Blogger stirs up storm

When David Katz saw Libby Davies at a Vancouver rally against Israel, he grabbed his video camera and invited her for an interview. He did not suspect that he was helping to spark a major national controversy.

Katz, a 26-year-old physics graduate student at the University of British Columbia, had just taken over the editorship of commentsfromleftfield, a political blog, and the interview with Davies was his first major post. Neither he, nor, presumably, Davies, had any inkling of the storm it would cause when the interview with Davies, the Vancouver East member of Parliament and deputy leader of the federal New Democratic party, went viral.

When Katz asked Davies if she believes the “occupation” began in 1967 or in 1948, the MP appeared somewhat bewildered, before replying, “1948.” She went on to say she personally supports the idea of BDS – boycotting of, divestment from and sanctions – against Israel. Both of these statements were contrary to NDP policy, which officially supports a two-state solution (Davies’ 1948 comment was interpreted as suggesting that Israel did not have the right to exist) and opposes BDS against Israel.

The first response came from Davies’ co-deputy NDP leader, Quebec MP Thomas Mulcair, who angrily reminded Davies how party policy is created.

“No member of our caucus, whatever other title they have, is allowed to invent their own policy,” said Mulcair. “We take decisions together, parties formulate policies together, and to say that you’re personally in favor of boycott, divestment and sanctions for the only democracy in the Middle East is, as far as I’m concerned, grossly unacceptable.”

Prime Minister Stephen Harper jumped in, condemning not only Davies, but also party leader Jack Layton for not firing his rogue deputy.

“The deputy leader of the NDP knew full well what she was saying,” Harper said in the House of Commons. “She made statements that could have been made by Hamas, Hezbollah or anybody else, with no repercussions from that party whatsoever.”

Despite the hubbub, Davies has neither resigned nor been fired.

For Katz, the incident was a steep learning curve about the apparent power of an individual with a camera and a blog to influence the conversation around public affairs. But he also learned, he said, people are happy to shoot the messenger. As the video spread and stories about it proliferated, reader comments – and a few personal messages – accused Katz of sandbagging the MP with trick questions or having a partisan agenda.

“I didn’t ask terribly difficult questions,” Katz said in reflection. “The one issue I continued to press her on was whether she supports a boycott of Israel or not, which I considered fair game as the event she was speaking at was focused on that issue.”

While Davies was condemned by critics who said her citing of 1948 means she doesn’t support Israel’s right to exist, Katz suspects that wasn’t the issue. He believes Davies, who has been one of Parliament’s most vocal critics of Israel, didn’t know the core history of the conflict and the region.

“The issue that I took with what she said was, first, her obvious lack of knowledge of the basic facts of the Middle East,” Katz said. “It’s one thing to suggest that Israel began an occupation in 1948. It’s an entirely different thing to imply that this was the occupation of Gaza and the West Bank. This basic lack of understanding on an issue that a deputy leader of a major party in Canada has made one of her top priorities should be unacceptable to anybody across the political spectrum.

“The second issue that I had with her was the implied antisemitism of her saying there is a new McCarthyism in Canada on the subject of Israel,” Katz continued. “Calling it McCarthyism is code for saying the Jews are controlling the political process. Whether she realizes it or not, claims of Jewish control of key institutions is the historic hallmark of antisemitism.”

Furthermore, he said, comparing Canadian society to “that dark period of American history showed a shocking disrespect to both Canadian civil society and the victims of that era.”

Katz takes exception to the charge, frequently raised during the controversy, that criticism of Israel is forbidden and that anti-Zionists are being “silenced.”

“People who say things that are false and bigoted will not be silenced,” said Katz, “but will rightly be challenged on their beliefs, especially if they are in public life. That’s not silencing. It’s actually fair debate and free expression. What she wants is to be able to criticize Israel without being challenged.”

Katz is turning his attention back to the core topic of commentsfromleftfield – American politics. While he hopes for some big headlines, he acknowledges that his first foray into blogging has been dramatic.

“It’s kind of a hard act to follow,” he said. “The whole thing really just felt like luck, being in the right place at the right time, and asking the right, dumb question.”

– Courtesy of Vancouver Hillel

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