International Days of Action Against Israeli Apartheid

June 9 and 10 have been designated as international days of action to mark the fortieth anniversary of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem and to call for an end to the policies of Israeli apartheid.

In Canada, numerous events will be taking place across the country. These include a national day of protest at Chapters/Indigo bookstores on June 9 to urge the chain to cut its ties to Israeli apartheid. The protest is being organized by the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid, which has been holding information pickets at different Chapters/Indigo locations in Toronto for over a year. The first such picket will be held in Winnipeg at the Chapters store near Polo Park starting at 2 p.m.

Why Chapters?

Heather Reisman and Gerry Schwartz, who are the two majority shareholders of Chapters/Indigo, are also the founders of the Heseg Fund. According to the fund’s website, Schwartz and Reisman “established Heseg to express gratitude and provide support to the thousands of former lone soldiers who serve annually in the Israel Defence Forces.”

Heseg provides financial support for former “lone soldiers” in the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), which is responsible for committing many war crimes in the occupied Palestinian territories. “Lone soldiers” are individuals who have no family in Israel but choose to enlist in the Israeli army. Former Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz, architect of last summer’s invasion of Lebanon, spoke at a Heseg ceremony in December 2005. “Encouraging and supporting young individuals from abroad [who enlist in the IDF] directly supports the morale of the IDF,” he said.

The Canadian Jewish News reported that Schwartz and Reisman were honoured for their efforts in support of the Israeli military at a recent ceremony to honour a lone soldier killed last summer during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. The deceased soldiers’ platoon commander presented the couple with the soldier’s gun as an expression of thanks.

The Heseg board of directors includes active and retired high-ranking Israeli military personnel, including:

· Maj. General Doron Almog, the former head of Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip. Almog was in charge of the Israeli military southern command when a one-ton bomb was dropped on a house in Gaza in an attempt to assassinate a Hamas leader. Fourteen civilians, including nine children, were killed in the attack. Almog avoided arrest for war crimes in London in 2005 by refusing to disembark from a flight after being tipped off that British police would seize him and charge him as soon as he set foot on British soil.

· General Yitzhak Eitan, the International Chairman of the Association for the Wellbeing of Israel’s Soldiers and head of the IDF Central Command from 2000-2003.

· General Elazar Stern, who served as Deputy Commander of the IDF Central Brigade on the Israeli-Lebanon border. He also served as Commander of the Officers’ School

· Shabtai Shavit, the head of Mossad, the Israeli secret service, from 1989-1996.

· Lt. Colonel Mike Hartman, head of the marksmanship and sharpshooters section of the IDF.

Canadian members on the Heseg board include:

· Heather Reisman, President and CEO of Indigo Books and Music Inc.

· Gerry Schwartz, President and CEO of ONEX and a director of Indigo Books and Music Inc.

· Robert Pritchard, President and CEO of Torstar Productions (the Toronto Star)

· Irving Abella, faculty member at York University

· Moshe Ronen, Vice-President of the World Jewish Congress, Chairman of the Board of the Canadian Jewish Congress and Co-Chair of the Canada-Israel Committee.

The Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid has called on all Canadians to boycott Chapters/Indigo until Reisman and Schwartz publicly announce they have ended their association with the Heseg Foundation.

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