TORONTO — Peter Shurman won’t reveal the most offensive hate messages he received as a result of sponsoring a resolution in the Ontario legislature opposing Israel Apartheid Week (IAW). One, however, was addressed to the “Minister of Kikes” while in another, the writer spat on the graves of him and his family.
Peter Shurman
If those were far from the worst message he received, what were the really atrocious ones like?
“I’ve been called every expletive in the book,” the Progressive Conservative MPP for Thornhill, stated.
None have been explicitly threatening, but he’s notified the security force at the legislature about the messages.
NDP representative Cheri DiNovo, however, did receive threats, Shurman said. DiNovo was out of the country and unavailable for comment last week.
“My intent was always to cause a ripple,” Shurman said of the resolution adopted unanimously in the legislature, “but I didn’t intend this kind of response.”
Shurman said in using his annual allocation of 12 minutes of private member’s time to propose the resolution, he was challenging proponents of IAW to open up discussions of the Middle East conflict.
As things stand now, “they start with the premise that Israel is an apartheid state and that leaves no room for debate.”
“If they want a reasonable debate, they should style it Middle East peace week,” he suggested. “That’s not the case for IAW.”
“I said enough was enough. I have a constituency, Thornhill, a good portion of which is Jewish, who say we find this intimidating and not promoting respect,” he said.
Shurman’s resolution states “that in the opinion of this house, the term ‘Israel Apartheid Week’ is condemned as it serves to incite hatred against Israel, a democratic state that respects the rule of law and human rights, and the use of the word ‘apartheid’ in this context diminishes the suffering of those who were victims of a true apartheid regime in South Africa.”
Shurman speculated that DiNovo attracted real threats because in supporting the resolution, “she broke ranks” with the left. The NDP, he suggested, gets support from the left “which has been behind an awful lot of the negativity to Israel and uses the term apartheid.”
In Ottawa, meanwhile, Conservative MP Tim Uppal introduced a motion that also condemned IAW. It stated: “That this House considers itself to be a friend of the State of Israel; that this House is concerned about expressions of anti-Semitism under the guise of Israeli Apartheid Week; and that this House explicitly condemns any action in Canada as well as internationally that would equate the State of Israel with the rejected and racist policy of apartheid.”
The resolution goes on to say that, “On university campuses, Israeli Apartheid Week promotes the one-sided, intolerant and unbalanced position that Israel is a racist state. This has helped create a public opinion environment where Jewish students who happen to also support Israel are subject to condemnation and opprobrium.”
An alternative motion proposed by the Bloc Québécois also denounced use of the term apartheid in connection with the State of Israel.
The resolutions failed to receive all-party support and never came to a vote.
MP Libby Davies, the federal NDP House leader and a vocal critic of Israel, stated in a letter to supporters: “The Conservative motion was designed to be divisive and to censure legitimate debate on the issue of Israel’s policies, as well as to specifically target activists who are engaged in debate and other activities on various campuses across the country.
“I didn’t support either motion, and whatever one thinks about the term ‘apartheid’ in reference to Israel, I don’t believe that members of Parliament should have any role or influence in stifling open discussion and education on this issue. As someone who has visited the West Bank and Gaza twice (most recently in August of 2009), I know first hand the impact and destruction caused by Israeli policies towards Palestinians.”
The Canada-Israel Committee censured Davies for scuttling attempts at reaching an all-party consensus on the issue.
“Libby Davies’ utter disregard for the plight of students who are bullied and intimidated on campus in Canada is staggering and unacceptable,” said CIC national chair Moshe Ronen. “This is not an issue of free speech. In fact, the Israeli Apartheid Week stifles dialogue, does not constitute legitimate criticism and is simply hateful.”