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"Niagara Palestinian Association" To: "NPA Local" Sent: Wednesday, October 27, 2004 10:59 AM Subject: Re: Support Dr. El Masry - United We Stand Devided We Fall Mr. Buzz Hargrove President CAW cawpres@caw.ca Dear Buzz: Being a Social Justice activist myself, I have always admired you for your principled stands on various issues affecting us Canadians, but unfortunately, your judgment on Dr. Elmasry appears to be one made in haste and perhaps under pressure from Jewish organizations. Dr Elmasry, a great Canadian, whose scientific and scholarly achievements have done Canada proud, is being media mobbed for stating the obvious. I believe he has given us something to think about and act upon- an opportunity for us, Canadians, to get together and work for a long lasting peace in the Middle East and remove the cancer that has afflicted Palestine for a very long time, causing unbearable and excruciating pains to the natives and endless violence, death and bloodshed in the area. This cancer is the "occupation" which all people of conscience around the world acknowledge, is the root cause of the problem, afflicting not only Palestine, but also Afghanistan, Iraq and the rest of the Arab and Muslim world. Hateful speech against Arabs and Muslims is fair game, but God forbid, if one should say something negative about Israel, all hell breaks out. That's what we are witnessing right now. Media and Jewish organizations hounding Prof. Elmasry conjures up scenes in the wilderness films, where the injured lion is surrounded by menacing hyenas. This hyena-mentality is unbecoming of religious leaders, be they Jewish, fellow Muslim or Christian. Dr.Elmasry did not say anything which is new nor terribly revolutionary and definitely not 'hate-message' as the media is trying to manipulate it. The same argument has been suggested by many people in the past. If we were to interpolate the arguments promulgated by the Jewish criminal lawyer Alan Dershowitz that "All Palestinians suspected of crimes, are lawful combatants and should be killed (without the due process of the law)", the same argument should hold true to the other side as well, that is, since Israelis above18, undergo compulsory military training, and are on active reserve duty, they are "enemy soldiers" and hence legitimate targets. This is perfectly in accordance with all international laws and conventions. Those 18 year olds at the bus-stand may not be returning from a choir or boy-scout camp, but from a killing spree at the Palestinian refugee camps. They will never face a court of justice. Are they above the law, just because they are Jewish? While we are debating about 18 year olds, Israelis do not have any age-discrimination when it comes to killing Palestinians. You may have seen heart-wrenching photographs of infants with bullet holes in their heads and chests. Jewish soldiers target practice, shooting at Palestinian children. In some cases, they shoot at Palestinians just to relieve their boredom. Can you imagine, killing people for fun? Two thirds of the 621 children (two thirds under 15 years) killed at checkpoints, in the street, on the way to school, in their homes, died from sniper fire, directed in over half of cases to the head, neck and chest. Clearly, soldiers are routinely authorized to shoot to kill children in situations of minimal or no threat. These statistics attract far less publicity than suicide bombings, atrocious though these are too. Amnesty International has called for an investigation into the killing of Asma al-Mughayr (16 years) and her brother Ahmad (13 years) on the roof terrace of their home in Rafah on 18 May, each with a single bullet to the head. Asma had been taking clothes to the drying line and Ahmad feeding pigeons. Amnesty noted that the firing appeared to have come from the top floor of a nearby house, which had been taken over by Israeli soldiers shortly before. Amnesty suspects that this is not "caught in crossfire," this is murder. When Dershowitz visited Canada with his hate message, there wasn't even a whimper of disapproval from Jewish leaders or the media. His murderous arguments were carried over the CBC and other media outlets without any counter opinion being expressed. Israel initially shocked the world with its Dershowitz-like extrajudicial murders, but the world became accustomed to this barbaric act, just like all other Israeli crimes. In conducting 238 extrajudicial executions the army has also killed 186 bystanders (including 26 women and 39 children). While the Jewish leaders remain conspicuously silent, others are silenced by a fear of being labelled "anti-Semitic," a term used in a morally corrupt way by the pro-Israel lobby in order to silence voices of reason. How are we to affect this shocking situation, one which has gone further than the excesses of the apartheid era? Instead of hounding Prof. Elmasry, the media and Jewish leaders must address the root causes of the festering problem and work together to bring relief to both Jews and Arabs in Palestine. A prominent and influential person like you can contribute much to achieve this peace, intellectually and by providing good and enlightened leadership. You should never join the pack which is after Dr.Elmasry's blood. Meer Sahib London, ON Tel: 519-936-0150 ----- Original Message ----- From: Linda Belanger To: msahib@rogers.com Sent: Wednesday, October 27, 2004 11:31 PM Subject: Fw: [niag_pal] Letter to the Globe and Mail Re: Muslim group disowns remarks by its leader ----- Original Message ----- From: "Niagara Palestinian Association" To: "NPA Local" Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 2004 11:30 AM Subject:Letter to the Globe and Mail Re: Muslim group disowns remarks by its leader The Editor, The Globe and Mail Dear Sir: Re: "Muslim group disowns remarks by its leader" by JAMES RUSK AND KIRK MAKIN I must emphatically say, that your headline is quite misleading. Canadian Muslims will never disown Dr. Elmasry; he is close to our hearts and, as, 'to err is human', we forgive his occasional slips (even elephants slip occasionally!). The tiny group headed by Tarek Fatah has no business calling for this great man's resignation. The likes of Tarek, Irshad Manji and Salim Mansur do not represent Canadian Muslims. In his numerous articles in the Friday Bulletin, Dr. Elmasry has always come across as an advocate for peace and justice and as one who scorned violence, both state-sponsored and that by individuals or groups. Obviously, his speaking skills are not of the same high calibre as his writing skills are, as is so common to many people whose mother tongue is not English, and, often liable to be misinterpreted or misunderstood. Things are being blown out of proportion over the slip of the tongue of a man who is held in high esteem not only by Muslims but also a vast number of non-Muslims. The same Jewish leaders who are demanding his resignation, should themselves resign and apologize, as many of them have been fountainheads of hate against Arabs and Muslims, except that as most are quite media savvy, their remarks are subtle and to the subconscious mind, and they do not sound or appear outwardly to be blatantly anti-Arab or anti-Muslim, yet the purpose is the same - to demonize Arabs and Muslims, so that their killings, usurpation of their lands and resources can be justified, and even normally righteous people made to swallow such crimes as 'necessary'. One example of such subtle, but mischievous remark came from a Rabbi who took part in a symposium along with Senator Mobina Jaffar, broadcast recently by CPAC. The rabbi told the audience (and the viewers of CPAC) that certain Muslim leaders had confided to him of fear for their lives because of stances they had taken on some issues concerning Muslims. In otherwords, he was trying to insinuate that Muslims are so violent that even their leaders are afraid of them! I was startled to hear that, but thankfully, equally startled Mobina quickly discounted his statement. I would also like to ask where were these self-righteous individuals when the well known Jewish criminal lawyer Alan Dershowitz was crisscrossing the USA and Canada and advocating extra-judicial killings? Here is a part of a letter I wrote to the CBC : "I was horrified to hear in an early morning CBC radio broadcast, an un-edited version of hate mongering and call for extrajudicial killings by Alan Dershowitz. If one were to apply Dershowitz's arguments that Palestinians suspected of having committed a crime are lawful combatants who should be killed (without the due process of the law, as the Israelis are doing daily in their targeted killings from helicopter gunships and F16s), then this does open a Pandora's box of vicious killing and counter killing cycles. Since all Israeli citizens have to undergo mandatory military training and are 'military reservists' who could be called any time for duty, killing them in buses (the main mode of transportation for military personal), and cafes, with the only primitive weapons available to Palestinians, the suicide bombs, is even more justified by Dershowitz's own argument. (I have borrowed the words of rabbi Michael Lerner about the suicide bombers, on the CounterSpin program). Trash like Dershowitz should not be allowed to wash up the shores of Canada..." Meer Sahib ----- Original Message ----- From: "James Kafieh" To: <cic at canadianislamiccongress.com> Cc: <ed at caf.ca>; <TarekFatah at Canada.com> Sent: Wednesday, October 27, 2004 10:53 PM Subject: Coren Comment Regarding Dr. El Masry's comments on the Michael Coren Show... It is sad that Dr. El Masry is being maliciously attacked for the comments he recently made on the Michael Coren show. The issue of who is truly innocent in Israeli society is a legitimate one. The National Post's attempt to finally publish a comment of his, and on its front page no less, is laughable. The Asper chain is wholely lacking in journalistic credibility on the subject. However, what I find particularly unfortunate are the efforts of some in the Arab and Muslim community to exploit the situation for reasons of petty politics. A comprehension of the concepts of terrorism, victimhood and innocence are critical to understanding the continuing Palestine/Israel conflict and to explaining it to others. The article by Hechtman, shown below, speaks directly to the issue at hand. There are other examples available for us to consider. For Canadians terrorism has long been a part of our every day lives. During WWII the governments of the most powerful nations on earth (including that of Canada) targeted entire cities for extermination. The targeting of rival populations for nuclear enialation, starting in 1945, remains a central pillar of NATO military doctrine. Through the participation of our government in NATO, Canadians are complicit in this ultimate of terrorist threats. Who among us are innocent? Terrorism, like everything else, happens in a context. In Palestine, the context is the genocide of 1948 and more than half a century of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Israel with the support of most western governments. In response a relative handful of Palestinian individuals, who are not acting on the orders of a representative government, have chosen, out of weakness, to attack Israelis wherever they could find them. These Palestinian bombers don't destroy entire cities, as western governments have done and threaten to do again, but rather they only kill a handful of people at a time. The Palestinian bombers are not morally superior to NATO planners or their governments but rather only lack the capacity for carnage possessed by "civilized" western nations. Dr. El Masry is correct in stating the sad and simple fact that most Palestinians, and most Israelis, support the terrorism being inflicted on the other. Of course there are differences between the two. Zionist terror is controlled and directed by an elected government and clearly a majority of Israelis are responsible for their government's policies. The Palestinian bombers are no more capable of or interested in distinguishing between the guilty and the innocent then were the allied bombers of WWII who, for example, targeted the entire cities of Dresden and Hiroshima. The ugly truth is that Palestinian suicide bombers are a bi-product of Zionist policy and that Israel having provoked the attacks later exploits them for political gain. For the record, I believe that there are many innocent adult Israelis. I don't support suicide bombings. These attacks must end. We need to focus instead on a comprehensive boycott of all things that support Zionism and interfere with the full implementation of the Palestinian right of return. The two state option, which Sharon has killed, is a separate issue from the right of return. Anyway Israel needs a Palestinian state far more than do Palestinians. Palestinians only need the right of return and equal human and civil rights after they return. I hope, Dr. El Masry rides out this storm so that the needed debate on this subject can mature. Over many years He has made a profound and constructive contribution to the defence of Arab and Muslim causes. I believe that he has much more yet to contribute. James Kafieh Your Comments canpalnet-ottawa.org |