Keeping Track of Israel Boycotts

This morning I was referred to a very interesting website that is keeping track of the boycotts against Israel. As I've said before, one is free to boycott anything they wish. But when a large group attempts to boycott something, it's always fascinating to find out what the real underlying reasons are. These reasons are frequently not what is publicly stated.

A lifelong mission of mine is to find out why members of the Radical Left are almost always anti-Semitic (ie. they HATE Jews). The smarter ones know that the optics of this are not good and try to explain it away with comments like "I'm actually anti-Zionist" or "Just because I don't support Israel's actions doesn't mean that I have anything against Jews". But dig down a little deeper and you quickly learn that the Jew Hatred is very much the driving motivation ... in most cases. At least in my experience it is.

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Update: I changed the original title of this posting after receiving the e-mail shown below. Mr. Taub is correct, especially considering that I had no idea about this organization! But I don't have the time or interest to fight a SLAPP suit

I was reading your blog today and I found a problem. Your page title “Israel Boycott Watch” violates my Trademark of the name Boycott Watch. I understand there was probably no intent to violate my trademark, but I would still appreciate the immediate removal of my federally registered and legally protected name.

Thank you,

Fred Taub
President,
Boycott Watch (SM)
www.BoycottWatch.com

CUPE Shows Their Colours

In a not surprising, but still disgusting move, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) has issued this press release:

CUPE Ontario to recommend support for ban on Israeli academics in response to Gaza bombings

January 5, 2009

TORONTO, Ont. – CUPE Ontario's university workers committee will bring a resolution to its annual conference supporting a ban on Israeli academics doing speaking, teaching or research work at Ontario universities as a protest against the December 29 bombing of the Islamic University in Gaza.

“In response to an appeal from the Palestinian Federation of Unions of University Professors and Employees, we are ready to say Israeli academics should not be on our campuses unless they explicitly condemn the university bombing and the assault on Gaza in general,” said Sid Ryan, president of CUPE Ontario. “It's a logical next step, building on policy adopted by our provincial convention in 2006.”

Resolution 50, adopted in May 2006, supported boycotts, divestment and sanctions aimed at bringing about the Israeli withdrawal from occupied territories and a just peace in the region.

“Clearly, international pressure on Israel must increase to stop the massacre that is going on daily,” said Janice Folk-Dawson, chair of the CUPE Ontario University Workers Coordinating Committee, whose conference is scheduled for February. “We are proud to add CUPE voices to others from around the world saying enough is enough.”

Ryan and other CUPE representatives will join in the demonstration against the Israeli assault on Gaza at 2:00 p.m. tomorrow, Saturday, January 3 at Dundas Square in Toronto.

For more information, contact:

Sid Ryan, President, CUPE Ontario, 416-209-0066
Pat Daley, CUPE Communications, 416-616-6142

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The Palestinian Federation of Unions of University Professors and Employees is headed by one Dr. Amjad Barham, who has a long history of issuing boycotts against Israel. That's his prerogative but for CUPE to go along with it is despicable.

On a purely Canadian note, isn't it interesting how last year much of the news featured assorted Muslim groups trying to silence the free speech of Ezra Levant, Mark Steyn, and others. Now in 2009 we have CUPE ready to go along with an initiative to silence the free speech of Jewish academics. A very disturbing trend indeed.

I wonder how long it'll be before we see the pink flags mixed with the green ones.

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Question: Perhaps any painters out there can tell me, if you mix pink with green, do you end up with red? No particular reason, I'm just curious.

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Update: Further to the antics of CUPE's President, Sid Ryan, I just read this.

About halfway down is this interesting revelation: "I was told that CUPE (Canadian Union of Public Employees) was one of the organizers of the anti-Israel protest. Sure enough, I ran into CUPE President Sid Ryan, sitting comfortably in the back of a coffee shop near the Israeli consulate."

So it seems clear now that we have a public sector union calling for an end to free speech for [some] academics and inciting anti-Jewish hatred at rallies. And the MSM on all of this is ... where exactly?!?

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Update #2: SDA has an interesting update. Read the comments!

An Editorial from National Review Online

NRO speaks out loud and forcefully about what's going on here in Canada. Make no mistake that the battle to reclaim our fundamental free speech rights is very much ongoing and will take years to win. As we've all learned from last week, there are dark forces of social activists fighting against everyone else who believes in free speech. They've infested our media, our universities, our human rights commissions, and large swaths of our governments.

In the NRO editorial, they call for international political figures to speak out against Canada's current free speech policies. I wholeheartedly support this initiative.

Call me cynical, but I've become convinced that most modern day politicians are primarily motivated by two things:

1. Getting re-elected
2. Political correctness - aka "not offending minorities"

Up until now, it has been extremely dangerous for a politician to vocally support free speech. There's a legitimate fear that they'll immediately be labeled a racist. This is done as effortlessly as a minority activist group making the charge in a press release and then holding an impromptu press conference at a local coffee shop. The media always hops on board and amplifies the charge to whatever levels are necessary to silence the politician. I don't think such collusion is ever formally organized but birds of the same feather necessarily squawk together . . . and always loudly it seems!

Put yourself in the shoes of a Canadian politician. Even with your international colleagues telling you that the quasi-judicial status quo must change, you still have your own career to worry about. It's quite a balancing act and I'm not at all convinced there's yet enough pressure in Canada to push a politician away from political correctness and toward adamantly supporting free speech.

I thus once again renew my recommendation for international political figures to tie Free Speech in with the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. A boycott of athletes isn't necessary but perhaps a refusal to attend the Opening Ceremonies may go a long way to getting our politicians to do the right thing. I am absolutely not anti-Olympics but what's more important here, the free speech rights of all Canadians or the two-man luge event?