For the last few years, we have become accustomed to hearing about Israeli Apartheid Week on Canadian campuses, and for just as long, our community has struggled to come up with an answer for the seven-day assault on the only true democracy in the Middle East.
The most common solution has been to complain and describe the organizers as hatemongers who are blinded to the truth by spite.
This has not been a good enough. We will never be able to prevent Israel’s detractors from yelling at the top of their lungs about perceived crimes against humanity. We live in a country where free speech is highly valued, and this is a good thing. We shouldn’t be surprised when people stretch this freedom to further their own radical agenda. It happens all the time.
For years, our campus leaders have assumed that since Israeli Apartheid Week is based on faulty premises, students would clue in and discount its message, despite having heard Israel being associated with the word “apartheid” over and over again.
It hasn’t worked, and now, finally, an effective response has been formulated. Four words have changed everything for Israel advocates on campuses across the country: Islamic State Apartheid Week.
Ben Feferman, a former president of the Alpha Epsilon Pi Jewish fraternity in Ottawa and currently the Canadian campus co-ordinator for the Hasbara Fellowship program, is the architect of this initiative. Ben put the idea into motion because he understands the need to shift the focus of the Middle East debate and make sure the public relations battle is waged on our terms.
The first Islamic State Apartheid Week was held recently at York University in Toronto. It consisted of a few events and tabling sessions aimed at pointing out the terrible discrimination against women, homosexuals and other minorities that exists in Islamic countries. Every other nation in the Middle East has a human rights record that’s worse than Israel’s, and all of them have been given a free pass for far too long.
Islamic State Apartheid Week is not meant to excuse any mistakes that Israel has made. Instead, it’s meant to shine a light on the horrible atrocities being committed by countries whose defenders are all to eager to single out the Jewish state as being the cruellest of them all.
Speaking to Ben after the event, he told me stories about angry students who approached him at the events, but didn’t have a plausible arguments against the content being presented. They couldn’t respond, because there is no excuse for what goes on in these countries. Most of the angry students simply muttered something about how unfair the events were.
How nice to hear the other side saying that for once.
When Ben was planning Islamic State Apartheid Week, he heard a lot of the usual criticism. “Why are you doing something you know will cause trouble?” “Why are you doing something that risks making our community look bad?” “Why light a match under the powder keg that is the debate about the Middle East?”
Ben understands, however, that in order to win the public relations battle, we must show the world that Israel is by far the most progressive, free and democratic nation in the region. Israel is like Canada, and these other countries are not. Period.
We can’t give other countries a free pass.
But so far, campus leaders have decided to emphasize Israel’s good side rather than highlight the double standard that Israel is being held to.
I recently attended a lecture at Carleton University given by Benjamin Pogrund, a South African-born Jewish journalist. The event was part of Israel Week sponsored by the Jewish Students’ Association in Ottawa. Pogrund did a tremendous job of explaining why Israel is not an apartheid state. However, the event attracted only a handful of students and didn’t even come close to filling the lecture hall where it was held.
Simply put, the message did not get out.
Next year, Islamic State Apartheid Week should be held in Ottawa, where it’s guaranteed to garner a lot of attention.
Islamic State Apartheid Week must become a staple at campuses across Canada.
It’s time to expose the hypocrisy of the anti-Israel movement once and for all.
