{"id":45056,"date":"2024-09-20T01:46:23","date_gmt":"2024-09-20T08:46:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=45056"},"modified":"2024-09-18T11:10:21","modified_gmt":"2024-09-18T18:10:21","slug":"visit-here-inspires-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2024\/09\/20\/visit-here-inspires-hope\/","title":{"rendered":"Visit here inspires hope"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recently, I had the opportunity to visit Vancouver for the first time to meet\u00a0 <\/span>with members of the Jewish community and local business leaders. It was a wonderful experience that enabled me to see the Jewish community up close, and I plan to return soon to this city with its beautiful landscape, and warm and friendly people.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Through my work, I know how difficult it has been for the Jewish community given the explosion of antisemitism, especially since Oct. 7. The sharp rise in antisemitic incidents, including attacks on synagogues and the shocking experiences of students at the University of British Columbia, have created an ambiance of fear, anger and uncertainty. At the same time, this troubling climate has brought together Jews from all walks of life to defend our values, our people and the state of Israel.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One name that repeatedly arose \u2013 a nongovernmental organization I am very familiar with through my work at NGO Monitor \u2013 was Samidoun. Samidoun is a Canadian-registered not-for-profit, founded by a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Khaled Barakat. Barakat\u2019s spouse, Vancouver resident Charlotte Kates, is its international coordinator.<\/p>\n

Although Canada declared the PFLP a terror group in 2003 and, despite Samidoun\u2019s antisemitic and pro-terror rhetoric, the government still has not taken action to shut down this NGO.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Like the PFLP, Samidoun disseminates messages and an agenda supporting violence, terror and antisemitism as a means to destroy the state of Israel. Since the Oct. 7 atrocities, Samidoun has expanded its local activities, contributing centrally to the sinister atmosphere facing Canadian Jewry. Illustrative examples include a July seminar in Toronto that called for eliminating \u201cIsrael as a military, political and economic establishment\u201d and an event in Vancouver where the PFLP, Hamas and Hezbollah were praised. There have been dozens more such events.<\/p>\n

In contrast to Canada, Samidoun activities have been banned in several countries, including France and Germany. Meta (formerly Facebook) shut down the social media accounts of the Vancouver and Toronto chapters of Samidoun, while Stripe, a major credit card processing company, closed Samidoun accounts on its platform, preventing online fundraising in Canada.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s not be na\u00efve. Samidoun is not the only NGO that is problematic, and it joins more than 100 other groups in Canada engaging in offensive and, at times dangerous, rhetoric. Moreover, the hatred stemming from Samidoun\u2019s headquarters in Vancouver is not just against Israel and Jews, but against Canada and all Canadians. The NGO uses strategic attacks against the state of Israel and the Jewish people to distract from their assaults on the very values that enable Jews, Muslims, Christians and others to peacefully live side by side in Canada, Israel, and around the democratic free world.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Samidoun\u2019s threat to Canadians, beyond the Jewish community, is blatant in their statement declaring Canada a settler colony \u201cthat require[s] the same settler logics and brutalities as \u2018Israel\u2019\u201d and their claim that international law allows for people living in a colonialist society to \u201cresist.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>All law-abiding Canadians should be extremely concerned for Samidoun\u2019s justification of Hamas\u2019s Oct. 7 abduction, rape, mutilation and murder of innocent children, women, Holocaust survivors and eight Canadian citizens (including Vancouver\u2019s Ben Mizrachi) as \u201cresistance.\u201d Moreover, Samidoun\u2019s argument about Israel, that \u201cimperialist warmongers will call it terrorism, but we know this is anti-imperialist resistance,\u201d defends any terrorist activities they choose to initiate anywhere and is not reserved only for Israel but rather for all Western \u201cimperialistic\u201d countries.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While Kates is working to overturn Canada\u2019s designation of Hamas and Hezbollah as terror groups, Samidoun is allowed to operate and flourish. After her appearance recently on Iran\u2019s national television station to commend \u201cthe brave, heroic Oct. 7 operation\u201d by Hamas that killed Canadian Jews, it is all the more critical to terminate Samidoun\u2019s soapbox of hate that is based in Vancouver.<\/p>\n

One of the impressive aspects of the BC Jewish community is the collective desire to work closely with those outside of their faith toward building a better society for all in Canada. After my visit to Vancouver, I am optimistic that Jews and non-Jews will work collaboratively against the seeds of divisiveness and hate sown by Samidoun. This will not end antisemitism in Canada, which has become, unfortunately, widespread. But it is an important first step.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Olga Deutsch<\/b> is vice-president of NGO Monitor and has extensive expertise in international politics, humanitarian aid, funding to nongovernmental organizations, international development, post-Oct. 7 antisemitism, efforts to delegitimize Israel, and BDS.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recently, I had the opportunity to visit Vancouver for the first time to meet\u00a0 with members of the Jewish community and local business leaders. It was a wonderful experience that enabled me to see the Jewish community up close, and I plan to return soon to this city with its beautiful landscape, and warm and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[801,3157,23203,4304,2462,23514,23515,1774,1742],"class_list":["post-45056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-op-ed","tag-antisemitism","tag-canada","tag-charlotte-kates","tag-democracy","tag-iran","tag-ngo-monitor","tag-samidoun","tag-terrorism","tag-vancouver"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45056\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}