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Are we Bolsheviks?

Israel’s Knesset gave preliminary approval to a bill that would make it illegal to distribute free newspapers. On the face, it seems an odd move. Why prevent the (literally) free circulation of ideas? On principle, it is worse. Democratic governments should not be getting involved in who can print news and how much they must charge to distribute it.

A nearly identical bill was defeated in 2010, and the target of both bills is Israel Hayom, a free-distribution newspaper that is owned by Sheldon Adelson, the mega-rich American casino owner and right-wing funder. Israel Hayom has shaken up Israel’s media and political scene, recently becoming the country’s most-read (or, at the very least, most-printed) newspaper. Critics see the paper as a shill for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and causes associated with the political right.

The Labor party MK who initiated the bill puts it another way.

“This is a bill in favor of pluralism and multiple opinions,” said Eitan Cabel, according to JTA. “It is a battle so that, in a few years, we do not become a country with only one newspaper. Sheldon Adelson wants to bury a market that is fighting for its life. Israel Hayom does not exist because of its success as a newspaper but because of the hundreds of millions in gambling funds that are funneled to it from overseas. Does anyone in this room honestly think that this is how a model for a normal newspaper looks? That this is how fair competition looks?” He assured the public, Israel Hayom “will continue to be published after the law comes into effect, and can even be sold for a symbolic price.”

He is certainly correct that print media is fighting for its life, and he is likewise correct in his implication that print media plays a crucial role in the diversity of ideas and information. But he is wrong to condemn the business model Adelson has employed. For one thing, in an ostensibly free market (society), the government should not be making arbitrary judgments about how a business funds its operations, even when that business is one as vital as the news industry, whose freedom is integral to the health of democracy.

The recent bill “would ban distribution of a free daily newspaper that is published six days a week and has at least 30 pages on weekdays and 100 pages in its weekend edition. The bill allows free distribution only for six months.” According to the Jerusalem Post, the text of the bill claims it seeks to “strengthen written journalism in Israel and ensure equal and fair conditions of competition between newspapers,” but the bill is impotent, its rules easy to circumvent. Even if they weren’t, the drowning out of voices is not the way to increase competition and free speech.

There are many threats to traditional newspapers – the internet chief among them and, if that hasn’t bled print dry yet, then neither will Israel Hayom.

A robust democracy requires a chorus of competing ideas and free-flowing public discourse – and not just for the sake of freedom. It is only on such a path that we can hope to find solutions to the problems we face, from poverty and illness to what form our news media takes.

Likud MK Moshe Feiglin probably summed it up most succinctly. “What is this?” he asked. “Since when do parliaments close newspapers? Are we Bolsheviks?”

It is heartening to see that, according to the Jewish Press, 77 percent of Israelis oppose the bill. Banning newspapers is not the way to save newspapers. Let’s hope that after the second or third reading, this bill ends up in the Knesset’s recycling bin.

Posted on November 21, 2014November 19, 2014Author The Editorial BoardCategories From the JITags Eitan Cabel, Israel Hayom, Knesset, media, Moshe Feiglin, newspapers, Sheldon Adelson

The Klinghoffer controversy

Even if you’re not a fan of opera, you may have heard about the worldwide dust-up over the recent staging by the New York Metropolitan Opera of The Death of Klinghoffer by John Adams, an eminent American composer. (The opera closed Nov. 15.)

The opera is based on the 1985 hijacking of a Mediterranean cruise ship, the Achille Lauro, by Palestinian terrorists demanding the release of their allies from Israeli jails. Tragically, one of the passengers, a retired Jewish American named Leon Klinghoffer, was murdered and tossed overboard, along with his wheelchair.

Since its debut in 1991, the opera has aroused condemnation by some who claim that the opera merely glorifies antisemitism and Palestinian terrorism. On Oct. 20, a few hundred people protested outside the Met, led by politicians such as Rudy Giuliani, a former New York mayor. One Jewish leader spoke of protesting “until the set is burned to the ground.” Under censorship pressure, performances of The Death of Klinghoffer have been relatively rare since 1991, and the Met decided to cancel its usual cinecast to movie theatres.

The Klinghoffers’ daughters continue to condemn the opera, as they believe it “rationalizes, romanticizes and legitimizes the terrorist murder of our father…. Terrorism cannot be rationalized. It cannot be understood.”

What’s the cause of the condemnation? The opera begins with a chorus of exiled Palestinians that acknowledges the forcible eviction of Palestinian Arabs in 1948: “Of that house not a wall was left to stand / Israel laid all to waste.” (This is followed, though, by a chorus of exiled Jews, which acknowledges Jewish suffering in the Holocaust, and the great sense of hope accompanying a return to the Holy Land.) Later, one of the hijackers briefly mouths antisemitic comments about Jews getting fat off poor people, and criticizes both British and American society: “America is one big Jew.”

However, Adams’ opera (with a libretto by Alice Goodman, who was raised a Reform Jew) has been widely hailed as a fine work of art. For example, on Oct. 21, Anthony Tommasini, the respected New York Times music reviewer, called Adams’ opera “a searching, spiritual and humane work.”

… those who consider this opera as an opinion-editorial or a speech are missing the point of a work of art that has despair, solitude and love at its core….

I am in sympathy with Tommasini. I’ve carefully watched the London Symphony Orchestra production on DVD, winner of the Prix Italia, and found the opera to be powerful, spiritual, lyric – and not a screed against Jews or Israel. There’s an attempt at balance in recalling the background of the conflict that on the whole succeeds, and a rather profound exploration of the roots of a common sense of exile, despair and misery in the Mideast. Adams himself has noted that the “situation … is much too complex to fall into one easy answer or another.” In any case, those who consider this opera as an opinion-editorial or a speech are missing the point of a work of art that has despair, solitude and love at its core – like most operas, “a song of love and death,” in the words of Peter Conrad, an opera scholar.

It seems to me there are three key points, above and beyond the obvious one that censorship of art is virtually always wrong, and is a familiar tactic of totalitarian states.

First, the opera does not romanticize or legitimize the hijackers. While there are some fleeting complexities attributed to one or two of them, which is to the credit of the work, they are portrayed as brutal, hysterical thugs on the boat – “punks” as Mrs. Klinghoffer calls them. When the ship’s captain suggests to the most articulate hijacker that he speak to his enemies of his misery, the hijacker demurs and posits death as the only outcome. Palestinian activists assault and pour acid on the face of a young Arab woman who is deemed too Western.

Certainly, the boat’s bystanders are not the mortal core. One Swiss grandmother with her grandson in tow comments with satisfaction, “At least we are not Jews.”

Actually, the moral core of the opera – the heroes, if one can use that term – is the Klinghoffers. Leon delivers a brave, outspoken speech against terrorism to one of the hijackers, condemning those who would throw gasoline around a loaded bus and burn it. His wife’s eloquent lament that ends the opera is a tribute to the love and resistance to evil of ordinary people.

Second, as with other art works, the portrayal of a character’s attitudes, declarations or motivations is not an endorsement of these. In Ulysses by James Joyce, for example, a repugnant Irish nationalist is given outrageous lines against Jews, but Joyce obviously meant these words to express his disgust with such bigotry. Joyce’s Jew Leopold Bloom rather abashedly follows with his condemnation of hate and injustice.

Third, the idea that “terrorism … cannot be understood” leaves me uneasy. For example, to analyze and to understand Nazism is not to condone or accept it. Our understanding of bigotry and evil has come a long way since the early 1960s with the thousands of works by scholars on Nazism and the Holocaust. In the words of two Holocaust scholars, “We must look into the abyss to look beyond it” (Robert Lifton); “Explaining is not excusing; understanding is not forgiving” (Christopher Browning). If people come away from the opera with insights into what Adams calls the complexities, all the better.

In the end, the opera shows us that in a sense we are all in the same boat, whether it be the Achille Lauro or a larger craft. We share a pervasive sense of isolation, exile and despair that perhaps can be mitigated by the humble love of which Mrs. Klinghoffer sings.

Goodman’s libretto includes the point that “Islamic fundamentalism flourishes in a climate of despair.” She has the captain of the ship observe the “comprehensive solitude” of the characters on the boat. “Evil grows exponentially…. Violence speaks a single long sentence inflicted and endured in hell by those who have despaired.” Given the two solitudes, sadly, there’s more than enough despair to go around among the many peoples of the Middle East.

Gene Homel teaches liberal studies at the B.C. Institute of Technology, including a course on the Holocaust. He holds a PhD from the University of Toronto, and has published numerous articles on history, politics and culture.

Posted on November 21, 2014November 19, 2014Author Gene HomelCategories Op-EdTags Alice Goodman, Death of Klinghoffer, John Adams, Metropolitan Opera, Palestinians, terrorism
This week’s cartoon … Nov. 21/14

This week’s cartoon … Nov. 21/14

For more cartoons, visit thedailysnooze.com.

Format ImagePosted on November 21, 2014November 19, 2014Author Jacob SamuelCategories The Daily SnoozeTags media, newspapers, thedailysnooze.com

Enter short film contest

The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference) has launched Short Film, Large Subject: The Holocaust Film Competition. This is the organization’s first film contest, and it is open to entrants from around the world.

Recognizing the potential of movies to reach large numbers of people and to spark powerful discussions among audiences, the Claims Conference is putting out a call for talented, rising filmmakers to submit screenplays or treatments for short films about the Holocaust.

Short Film, Large Subject: The Holocaust Film Competition invites directors either currently enrolled in a graduate film program at an accredited university or who have successfully completed such a program no earlier than Jan. 1, 2012, to submit a screenplay or documentary treatment for a short film about the Holocaust (the systematic persecution and murder of Jews by the Nazis and their collaborators between 1933 and 1945) and/or the experiences of Jewish Holocaust victims. While the film can tell a fictional story, information relating to the Holocaust must be historically accurate.

The entry deadline is March 15, 2015. After being judged by a panel of Holocaust scholars and film industry professionals, selected entrants will proceed to the finalist round. The winner will receive a prize of $40,000 toward the production of a 20-minute short film about the Holocaust and/or survivors.

In the tradition of films such as Sophie’s Choice, Shoah, Schindler’s List and The Pianist, the Claims Conference, by launching this competition, aims to encourage a new generation of directors to tackle the Holocaust as a subject matter in their work and to use their creativity and skills to portray new perspectives and observations about a dark era in human history.

”We believe that this competition will engage up-and-coming filmmakers in the difficult but important topic of the Holocaust. Films about the Holocaust have great potential to educate and raise awareness at a time when fewer and fewer eyewitnesses are with us. By taking on this subject, filmmakers will not only expand their own horizons, but help preserve a piece of history that must never be forgotten,” said Julius Berman, Claims Conference president.

Separate from the competition, the Claims Conference distributes grants for selected projects and programs of Holocaust education, documentation and research. Among recent grantee films is the theatrical release of No Place on Earth. This work raises public awareness about the Holocaust and preserves the evidence of it; the funding of these projects will be even more critical when the eyewitnesses are gone. For more information, see claimscon.org/red.

Information about the short film competition, its rules and entry form are at filmcontest.claimscon.org.

Posted on November 21, 2014November 19, 2014Author Claims ConferenceCategories TV & FilmTags Claims Conference, Holocaust, Julius Berman
Chanukah gifts aplenty

Chanukah gifts aplenty

Shlomo and Hagar Yekutieli’s tablecloths feature many different designs, including Chanukah and other holiday motifs. (photo from shlomohagar.com)

As Chanukah appears on the horizon, our thoughts inevitably turn to two things: gifts, and fatty foods. If you’ve distributed all the socks, dreidels and menorahs in years past and are all out of ideas, rest assured, there’s more out there. Lots more.

Light it up

Most families are going to need Chanukah candles as the festival approaches, so a gift of decorative candles never has time to get stale. If your pet peeve is Chanukah candles that drip hard-to-remove wax all over your countertops, you’re not alone. A good alternative is Safed Candles’ dripless Chanukah candles at $9.95 for a box of 45 (traditionsjewishgifts.com). Another option: Rite Lite Judaica sells eco-friendly, hand-dipped multicolored beeswax Chanukah candles ($17.99) or regular hand-dipped candles at $15.04 without the eco-friendly label.

Decorate with it

Vancouver couple Shlomo and Hagar Yekutieli manufacture beautiful tablecloths decorated with Jewish motifs, among them menorah designs. Using 100 percent cotton fabric and a combination of vegetable and regular dye, the pair has been crafting cloths from their home for the past 26 years. They have designs for all the Jewish holidays, as well as waterproof sukkah hangings. Prices start at $35 and go up to $180 depending on the size of the table. For information, visit shlomohagar.com or call 604-603-4629.

Just for laughs

Cafepress.com is a website with a variety of cute gift ideas for Chanukah, some of them bordering on ridiculous. There are T-shirts that say “I Wanna be a Maccabee ($22+), baby clothes that ask “Got gelt?” and $23 baseball jerseys with the words “Blowing the shofar can get you only so far.”

Play it

Who needs Monopoly on Chanukah when you can play the Maccabee Adventure Game? (amazon.com, $29) In this board game, players must lead a band of Maccabees to find enough oil to light the menorah, trying to avoid the roaming remnants of the Seleucid Empire on the way. The game comes with instructions in Hebrew and English and offers around 45 minutes of entertainment for up to four players age 8 and older.

Read it

image - Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins book cover
Read about Hershel of Ostropol, who gives a Jewish village the gift of celebrating Chanukah by taking care of some nasty goblins that haunt the synagogue.

Chanukah is all about kids, so if you’re stuck for a gift for the special children in your circle, look no further than Eric Kimmel’s Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins (Scholastic, 1990, scholastic.com, $3.71 paperback). In this story, Hershel of Ostropol gives a Jewish village the gift of celebrating Chanukah by taking care of a series of nasty goblins that haunt the old synagogue, blow out Chanukah candles, throw potato latkes on the floor and break dreidels.

Illustrated by the careful hand of Trina Shart Hyman, the goblins are mesmerizingly hideous and the story of their defeat is at once scary, defiant, courageous and humorous as they are shown to be cowards, easily fooled by Hershel’s tricks. This book is a must for any Jewish kids’ bookshelf, a text that gets pulled out year after year and captivates kids as young as 3 and as old as 8.

Make it

A great resource for Chanukah crafts for kids is Crafting Jewish by Rivky Koenig (Mesorah Publications, 2008, artscroll.com, $26.99). Featuring a chapter for each of the Jewish holidays, the Chanukah section has seven crafts and two recipes, as well as ideas for a doughnut and ice cream party where everyone makes his/her own dessert combinations. The crafts are varied and include creating a glowing glass menorah, making dreidel-stamped gift wrap, crafting clay dreidel charm jewelry and building a Chanukah tray made from a large picture frame. The activities are beautifully explained, with a list of needed items, an estimated duration for the craft and a picture on the opposite page showing the finished product as inspiration. If there’s a crafty kid in your house, this book will be well used.

Lauren Kramer, an award-winning writer and editor, lives in Richmond, B.C. To read her work online, visit laurenkramer.net.

Format ImagePosted on November 21, 2014November 19, 2014Author Lauren KramerCategories Celebrating the HolidaysTags books, Chanukah, Eric Kimmel, games, gifts, Lights, Maccabee, Rivky Koenig, T-shirts, tablecloths, Trina Shart Hyman, Yekutieli
Building a society together

Building a society together

Hand in Hand was started in 1997, with the goal of creating integrated schools wherein both Arab and Jewish kids could study together in a bilingual (Hebrew and Arabic) framework within the public school system. (photo from Hand in Hand)

Starting with just two classes in 1998 – a kindergarten and a Grade 1 class – Hand in Hand now has five schools throughout Israel, serving 1,200 students.

Hand in Hand is the brainchild of Lee Gordon and Amin Kalaf. Gordon grew up in Portland, Ore., before making aliyah; he lived in Israel for 20 years, returning to the United States a few years ago. Kalaf grew up in a small village near Afula and now lives in Jerusalem. They founded Hand in Hand in 1997, with the goal of creating integrated schools wherein both Arab and Jewish kids could study together in a bilingual (Hebrew and Arabic) framework within the public school system. The concept involves both improving the quality of education and being a model for partnership between Jewish and Arab citizens, as well as the public and private sectors.

“We have mayors in the various towns supporting our projects and giving us buildings to use and some funding … so, it’s a public-private partnership,” said Gordon. “There is public funding from Israel and also a lot of private philanthropic support [from] around the world,” he said, referring to the United States, Canada, Europe and, of course, Israel. When Gordon moved back to the United States, he created (and heads) American Friends of Hand in Hand, a nonprofit fundraising organization.

Kalaf’s oldest child graduated from Hand in Hand’s first class of Grade 12 graduates. “We’ve had four high school graduating classes now at our only high school in Jerusalem,” said Gordon. “That’s our biggest school, with 600 students from pre-k to 12th grade.”

Two years ago, Hand in Hand added another component to the organization. “We’ve been doing a community initiative, which we call Shared Communities, in which we’re working to build relationships between Jewish and Arab adults, not just kids,” said Gordon.

Today, there is a whole range of programs for adults, including language classes, holiday celebrations, discussion groups and a men’s basketball team. “We probably have about 3,000 adults in programs around each of our schools,” said Gordon. “Sometimes, the programs are at the schools in the evenings, or in other places.

“They really stood out this past summer when there was all the violence – the kidnappings, the revenge murder of the Palestinian teen, and the two-month-long war in Gaza.”

Shared Communities was active throughout Operation Protective Edge. Despite the tensions and differing views, participants found common ground. One example of this was the program organizing Jerusalem adults and kids going on evening walks together, wearing T-shirts that read, “We refuse to be enemies.”

“They weren’t really protests, but they were saying not everything about Jews and Arabs is about war and conflict,” said Gordon. “Here, we are working together in our school … and, in a little town, people came out onto the side of the roads with signs that read, ‘We are neighbors in peace,’ which is more than just saying, ‘We are peaceful neighbors.’”

photo - Today, there is a whole range of programs for adults, including language classes, holiday celebrations, discussion groups and a men’s basketball team
Today, there is a whole range of programs for adults, including language classes, holiday celebrations, discussion groups and a men’s basketball team. (photo from Hand in Hand)

At the schools, Hand in Hand works toward keeping the numbers balanced between Arabs and Jews, and between boys and girls.

“These are the main prerequisites,” said Gordon. “Earlier on, we had more Arabs than Jews. Now, we have waiting lists on both sides, though there’s a larger waiting list on the Arab side.

“Most importantly, they are growing fast. For example, in the new school in Tel Aviv (which is a preschool and kindergarten for now), last year, we had one class of 30 students. This year, we have three classes with 100 students in total. And, there was enough interest that we could’ve had 150 kids if we’d have had enough room.”

Gordon added, “There are great teachers and a wonderful curriculum. It looks at multiculturalism, backgrounds and narratives of different religions, because we have Christians, Muslims, Arabs and Jews…. In the younger grades, they have two full-time teachers in each class, one Arab and one Jewish.”

Gordon spoke of the schools’ broad reach.

“You can have an Arab friend the same way you can have a Jewish friend,” he said. “It can help you in the workplace, academia or your social life, and I think that’s a direct impact of Hand in Hand…. From the very beginning, when a Jewish child was invited to an Arab’s home for a birthday party, this involved the parents taking that child in and they’d meet each other. So, there are a lot of friendships happening beyond the walls of the schools … and sometimes the parents’ friendships were long-lasting, even if the children changed friends…. And the families aren’t just the parents. They are uncles, aunts, sister, brothers, cousins…. People hear about it and are impacted.

“We want to be visible because we want the rest of Israel to know about this and to be an example, as an alternative. Things can be different. Jews and Arabs can get along.”

Canadians can make a tax-deductible donation to Hand in Hand via the Jerusalem Foundation of Canada, with which it has a partnership.

“Our goal is to bring this model to as many places as there is interest and to work with populations to help them build a model school in the community,” said Gordon.

For more information, visit handinhandk12.org.

Rebeca Kuropatwa is a Winnipeg freelance writer.

Format ImagePosted on November 21, 2014November 19, 2014Author Rebeca KuropatwaCategories IsraelTags Amin Kalaf, Arabs, Hand in Hand, Israelis, Jerusalem Foundation, Lee Gordon, Palestinians
Dogs break down barriers

Dogs break down barriers

Ofer Biton with a therapy dog. (photo from Ofer Biton)

For years, therapists and other professionals have used animals to break down barriers and achieve breakthroughs in a multitude of situations. Recently, a pair of educators from Israel found a way to combine two of their passions – dogs and helping children with mental challenges.

Ofer Biton and Liat Bartov succeeded in getting recognition for the practice of canine therapy, and have since been teaching the how-to’s at universities across Israel.

Biton and Bartov met 20 years ago while working in special education. Some 10 years ago, “We started to think about dog training and teenagers [at risk],” said Bartov. “We started doing courses for teenagers in a youth group, and we had a lot of people wanting us in other schools in Jerusalem.”

Bartov and Biton found it challenging to find others to take on some of the rapidly increasing workload, which led them to teaching, beginning with one course in Jerusalem and one at Bar-Ilan University. Two years ago, they moved their base of operations to the Broshim campus of Tel-Aviv University, offering a one-year course that teaches both dog training and therapy methodology.

photo - Ofer Biton with a therapy dog. The dog is the tool for the therapist, facilitating the initial connection with the client
Ofer Biton with a therapy dog. The dog is the tool for the therapist, facilitating the initial connection with the client. (photo from Ofer Biton)

“We really like to teach the students how to deal with dogs and special education kids,” said Bartov. “The students who come to learn this dog training love animals, and dogs in particular. They come because they had a dream, they remember when they were kids, when the dog was their best friend, and now they still want to do something with dogs.”

Bartov emphasized that students learn that it is not the dog that is the therapist. The dog is the tool for the therapist, facilitating the initial connection with the client.

“The kids enjoy working with the dogs,” she said. “They feel like someone is waiting for them and they want to take care of someone else, so it gives you a very good starting point. Then, you must do what you learn in the course – build on that connection and create a triangle of trust.”

Anyone can benefit from this kind of therapy, according to Bartov. “It could be a very young child and it could be a very old man. It depends if there is connection with animals and dogs, especially. And, if you have this connection, you can do [the therapy] with anyone.”

Contrasting canine therapy to equine (horse) therapy, she explained, “The difference is in the size of the animal and the connection to it. The dog is waiting for you, wants to connect with you. You can do lots of things with him and he can come to your place, the hospital or your school.”

While schools that specialize in working with young students with attention deficit disorder (ADD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) were the initial focus for Bartov and Biton’s canine therapy, they are also doing some work with young offenders. As well, private therapists who have heard about the program are approaching Biton and Bartov for advice.

“Typically, people with the financial ability have started to use the service, because of the name of it,” said Bartov. “They like to show their kids that they’re not going to a ‘psychologist’ – that they’re taking them to a dog trainer or to play with dogs, then they move on to very long-term therapy.”

She added, “These are mainly private [clients] as well as special education schools. Regular education schools don’t have the funding to support it, so they’re not doing it yet.”

Overall, Bartov said canine therapy is currently “very trendy … and it’s been growing for the last five years. It begins with schools, and then people hear about it and are really interested. We can see it in how much work our students get. There are over 100 practising dog therapists in Israel, with over 50 students graduating every year.”

The university offers a summer and winter session course for dog therapy. The summer course has had waiting lists.

“My dream is that every school will use dog therapists,” said Bartov. “I hope we can do this and that people will understand the benefit of the school. Ideally, every place that has kids will have a small kennel with a few dogs, and the children can be with the dogs and can have this therapy.”

Bartov and Biton hope to one day bring government-supported canine therapy to public schools. Currently, no Israeli insurance provider covers the costs associated with canine therapy, although Bartov and Biton have begun working with insurance companies to one day make that part of the coverage options.

Rebeca Kuropatwa is a Winnipeg freelance writer.

Format ImagePosted on November 21, 2014November 19, 2014Author Rebeca KuropatwaCategories IsraelTags canine therapy, Liat Bartov, Ofer Biton
Review by OSCE at 10

Review by OSCE at 10

The Hon. Lynne Yelich, Canada’s minister of state (foreign affairs and consular), right, with two fellow panelists, moderator Melissa Eddy, New York Times correspondent in Berlin, and Miroslav Lajcák, deputy prime minister and minister of foreign and European affairs, Slovak Republic. (photo from Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada)

On Nov. 13, the Hon. Lynne Yelich, Canada’s minister of state (foreign affairs and consular), concluded her participation at the High-Level Commemorative Event and Civil Society Forum on the 10th Anniversary of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE’s) Berlin Conference on Antisemitism.

The Berlin Declaration was proclaimed 10 years ago; it spelled out a series of commitments for OSCE member states, including Canada. Canada is deeply engaged in the fight against antisemitism, both at home and abroad, and remains committed to enhancing Holocaust education, remembrance and research.

Yelich participated in a panel that reviewed efforts over the past 10 years in addressing antisemitism throughout the OSCE. The panel analyzed ways that member states can counter contemporary antisemitism and discussed recommendations put forward by civil society groups.

Yelich reiterated that Canada encourages all states to take a similar, zero-tolerance approach to antisemitism. “As we commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Berlin Declaration on antisemitism, we must acknowledge that antisemitism continues to be a sad reality,” she said.

The complete address delivered by Yelich at the conference, as it was written, follows:

It is both a pleasure and a privilege to represent Canada at this important event in Berlin today and to reflect upon what has been achieved in fighting antisemitism throughout the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe over the past 10 years.

As a matter of priority and principle, Canada supports efforts to combat all forms of racism and discrimination. However, the Government of Canada understands that hatred can manifest itself in specific ways requiring specific responses.

We recognize that antisemitism constitutes a unique form of racism, whose extreme manifestations have led to some of the darkest hours in the history of mankind. As Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said, antisemitism is “a pernicious evil that must be exposed, confronted and repudiated whenever and wherever it appears, an evil so profound that it is ultimately a threat to us all.”

As we commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Berlin Declaration on antisemitism, we must acknowledge that antisemitism continues to be a sad reality.

Our Nationally Standardized Data Collection Strategy on Hate-Motivated Crime indicates that Jews are the most likely religious group to be targeted for hate crimes, even though Jews constitute less than one percent of the Canadian population.

Too often, not enough is done to ensure our societies, and especially our younger generations, remember the lessons of the Holocaust.

On April 23, 2013, the Government of Canada announced that a site had been selected in our capital city of Ottawa to build Canada’s National Holocaust Monument. This monument, to be inaugurated in fall 2015, will encourage people to reflect upon the events of the Holocaust, remember the victims and pay tribute to the survivors. It will also encourage people to reflect on the responsibilities each of us has to protect human rights and dignity.

In the same spirit of education, reflection and prevention, the recently opened Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg, Man., houses a permanent exhibition devoted to the Holocaust.

With respect to law enforcement and protection, the Canadian government continues to develop its systems for collecting data on hate crime. Combined with law enforcement training, these systems allow the authorities to better address violence against groups at risk, including the Jewish community.

In this context, to help protect communities against hate-motivated crimes, we created a program called Communities at Risk: Security Infrastructure Program. Renewed in February 2013, this program allows not-for-profit organizations to apply for funding to allay the costs of security infrastructure improvements for places of worship and community centres vulnerable to hate-motivated crime.

Canada is also at the forefront of the fight against antisemitism on the international stage.

In November 2010, Canada hosted the second Inter-parliamentary Coalition for Combating Antisemitism Conference. Parliamentarians from around the world came together to develop mechanisms to combat antisemitism and address antisemitic propaganda in the media and on the Internet.

By unanimous consent, parliamentarians issued the Ottawa Protocol on Combating Antisemitism, which seeks commitments from governments to collect and report data on hate crimes, including antisemitism; to monitor and share best practices; to propose a common working definition of antisemitism; and to engage further with the United Nations on this issue.

Through our Office of Religious Freedom, established within Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada and headed by Andrew Bennett, Canada works internationally to combat antisemitism and other forms of intolerance on the basis of religion or belief, including by supporting projects implemented by the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights.

The Government of Canada also recognizes the scourge of the “new” antisemitism. This sometimes-violent movement, which often portrays itself as anti-Zionism, rejects the right of the Jewish people to a homeland. We made our stand clear when Canada – the first country to do so – decided to withdraw from the United Nations Durban Review Conference because of profound concerns about the manifestations of antisemitism that had marred the first Durban Conference, as well as the participation of such overtly antisemitic regimes as Iran in the planning of the review conference.

As we collectively seek ways to improve our response to antisemitism, Canada encourages all states to take a similar, zero-tolerance approach to antisemitism. This can include supporting the principles of the Declaration of the Stockholm International Forum on the Holocaust, the London Declaration on Combating Antisemitism and the Ottawa Protocol; further developing data collection systems on hate crimes; and fully implementing the provisions of the 2004 OSCE Berlin Declaration on antisemitism.

Thank you.

Format ImagePosted on November 21, 2014November 19, 2014Author Foreign Affairs Trade and Development CanadaCategories WorldTags antisemitism, Lynne Yelich, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, OSCE
Courage in Motion 2014

Courage in Motion 2014

Fifty-four cyclists from Toronto, Vancouver, New Jersey and New York City participated in Beit Halochem Canada, Aid to Disabled Veterans of Israel’s annual Courage in Motion bike ride in Israel recently. The organization is devoted to helping the more than 50,000 Israeli disabled veterans and victims of terrorism rehabilitate. For five days, the group cycled from Jerusalem to Eilat, raising funds to support ongoing cycling programs and purchase equipment for rehabilitative sports and cultural centres in Tel Aviv, Haifa, Jerusalem, Nahariya and Beersheva. More than 50 members of the Israeli centres joined them, riding hand bikes and tandems, inspiring participants with their strength, determination and positive outlook.

Format ImagePosted on November 21, 2014November 19, 2014Author Beit Halochem CanadaCategories IsraelTags Beit Halochem Canada, disabled veterans, terrorism
Choices celebrates 10

Choices celebrates 10

Left to right are Judith Cohen, Rachel Shanken, Alina Spaulding, Ezra Shanken and Diane Switzer. (photo from Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver)

Close to 500 women, inspired and united by one cause – strengthening community through tzedakah – gathered at Congregation Beth Israel on the evening of Sunday, Nov. 2, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Choices.

photo - Choices co-chair Melanie Samuels, left, women’s philanthropy chair Judith Cohen, centre, and Choices co-chair Lisa Pullan
Choices co-chair Melanie Samuels, left, women’s philanthropy chair Judith Cohen, centre, and Choices co-chair Lisa Pullan. (photo from Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver)

To mark the anniversary, this year’s event featured Alina Spaulding, who was the inaugural Choices keynote speaker. Spaulding emigrated from Russia to the United States in 1979 with the help of many Jewish agencies funded, in part, by Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver. Ten years since sharing her inspirational story here, Spaulding’s continued involvement in humanitarian causes in the United States and overseas provides proof of how the support of those in need can have a profound impact on lives and communities around the world.

Event sponsors – Manulife Financial, Browns, Inflection Alternative Assets, Marni Tritt and Shannon Ezekiel Real Estate Outside the Box, Max Mara and Scotiabank – contributed to the evening’s success.

To take part in Federation’s annual campaign, which provides the financial resources to support many programs and services in the community, visit jewishvancouver.com.

Format ImagePosted on November 21, 2014November 19, 2014Author Jewish Federation of Greater VancouverCategories LocalTags Alina Spaulding, Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver

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