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With the opening of Montreal’s annual Israeli Apartheid Week, last Thursday, came the annual firestorm of criticism over the name and purpose of the event. IAW Montreal is one of 40 similar events being held around the world. Each features speakers calling for a boycott of Israel, accusing the Jewish state of discrimination towards non-Jews and being guilty of apartheid.
Apartheid is a form of government practiced from 1948 to 1994 in South Africa, in which non-whites could not vote, own land, marry whites or use the same public facilities and services as whites.
This year’s IAW runs until March 11, when it will culminate in a cultural event featuring Palestinian hip hop and spoken word poetry. Organizers are expecting around 150 to 200 people at most of the events, said Samer Sefian, a spokesman. “I’d say it’s almost as big as last year,” he said. “We’ve had good attendance and of course there’s been a lot of negative attention too.”
Much like in previous years, IAW has provoked its share of controversy and criticism. In February, the Ontario legislature passed a unanimous vote condemning the comparison between apartheid in South Africa and Israel, with MPP Peter Shurman arguing doing so is “close to hate speech.”
A similar motion introduced by Conservative MP Tim Uppal may pass in the federal House of Commons. Others have suggested identifying Israel, which a democratic state, as an apartheid state belittles the extent of South African oppression.
B’nai Brith Canada, a prominent Jewish human rights organization, attacked the event for encouraging “dangerous anti-Semitic outbreaks.”
But organizers and speakers insist it’s a fair comparison. “Contrary to what the Ontario Parliament says, we black South Africans don’t find calling Israel an apartheid state demeaning,” said Na’eem Jeenah, speaking at McGill on Friday. He suggested the situation in Israel could be even harsher. “At the worst of times of apartheid in South Africa, we didn’t have tanks in our villages.”
The event aims to promote the “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions” campaign against Israel, which consists of putting pressure on governments, companies and universities to not have any economic partnerships with Israel, or even companies which deal with Israel. “Along with generally educating the public about Israel, we’re always trying to promote the BDS campaign against Israel,” said Sefian.
“This has been a strategy which has succeeded in the past, and can succeed again,” said Noura Erakat, who spoke Friday at the event. She pointed out that BDS campaigns have been used effectively in the past, most notably against South African apartheid, although she admitted that “the most controversial strand of BDS has been that aimed at Israel.”
Jeenah argued that the Israeli BDS campaign faced a stiffer challenge than that against South Africa because of what he called the global Zionist lobby. “At universities across the world, Zionist apologists and sympathizers are everywhere.” he said.
9 comments
The truth is that Palestinian land is being STOLEN from the Palestinians by Zionists and Palestinians only try to defend their land..and for this the Zionists retaliate by crying 'WOE IS ME' to the international world, completely playing down the horrific methods they use to allegedly defend themselves(white phospherous). ZIONISTS ARE THIEVES. The world is catching up..victims of Apartheid South Africa eventually won..Palestinians WILL WIN IN THE END!! Sorry for you, you poor whining Zionists...ha ha