Why I unsubscribed to CIJA’s emails

TORONTO—The email arrived at 6:03 a.m. It was accompanied with a little graphic of a flashing red siren, up near the top, presumably to signal its importance. “Take action,” the email said. “Tell the Canadian government you’re disappointed.” The email was authored by Shimon Koffler Fogel, the CEO of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, in Ottawa. “Yesterday Prime Minister Justin Trudeau failed to acknowledge that it is Hamas—not Israel—that is responsible for the current violence on the Gaza-Israel border. This is very disappointing—and we must let him know its unacceptable.” If you clicked on that last part, it mines your data, and then it takes you to a three-paragraph letter to Trudeau. If you click on some buttons, the paragraphs and the wording get changed around, so that the prime minister is under the false impression that the letter-writer authored it him or herself. It’s a bit dishonest, in other words. Oh, and one (1) Israeli soldier has been injured. So is Fogel’s letter. In it, the lobby group’s CEO makes no reference to the 104 Palestinians—among them 12 children, one an eight-month-old baby named Leila Anwar Ghandoor— who have been killed during the course of the demonstrations at the Gaza Strip. Nor did his letter mention the number of people who have been injured—more than 12,600. "On one hand, it is painful to see yet more suffering in Gaza. As Jews, we believe every human being is infinitely valuable and of equl worth. The situation in Gaza is grim and cannot be ignored. On the other hand, we know that Hamas' goal is not to improve life in Gaza, but to make life more miserable for Israeli—even if it hurts Gazans in the process. And the Canadian government should have said that," Fogel writes. (And, before either side bombards my inbox, please be advised that none of the above information comes from Israel or Hamas. It comes from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, who get called in where there’s complex emergencies and natural disasters. Canada helps fund it.) Also not mentioned in Fogel’s letter is the name of one of the wounded: Dr. Tarek Loubani, an emergency-room physician from London, Ont. A sniper shot Dr. Loubani in the legs with high-velocity tactical rounds. At the time, he was wearing one of those distinctive green surgeon’s outfits, and he was standing with several orange-vested paramedics. He wasn’t near any of the protestors when he was hit. Dr. Loubani, who has worked in several war zones as an emergency doctor, told The Globe and Mail: “I am very seasoned about not being shot at. I know where to stand. I know where to be. I know how not to get shot. Snipers don’t reach me because of mistakes. I did everything right. We were all huddled. We were high visibility. It was quiet at the exact moment I got shot.” In other words, this Canadian man was targeted by a sniper in the service of a foreign nation. The sniper would have known he or she was aiming at a doctor. Perhaps he or she had orders to do so. One of the clearly-identified paramedics rushed to assist Dr. Loubani. Later that same day, a sniper targeted him, too, and killed him. As noted, Fogel’s letter said absolutely nothing about the attempted murder of Dr. Loubani. The Israeli Embassy apparently didn’t say much about it, either, simply referring the matter to a “fact-finding team” with the Israeli Defence Forces—that is, the organization that attempted to kill the Canadian. The IDF would investigate the IDF. All this proved to be a bit too much for Canada’s prime minister, and rightly so. The use of disproportionate force was “inexcusable,” Justin Trudeau said. And: "We are appalled that Dr. Tarek Loubani, a Canadian citizen, is among the wounded—along with so many unarmed people, including civilians, members of the media, first responders, and children.” At this juncture, some disclosure: I have been a member of the board of the former Canada-Israel Committee (CIC). I have been a legal adviser to the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC). I have worked for most of my adult life exposing and opposing anti-Semitism. I love Israel and Israelis. I am a Zionist. I parted ways with Canada’s Jewish leadership about a decade ago, however, after a dispute with the aforementioned Fogel. In the interim, however, Fogel was chosen to oversee the elimination of the CIC and the historic CJC. I looked at Fogel’s email, trying to detect the slightest amount of pity for that dead baby, Leila Anwar Ghandoor—or even for Dr. Loubani, a Canadian who was in Gaza to save lives. There was no mention of either. So I looked for the “unsubscribe” button, down at the bottom of his email, and I clicked it. Warren Kinsella is a former Jean Chrétien-era cabinet staffer and a former provincial and federal election campaign war roomer. The Hill Times

Why I unsubscribed to CIJA’s emails

The email arrived at 6:03 a.m. It was accompanied with a little graphic of a flashing red siren, up near the top, presumably to signal its importance.

Canada’s aging crisis and a call for reform in eldercare

Sudan’s warring sides and the long-simmering ethnic conflict

Balanced approach needed on right-to-repair bill, protecting IP rights and public safety

Reflections from a new citizen

Public Safety Canada’s dealing with natural and communication infrastructure disasters

As COP29 wraps up, will Canada finally stop funding fossils this fall?

Who can stop Benjamin Netanyahu?

Just wars that become unjust

The jig is up on western imperialism

Just war and the Gaza Strip

Temporary Israel-Hamas truce unlikely to pave way for longer ceasefire, say foreign policy experts, as hostage-prisoner exchange begins

News

Get free news updates

Opinion

Submit a guest opinion article

resources

Advertise

subscribe

get help

Get free news updates

Submit a guest opinion article

Why I unsubscribed to CIJA’s emails

The email arrived at 6:03 a.m. It was accompanied with a little graphic of a flashing red siren, up near the top, presumably to signal its importance.

Get The Foreign Policy Newsletter