B’nai Brith Steps
Up Its Campaign Against Civil Rights
On August 15, B’Nai
Brith Canada issued its
second statement calling on the Canadian state to crack down on demonstrations
opposing the Israeli invasion of and aggression against Lebanon.Once again, the group is trying to argue that
the tens of thousands of Canadians who took part in these rallies, including
three held in Winnipeg,
were somehow promoting terrorism.B’Nai
Brith based this conclusion on reports that at a demonstration of several thousand
people in Montreal
in early August, three or four people were spotted holding pictures of
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
In this second
statement, B’Nai Brith goes a step further in its attempts to criminalize
dissent, hinting that the burning of an Israeli flag at a peace rally in
Toronto somehow constitutes a violation of Canadian law. According to B’Nai
Brith, “virulently anti-Israel manifestations such as [the] burning of an
Israeli flag by cheering crowds at a supposedly pro-peace rally held in Toronto, should be taken
as a precursor of future extremist activity if left unchecked.” The statement
then quotes the group’s Executive Vice President, Frank Dimant:“We have noticed an alarming trend whereby
elements within Canadian society are openly challenging Canadian law to express
support for terrorist groups like Hezbollah that are banned in this country.”
Flag burning has
been an accepted form of social protest, especially in the peace and
anti-imperialist movements, for over 40 years.Repeated attempts to criminalize flag burning by the most backward,
reactionary elements in the U.S.
have not been successful simply because even the majority of American lawmakers
recognize that so doing would represent an unwarranted attack on civil and
political liberties.
Not content with
merely wanting to criminalize flag burning, B’Nai Brith’s statement goes on to
challenge the right of all Canadians to free speech.Dimant describes as “open defiance of Canada’s laws” comments made by Ali Mallah, Vice
President of the Canadian Arab Federation - Ontario Region questioning whether
or not Canada
should reconsider its classification of Hezbollah as a terrorist group.(B’Nai Brith issued two more statements on
this issue after three MPs on a fact-finding mission to Lebanon raised
the same question). According to this logic, it would be criminal for
parliamentarians from the majority of the world’s countries, including most of
the western nations (Canada,
the U.S., the U.K. and the Netherlands being the only exceptions)
to answer questions on Canadian soil as to why they have not listed Hezbollah
as a terrorist organization in their countries.
The statement
closes with Dimant noting B’Nai Brith is setting up meetings with government
officials, including the Attorney General of Ontario and the Toronto Chief of
Police, to discuss these issues.“We are
recommending that loopholes in the existing anti-terrorism legislation be
closed to prohibit the kind of glorification of terrorism that we are currently
seeing.Such pro-terror sympathies must
be addressed immediately, lest Canada’s
multicultural values of tolerance and respect be eroded.”
It is quite
clear from B’Nai Brith’s statement that the group’s main aim is twofold:the eradication of any criticism of Israel
and the suspension of the most fundamental civil liberties – freedom of speech
and freedom of association – in service of this aim.It appears that B’Nai Brith’s definition of “tolerance”
and “respect” begins and ends with tolerance and respect for its positions and
that it is attempting to use the current hysteria about terrorism to label
anyone who opposes Israeli aggression as a terrorist or terrorist sympathizer.