Tuesday, April 30, 2013
First, the University of Manitoba Student Union stripped the Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA) from club status. Their argument was that Zionism is a national identity that represents Jewish aspirations in Palestine. To them, the activities of SAIA pose a threat to this "identity" and to Zionists. Without conducting any research regarding the validity of this claim, they concluded that it is appropriate to ban a student club that advocates for Palestinian rights and exposes Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity in Palestine.
Then, the University of Regina Student Union rescinded a Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) resolution against Israel. They argued that such a resolution is detrimental to peace efforts in Palestine - as if peace is going to be attained at the University of Regina. They ignored the fact that BDS is the ultimate form of non-violent resistance (something that the West has been calling for) and that BDS does form an environment conducive to constructive debate.
Now the Zionists, with B'nai Brith at the forefront, is attempting to ban Leila Khaled from delivering a speech at upcoming Palestinian conference at UBC. They alleged that she is a "convicted terrorist" (of course they did not bother to substantiate this claim). Not only is this completely false (Leila was never convicted in a court of law), but it ignores the fact that Leila never caused any harm to any civilians.
To add insult to injury, they alleged that Leila's message can, somehow, radicalize Canadian youth and inspire them to conduct attacks similar to the Boston bombings (an attack that, till now, we know absolutely nothing about). They do not even know what Leila's message is going to be, let alone whether it is going to radicalize anybody or not.
In their statement, they said that the event is "sponsored by a university Alma Mater Society." Here I am assuming that they are referring to the Social Justice Centre (SJC) which endorsed the conference and decided that it fits within their general mandate. However, because they did not bother to do any research, they missed the fact that even though the SJC does receive its funding through (not from) the AMS, they are an autonomous group that makes decision independent of the AMS. The AMS has absolutely no connection to the conference, did not contribute to any funding and did not offer any sponsorship.
Moreover, B'nai Brith did not even bother to double check their source of information. In the same statement, they said that Leila hijacked planes for the "Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine." This "entity" does not even exist. Had they spent ten seconds to look into the validity of their information, they would have realized the organization that Leila belongs to is called the "Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)."
This lack of research is indicative of the weakness of the Zionist movement and their intellectual bankruptcy.
Resilient Reaction:
Khaled Barakat, a long time Palestinian activist and a prominent community leader in Vancouver, remarked in Arabic on his Facebook account:
ينسى هذا العنصري ان المؤتمر فلسطيني ، اولا وعاشرا ، ومن حقنا ان ندعو اليه من نريد. وينسى ان ليلى لم تقتل انسانا واحدا في حياتها بينما قيادته قتلت شعبا وشردته وتمنحها حكومة كندا طائرات خاصة وتحرم ليلى خالد " فيزا " للعبور . سوف تتحدث ليلى رغما عن انفك وانف دولتك وانف كيانك العنصري..هنا وهناك.
Translation: The racist - Frank Dimant - forgot that this conference is Palestinian, first and foremost, and we have the right to invite whoever we wish. He also forgot that Leila never killed a human being in her life whereby his leadership killed a people, and dispossessed it. A leadership that the government of Canada provides with private jets while depriving Leila from an entry visa to Canada. Leila will speak in spite of your nose, and your government's nose and your racist entity's nose - here and there.
This is the Palestinian spirit; a spirit that continues to fight despite objections and obstacles, and a spirit that refuses to compromise in order to please a racist bunch that is merely inconvenienced by a speech via Skype.
.jpg)
Post a Comment