Write Letter: Stop the Smear Campaigns against Palestinian Advocacy
Send your letter to Canadian PM Justin Trudeau and Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino to tell them that you join with the 50 organizations that have called to “Stop the Smear Campaigns against Palestinian Advocacy”.
Background:
Recently, we have witnessed an intensified campaign by the pro-Israel lobby in Canada to smear Palestinian activists and their supporters. Last week, the National Post (NP) ran an online article about Palestinian-Canadian writer Khaled Barakat and the advocacy organization Samidoun. On April 30, the same article was splashed across their front page of their paper and has since been referenced in the Canadian Senate and the Jerusalem Post.
A year ago, over 35 concerned organizations issued a statement detailing their rejection of attempts to criminalize Samidoun, a Palestinian advocacy group for prisoners, by the Centre for Israel and Jewish Advocacy (CIJA). They asked at that time: Should Canada’s policies on these important issues be decided by what the Israeli government and its lobby dictates?
Is this renewed attack an attempt to deflect attention from the multiple student union resolutions in support of Palestine at major Canadian universities? Or an effort to distract from the growing number of organizations that have expressly condemned Israeli practices as apartheid, such as Amnesty International? Or a distraction to cover up Israel’s continuing ethnic cleansing, most recently in the villages of Masafer Yatta?
The new statement calling for an end to these ramped-up smear campaigns is supported by diverse solidarity and community groups in Canada and abroad, as well as prominent individuals like Roger Waters, Jonathan Kuttab and Tony Greenstein.
Join with them to tell the Canadian government that the old smear tactics of “trial by fire” are not acceptable. This attack is an attack on all of us who are advocating for the liberation and dignity of the Palestinian people.
Click on Start Writing to send the following letter:
I am writing to you to express my outrage at the recent campaign in Canada to smear Palestinian activists and their supporters. Last week, the National Post (NP) ran an online article about Palestinian-Canadian writer Khaled Barakat and the advocacy organization Samidoun. On April 30, the same article was splashed across their front page of their paper and has since been referenced in the Canadian Senate and the Jerusalem Post.
A year ago, 35 concerned organizations issued a statement detailing their rejection of attempts to criminalize Samidoun, a Palestinian advocacy group for prisoners, by the Centre for Israel and Jewish Advocacy (CIJA). At that time, they asked: Should Canada’s policies on these important issues be decided by what the Israeli government and its lobby dictates?
The renewed and highly inflammatory charges all seem to rely on the one article first carried in the National Post. Shockingly, that author of that article even admitted in his own blog on April 29 that he was first approached by B’nai Brith with their “files” on the subject. He also thanked CIJA in that same blog entry for their assistance.
Is this smear campaign an effort to divert attention from the multiple student union resolutions in support of Palestine at major Canadian universities? Or an effort to distract from the growing number of organizations that have expressly condemned Israeli practices as apartheid, such as Amnesty International? Or a distraction to cover up Israel’s continuing ethnic cleansing, most recently in the villages of Masafer Yatta?
Please note that the French government recently tried to ban a Palestinian support group, “Collectif Palestine Vaincra”, but have already been forced by their own courts to suspend that decision.
I join with the 50 organizations that have signed a statement to tell the Canadian government that the old smear tactics of “trial by fire” are not acceptable. Palestinian-Canadians and their supporters are frankly sick and tired of being the target of racist and defamatory attacks every time they speak up for the Palestinian peoples’ national and human rights.
Organizations that wish to sign the statement from Canada Palestine Association can do HERE.
Co-sponsored by:
Canadian Foreign Policy Institute
