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OrilliaMatters welcomes letters to the editor at [email protected] or via the website. Please include your full name, daytime phone number and address (for verification of authorship, not publication). The following letter is in response to an article titled 'Lakehead students, faculty call for freedom of expression on Palestine', published May 9.
Canadians have a Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which protects freedom of thought, belief, opinion, and expression. But the same law does not protect speech and thought when it violates the rights of others or advocates hatred and incites discrimination or violence.
It is clear that pro-Palestinian protests have become the platform for antisemitism that incites hatred and violence. Within the first 30 days of Hamas starting the war on Oct. 7, 2023, the U.S. saw a sharp rise in reports of antisemitism, up 338 per cent, and Islamophobia, up 182 per cent (ABC10). In Canada, B'nai Brith reports a 208 per cent increase in violent antisemitic incidents in 2023 compared to 2022 (CBC, May 6, 2024).
Pro-Palestinian supporters fail to understand they are indistinguishable from Hamas because their demands are limited to supporting the goals and objectives of Hamas. True justice includes the possibility that both parties share the blame, and I have yet to see one pro-Palestinian supporter denouncing the terrorist activities of Oct. 7, demanding that Hamas release their civilian hostages, or require that Hamas terrorists face trial for their crimes against civilians in Palestine and Israel.
I would support Lakehead's students and faculty if they hosted a respectable debate that included a pro-Palestine supporter, a pro-Hamas supporter, a Palestinian who wants Hamas replaced with another form of government, and Israelis who are for and against Israel's current response to the war Hamas started. Such people and views exist, and such a forum would reassure Canadians that our institutions have not become echo chambers for a single voice.
Albert Einstein is often misattributed to the quote, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results" and pro-Palestinian protesters consistently demand "an immediate and permanent ceasefire" when Hamas has broken every ceasefire agreement in its short history. Article 13 of the 1988 Hamas Covenant (also known as the Hamas Charter) clearly states:
"Initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences, are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement. Abusing any part of Palestine is abuse directed against part of religion. Nationalism of the Islamic Resistance Movement is part of its religion. Its members have been fed on that. For the sake of hoisting the banner of Allah over their homeland they fight. 'Allah will be prominent, but most people do not know.'"
At the heart of this conflict is the constant diet of lies that denies the continuous presence of Jews in the disputed land for over 3,000 years. The ancient Assyrians conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel in 721 B.C., and their cuneiforms are just one example of non-Jewish archaeological and historical testimony to the ancient Jewish presence in the land.
On May 6, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned Canadians, "It's not right that Jewish people feel unsafe in Canada." (CBC) On May 7, 2024, President Joe Biden described the surge of antisemitism as "ferocious." (Voice of America)
Edmund Burke is often misattributed to the quote, " The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." All good Canadians should feel the need to respond to the rise in anti-semitism, and I am in favour of the government, institutions, and law enforcement taking immediate and decisive action against protests that involve unprotected speech as defined by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Randy Baker
Orillia
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