CIJR GOES INTERNATIONAL ENTERING 25TH YEAR
Janice Arnold
Canadian Jewish News, June 1, 2012
In a cluttered, cramped downtown office, Alex Enescu, a Romanian-born, non-Jewish Concordia University student, and 92-year-old Baruch Cohen, a survivor of the Romanian Holocaust, are colleagues. They work at the Canadian Institute for Jewish Research (CIJR), both, in their own way, disseminating information about Jewish history, Israel and the Middle East. Their seven-decade age difference is forgotten when they share a common passion for the Romanian-Jewish poet Paul Celan.
However, talking about their country of birth is still painful for Cohen, who has devoted his senior years to raising awareness of the murder and persecution of hundreds of thousands of Romanian Jews.
Enescu is editor of the student-run publication Dateline: Middle East, and Cohen does just about everything else—as a volunteer—as he has since the pro-Israel think tank was founded by Concordia history professor Frederick Krantz a quarter-century ago.
Enescu, who said he has always been interested in Judaism, particularly the Kabbalah, found his way to CIJR via its Student Israel Advocacy Program (SIAP), an on-campus seminar series given by Krantz and other academics. He wanted to deepen his knowledge of Jewish history and religion, and in the process, found himself becoming interested in modern-day Israel as well.
“Historically and politically, Israel is such an important place that, just about in any field of study, you are going to run into it,” he said. “I was surprised by some of the European events we learned about, events that I was not aware of.” Krantz, impressed with his seriousness, suggested Enescu become a CIJR intern.… CIJR hires a handful of students during the academic year and in the summer.
Another current intern is fellow Concordia student Charles Daoust, also not Jewish, who is editing CIJR’s Israfax periodical, as well as its French-language e-mailed briefings. “I’ve been fascinated by Jewish history, especially in Europe, ever since I visited the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington,” he said.
All contribute to CIJR’s online databank, which contains “tens of thousands” of complete articles from publications around the world over the years, accessible free of charge to anyone (www.isranet.org).
“We are taking young people who are not necessarily pro-Israel when they come in,” Krantz said, “and teaching them something about Israel and the Middle East, something they likely aren’t learning on campus.” He’s satisfied if their perspective has at least been broadened by the time they end their apprenticeship.
Cohen, incidentally, was also a recent Concordia graduate at 68 when he was discovered by Krantz and urged to join the public-spirited think tank he had in mind. Cohen, who still comes into the office every day, will receive CIJR’s highest honour, the Lion of Judah Award, at a gala fundraising dinner June 12 at Congregation Shaar Hashomayim.
Entering its 25th year, CIJR is going international, founding a sister organization in the United States and forming a partnership with an Israeli institute. The American Institute for Jewish Research (AIJR) has been incorporated, based in Washington, D.C. Chapters are being formed in Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and New York, Krantz’s birthplace. Its Israeli connection is with the Jerusalem Centre for Public Affairs, a public policy think tank established in 1976 whose president is Dore Gold, former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations and adviser to prime ministers Ariel Sharon and Benjamin Netanyahu. Allan Baker, former Israeli ambassador to Canada, will act as CIJR’s liaison with the centre.…
CIJR became a national organization this year with the founding of a Toronto chapter and the holding of a conference there this spring. That chapter is co-chaired by David Freeman, [a Toronto community leader, and Prof. Sally Zerker].…
CIJR has a new national chair, Jack Kincler, best known lately for his tireless effort on behalf of St. Denis Street merchants adversely affected by anti-Israel protests that have gone on since October 2010. The question of how best to respond to the Israel boycott campaign organized by the activist group Palestinians and Jewish Unity (PAJU) has unfortunately divided the Jewish community, Krantz said.
Israeli-born Kincler favours the proactive approach of Les Amis québécois d’Israel, headed by Daniel Laprès, which counters the PAJU picketing almost every Saturday outside the Naot shoe store by holding concurrent demonstrations of support. The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), the official spokesperson for the community, on the other hand, takes a less confrontational approach, preferring to combat the boycott movement by working through elected officials and opinion-makers in Quebec.
CIJR has a good working relationship with CIJA, with which it has co-sponsored a number of events, Krantz noted. “We’d like to try to play the role of pulling the community together,” he said. “We believe in klal Yisrael, all those who are pro-Israel should be on board together.”
CIJR remains an independent research and educational institute, raising its modest budget through private donations. The June 12 affair is its major annual fundraiser. The keynote speaker will be Ron Prosor, Israel’s permanent representative to the United Nations, and special guest is British journalist Melanie Phillips, best known for her controversial Daily Mail column.
For ticket information, call 514-486-5544 or e-mail cijr@isranet.wpsitie.com.
The following address was delivered April 23, 2012
by Israel’s UN Ambassador Ron Prosor (CIJR’s Gala Keynote Speaker)
to the Security Council, titled “Open Debate on the Situation in the Middle East.”
…Churchill once said, “In the time that it takes a lie to get halfway around the world, the truth is still getting its pants on.”
In the barren deserts of the Middle East, myths find fertile ground to grow wild. Facts often remain buried in the sand. The myths forged in our region travel abroad—and can surprisingly find their way into these halls. I would like to use today’s debate as an opportunity to address just a few of the myths that have become a permanent hindrance to our discussion of the Middle East here at the United Nations.
Myth One: The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict is the central conflict in the Middle East. If you solve that conflict, you solve all the other conflicts in the region.
Make no mistake, it is important for Israel and the Palestinians to resolve our longstanding conflict for its own merits. Yet, the truth is that conflicts in Syria, Yemen, Egypt, Bahrain, and many other parts of the Middle East have absolutely nothing to do with Israel.
It is obvious that resolving the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict won’t stop the persecution of minorities across the region, end the subjugation of women, or heal the sectarian divides. Obsessing over Israel has not stopped [Syrian President Bashar] Assad’s tanks from flattening entire communities. On the contrary, it has only distracted attention from his crimes.…
Dedicating the majority of [attention] to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, month after month after month, [also] has not stopped the Iranian regime’s centrifuges from spinning. Iran’s ambitions for nuclear weapons are the single greatest threat to the Middle East, and the entire world.…
Myth Two: There is a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.
Numerous international organizations have said clearly that there is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza, including the Deputy Head of the Red Cross Office in the area. Gaza’s real GDP grew by more than 25 percent during the first three quarters of 2011. Exports are expanding. International humanitarian projects are moving forward at a rapid pace.
There is not a single civilian good that cannot enter Gaza today. Yet, as aid flows into the area, missiles fly out. This is the crisis in Gaza. And that is what keeps Gaza from realizing its real potential. It is a simple equation. If it is calm in Israel, it will be calm in Gaza. But the people of Gaza will face hardship as long as terrorists use them as human shields to rain rockets down on Israeli cities.
Each rocket in Gaza is armed with a warhead capable of causing a political earthquake that would extend well beyond Israel’s borders. It will only take one rocket that lands in the wrong place at the wrong time to change the equation on the ground. If that happens, Israel’s leaders would be forced to respond in a completely different manner.
It is time for all in this Chamber to finally wake up to that dangerous reality. The Security Council has not condemned a single rocket attack from Gaza. History’s lessons are clear. Today’s silence is tomorrow’s tragedy.
Myth Three: Settlements are the primary obstacle to peace.
How many times have we heard that argument in this chamber? [In April], the Human Rights Council proposed yet another “fact-finding” mission to Israel. It will explore, surprise surprise, Israeli settlements. Today, I’d like to save the Human Rights Council and the international community some time and energy. The facts have already been found. They are plain for all to see.
The fact is that from 1948 until 1967, the West Bank was part of Jordan, and Gaza was part of Egypt. The Arab World did nothing—it did not lift a finger—to create a Palestinian state. And it sought Israel’s annihilation when not a single settlement stood anywhere in the West Bank or Gaza.
The fact is that in 2005, when I was the Director-General of Israel’s Foreign Ministry, we took every settlement out of Gaza and only got rockets on our cities in return.
The fact is that this Israeli Government put in place an unprecedented ten-month moratorium on settlements. The Palestinian leadership used the gesture as an opportunity to take Israel and the international community on another ride to nowhere. For nine out of those ten months, they rejected the moratorium as insufficient—and then demanded that we extend it.…
The primary obstacle to peace is not settlements. The primary obstacle to peace is the so-called “claim of return”—and the Palestinian’s refusal to recognize Israel’s right to exist as the nation-state of the Jewish people. You will never hear Palestinian leaders say “two states for two peoples”…because today the Palestinian leadership is calling for an independent Palestinian state, but insists that its people return to the Jewish state. This would mean the destruction of Israel.
Some of you might say, “Oh Ambassador, but the Palestinians know that they will have to give up this claim.…” Ladies and Gentleman, the Palestinian leadership has never, ever said publicly that they will give up the so-called “claim of return”—neither to the Palestinian people, nor to the Arab World, nor to the international community, or to anyone else. Since the Palestinian leadership refuses to tell the Palestinian people the truth, the international community has the responsibility and duty to tell them the truth. You have a duty to stand up and say that the so-called “claim of return” is a non-starter.
Instead of telling the Palestinian people the truth, much of the international community stands idle as the Arab World tries to erase the Jewish people’s historical connection to the Land of Israel. Across the Arab World—and even at this table—you hear claims that Israel is “Judaizing” Jerusalem. These accusations come about 3,000 years too late.… Like many nations around this table, the Jewish people have a proud legacy of age-old kings and queens. It’s just that our tradition goes back a few years earlier. Since King David laid the cornerstone for his palace in the 10th Century BC, Jerusalem has served as the heart of our faith.
In debate after debate, speakers sit in the Security Council and say that Israel is committing “ethnic cleansing” in Jerusalem, even though the percentage of Arab residents in the city has grown from 26% to 35% since 1967.
The holiest sites in Jerusalem, the eternal capital of the Jewish people, were closed only to Jews from 1948 until 1967. Everyone could come to these sites except Jews.… The world did not say a word about the situation in Jerusalem at that time. Since Israel unified the city, it has thrived under the values of tolerance and freedom. For the first time in centuries, sacred places that were once sealed off along religious lines are now permanently open for worship by all peoples. This is a principle grounded in our values, our actions and our laws.
There is another great truth that this organization has completely overlooked for the past 64 years.… More than 850,000 Jews have been uprooted from their homes in Arab countries during the past 64 years.
These were vibrant communities dating back 2,500 years. On the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, Babylonian Jewry produced many of Judaism’s holiest books—and thrived for two millennia. In the great synagogues and libraries of Cairo, Jews preserved the intellectual and scientific treasures of antiquity into the Renaissance. From Aleppo to Aden to Alexandria, Jews stood out as some of the greatest artists, musicians, businessmen, and writers.
All of these communities were wiped out. Age-old family businesses and properties were confiscated. Jewish quarters were destroyed. Pogroms left synagogues looted, graveyards desecrated and thousands dead.…
Out of over 1088 UN resolutions on the Middle East, you will not find a single syllable regarding the displacement of Jewish refugees. There have been more than 172 resolutions exclusively devoted to Palestinian refugees, but not one dedicated to Jewish refugees. The Palestinian refugees have their own UN agency, their own information program, and their own department within the United Nations. None exist for the Jewish refugees. The word “double-standard” does not even begin to describe this gap.…
Jews from Arab countries came to refugee camps in Israel, which eventually gave birth to thriving towns and cities. Refugee camps in Arab Countries gave birth to more Palestinian refugees. Israel welcomed its Jewish refugees with citizenship and unlocked their vast potential. As they rose to the highest levels of society, our refugees lifted the State of Israel to new heights.
Imagine if Arab countries had done the same with their Palestinian refugees. Instead, they have cynically perpetuated their status as refugees, for generation after generation.…
Myth Four: Peace can somehow be achieved between Israelis and Palestinians by bypassing direct negotiations.
History has shown that peace and negotiations are inseparable. Direct negotiations are the only tool, the only way and the only path to create two-states for two peoples. Last January, Israel offered a clear proposal in Amman for restarting direct negotiations. We presented the Palestinian delegation with negotiating positions on every major issue separating the parties.
That proposal—filled with Israel’s vision for peace—continues to gather dust, as Palestinian leaders continue to pile up new pre-conditions for sitting with Israel.…
In the dangerous uncertainty of a turbulent Middle East, the Security Council has never had a greater responsibility to separate myth from truth, and fact from fiction. The clarity of candor has never been more valuable. The need for honest discourse has never been clearer. It is time for this Council to sweep out the cobwebs of old illusions—and plant the seeds for a truly “open” debate on the Middle East. The challenges before us demand nothing less.
(Amb. Ron Prosor will deliver the Keynote Address at CIJR’s 12 June 24th Anniversary Gala.)
ZIONISM AND BIGOTRY
Melanie Phillips
Daily Mail, May 28, 2012
In the wake of the festival of Shavuot, when Jews have been celebrating the giving of the Ten Commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai from where he presented them to the Jewish people camped at its foot, I have been brooding over the fact that Zionism has become a dirty word in Britain and the west.
For many in these societies, Zionism has now become equated with racism. This group libel, once regarded with revulsion by decent people when the Soviet-Arab axis got the UN to endorse it in 1975, has now become the prism through which the BBC, academia, the artistic and theatrical world and much of the rest of the cultural establishment now frame all references to Israel.
This helps explain the attempted boycott of the Israeli theatre company Habima, playing Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice at London’s Globe theatre last month in conditions of the tightest security. The profound malice and ignorance behind such reflexive demonisation of Israel are rendered all the more hallucinatory by the sanctimonious and unchallenged assumption of the moral high ground which these idiots believe they occupy.
This is as grotesque as it is terrifying. Zionism is no more nor less than the self-determination of the Jewish people—as a people, and not just as adherents of the Jewish religion. Jews are in fact the only people—as a people—for whom Israel (ancient Judea and Samaria) was ever their national homeland. Those who deny Zionism thus deny Jewish peoplehood and the fundamental right of Jews to live as a people in their own ancestral homeland, Israel.
Unique in the world, Jews are both a people and adherents of a religion. Intrinsic to and inseparable from the religion of Judaism is the land of Israel; more specifically, the centrality of and longing for Jerusalem and its Temple. Deny that centrality and you rip the heart and soul out of Judaism. Those who deny the right of the Jews to Israel and Jerusalem deny the right of the Jews to their own religion.
Judaism is like a stool supported on three legs—the nation, the religion and the land. Saw off any of these legs and the stool collapses. Does this mean that all Jews are Zionists? Of course not, no more than it means that all Jews are religious. But just as the hatred of Jews on theological grounds has always threatened the lives and safety of all Jews including those who are not religious, so the anti-Zionist hatred of Jewish self-determination is a form of bigotry which threatens the lives and safety of all Jews, whether or not they are Zionists.…
The anti-Zionist madness of our time is thus far more pernicious even than hatred of Israel, pathologically obsessive and malevolent as that is in itself. Bad enough that for so many people in Britain and the west, Israel has been successfully demonised as a pariah state on the basis of a unique systematic campaign of falsehoods, distortions and libels about its history and behaviour, untruths which have nevertheless become the unchallenged basis for public discussion.
But far worse even than this is the assumption underlying this lazy defamation, that Zionism is a creed that is itself a particularly aggressive kind of racism or colonialism. This vicious prejudice has turned truth, reason and decency inside out. The right of the Jews to their own historic national homeland has been recast, entirely falsely, as a usurpation of the ‘right’ to that land of ‘Palestinians’—who never actually existed as a discrete people in the first place. Those Jews who are Zionists now find themselves as a result cast as racists and social pariahs—merely for asserting the right of the Jewish people to self-determination in their own historic homeland.
Those who are driven by a vicious and bigoted hatred have thus been allowed to cast the victims of their hatred as themselves hateful people. Zionist Jews are thus defamed and victimised many times over—and by those who have the gall to claim the moral high ground in doing so.…
This is a truly chilling situation, reminiscent of the mass brainwashing and hijacking of thought that took place in the Soviet Union—not surprising when you consider the Soviet-Arab axis that back in the seventies set out to destroy Israel by capturing and subverting the western mind.…
But just as in the former Soviet Union, there are plenty of decent, rational people who do understand very well what is happening here, and its broader and lethal implications for the safety of the entire western world. For those people and others who have yet to be persuaded—not to mention the duty to record this infamy into the memory of the world—the truth behind this terrible departure from reason and decency over Israel and Zionism must continue to be publicly told.
(Melanie Phillips, the outstanding British author of The World Turned Upside Down,
will deliver a Special Address at CIJR’s 12 June 24th Anniversary Gala.)
