---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 13 Sep 2002 16:36:06 -0400 (EDT) From: Jaggi Singh <jaggi at tao.ca> To: letters at globeandmail.ca, PMartin at globeandmail.ca Subject: Letter submission BY E-MAIL To the editors of the Globe and Mail September 13, 2002 I am writing to object, in the strongest possible terms, to the selection of the headline to accompany my Comment submission in today's Globe and Mail -- "Day of Broken Glass". For the record, my original submissionwas titled "Netanyahu and Free Speech". Apparently, that wasn't sensational enough for the Globe's headline writers. However, to choose a headline that inevitably alludes to the "Night of Broken Glass" (Kristallnacht)-- the Nazi organized pogrom of Jews in Germany in 1938 -- grossly misrepresents both the pro-Palestinian protest against Netanyahu in Montreal, as well as my article.
There is absolutely no comparasion to make between the two events, andthe parallel only re-iterates the smears against Palestinians and their social justice allies that my piece addressed. Criticisms of Israel, and political figures like Netanyahu, are not tantamount to anti-Semitism.
In the course of the demonstration on Monday, there was physical jostling, and confrontations between both pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian demonstrators. I myself saw Arabs who were spit on, and called "bloody Arab" or "savage" by various ticket-holders for the Netanyahu event.Some pro-Israel demonstrators claim to have been called racist names, andto also have been assaulted. In all cases, I condemn any incidents of racist or anti-Semitic speech or action, as I have always done.
But to be clear: the Monday demonstration in Montreal, which includedmany Jewish participants (including some who were arrested), was focussedon the actions of the state of Israel, the record of Benjamin Netanyahu,and the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people who live under de-humanizing occupation. The comparasion, even indirectly, of this protest for the rights of Palestinians to the Nazi-organized killingof at least 96 Jews, the burning of at least 1000 synagogues, and the destruction of at least 7500 Jewish-owned businesses in 1938 Germany,is entirely without foundation, and a libel on the overwhelming majorityof protesters who equally condemn all forms of anti-Semitism -- no matterthe degree -- as well as Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people. Jaggi Singh, Montreal
--*-- Marc Rodrigues Voicemail: 866.206.9067 x4217 Students for a Free Society: http://qcsfs.tripod.com
"Why should there be one standard for one country, especially because it is black, and another one for another country, Israel, that is white?" -Nelson Mandela