Week of Sept. 17, 2015

Letters to the Editor THE CJN PHOTO
Letters to the Editor THE CJN PHOTO

CIJA doesn’t speak for all

The hypocrisy of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) is breathtaking. Its CEO Shimon Fogel and chair David Cape write (“The Jewish community needs unity, not uniformity”) that CIJA is non-partisan, yet there is hardly a Conservative government policy that CIJA has not supported, including Bill C-51 on security and changes to refugee law which included denial of health care to pregnant refugee women and sick children.

Fogel and Cape declare that Jewish law demands the election of “tovei ha’ir” (community council) as a matter of “governance at the community level.” Yet CIJA’s board of directors is self-appointed with no opportunity for input or voting by ordinary community members. CIJA remains the unelected de facto representative of the Jewish community, participating in political affairs through representation at parliamentary committee hearings or being regularly quoted in the mainstream media.

Finally, CIJA has utterly failed to achieve what Fogel and Cape enunciate as “Jewish law oblig[ing] attention to the value of diversity and the critical role of minority opinion.” CIJA has never included in its public statements or policies any opinion that differs from its own self-selected leadership.

Perhaps if the governing party changes after the October federal election, CIJA may want to consider transforming itself from a prop for the Conservative party to a representative and democratic organization that embraces all in the Jewish community.

Philip B. Berger

Toronto

BDS vote is anti-Semitism

Is it really the Palestinian and “occupation” issues that so aggrieve the General Council of the United Church of Canada that they voted for boycotts, sanctions and divestment (BDS) aimed at Israel (“United Church strengthens call to end Israeli occupation”)?

The world is witness to atrocities so unimaginable to us, and yet it is unbelievable that the General Council’s only focus is on Israel. And yet, with all its concern for the Palestinians, no consideration has been given to compensate the Palestinians made jobless by SodaStream’s move to the Negev. The plight of these 600 jobless Palestinians can be attributed to the BDS movement, yet there is no mention of their fate.

For centuries, the church has harassed us, maligned us, denigrated us, robbed us, victimized us, evicted us, and killed us with pogroms, crusades, inquisitions and more recently the Holocaust.

And, wonder of wonders, we are still here. So now you are trying BDS.

In the United Church’s zeal for BDS, I hope it includes boycotting any and all ophthalmological, pharmaceutical, dental, medical, surgical, neurological, scientific, technical and agricultural advances made by Jews and Jews in Israel. However, I don’t believe you will throw away your cellphones, GPS, voicemail, etc.

I wonder what would happen if Jews imposed a similar BDS on the followers of BDS. But Jews are not of this mindset.  They continue to contribute to the good of mankind, despite the senseless hatred, jealousy and envy perpetrated against them by the anti-Semites of this world.

Bess Lokach

Richmond Hill, Ont.

Liberals no friends of Israel

Gabriel Erem, formerly of Lifestyles magazine, is to be congratulated for initiating the controversy involving the invitation from Honey and Barry Sherman to meet Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau and York Centre candidate Michael Levitt and by refusing to attend (“JDL to protest at private fundraiser for Trudeau”).

I always found it astounding that prominent members of the Jewish community can support the Liberal Party of Canada. Apart from the revelation that Trudeau is surrounded by a number of pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel advisers, one need only look at Canada’s lack of support at the United Nations from one Liberal government to another.

Whenever it came to motions condemning Israel, the most Jews in Canada could hope for was that Canada would abstain, but more times than not, Canada voted in favour of those resolutions.

That lack of support for Israel only stopped when Stephen Harper was elected prime minister, and since then, his unqualified support for the State of Israel has been something every Jew in Canada should honour and cherish.

Bert Raphael

Toronto