YorkRegion.com
March 22, 2011
A motion to condemn Israeli Apartheid Week activities on university and college campuses will undergo further editing before it will get Markham council’s thumbs up or down.
After devoting more than two hours to dealing with a revised motion, which steered clear of singling out York University’s Israeli Apartheid Week, the town’s general committee voted Monday to defer the issue until next month.
Mayor Frank Scarpitti said the town has a “terrific and amazing” relationship with York University — one he wouldn’t want to jeopardize by mentioning the university in the motion.
He said it would be appropriate to take additional time to review the information and have further dialogue with the university.
Moved by Councillor Howard Shore and seconded by Regional Councillor Jim Jones, the motion is a close replica of the recently approved “Too Asian?” Maclean’s magazine motion in that both call on the town to state its dismay, to conduct a lecture series, to demonstrate its “One Family, One Markham, One Canada” model and to circulate the motion to various organizations and levels of bureaucracy.
Mr. Shore, who called Israel “the democracy in the Middle East”, said council has an obligation to stand by the Jewish community as it did for the Asian community in the “Too Asian?” motion.
“Sometimes, people have an obligation to influence their best friend,” Mr. Shore said, alluding to York University, of which he’s an alumnus.
However, the mayor said he is not sure to what extent the university can police an event organized by students.
“That’s where I have the issue,” Mr. Scarpitti said.
He also said there is a growing frustration in the community that the town council should stick to municipal issues.
Markham should not do more than make a statement, the mayor said.
Other supporters of the motion believe the word, “apartheid”, has to go.
Bernie Farber, CEO of the Canadian Jewish Congress, described Israeli Apartheid Week as “a vicious lie” that tries to “delegitimize” the Israeli state.
“It’s demonizing and dehumanizing … it’s an assault to the Jewish people,” he said. “We don’t see students organizing the Libya Apartheid Week.”
Mr. Farber said there is a difference between free speech and hate speech.
While anti-Semitism isn’t against the law, “Sadly, there are anti-Semites out there, there are racists out there”, he said.
Tory MPP Peter Shurman, whose motion to condemn Israeli Apartheid Week was passed by the province last year, told the committee the word “apartheid” tilts the level playing field on discussions about Middle East issues.
“The word, ‘apartheid’, is hateful and it has to go,” he said.
Also backing the motion is Karen Mock, federal Liberal candidate for Thornhill.
Ms Mock questioned why organizers of the “deliberately misnamed initiative” don’t call it the “Pro-Palestine Week” or the “Palestine Human Rights Week” instead.
However, for two Markham residents who spoke at the meeting, Israeli Apartheid Week may be taboo, but it isn’t false.
Originally from Pakistan, Syed Rizvi, who said he’s better known in the community by his middle name Fayyaz Mehdi, has lived in Markham for eight years.
Mr. Rizvi said as a Canadian Muslim, he has more Jewish than Muslim friends.
“Jews are my brothers,” he told the committee, adding, “Israel isn’t democracy — it’s fraud”.
Despite having being called anti-Semitic, Deidre Kavanagh, a recent graduate of York University, said she supports Israeli Apartheid Week and urged councillors to reject Mr. Shore’s motion.
“I’m not anti-Semitic,” she said. “The world needs more dialogue not silence.”
Ms Kavanagh said people who chose the word “apartheid” are world leaders and while Israel has the right to exist, “so do the Palestinian people”.
“Apartheid is a wake-up call,” she said. “The world needs to know what’s going on in Gaza.”