Mohammed Azhar Ali Khan

 

In Canada you can now get both sides of the situation in the Middle East, thankfully.



Not long ago, politicians, academics and the media dared not criticize Israel, because that would label them as anti-Semitic and they could possibly lose their jobs. So Canadians were told that the Israelis sought to live in peace with Arabs, that Arab rulers urged the Palestinians to flee from their homes temporarily and promised them they’d be back soon after the Arabs had defeated the Israelis, that Israeli Arabs enjoy equal rights and that Israel wanted peace with its neighbors but that it was the Arabs who were blocking an agreement. It must also be said that the clumsiness of Arab diplomats also prevented the full story from being told.



Some brave souls, like Alfred Lilienthal, spoke out fearlessly but such voices were few. Now social media, Israel’s harsh occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, and the outspoken comments of mostly Jewish scholars are presenting a fairer picture.



Those determined to defend Israel right or wrong are still doing so adamantly. But now those who differ are able to speak out. A recent example is the experience of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East with the media.  This organization was formed in 2002 to promote justice, development and peace in the Middle East for all parties. It seeks to do so by providing authentic information to Canadians, and particularly the politicians and the media, who used to receive only one side which was highly biased.  It does not see itself as a lobby because it promotes peace, justice and compliance with international law and respect for human rights for all the people of the Middle East.



It produces fact sheets, arranges functions and  meets the media and politicians to promote this goal. It sent to all members of Parliament a DVD of the movie Five Broken Cameras that showed Israeli soldiers smashing cameras to prevent their brutalities from being shown.



One CJPME ally is Independent Jewish Voices, a small organization of conscientious Jews who believe that loyalty to Judaism requires promotion of justice, truth, rule of law and compassion rather than blind support of Israel, even if its actions violate the tenets of Judaism and international law. In the US, the Jewish Voice for Peace organization pursues the same objectives.



Recently Thomas Woodley, the president of CJPME, was interviewed by a columnist for the Ottawa Citizen. Woodley, who has degrees from Canada and the United States and has worked for the federal government and for non-governmental organizations in Africa and the Middle East, spoke about how his organization approached politicians and others to inform them and to persuade them to support justice and peace.



This was too much. Columnist Terry Glavin was horrified that CJPME seeks to “enable Canadians at all levels to better understand the dynamics of the region” and that it wishes to work with “governments, the private sector and community organizations to increase Canadian awareness and knowledge of the Middle East.” What particularly riled Glavin is that the CJPME factsheet on Hamas failed to assert that the organization is labelled terrorist by Canada, the United States, the European Union and some others. So Glavin ridiculed CJPME and said it should be dubbed an “anti-Israeli lobby.”



In the olden days, this would have been the case. But now the Citizen occasionally provides the other side of the story too, so it published a letter from IJV’s Tyler Levitan, taking issue with Glavin. In part he wrote: “As a Jewish-Canadian who supports justice and peace for both peoples, I strongly believe that we need to acknowledge the fact that Israel has sovereignty over all of the land between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River, yet deprives Palestinians of basic human rights, and is unwilling to grant Palestinians the right to self-determination within even a tiny fraction of their homeland. This is unjust and unsustainable, and CJPME plays a vital role in educating Canadians in ways that help us to urgently address this. This doesn’t make them anti-Israeli.”



The Citizen also published Woodley’s response. Woodley stated that while CJPME criticizes Israel it also criticizes others, including Hamas. He wrote: “Israel is indeed a major perpetrator of human rights abuses for a number of reasons. Canadian MPs hear a lot from apologists or deniers of Israel’s violations. CJPME cannot be faulted for wanting to ensure that the MPs hear an alternative perspective.”



CJPME also supports economic sanctions against Israel until it ends its occupation of the West Bank and Gaza and complies with United Nations resolutions and international law. Woodley asserted: “Imagine if someone were to write an article criticizing renowned rights activist Desmond Tutu for being anti-South Africa. The ridiculous arguments would end up something like: ‘He supported divestment from apartheid, so he must be anti-South Africa,’ or ‘He accused the South African government of violating human rights, so he must be anti-South Africa.’”



It is encouraging that now Canadians are getting a somewhat more balanced picture from the mainstream media on the major challenges facing mankind, including in the Middle East.

 

— Mohammed Azhar Ali Khan is a retired Canadian journalist, civil servant and refugee judge.