Pacific Free Press was launched in March 2007 by Dutch-Canadian Richard
Kastelein of V.O.F. Expathos, in the Netherlands along with Chris Cook- CFUV radio journalist and Editor in Chief of Pacific Free Press. Cook is based in , Victoria, British Columbia.
The mission of Pacific Free Press is simple: to dig out nuggets of truth from
the slag-heap of lies, ignorance and witless diversion that has buried
public discourse today. Pacific Free Press provides a new venue for
disseminating hard news and insightful, fact-based analysis of the
harsh realities too often ignored or distorted by the mainstream press.
As the bombs continue to fall over Palestine, the bodies piling higher by the hour, I'm spending my weekend (thanks to Queen Victoria, a mercifully long one) reading over 18 "offending" articles published at my former home Peace, Earth, and Justice (www.PEJ.org).
I'm doing this because, Canada has Hate Speech laws, and me and PEJ have apparently fallen afoul of them. Or, so says the British Columbia branch of the B'nai Brith organization.
Considering the hundreds of articles chronicling the crimes
against humanity committed by the Israeli regime in Palestine, Lebanon,
and elsewhere published during my time as an editor at PEJ, I can only
remark at my shock B'nai Brith could only come up with 18 they find
offensive. Perhaps it's a softening of vigilance, or maybe a tacit
recognition: Israeli government policy is becoming increasingly
difficult to defend, even among its most staunch proponents?
Nevertheless, the charges are serious for the PEJ.org board members,
the editors (of which yours truly is one), and the authors of the
articles in question, some of the most noted authorities on the six
decades-long Palestine-Israel debacle.
For American readers who
value and feel protected by the 1st Amendment (right to free speech),
it may seem strange that a country would enshrine in law the opposite
condition; but Hate Crime legislation in this country is widely
supported. Canada is an ethnically, and politically diverse country,
consisting of minority populations from the world over, and it was
deemed fair-minded to ensure all are protected from the "tyranny of the
majority." But it's a double-edged sword, making possible an abuse of
the statutes, allowing an equally odious tyranny, the stifling of
dissent and criticism by a dedicated minority.
Such is, I believe, the
case here.
To understand the nature of the B'nai Brith
complaint with the Canadian Human Rights Commission, it's instructive
to visit the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) website; there is explained
the goals of the CJC, and their marching orders in defending Israel's interests. The CJC's 'General
Expectations of Canada,' and presumably of Canadian Jews and Christian
Zionists loyal to Israel, right or wrong, are to take "constructive
interventions against resolutions or motions" made in Canada that:
i) blame only Israel and its policies for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
ii) indict Israel's legitimate counter-terrorism measures with no reference to or condemnation of Palestinian terrorism.
iii) deny or undermine Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state in the Middle East.
iv)
employ existentially threatening language such as referring to Israel
as a "racist" or "apartheid" state and apply terms such as
["genocide"(?)], or "ethnic cleansing" to the conflict.
v) are based upon inaccurate media information or Palestinian Authority propaganda.
vi)
predetermine the outcome of direct, bilateral negotiations in keeping
with UN Resolution 242 and 338 or circumvent such a process.
At the same time, Canada's delegates must support and encourage efforts at the UNCHR that:
i)
will ensure a comprehensive accounting of international human rights
situations such that grievous international human rights issues are not
ignored or soft-pedalled as a result of a politicized, anti-Israel
agenda.
ii) highlight the crippling impact of continuing Palestinian
terrorism - which has been explicitly legitimized in the CHR
resolutions - on the peace process and on attempts to establish a true
human rights regime in the Middle East.
iii) draw attention to the
deficiencies within the Palestinian Authority regarding human rights
and the building of a viable civil society for the Palestinian people.
Thankfully,
these tenets are neither chiseled in stone, nor enshrined in Canadian
jurisprudence; for if they were, PEJ.org would indeed be found guilty
of the charges brought. But then, who criticizing Israel's brutal,
racist, and remorseless genocide, as practiced against the people of
Palestine, would be innocent?
As it stands, the
"representative of The League for Human Rights of B'nai Brith"
contends, PEJ.org is: "...discriminating against persons or groups of
persons by communicating messages on the Internet that are likely to
expose a person or persons to hatred or contempt on the basis of
national or ethnic origin, contrary to section 13(1) of the Canadian
Human Rights Act ("CHRA")."
The complaint says, PEJ.org is "contriving
to promote ongoing hatred affecting persons identifiable as Jews,
and/or as citizens of Israel." Thus, the B'nai Brith is arguing it is
likely to be hated and despised due to criticism of the Israeli state,
and demands criticism of that state cease and desist.
Reviewing
the 18 articles in question, it's easy to see where PEJ.org
transgresses the above stated goals of the Canadian Jewish Congress;
many of them blame Israel chiefly in the conflict in Palestine. As the
stronger party, it can be argued Israel has the primary responsibility
to sue for a just solution. That solution cannot be arrived at through
violence, whether the "terrorism" of Palestinian suicide bombers and
Kassam rockets, or Israeli Defense Force tanks, F-16's, or the snipers
atop the "security fence" surrounding much of Gaza and East Jerusalem,
and the West Bank.
Some of the articles too do mention Israel is a "racist"
state, judging by the words quoted of its leadership, past and present.
Some too declare, as did former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, Israel is
an "apartheid" state, likening the physical separation of non-Jews to
the so-called Bantustans of apartheid-era South Africa (incidentally, a
regime stoutly defended and aided by Israel at the time of its most
egregious behaviour).
True, these articles document a hateful
regime, following a hateful policy that includes murder, torture,
unilateral invasion of neighbouring countries, the mass and
indiscriminate killing of civilians using prohibited weapons, and
internationally allowed weaponry used in illegal fashion, the
destruction of civilian infrastructure, counter to international law,
mass detentions without due process, and a litany of other, ongoing
outrages, nowhere in any of the articles is contempt for Jews, or
Israeli citizens, whether identifiable or otherwise, expressed.
In
fact, more than a few of the articles in question implore Jews in
America, Europe, and Israel to use what influence they have to rein in
the Israeli government if not in the name of humanity, then to preserve
Israel following a disastrous course.
Section 13 of Canada's
Human Rights Act was originally designed to address hate campaigns
conducted by far-right white supremacists, who had taken to sending
recorded messages promoting hatred against minorities over the
telephone. It has since morphed into an all-encompassing censor, every
amendment to it adding further restrictions to what is considered
acceptable opinion and expression of those opinions.
The authors of the
18 articles found objectionable by the B'nai Brith are not frothing at the mouth racists, determined to isolate and make subject
to ridicule, contempt, or hatred any group. They comprise a wide
spectrum of journalists, social commentators, educators, and concerned
citizens from several countries and faiths, all expressing genuine
outrage at the current state of affairs in Palestine, and the role of
the State of Israel in those events.
If this then is to be considered
criminal, then what can we consider the actions creating so much death
and misery there, and the disgraceful inaction of Canada's government
(currently aiding and abetting the horrors through its support of food, aid, and medicines sanctions against
the duly elected Hamas government of Palestine), but a crime of an
infinitely greater magnitude?
PEJ.org has until early next month
to respond to the Canadian Human Rights Commission's Anti-Hate
investigators, and face any number of legal and quasi-legal devices
that could include fines of thousands of dollars, pulling the plug of
the organization, or worse.
It would be ironic indeed, if an
organization of volunteers dedicated to peace, earth, and justice were
to be shot down for criticism of an entity that regards those tenets
worthy only for its own, identifiable citizens.
Chris
Cook is a contributing editor to www.pacificfreepress.com, host of
Gorilla Radio, broad/webcast from the University of Victoria, Canada,
and former editor to www.pej.org
Writings 
As the bombs continue to fall over Palestine, the bodies piling higher by the hour, I'm spending my weekend (thanks to Queen Victoria, a mercifully long one) reading over 18 "offending" articles published at my former home Peace, Earth, and Justice (
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