Is It Anti-Semitic to Defend Palestinian Human Rights? Part I are the campaigns that targeted Jewish professors Norman Finkelstein, author of many books on Israel and Zionism including Image and Reality of the Israel- By Edward C. Corrigan, BA, MA, LL.B. Palestinian Conflict, and Joel Kovel, author of Over- cross Canada and the U.S., there is an orga- coming Zionism: Creating a Single Democratic State in nized campaign to suppress criticism of Israeli Israel/Palestine. policies toward the Palestinians. The campaign Another tactic is to smear individuals supportive of A is especially strong on university campuses, the Palestinians with allegations of anti-Semitism. where many voices have been raised in support of One such individual was Archbishop Desmond Tutu. human rights for the Palestinians. A few complaints from the mainstream One such example is the attempt to Jewish community led to the Nobel suppress the Public Interest Research Prize Laureate being banned from Group, founded by Ralph Nader, at speaking on campus by the University the University of Ottawa, for its sup- of St. Thomas in Minnesota. Marv port for Palestinian rights. Similar Davidov, an Adjunct Professor with the anti-Palestinian campaigns have Justice and Peace Studies program at occurred at many universities in the University of St. Thomas said, “As Canada, including the University of a Jew who experienced real anti-Semi- Toronto, the University of Western tism as a child, I'm deeply disturbed Ontario and York University. that a man like Tutu could be labeled An attack on a student group sym- anti-Semitic and silenced like this …. I pathetic to the Palestinians occurred deeply resent the Israeli lobby trying to at the University of Western Ontario silence any criticism of its policy. It in 1982. The group was refused offi- does a great disservice to Israel and to cial recognition because of its support all Jews.” As a result of the strong for the Palestinians and for sponsor- Rabbi Michael Lerner backlash against the decision, and a ing Palestinian and Arab speakers. campaign led by Jewish Voice for After this refusal a complaint was Peace in support of the Archbishop made to the Ontario Human Rights which produced more than 6,000 let- Commission. ters of protest, the University rescind- After a long battle, and with the ed the ban. support of the Canadian Civil Liber- Professor Bill Robinson was a target ties Association and its General Coun- of a similar campaign over alleged sel Alan Borovoy, and a supportive anti-Semitism which was waged to get editorial in The Globe and Mail, the him fired at the University of California Ontario Human Rights Commission Santa Barbara (UCSB). Ultimately the compelled the University Students University administration defended Council at the University of Western Robinson’s academic freedom and the Ontario to issue a statement of regret right to express his opinions in his and to ratify the student group. The global politics class. Robinson, who is refusal was deemed discriminatory Jewish, had distributed an e-mail pre- against Palestinians and persons Hannah Arendt pared by a pro-Palestinian Jewish associated with them. (See "The Pales- activist that compared the Israeli tinian Question at the University: The Case of Western attack on Gaza to the Nazi attack on the Warsaw Ontario,” American-Arab Affairs, Summer 1987.) Ghetto. In response to this attack on Professor Robin- Over the last few years there has been a concerted son, more than 100 UCSB faculty members signed a attempt to suppress discussion of the Palestinian petition asking the university to dismiss the charges issue in North America, as well as campaign to punish against him. In addition, 16 university department those who have spoken out in support of the Palestini- chairs wrote letters to the University authorities ask- ans by cutting funding and by denying them tenure ing them to dismiss the case against Robinson. and even getting them terminated from their positions The campaign to silence critics of Israel is a viola- of employment. Two well-known examples of firings tion of free speech, academic freedom and of Palestin- ian human rights. When carried out by the govern- ment, it is also a violation of basic democratic rights. EDWARD C. CORRIGAN is a lawyer certified as a Specialist in A recent example is the cutback to the Canadian Arab Citizenship and Immigration Law and Immigration and Refugee Pro- Federation’s funding by Citizenship and Immigration tection by the Law Society of Upper Canada in London, Ontario, Minister Jason Kenney. The punitive action taken by Canada. He can be reached at [email protected] or at (519) 439-4015. continued on following page Nov./Dec. 2009/ 17 Minister Kenney is a denial of the rights of free speech Jewish State as utterly opposed to the principles of and freedom of conscience guaranteed in the Canadi- democracy which it is the avowed purpose of the an Charter of Rights and Freedoms. World's Peace Conference to establish. Whether the Dissenting Canadian Jewish groups like Not in Our Jews be regarded as a ‘race’ or as a ‘religion,’ it is con- Name (NION) and Independent Jewish Voices (Cana- trary to the democratic principles for which the world da), who are critical of the “Jewish war was waged to found a nation on State,” are simply ignored. For political either or both of these bases.” purposes they simply do not exist. The The argument is often made that mainstream media rarely covers these criticism of Israel, or rather the self- alternative Jewish perspectives. described "Jewish state," is anti- Documentation of Israeli human Semitic. The fact that many Jews rights violations on the part of respect- have criticized Israel and Zionism is ed organizations such as Amnesty deemed irrelevant. These Jewish crit- International, Human Rights Watch, ics are attacked as "self-hating Jews." The International Red Cross, the Unit- There is no rational basis for the ed Nations, and even Israeli organiza- argument that criticism of the State of tions such as B'Tselem, Rabbis for Israel and the political ideology of Human Rights and the Israeli Commit- Zionism is anti-Semitic. No state is tee Against Torture and by many above criticism. It makes no sense to Israeli journalists, are attacked and accuse an individual who criticizes buried under a barrage of criticism Apartheid South Africa's racist poli- that they are biased, unfair for sin- Isaac Asimov cies toward the blacks as evidence of gling out the Jewish state, or even racism toward whites. It would be anti-Semitic. equally absurd to argue that if one My own record as a lawyer repre- criticizes U.S. policy in Iraq, or the Jim senting refugee claims for Palestinians Crow laws that institutionalized dis- from the Occupied Territories made crimination against African-Americans against Israel, is 28 positives to one in the southern states, that one is negative, or a 96.5% success rate. But racist against Americans. There is also in the eyes of the supporters of Israel, much to criticize in the Arab world, this does not mean that there are seri- but it would be absurd to say that one ous human rights problems in the cannot criticize the Kingdom of Saudi Occupied Territories. It is the Immi- Arabia for its treatment of women or gration and Refugee Board of Canada its human rights record, because such that is “anti-Semitic,” and the Jewish criticism is racist toward Arabs or is members of the IRB who rendered anti-Muslim. No one would take seri- positive decisions on Palestinian ously a person who made such an refugee claims are “self-hating Jews.” argument. Noam Chomsky Israel’s citizenship and immigration To quote one American Jewish aca- procedures are unique in the world. demic on the comparison of Israel’s To qualify as a “Jew” in “the Jewish state” one must treatment of the Palestinians to the racist Jim Crow meet a racial or ethnic criterion or alternatively a reli- laws in the United States: “I grew up as a white girl in gious criterion. The Law of Return grants almost the Jim Crow South and I have spent my adult life in immediate citizenship rights to Jews from anywhere the study of racism; what I see when I go to Palestine in the world. Palestinians who were born in the coun- is Jim Crow on steroids”(“A Jewish state—or Jewish try and forcibly expelled are, for the most part, forbid- values?,” Tema Okun, Mondoweiss, 21 July, 2009). den to return. The Zionist State of Israel defines itself It is a basic right to evaluate a political ideology or as “Jewish” and structures itself to advance the inter- movement and review and even criticize a state's poli- ests of Jews at the expense of non-Jews, and especial- cies. The argument should be evaluated on the merits ly against the indigenous Christian and Muslim Pales- and truthfulness of the facts presented. It is also a tinian population. right to present alternative facts and to have a debate. In March 1919, United States Congressman Julius But when those on one side want to avoid debate, Kahn presented an anti Zionist petition to President divert the discussion or suppress the topic, and Woodrow Wilson as he was departing for the Paris launch personal attacks against their opponents, it is Peace Conference. The petition was signed by 31 an almost certain proof that they are hiding some prominent American Jews. The signatories included uncomfortable truths. Henry Morgenthau, Sr., ex ambassador to Turkey; Dr. Joel Beinin, in an article, “Silencing critics not Simon W.