Once again, critics of Israel have been silenced and excluded by officialdom.Queers Against Israeli Apartheid has been banned from this year's Pride Parade in Toronto. Members can participate, but as individuals. The a-word is now forbidden.
Yet the Globe & Mail notes:
In a statement at the Herzeliya Conference earlier this year, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak used the term himself.
“If the Palestinians vote in elections, it is a binational state,” he said, “and if they don't, it is an apartheid state.”
But that's in Israel, where free-wheeling debate on the issues is permitted, or, more accurately, is impossible to shut down. This is Canada, 2010, where that other a-word is used once again as a political bludgeon to squelch any and all criticism of Israeli state policy. And by acquiescing, the organizers of the Pride Parade have struck a cowardly blow against their own proud legacy of resistance against injustice. Shame on them.
2 comments:
If the skies don't clear, it will be cloudy tomorrow. But don't you dare take that statement to mean it's cloudy today!
Really? I would like to see that in context. Please provide a link. Thanks Dawg.
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