Ms. Peto because she is a Palestine solidarity activist who advocates for a boycotting, divesting from, and imposing sanctions on Israel until it complies with international law.

As documented recently by an Al Jazeera report and other publications, attacks on pro-Palestinian organizations and individual activists are escalating in Canada – the defunding of the Canadian Arab Federation and KAIROS, the banning of George Galloway, the condemnation of Israeli Apartheid Week, attempts to ban QuAIA from pride – the list goes on and on.  The wave of repression was even condemned by the Palestinian civil society organizations.  Faculty for Palestine believes that academic freedom and freedom of expression are under serious attack by advocacy organizations seeking to silence criticism of the state of Israel.

This F4P statement has now been endorsed by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI).  Located in Ramallah, Palestine, PACBI is a major part of the Palestinian Boycott Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC). To view this statement on the PACBI website, please please click here.

CALL FOR ACTION.