Segacs’s World I Know

Just watched the mainstream media coverage of the Concordia rally on Pulse (CFCF) at 11:30. I’m disappointed but I can’t say I’m too surprised. Zero coverage inside the event – all they showed was the police cars outside, with the reporter saying that “tensions erupted again at Concordia between Jewish and Arab students”, and a report on how many times the cops have been called to campus. Not a word about what was said inside the rally. Not a word about the CSU trying to shut down Hillel, or what any of the speakers said, or even an estimate of turnout.

I guess if it bleeds it leads, and all that, but it is kind of a letdown. That’s why it’s all that much more important to spread the word about what REALLY happened today, so that people won’t have to get their information from the shoddy news coverage.

And now, to write about what happened tonight at Concordia:

I arrived at about a quarter to five, unsure what to expect in terms of turnout – after all, this event had been organized less than 24 hours in advance, and students are in the middle of final exams. No sooner did I get there but I caught sight of people walking in with sound equipment and others carrying large Israeli flags. After a few minutes went by, the crowd in the lobby began multiplying exponentially. There was a bit of confusion as to the location of the event, and then everyone was asked to enter the H-110 auditorium and have a seat. By the time the event began, the auditorium was more than half full; by the time it ended, it was well over three-quarters. Definitely an amazing accomplishment in terms of sheer numbers!

Noah Sarna, co-president of Concordia Hillel, spoke first. He welcomed everyone and thanked them for coming, and told us that we were there to celebrate our freedom, just as the Maccabees proclaimed theirs. Noah spoke briefly but powerfully, and then passed the microphone over to the president of McGill Hillel.

He spoke more at length about the issues that Concordia is facing, and how this is big news not only at Concordia, but at McGill, in the greater Montreal Jewish community, across Canada, the US, Europe, Israel, and around the world. “We are a small people,” he said, “with Am Echad, Lev Echad – one nation, one heart!” (Judging by the amount of e-mails of support I’m receiving from around the world, I’d have to say he’s right).

Next to speak was Rabbi Reuven Poupko, who is very active in community and campus affairs. Rabbi Poupko definitely knows how to work a crowd. He spoke passionately about how targeting Hillel is antisemitism, no matter how the CSU tries to cloak it. He said that Hillel is being targeted not because of any law, but because it is a Jewish students’ organization. And that the CSU only believes in freedom of speech when it agrees with what is being said.

At that point, some pro-Palestinian hecklers began shouting from the back of the auditorium, hoping to agitate the crowd. At first, heads turned as they distracted us. Rabbi Poupko addressed them directly, claiming that if they truly believed in freedom of speech and democracy, they would be right down there in support of Hillel. He then began talking about how there is no democracy or freedom in most of the Arab world, and how despite the abuses and lack of freedom, the words “human rights” are only used in the context of criticizing Israel. “When democracy and freedom comes to the Arab nations of the Middle East,” he shouted over the heckling, “then there will be peace!” This drew loud cheers and a standing ovation, but it wasn’t as loud as the cheering when he declared, shouting into the microphone, “AM YISRAEL CHAI!”

That was the signal for the time to light the menorah. The crowd was implored to ignore the hecklers and face the front, and Hillel led everyone in the singing of the Chanukah brachot while they lit the electric menorah. The singing drowned out whatever heckling was still going on – which was minimal – and as soon as we finished the brachot, we went straight into Chanukah songs – Maoz Tzur, for example – and then began singing Israeli folk songs, leading off with “Am Yisrael Chai”. Dancing broke out at the front, with circles of men and women doing the hora around the Israeli flag. Everyone stood and clapped and sang along.

This went on for about twenty minutes. Then, Noah Sarna once again stepped to the microphone and thanked everyone for being there, and stressed the importance of leaving peacefully and not getting drawn into a fight. Before we left, we all stood and sang Hatikvah together, proclaiming once and for all that the Jewish voices at Concordia will not be silenced!

The scene in the lobby afterwards was pretty calm, with most people just talking amongst themselves and their friends. At one point, I saw people with cameras running outside. I followed to see what was going on. A police car was there. I couldn’t see that well because of the crowd but apparently, Palestinian activist Samer Elatrash was arrested, ostensibly for violating the terms of his bail (after being arrested for participating in the anti-Netanyahu violence on September 9th, he’s only allowed on campus for classes and exams). The cameras seemed to be busy interviewing Elatrash’s buddies, and I’m sure that that’s the message that the mainstream media will carry – not the overwhelming message of peace and freedom that the rally was all about. And as much as that bothers me, I know what I saw. I know what happened. And I think that despite efforts to disrupt things, Hillel and the Jewish community organized an event that was an overwhelming success.

I invite anyone who attended the event to e-mail me with their firsthand accounts. I’m only one person, with two eyes and two ears (and no camera), so the more stories the better. If you give me permission I’ll post them.

Concordia has been hijacked. It’s time to reclaim it as an environment of equality, openness, and freedom for all.

Update: I accidentally and erroneously referred to Samer Elatrash as a CSU vice-president. This is incorrect. The reference has been removed, and I apologize for the error. Mr. Elatrash is, in fact, a former member of the CSU council of representatives, not of the executive.

Wow!

Tonight was easily the best Chanukah party I’ve ever been to. Hundreds of Jewish students and members of the community showed up to Concordia today to light the Chanukah candles, sing songs, and proclaim our freedom.

I’ll post more at length about this later, but in the meantime, here are a few photos (credit: Michael D. Smith):

The CSU has no right to shut down the voice of the Jewish students on campus. Am Yisrael Chai!

The Hillel ban made Israeli news. Check it out. And Damian Penny, Meryl Yourish, and LGF are among those who have blogged it.

But no sign of it anywhere in this morning’s Montreal Gazette. Apparently, at the Gazette, it’s only news when the CSU’s freedom of speech is suppressed, not Hillel’s.

See what the Montreal Muslim News is reporting about the attempt to shut down Hillel at Concordia:

The CSU left two loopholes open for Hillel. While there’s general agreement that an apology from Hillel at the council meeting would have avoided the sanctions applied, opinions differ about what would be accepted as an apology. Adam Slater says, “We want an admission that it was inappropriate to violate the FEA and we also want an apology for violating CSU and University regulations on racial discrimination. The recruiting program is only open to non-Israeli Jews. If they’re willing to do that, this all goes away.” Councilor Trish McIntosh takes a harder line. “The infantry unit that this program feeds into is the Nahal Brigade (http://www.idf.il/english/organization/nahal/nahal.stm). They create and defend West Bank settlements. Recruiting for Nahal isn’t just a violation of the FEA, it’s also a violation of the 4th Geneva Convention. Hillel has to issue a condemnation of the Israeli Army’s practices as well.”

It’s no secret that the CSU’s politics are anti-Israel, as well as radically anti-establishment, anti-capitalism, and anti-globalization. But what Trish McIntosh and her cohorts are saying is that unless Hillel toes the line, and apologizes for not holding the same political beliefs as the CSU, they’ll be shut down.

Yet another example of the CSU’s concept of freedom of speech only applying to those with whom they agree.

When the moratorium was imposed, the CSU was the first to rally for freedom of speech, and a lifting of the ban. But they’ve never had a problem shutting down any speech that opposes their viewpoints before (the Netanyahu riot being a key example). This is one more example of the same. McIntosh believes that settlements in the West Bank are illegal, but the problem is that she’s claiming that Hillel must believe that too, or else no funding, no tabling privileges, no operations. The CSU’s aim is to create a totalitarian dictatorship at Concordia, where anyone who is anti-Israel has freedom of speech, and anyone who is pro-Israel doesn’t. That kind of “freedom” is really no freedom at all.

The CSU has no right to dictate to Hillel what to believe or what politics to profess. Hillel is a Jewish students’ organization, a Zionist students’ organization, and they cannot and should not apologize for either. If anyone owes an apology here, it’s the CSU that should apologize to Hillel for trying to strip the club of its legitimate right to expression.

Hillel’s holding a quasi-rally/ Chanukah gathering tomorrow (Thursday) at 5pm on the Mezzanine of the Hall Building, in defiance of the Hillel ban. Be there if you can!

Iraq may have been forced to accept UN weapons inspectors, but Saddam’s not exactly rolling out the welcome mats. Now he’s whining that the inspectors are really spies:

Iraq on Wednesday accused U.N. arms inspectors of being U.S. and Israeli spies and helping Washington prepare for possible war on Baghdad, but the United States cooled any talk of imminent military action.

You know what this reminds me of? A parent, entering the bedroom of their teenager who’s been smoking pot. The kid knows that it’s only a matter of moments till his stash is found, so he yells at his parents: “You hate me! You’re always accusing me of stuff I didn’t do!”

Well, Saddam, your stash is gonna get found, whether you like it or not. Enough with the excuses and denials already. Everyone knows what’s really up, and your days are numbered.

More Concordia resources for any of you who may be visiting my site from outside Montreal and wish to learn more about what’s been going on at Gaza U. You can get a good sense at the Link’s website, but most of it will probably make your stomach turn.

To help, I’ve assembled a list of other articles and websites for further reading about the school described as a “hotbed of prejudice”. The signs were there long before things erupted last September 9th. See for yourself:

• Concordia section at Campus Watch
• Focus on Concordia by the Israel Hasbara Committee
• Antisemitism at Concordia – article from the main section of my site written last year.
• Protest at Concordia: The Blame Game – another one by me, this time about the Netanyahu riots.
• Defeating the Concordia Syndrome – feature article by Gerald Steinberg in the Canadian Jewish News
• Pro-intifada handbook sparks outrage at Concordia – article by Irwin Block, the Montreal Gazette.
• Timeline of anti-Jewish hatred at Concordia compiled by David Janes at his blog. A little skimpy on some of the in-between stuff, but not a bad starting point.
• Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights – No, I won’t link to it, as a matter of site policy against linking to racist or hateful material. But if you really want to know what’s going on at the SPHR’s stronghold, you won’t have too much trouble finding their site.

If you know of any other good resources I’ve missed, e-mail me.

Ha’aretz Reports that Ottawa is training Palestinian security forces in “peacekeeping” in anticipation of an eventual Israeli pullout of the Disputed Territories:

Thus, the Palestinians responded positively to an invitation by the Canadian government and sent a group of senior Palestinian security officers to Bosnia and Macedonia to learn first-hand about the international forces operating there. The study trip was but one chapter in a comprehensive curriculum the Canadians have established for preparing the groundwork for international involvement in the territories.

Good ol’ Canada, always ready to lift a finger . . . except to help Israel. Troops to fight terrorism or oust Saddam Hussein? No can do, we’re Canadians, eh? We just send in peacekeeping forces and make sure to stay as politically-correct as possible, cause we sure as hell wouldn’t want to piss anyone off by actually doing the right thing, now would we?

I wonder if it’s ever occurred to our good-hearted peacenicks in government that security training can also be used as military training? The lessons in discipline, organization, and command can come in mighty handy if and when Israel is pressured to pull out of the territories and the Palestinians suddenly find themselves in possession of a state and an army. The British trained the Jordanian army, which then used that training to attack Israel in 1948. I wonder where our good-natured Canadian peacekeeping forces will be when Israel comes under attack by the to-be-Canadian-trained Palestinian army?

Instead of preparing international peacekeeping forces to enter the territories, the pions in charge of foreign policy might want to take a closer look at Israel’s situation – and maybe lend it a little support in the international community while they’re at it. But no, that would be too much to ask from the government who gives more support to Hezbollah than to the Magen David Adom.