Hate Speech or Free Speech?
Here is the story of why Adbusters has been blacklisted:
A walled off ghetto, an occupying military that controls the entry of food and daily necessities, desperate attempts by hungry civilians to smuggle commodities through tunnels, and punitive collective punishment against all those who resist … there are never-to-be-forgotten differences, of course, but also some striking similarities between the Warsaw ghetto in Nazi-occupied Poland during World War II and the open air prison of Gaza in Israeli-occupied Palestine today. And yet the Canadian Jewish Congress is accusing Adbusters of anti-Semitism for making this historical comparison, and it has successfully lobbied one of Canada's biggest pharmacy chains to remove Adbusters magazine from its shelves.
Now there's a meme war brewing in one of Canada's national newspapers:
Canadian Jewish Congress attacks Adbusters on October 22
Adbusters fights back on November 2
As any pro-peace activist knows, the pro-Israel lobby has a sordid history of using the charge of anti-Semitism to silence criticism of Israeli policies. Even President Carter was smeared because he dared speak of the "abominable oppression and persecution in the occupied Palestinian territories, with a rigid system of required passes and strict segregation between Palestine's citizens and Jewish settlers in the West Bank".
But the use of cluster bombs on civilians in Lebanon in the closing days of the last Israeli incursion there, the wholesale deaths of noncombatants in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead, the extrajudicial assassination in Dubai last January, the killing of protesters aboard the Mavi Marmara this summer, the ongoing construction of illegal settlements in the West Bank and the hate speech of Israel's Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, have changed the way the world now looks at Israel. This is fast morphing into a meme war that the Israeli PR machine can no longer win and this more than anything may finally bring Israel to the peace negotiation table in good faith.
Check out the Canadian Journalism Project's article "Adbusters, ghettoes and Shoppers: Anti-semitism or free speech?" and The Canadian Charger's "Canada's Adbusters Magazine and the Israeli Lobby".
If you think that publishing side-by-side images of the Gaza and Warsaw ghettos is a valid expression of free speech, send an email to Shoppers Drug Mart’s CEO Jürgen Schreiber – [email protected] and [email protected] – and tell him that you are boycotting his store until Adbusters is back on the shelves. Be polite but clear. Then send a note to the Canadian Jewish Congress – www.cjc.ca/about-cjc/staff/ – reminding them that in a free country we debate rather than censor.
232 comments on the article “Hate Speech or Free Speech?”
Displaying 31 - 40 of 232
Page 4 of 24
ninicraftone
The people in Gaza are not starving. The people in Gaza actually have full swimming pools and shopping malls and bellies. If you believe differently you are just a victim of the PR and advertising done by Hamas. Hamas is really the oppressor of the Palestinian people in Gaza.
Adbusters should really be doing an expose of how the world's media have been repeatedly fooled by all the propaganda and staged news events from Hamas. I guess that when it comes to being a stooge of propaganda, Adbusters is gullible and their message is lost on themselves.
ninicraftone
The people in Gaza are not starving. The people in Gaza actually have full swimming pools and shopping malls and bellies. If you believe differently you are just a victim of the PR and advertising done by Hamas. Hamas is really the oppressor of the Palestinian people in Gaza.
Adbusters should really be doing an expose of how the world's media have been repeatedly fooled by all the propaganda and staged news events from Hamas. I guess that when it comes to being a stooge of propaganda, Adbusters is gullible and their message is lost on themselves.
JackJ.
Wow, you make Gaza sound like Club Med. Sign me up.
Yes, Hamas is the great PR engine of the middle east. How do they manage to trick the entire world with their propaganda? They even persuaded Shoppers Drug Mart to stifle free speech by pulling Adbusters, oh wait...
Israel, CJC, AIPAC et al. wrote the book on PR propaganda.
JackJ.
Wow, you make Gaza sound like Club Med. Sign me up.
Yes, Hamas is the great PR engine of the middle east. How do they manage to trick the entire world with their propaganda? They even persuaded Shoppers Drug Mart to stifle free speech by pulling Adbusters, oh wait...
Israel, CJC, AIPAC et al. wrote the book on PR propaganda.
Mr. Bell
Dear Judith,
Thank you for making a detailed comment on the issue of Israel/Gaza. Here is a reply to some of your inquiries.
1) When we compare two items, do they need to be the same? I think they don't, but they do need to have some level of similarity. For example, comparing the rise of American Empire to British or Roman empire. No one thinks they are same but one can certainly draw parallels between these empires. Similarly, Warsaw ghetto and Gaza's open air prison are not the same but similar in aspects.
Q) How can you compare the trucks of aid that enter Gaza with the 250 calories a day fed to the people of Warsaw with the intent of starving them?
2) Israel recently released documents detailing the system of passing any supplies to Gaza and it revolves around the concept of "breathing room". Allowing just enough supplies for Gazan's to survive and nothing to store so in case of a conflict Israeli troops can stop the supplies. STARVE THEM BEFORE YOU FIGHT THEM seems to be the policy. In all fairness its not just Israel, Americans and British did the same in Iraq through sanctions before illegally attacking the country.
About malnutrition, here is a piece from JPost,
"There are serious problems of malnutrition, mainly as a result of a lack of protein in their diets – the main source of protein was fish, but because of the coastal blockade and Israeli fears of smuggling weapons via the sea, fishermen are not allowed to go out to where the fish can be found. There are also serious health problems as a result of the water, which is not fit for human consumption."
Q) Are you seriously saying the goal of Israel is to starve the people of Gaza to death?
Seriously, I am not saying that the goal of Israel is to starve the people of Gaza to them. The current policy is to starve the people of Gaza and keep them an inch away from death. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization has set 1,800 calories per person per day as the minimum amount of food necessary to prevent hunger. On that basis, the IDF has calculated how much food must enter Gaza every day based on the size of the population so that Israel fulfills its legal responsibilities as the occupier under the Geneva Conventions. I take 2500 cal/day, I will be starving in Gaza. JPost is saying that Gazans are suffering from malnutrition. Judith, how many times do you eat an extra meal? Are you worried about the 10 lbs that you need to lose? Well Gazan's can't have that extra meal.
Q) Can you explain the population increases of that population vs the annihilation of all the people of Warsaw.
3) 5000 people in died in Warsaw every week, 2500 Gazan's were killed in the recent War on Gaza 5800 wounded, not a bad start on the road to start a ghetto. And Read point # 1. And, Do you really want to drop yourself to a level where you are adopting Nazi standards, I don't.
Q) How about the points of entrance? Why can't these people go through Egypt.
4) Judith, I for one do not criticize Israel for creating Gaza prison. There are three guards to Gaza prison. US, Israel, and Egypt. US gives three billion dollars to the Egyptian dictator/yr for securing one end to the prison, the dictator is selling lives for dollars.
Q) As well, Israel treats many of the sick of Gaza, something that when it does not happen enough the Gazans complain about?
5) I applaud Israel's medical transfers. I think its a great deed. Few weeks ago, I gain insight into these transfers from "I SHALL NOT HATE: A Gaza Doctor's Journey" by Izzeldin Abuelaish. Please read the book to learn what a sick person has to go through before being transferred to Israel. Secondly, those transfers are not free, PLO pays for every cotton swabs used for these patients. Not so humanitarian.
Q) It is Hamas who calls for the death of every Jew in the world; to forget and discount the Jewish people who live on the border of Gaza and suffered a decade of relentless bombardment and compare them to Jewish innocents who hurt no one and were not politicized.
6) Judith, I beg you to ignore the rhetoric and look at the actions. According to UN, from July, 2007 to December, 2009 Hamas fired 2700 home made rockets, killing 4 Israeli's (innocents who hurt no one and were not politicized). During the same period, Israel fired 14,600 artillery shells into Gaza, killing 59 Palestinians civilians (innocents who hurt no one and were not politicized), and we are not counting the bombs dropped from the planes. That should settle who is firing what.
Q) Just curious, however. In your world when the Palestinian and his 200 descendants go back to their exact home of 123 Main Street, do you think he and his family will now have prosperity? What natural resources will he suddenly have? If a Jewish family lives there and the man is a lawyer and the wife a genetic researcher, will the now 201 residents who live there get their lifestyle? What exactly will this couple have taken from the land that makes it necessary for these people to go back to this exact spot?
7) No, but some compensation will be fair. Secondly, the ongoing settlements are evicting the 2000 year old residents of land, I hope you do not support them.
Q) As well, the Jews have 1/6th of 1% of the Middle East, the part with no resources, so what percentage is ok for them? And when will the Palestinians have enough room? Israel took in all the Jews thrown out of Arab land. What swap will there be for the land they gave up?
Q) Any room for the Jews anywhere?
8) Agree, but Israel also absorbed more than 1 million Jews from Russia and is inviting any Jew who left the land 2000 years ago to come and settle in Israel. Clearly, there is room for more people so why can't we allow the people that were forced to evict 60 years ago.
Land swap with Arabs, very few Jews were thrown out from the Arab countries, most sold their properties to settle in the "promised land".
Q? is it?) I just read that when the Soviet Union invaded the Kurile Islands and took them from Japan after WWII, they expelled the Islands' whole population and settled Russians. Can we have a re-do there? And also with respect to all the rest of the Russian population moved into communities in the Soviet Union and the 14 million Germans thrown from their homes in Europe.
9) What is your argument, they did wrong so we should be allowed to do wrong things as well. Secondly, look at your examples, they are over 60 years old, you want to do things ruthless tyrants committed 60 years ago and you do not want people to draw parallels?
Judith, When we compare two items, do they need to be the same? I think they don't, but they do need to have some level of similarity. IF ISRAEL WAS A RESTAURANT IT WOULD HAVE A "JEWS ONLY" SIGN AT THE DOOR. CAN WE DRAW A PARALLEL TO "WHITES ONLY" SIGNS?
I wait for your reply
Mr. Bell
Mr. Bell
Dear Judith,
Thank you for making a detailed comment on the issue of Israel/Gaza. Here is a reply to some of your inquiries.
1) When we compare two items, do they need to be the same? I think they don't, but they do need to have some level of similarity. For example, comparing the rise of American Empire to British or Roman empire. No one thinks they are same but one can certainly draw parallels between these empires. Similarly, Warsaw ghetto and Gaza's open air prison are not the same but similar in aspects.
Q) How can you compare the trucks of aid that enter Gaza with the 250 calories a day fed to the people of Warsaw with the intent of starving them?
2) Israel recently released documents detailing the system of passing any supplies to Gaza and it revolves around the concept of "breathing room". Allowing just enough supplies for Gazan's to survive and nothing to store so in case of a conflict Israeli troops can stop the supplies. STARVE THEM BEFORE YOU FIGHT THEM seems to be the policy. In all fairness its not just Israel, Americans and British did the same in Iraq through sanctions before illegally attacking the country.
About malnutrition, here is a piece from JPost,
"There are serious problems of malnutrition, mainly as a result of a lack of protein in their diets – the main source of protein was fish, but because of the coastal blockade and Israeli fears of smuggling weapons via the sea, fishermen are not allowed to go out to where the fish can be found. There are also serious health problems as a result of the water, which is not fit for human consumption."
Q) Are you seriously saying the goal of Israel is to starve the people of Gaza to death?
Seriously, I am not saying that the goal of Israel is to starve the people of Gaza to them. The current policy is to starve the people of Gaza and keep them an inch away from death. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization has set 1,800 calories per person per day as the minimum amount of food necessary to prevent hunger. On that basis, the IDF has calculated how much food must enter Gaza every day based on the size of the population so that Israel fulfills its legal responsibilities as the occupier under the Geneva Conventions. I take 2500 cal/day, I will be starving in Gaza. JPost is saying that Gazans are suffering from malnutrition. Judith, how many times do you eat an extra meal? Are you worried about the 10 lbs that you need to lose? Well Gazan's can't have that extra meal.
Q) Can you explain the population increases of that population vs the annihilation of all the people of Warsaw.
3) 5000 people in died in Warsaw every week, 2500 Gazan's were killed in the recent War on Gaza 5800 wounded, not a bad start on the road to start a ghetto. And Read point # 1. And, Do you really want to drop yourself to a level where you are adopting Nazi standards, I don't.
Q) How about the points of entrance? Why can't these people go through Egypt.
4) Judith, I for one do not criticize Israel for creating Gaza prison. There are three guards to Gaza prison. US, Israel, and Egypt. US gives three billion dollars to the Egyptian dictator/yr for securing one end to the prison, the dictator is selling lives for dollars.
Q) As well, Israel treats many of the sick of Gaza, something that when it does not happen enough the Gazans complain about?
5) I applaud Israel's medical transfers. I think its a great deed. Few weeks ago, I gain insight into these transfers from "I SHALL NOT HATE: A Gaza Doctor's Journey" by Izzeldin Abuelaish. Please read the book to learn what a sick person has to go through before being transferred to Israel. Secondly, those transfers are not free, PLO pays for every cotton swabs used for these patients. Not so humanitarian.
Q) It is Hamas who calls for the death of every Jew in the world; to forget and discount the Jewish people who live on the border of Gaza and suffered a decade of relentless bombardment and compare them to Jewish innocents who hurt no one and were not politicized.
6) Judith, I beg you to ignore the rhetoric and look at the actions. According to UN, from July, 2007 to December, 2009 Hamas fired 2700 home made rockets, killing 4 Israeli's (innocents who hurt no one and were not politicized). During the same period, Israel fired 14,600 artillery shells into Gaza, killing 59 Palestinians civilians (innocents who hurt no one and were not politicized), and we are not counting the bombs dropped from the planes. That should settle who is firing what.
Q) Just curious, however. In your world when the Palestinian and his 200 descendants go back to their exact home of 123 Main Street, do you think he and his family will now have prosperity? What natural resources will he suddenly have? If a Jewish family lives there and the man is a lawyer and the wife a genetic researcher, will the now 201 residents who live there get their lifestyle? What exactly will this couple have taken from the land that makes it necessary for these people to go back to this exact spot?
7) No, but some compensation will be fair. Secondly, the ongoing settlements are evicting the 2000 year old residents of land, I hope you do not support them.
Q) As well, the Jews have 1/6th of 1% of the Middle East, the part with no resources, so what percentage is ok for them? And when will the Palestinians have enough room? Israel took in all the Jews thrown out of Arab land. What swap will there be for the land they gave up?
Q) Any room for the Jews anywhere?
8) Agree, but Israel also absorbed more than 1 million Jews from Russia and is inviting any Jew who left the land 2000 years ago to come and settle in Israel. Clearly, there is room for more people so why can't we allow the people that were forced to evict 60 years ago.
Land swap with Arabs, very few Jews were thrown out from the Arab countries, most sold their properties to settle in the "promised land".
Q? is it?) I just read that when the Soviet Union invaded the Kurile Islands and took them from Japan after WWII, they expelled the Islands' whole population and settled Russians. Can we have a re-do there? And also with respect to all the rest of the Russian population moved into communities in the Soviet Union and the 14 million Germans thrown from their homes in Europe.
9) What is your argument, they did wrong so we should be allowed to do wrong things as well. Secondly, look at your examples, they are over 60 years old, you want to do things ruthless tyrants committed 60 years ago and you do not want people to draw parallels?
Judith, When we compare two items, do they need to be the same? I think they don't, but they do need to have some level of similarity. IF ISRAEL WAS A RESTAURANT IT WOULD HAVE A "JEWS ONLY" SIGN AT THE DOOR. CAN WE DRAW A PARALLEL TO "WHITES ONLY" SIGNS?
I wait for your reply
Mr. Bell
Anonymous
Mr. Bell,
Your reply to this post was spot on in saying how when you compare the two situations they do need to be the same yet they have similarities. However, the credibility of this post was completely demolished by your last point of having Israel being a restaurant with "A "JEWS ONLY" SIGN AT THE DOOR". Israel, for its flaws is not a country composed of purely Jews, although the country is run by a Jewish majority, aside from Muslim Arabs, there are also Christian Arabs, Druze, Christians, Catholics, and Baha'i who both inhabit and are citizens of the country. I find your likening Israel to the segregation in the south blasphemous and I lost all the respect I had for you while reading your response,
Sincerely,
Anon
Anonymous
Mr. Bell,
Your reply to this post was spot on in saying how when you compare the two situations they do need to be the same yet they have similarities. However, the credibility of this post was completely demolished by your last point of having Israel being a restaurant with "A "JEWS ONLY" SIGN AT THE DOOR". Israel, for its flaws is not a country composed of purely Jews, although the country is run by a Jewish majority, aside from Muslim Arabs, there are also Christian Arabs, Druze, Christians, Catholics, and Baha'i who both inhabit and are citizens of the country. I find your likening Israel to the segregation in the south blasphemous and I lost all the respect I had for you while reading your response,
Sincerely,
Anon
Mr. Bell
Anon, after reading your reply and re-reading my own words I can see how my last comment may look inaccurate. I thank you for pointing the error and I apologize for any harm my words may have caused to you or anyone else.
1) "A "JEWS ONLY" SIGN AT THE DOOR", was mostly referring to the endless adds, some of them funded by the Government of Israel inviting all Jews to come and reclaim their promised land. I never found any Israeli Government add inviting Muslim Arabs, Christian Arabs, Druze, Christians, Catholics, and Baha'i to share the promised land.
2) Many of the "Whites only" restaurants employed colored staff for after hour cleaning and dishes. By comparing the status of Jews vs Muslim Arabs, Christian Arabs, Druze, Christians, Catholics, and Baha'i, one can easily see an official effort at the level of the state to keep minorities at bay.
3) It is the state policy of Israel to be home land for Jews; hence, the demand to be accepted as the Jewish state. Again, not a secular but Jewish state.
Again, I apologize for causing any discomfort and once again thank you for your comment.
Mr. Bell
Anon, after reading your reply and re-reading my own words I can see how my last comment may look inaccurate. I thank you for pointing the error and I apologize for any harm my words may have caused to you or anyone else.
1) "A "JEWS ONLY" SIGN AT THE DOOR", was mostly referring to the endless adds, some of them funded by the Government of Israel inviting all Jews to come and reclaim their promised land. I never found any Israeli Government add inviting Muslim Arabs, Christian Arabs, Druze, Christians, Catholics, and Baha'i to share the promised land.
2) Many of the "Whites only" restaurants employed colored staff for after hour cleaning and dishes. By comparing the status of Jews vs Muslim Arabs, Christian Arabs, Druze, Christians, Catholics, and Baha'i, one can easily see an official effort at the level of the state to keep minorities at bay.
3) It is the state policy of Israel to be home land for Jews; hence, the demand to be accepted as the Jewish state. Again, not a secular but Jewish state.
Again, I apologize for causing any discomfort and once again thank you for your comment.
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