Social Planning Council sticking with anti-Israel panelist despite online petition, losing venue
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/03/2019 (1834 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
OTTAWA — A left-learning advocacy group is standing firm amid calls for it to cancel a polarizing speaker’s appearance at an upcoming panel, due to statements some have deemed anti-Semitic.
Linda Sarsour is scheduled to appear on an April 26 panel organized by the Social Planning Council of Winnipeg (SPCW), titled “Sorry Not Sorry: Unapologetically Working for Social Justice.”
Sarsour is an American-born Muslim of Palestinian origin who gained notoriety for helping plan the Women’s March on Washington. That massive demonstration was one of the largest in United States history, but it was also marred by allegations of anti-Semitic rhetoric, for which Sarsour apologized last fall.
Still, Sarsour has attracted controversy for her criticism of Israel, which some believe cross the line into anti-Jewish sentiment.
Last September, she chided Muslims for not adequately advocating for Palestinians, accusing them of “trying to humanize the oppressor.”
“We wouldn’t let a Hitler come into our city and talk under the guise of free speech.”–Ron East
In November, she railed against criticism of a congresswoman’s support of Israel boycotts by chiding activists who “always choose their allegiance to Israel over their commitment to democracy,” echoing a decades-old trope about Jewish people having allegiances outside of mainstream society.
Previously, Sarsour has drawn heat for saying feminists cannot support the state of Israel.
She’s also been criticized for not distancing herself from controversial preacher Louis Farrakhan, who last year said “I’m not an anti-Semite. I’m anti-termite.” Farrakhan praised Hitler in the 1980s while making comments about God putting Jews “in the oven” and “false Jews that are promoting lesbianism.”
Sarsour has also embraced Palestinian activist Rasmea Odeh, whom an Israeli court convicted of terrorism in a supermarket bombing that killed two students but who was freed in a 1980 prisoner exchange. Sarsour has claimed Odeh did not have a fair trial.
Those comments are enough for SPCW to take Sarsour off their panel, argues Ron East. He launched an online petition calling for that, and accusing Sarsour of “anti-Israel hate.”
“We wouldn’t let a Hitler come into our city and talk under the guise of free speech,” East said in an interview.
“There is a wave of people that are standing up and saying this is not acceptable in our city; not in Winnipeg, not in 2019.”
So far he has collected more than 1,250 signatures along with publicity from B’nai Brith Canada.
East said Sarsour will be “demonizing Jewish people” on the last sabbath day of Passover. He fears she will “divide our city and cause more hate and more polarization” amid a rise in reported anti-Jewish incidents.
The online petition has already convinced Seven Oaks School Division to cancel the SPCW’s booking at the division’s Jefferson Avenue Performing Arts Centre; the group said Thursday that it is seeking another venue.
In an online message defending its choice of panelists, SPCW executive director Kate Kehler said many who criticize the Israeli government over its treatment of Palestinians are not anti-Jewish.
“Having thoughtful voices heard from different perspectives is essential to serious and nuanced discussion.”–Kate Kehler
“Having thoughtful voices heard from different perspectives is essential to serious and nuanced discussion. We find it very difficult to believe that the Obama administration (which, in 2011, declared her a “Champion of Change”) would grant an award to someone with anti-Semitic views,” Kehler wrote.
She added that Sarsour will be able to speak about confronting one’s own bias. “This conversation is about doing work that makes people uncomfortable,” Kehler wrote.
Sarsour has previously dismissed accusations of anti-Semitism as a distraction from her critiques of Israel. Some left-leaning Jewish groups defend Sarsour on that grounds, noting that she raised funds for victims of last fall’s Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, as well as a vandalized Jewish cemetery a year prior.
dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca