Segacs's World I Know

Posts Tagged ‘b’nai brith’

Religious Jews will be allowed to build succahs, according to the Supreme Court of Canada, who ruled against their condo association that was trying to limit them from doing so:

In a 5-4 decision, the justices said the state can’t regulate personal religious beliefs.

“A claimant need not show some sort of objective religious obligation, requirement or precept to invoke freedom of religion,” Justice Franck Iacobucci wrote for the majority.

“It is the religious or spiritual essence of an action, not any mandatory or perceived-as-mandatory nature of its observance, that attracts protection.

“The state is in no position to be, nor should it become, the arbiter of religious dogma.”

B’nai Brith, which intervened in this case, had the following reaction:

Allan Adel, National Chair of B’nai Brith’s League for Human Rights, reacting to the news, stated: “We are satisfied with the decision of the Supreme Court, which has applied a broad interpretation to the Charter guarantee of freedom of religion and believe it to be in the best interests of all Canadians. The Succah ruling is an important, groundbreaking case that champions the cause of religious freedom in Canada and will have important ramifications well beyond the immediate facts of the case.”

Personally, I agree. While not religious, I tend to think that anyone should have the right and freedom to practice a religious belief that doesn’t harm or infringe upon the rights of someone else. The condo association had no real reason to ban the succahs, and people want to build them on their own private property. There are a lot of fine lines and open questions when it comes to religious freedoms, but this ruling makes sense.

The annual audit of antisemitic incidents in Canada has echoed the disturbing worldwide trend of a rise in antisemitic incidents – 584 in 2003, up 27% since last year and 119% since 1999. B’nai Brith has also pointed out what the EU tried so hard to keep quiet: that the source of many of these incidents is young Arabs and Muslims:

Issuing its 22nd annual “audit” of anti-Semitic incidents in Canada, B’nai Brith’s League for Human Rights took the unprecedented step of naming Arabs and Muslims generally as perpetrators of incidents.

“We’ve been able to identify 30 probable Arab perpetrators of anti-Semitic incidents in Canada in 2003,” said Stephen Scheinberg, a Concordia University history professor who is the League’s national chairperson.

“We’re not saying all Arabs and Muslims are implicated, not at all,” he told reporters at a Montreal news conference.

“But we are saying a small minority have brought these ideas with them” from the Arab world, he added, and “have been worked up” and “propagandized” by what they hear in Internet chat rooms and on Al-Jazeera broadcasts.

“And it’s caused some real problems for the Jewish communities,” Scheinberg said.

Of course this accusation is drawing an immediate flurry of criticism for B’nai Brith for “generalizing” – even though Scheinberg clearly accused a “small minority”. Also, there are some questions as to the legitimacy of these audits – were there really more incidents, or were there simply more people reporting them? And does B’nai Brith’s line of counting certain anti-Israel incidents as antisemitic fall in a different place than some other organization would draw it? We’re sure to hear all of this and more, as antisemitic groups launch their usual backlash against B’nai Brith.

Doesn’t change the fact that they’re simply daring to speak the non-politically-correct truth. And that Canada will need to face up to that truth if we’re going to improve the situation.

Some groups are pushing to get Al-Jazeera broadcast in Canada. The CJC and B’nai Brith Canada are incensed – rightly so. Far from being “just another viewpoint”, Al-Jazeera broadcasts blatantly antisemitic content on a daily basis under the guise of news:

CJC President Keith Landy, whose group closely monitors Al-Jazeera programming, said that some of the channel’s material might violate Canada’s hate-crimes legislation and federal broadcasting statutes, since it regularly engages in “blatant anti-Semitism, Holocaust denial and the glorification of suicide bombers.”

“We certainly don’t want this to appear as a political attempt to prevent another view from being aired,” he said. “But by granting them a license, the kind of stories that they carry could contravene the Criminal Code.”

Arab groups in Canada have vowed to push for the channel’s inclusion on Canadian cable service, saying that “it would broaden the horizon of the Canadian public” with regards to the Middle East.

What, the CBC isn’t enough for them?

B’nai Brith Canada is sounding the alarm about the rise in antisemitism in Canada.

The time for silence and passive acceptance is over. Now is the time to speak out. And now is the time to take back our universities.

Agreed.

B’nai Brith is suing the Canadian government in attempt to force it to outlaw the so-called “political” and “charitable” (read: fundraising for terrorism) wings of Hezbollah. Hamas and the Islamic Jihad were finally (belatedly) banned this week, and Hezbollah’s military wing on the terror list as well. But where do they think these people get their funding from?

Ottawa is resisting pressure to outlaw the political wing, which Foreign Minister Bill Graham has described as a legitimate movement. The government said on Friday that the law suit, filed by B’nai Brith, would have no effect.

Bill Graham had better hope that his quotes don’t come back to haunt him.

It’s unbelievable that the same Canadian government that seeked to strip the Canadian Magen David Adom – a lifesaving organization – of its charity status, would allow Hezbollah – a lifetaking organization – to operate freely. Especially if it looks like Hezbollah might be linked to yesterday’s bombing in Kenya. In case there was any doubt just what kind of “legitimacy” Hezbollah should have, this ought to take care of it:

The leader of Hizbollah on Friday urged Palestinians to ignore international criticism of suicide attacks and keep up the armed struggle against Israel.

These are murderers and terrorists, make no mistake. The fact that they’re legally allowed to fundraise in Canada is a scandal. And everyone else seems to “get it” except for Bill Graham.