Scroll down for pictures, article, letters and links concerning the conflict in Israel/Gaza since the attacks of October 7 and the invasion of Gaza. They are added in chronological order.
A couple of events to be aware of from Harold Shuster and Independent Jewish Voices:
This weeks All Out for Palestine rally will be on Saturday March 30th at 12:00 at City Hall.
Then on Saturday April 6th, Canadian Palestine Association of Manitoba is hosting a Justice 4 Palestine fund raising buzzer at the Ukrainian Labour Temple. Everyone is invited to join them on the 6th of April at the Ukrainian Labor Temple for a Bazzar-like fundraiser Iftar where local Winnipeg restaurants will be selling food/accessories etc and will be showcasing Palestinian songs and poetry. Tickets are $15.00 and can be purchased at: www.eventbrite.ca/e/justice-4-palestine-tickets-870071847317. **MAKE SURE TO HAVE CASH**
And on Sunday April 7th, the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada is bringing Mike Fegelman, Executive Director of Honest Reporting Canada, to speak at a fund raiser at the Herzliya Synagogue. A Change.org petition has been started directed at the sponsors of the event, please go here to register your opposition to Mike and his “reporting” - https://www.change.org/p/oppose-honest-reporting-canada?utm_content=cl_sharecopy_37934786_en-CA%3A6&recruiter=1067183720&recruited_by_id=3be349e0-7221-11ea-a546-61f45224f5e9&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=psf_combo_share_initial&utm_term=signature_receipt&share_bandit_exp=initial-37934786-en-CA
We will be meeting in the Fleet Brock Park, the north west corner of Brock Street and Fleet, on Sunday April 7th, at 6:00 P.M. We are fully aware of the optics of holding a demonstration outside a synagogue but they have chosen the location and the synagogue has allowed their space to be used for a very political event, and we are not going to let that stop us. We will be contacting the synagogue to let them know of our intentions and how in no way is this demonstration targeting the synagogue or its congregants.
Not surprisingly this has been brought to the attention of the Winnipeg Police Liaison Team. I have spoken with the PLT, and they have assured us they will not interfere with our right to demonstrate as long as we remain civil and stay in the park, which we fully intend to do.
Thanks as always for your support!
Harold
The following letter was sent to the Board of Directors of the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada on Friday, March 1, 2024
To the Members of the Board of Directors of the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada:
The United Jewish People’s Order (Winnipeg Chapter) expresses its concern that The Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada is co-sponsoring an invitation to Mike Fegelman from Honest Reporting Canada as the guest speaker at the Sol and Florence Kanee Distinguished Lecture Series on April 7.
Mr. Fegelman’s and Honest Reporting’s work, which is to “to act as Israel’s sword and shield,” is antithetical to the mission and history of The Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada, which is to “advocate for anti-racism and education on the Holocaust and antisemitism” and “to develop awareness of the history, moral and ethical implications of the Holocaust and other human rights violations.”
Members of our diverse Jewish community and others who are advocating for universal human rights are being slandered as anti-semitic and pilloried in various publications by Mr. Fegelman and Honest Reporting, with the purpose of suppressing any viewpoints critical of the State of Israel.
Throughout history, Jews honoured the suffering of their forebears by participating in movements for civil rights all over the world, often at great sacrifice, to create a society in which the rights of people are respected despite their ethnicity, religion or race. As a group that has been the brunt of misinformation, disinformation, restriction, violence and genocide, Jews must also stand up now for the rights of any people who are being discriminated against, controlled, imprisoned and murdered —no matter the location, no matter the ethnic group.
We believe the Jewish Heritage Centre needs to adhere to its mission to advocate for truthful education, not obfuscation and rationalization and denial of violations of human rights and international law.
Longtime members of the UJPO, Roz Usiskin and Abe Arnold, were two of the founders of The Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada and were known for their stalwart defence of human rights. Their work to build the Heritage Centre as an organization to preserve history was predicated on honesty and the intention to learn from history and build a better world — tikkun olam. The accomplishments of the Heritage Centre are a testament to their decades of attention and objective curatorial work. Over the years there have been many meaningful collaborations between UJPO and the Jewish Heritage Centre.
We urge you to give our concerns your consideration and reexamine your sponsorship of Mr. Fegelman’s speaking engagement. Sanitizing history and contemporary events to satisfy a narrative make them no less egregious, no less shocking, no less immoral, no less antithetical to the history and legacy of the Jewish people.
We urge you to continue the principled mission, the respected work and legacy of the Jewish Heritage Centre. We would welcome a dialogue with you on this important matter.
On behalf of the Executive Board of UJPO Winnipeg, I remain yours respectfully,
Rubin Kantorovich, UJPO Winnipeg
Free Palestine Rally, St. Vital Mall, March 2, 2024
UJPO members and friends have participated in rallys, vigils and meetings against the Israeli invasion and slaughter of the Palestinian people.
Harold Shuster with Frank Jantz at the rally on March 16, 2024
Letters to the Editor from UJPO Members, Articles and Links
Oct. 15,2023
Letter to Free Press in response to Charles Adler- “Never Again”
My sympathies to you Mr.Adler on the loss of family members during World War II. I am also of Jewish origin , my late father was a holocaust survivor and we have a shared experience of family loss.
During the Nazi occupation of Poland in WWII the Jews in Warsaw were confined in a ghetto. The Germans controlled everything going in and out. Despair , disease and starvation permeated the ghetto. In 1943 the Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto rebelled against their captors. The Jews saw themselves as freedom fighters while the Nazis called them terrorists. The uprising was suicidal as poorly armed men were no match for the well armed German army.
The trauma of conflict and war affects us all in different ways. Unlike you Mr.Adler I do not live with Jewish guilt. While I share your message of “never again” I think these words would be more appropriately addressed to all our parliamentarians in Ottawa who gave a standing ovation to a Nazi veteran of the SS Galicia Division three weeks ago.
Rubin Kantorovich
January 14, 2021
Letter to Leah Gazan from United Jewish People’s Order (Winnipeg)
Hon. Leah Gazan:
The United Jewish People’s Order (UJPO) Winnipeg supports your principled stand regarding the Israeli vaccination policy in the occupied Palestinian territory. Imagine if the Canadian government announced that it would not supply vaccines to the Indigenous peoples in Canada. The Canadian and world community would be justified to condemn such an action.
The Jewish community has a divergence of views on social, economic and political matters as do all ethnic, religious, national groups. UJPO Winnipeg rejects the stand of the Centre for Israel and Jewish affairs (CIJA) and B’nai Brith. It is shameful they defend the discriminatory policies of the Israeli state by accusing people such as yourself and Charlie Angus of anti-semitism and spreading inaccurate information.
In fact it is they who spread inaccurate information.
We are all aware that racism exists in Canada, it also exists in Israel. The pro-Israel lobby is attempting to convince governments to label criticism of the state of Israel as a form of anti-semitism and racism. UJPO rejects this deception. We see this as an attempt to stifle critical analysis and political discourse in Canada. We believe people have the right to criticize those who violate the rights of others and violate International Law. We believe most Canadians want a society where people freely express views about current affairs. We do not need direction from the Israeli embassy or their agencies in Canada to lecture us on what racism is. They have only to look in the mirror.
Thank you again for standing up to injustice and the bullying by Israel and its lobby. Those who are driven by hatred cause problems for us all. We choose to work with people such as you and Mr. Angus to try and solve problems.
Rubin Kantorovich on behalf of UJPO Winnipeg
Cc Charlie Angus MP
Cc Jagmeet Singh National NDP Leader
Letter to the Editor
Re: Canada’s silence deafening (Letters Jan.30)
This year International Holocaust Remembrance Day is being observed under the shadow of the ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) which indicted Israel on the charge of genocide. Ironically the United Nations Genocide Convention came into existence in response to the Nazi genocide of European Jews in World War II. Before the establishment of the State of Israel and after, the Nazi genocide was presented by the Zionist movement as a justification for a Jewish state in Palestine. The problem here was that most of the people living in Palestine were not Jewish and became the victims of a campaign of dispossession and displacement by Zionist militias. From 1947 to 1949 some 700,000 Palestinians were turned into refugees. The dispossession and displacement of Palestinians continues to this day.
Immediately after the ICJ ruling against Israel allegations that employees of UNRWA participated in attacks against Israel on October 7 surfaced. These allegations were made by Israel , claiming the information came from Palestinian detainees under “interrogation”. The Canadian government’s response to this allegation was to suspend funding to the UNRWA whose 30,000 employees provide humanitarian aid to Palestinians. The US and a number of other countries also suspended their funding to UNRWA thus aiding and abetting the genocide against the Palestinian people.
Human rights belong to all people. The conduct of the State of Israel and its backers is deserving of our condemnation. The majority of countries in the world are standing with the Palestinian people. Canada among other countries are on the wrong side of history here.
Rubin Kantorovich
Remarks by Harold Shuster on behalf of Independent Jewish Voices at a rally, Stories of Grief, Resistance and Hope at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, Saturday, March 16, 2024
So my role is to try and provide you with hope, and what further actions that you can do.
But first an apology, and one that I am happy to offer, to my co-planners, to Hala. When I first saw the planned set up for today and there were 500 chairs, I was adamant, even a little obnoxious in stating that that was too many chairs, that there would rows of empty seats and the venue would look half empty and that would be terrible. I am humbled and overwhelmed to be proven wrong, by your support - it gives me strength.
We have heard many stories of grief, we have listened to words of resilience, and now we must use those words, those stories to motivate us. It can be hard not to feel hopeless, to see the task ahead of us as too big, to see the forces working against us as too powerful, but we must not let those feeling of hopelessness stop us. The people of Gaza, the Palestinians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Israel need us to act, to mobilize, to use their words and their stories to help bring justice to them, working with the same “sumud”, the same steadfastness, that they are using to resist the injustices they are facing.
ACTION 1: You have already made a contribution by being here. You have joined with the millions of citizens across the globe that are calling for a ceasefire and showing their solidarity with the Palestinian people. You can get deeper involved by becoming a part of one of the growing advocacy groups supporting the Palestinian struggle - academics, union member, nurses, doctor, queer, straight, somewhere in between, there is a place for you in the movement. IJV is always looking for supporters. Or start your own!
ACTION 2: Keep putting pressure on your elected officials, in demanding a ceasefire. This is the minimum that any elected official at any level should be calling for.
ACTION 3: Contact the Prime Minister and demand that Canada live up to its international obligations. Canada should be demanding a permanent ceasefire. Calling for the release of all civilian hostages, held by both Hamas and Israel. Allowing for the unhindered delivery of much needed life saving humanitarian aid to be delivered to Gaza - by road, in trucks, not dropped from the sky or by boat. End all arms sales to Israel. Introduce sanctions against Israel until it complies with international and human rights laws and ends its occupation, ends its apartheid rule, and justice is achieved for Palestinians. Supporting the ICJ case brought by South Africa.
ACTION 4: Do BDS! Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) is a Palestinian-led movement for freedom, justice and equality. Inspired by the South African anti-apartheid movement the Palestine BDS is a simple, non-violent peaceful form of civil disobedience. It urges pressure on Israel until it complies with international law by meeting 3 demands:
1. Ending its occupation and colonization of all Arab land and the dismantling the wall
2. Recognizing the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality.
3. Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return their homes and property as stipulated in UN Resolution 194.
The BDS Movement website has a list of companies that they are asking us to boycott. Not all but many of the products and companies operate in Canada and their products are widely available.
ACTION 5: Donate money if you are able. There are a number of wonderful international aid organizations working hard to try and save lives right now in Gaza, and doing what they can to make live sustainable, not only in Gaza, but in the West Bank, where on-going settler violence has seen hundreds killed and forced evacuations of Palestinian villages, and all of this happening while Israel is conducting its genocidal war on Gaza. UNRWA. Save the Children. Doctors Without Borders. UNICEF. Mennonite Central Committee.
ACTION 6: We want justice, we want peace. For that to happen you need to know what is really happening, not just now, not just what has happened since October 7th, but what has been happening since the siege of Gaza in 2004. Since the Occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem in 1967. Since the the Nakba and the founding of the State of Israel in 1947. Since the founding of the zionist movement 125 years ago. What we generally know, what we generally understand about the history of Palestine and Israel is what Israel and its zionist supporters have wanted us to know. They have controlled the narrative which has allowed them to control what is happening. We owe it to Palestinians to know their history, to know their stories and the narrative of what it means to be an oppressed people. There are lots of very good reliable sources.
There is great significance that what we are doing today, what we have been doing since October 7th, what we have been doing for months and years before that, is asking for, no demanding, that the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the international treaties and declarations, is taking place in the very building that our country has constructed and is dedicated to honouring and preserving, to showcasing and educating us on what happens when those agreements are violated. What the Palestinian people have been calling for, and calling on the global community to stand in solidarity with them, to lift and amplify their voices, is to have their human rights, their dignity, their history and culture, recognized, honoured and protected - no different than any other people.
For it is human rights that allow for a child to have a childhood, that allow for that child to grow and thrive, to pursue an education, to have access to safe work, to love who they chose, to live their own authentic lives free from discrimination and persecution. It is human rights that are meant to ensure that every child, every person, every individual, have equal access to the things that sustain us - clean air and water, nutritious food, a healthy sustainable environment. So it is significant that we are asking for all of those things for the Palestinian people, in a building that for too long worked hard to prevent the Palestinian story to be heard.
So keep coming out. Keep standing up. Keep raising your voices. Keep educating yourselves. Demanding a ceasefire is just the beginning. The war on Gaza is simply the latest iteration of the Nakba, the catastrophe that Palestinians have been living through for the past 76 years. This is the latest act of violence by the Israel government that has controlled Palestine and Palestinians through a culture of violence. Your voice, your presence, your commitment to seeking justice will be needed just as much when the war is over as it is now.
The Welcome Wall at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg
Activists, including members and supporters of UJPO, rally against a lecture by Honest Reporting Canada at a synagogue In Winnipeg, April 7, 2024.
April 30, 2024 Winnipeg Free Press
Peace for all
Re: City’s Jewish community marks extra-meaningful Passover this year (April 23)
As another member of the Jewish community — and a member of Jews for Social Justice and the Winnipeg branch of the United Jewish People’s Order — I would like to add to the perspectives of spokespersons quoted in Longhurst’s article on the extra meaning and importance of freedom commemorated by this year’s Passover holiday.
They spoke to concerns about Israeli hostages and soldiers, loved ones lost on Oct. 7, antisemitism, and a more palpable world brokenness for Jews. There was one reference to peace for all in the Middle East.
I share much of their concerns and hopes. I was hoping to also read concerns about Palestinian hostages, losses of Gazan peoples, anti-Arab racism, and the brokenness and occupation of Palestine.
The seders that I have attended emphasized a universal perspective of peace and freedom. While celebrating the liberation of Hebrew slaves, we also acknowledged the suffering and losses of Egyptian people. We discussed the importance of overcoming our own ethnocentric prejudices so that we could more dispassionately analyze the historical and underlying causes of Middle East and other conflicts.
Hopefully, more meaningful Passovers will foster empathy and collaboration for human rights and social justice for all, regardless of race, religion, or nationality. That would increase my hopes for a just peace for all in the Middle East.
Joel Kettner
Winnipeg
Points of clarification
Re: The misuse of a medical school valedictory speech (Think Tank, June 4)
Mr. Bernstein claims “ I am writing to shed light on the shameful display of ignorance and insensitivity by the graduating class valedictory speech (by Gem Newman).” In so doing, Mr. Bernstein displays his own ignorance and insensitivity.
For the benefit of Mr. Bernstein and Free Press readers, let us begin by quoting David Ben-Gurion, the first Israeli prime minister: “If I were an Arab leader, I would never sign an agreement with Israel. It is normal; we have taken their country” (as quoted by Nahum Goldmann, The Jewish Paradox) “We should prepare to go over to the offensive. Our aim is to smash Lebanon, Trans-Jordan and Syria. The weak point is Lebanon,…We then bomb and move on and take Port Said, Alexandria and Sinai.” (Ben-Gurion: a Biography, Michael Bar-Zohar.)
Facts are stubborn things and the fact is that the Zionist militias and the state of Israel declared war on the Palestinians and Arab states before the British mandate ended in May 1948. With the complicity of Britain the Zionist militias began the destruction of over 400 Palestinian villages in November 1947. Over 700,000 Palestinian refugees were displaced in this period and this process continues to this day.
Mr. Bernstein asserts “being anti-Zionist is antisemitic…. No victimized peoples should be dictated to, as to what constitutes their victimization.” As well “Israel is the only Jewish state on Earth for the 14 million Jews across the globe.” The conflation of Judaism with Zionism is not a new phenomenon but is being used increasingly today by the Zionist lobby as Israel has been indicted on the charge of genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza. Judaism is a religion and Zionism is a political ideology. Not all Jews are Zionist and not all Zionists are Jews.
The State of Israel was founded as a Zionist state and its conduct is drawing widespread global condemnation today. It is deceitful to suggest those who criticize Israel are ignorant or antisemitic.
Rubin Kantorovich
Winnipeg
To the editor.
Like Dr. Bernstein I am Jew but I strongly disagree with his views on Dr. Gem Newman’s valedictory speech. Bernstein’s critique of Dr. Newman is wrong about a number of things. First his contention that a valedictory speech is no place for critique of Israel’s war in Gaza. It seems to me that the destruction of virtually every hospital in Gaza, the targeting of medical personnel and the blockade of needed medical supplies is indeed a reason to denounce these actions by a doctor in his valedictory speech. Second while Jews have been living continuously in Palestine for thousands of years as a small minority this doesn’t justify the expulsion and slaughter of Palestinian civilians. The majority of indigenous population have rights as well and those rights have been sorely compromised under the Israeli regime, such as treating Gaza as an open air prison and carrying out an Apartheid regime in the West Bank and Jerusalem. Third the parallel between settler colonialism here in Canada where indigenous peoples have been dispossessed repeatedly has undeniable parallels with the destruction of Palestinian villages in 1948, the theft of land through illegal settlements and the ongoing house demolitions in the West Bank and Jerusalem. There is no question that Dr. Newman was correct in raising his critique of the Israeli regime. It should be the job of health care professionals to make judgments on the facts as Dr. Bernstein rightly points out. Unfortunately he picks out some unsubstantiated allegations and mythology to support his point of view.
David Weller
Winnipeg
Re: Under threat - Saturday, June 22, 2024 Published in the Winnipeg Free Press, Thursday, June 27, 2024
This report includes the headline “Jewish, Palestinian Winnipeggers target of increased hate, intimidation”. It may be helpful to Free Press readers to have a conversation on what defines anti-semitism and hate speech.
While anti-semitism is generally understood to mean a hatred of Jews, the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg (JFW) asserts criticism of the State of Israel is a manifestation of anti-semitism. The JFW is on record taking a position of unequivocal support for Israel”s actions. Is it any wonder that since the most recent Israel/Gaza conflict on October 7 and the subsequent calls worldwide for a ceasefire along with an indictment by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) of Israel on the charge of Genocide, the JFW claims a rise in anti-semitism.
The JFW does not represent all Jews in Winnipeg. The United Jewish People’s Order (UJPO) , Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) and others oppose the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands and support the right of Palestinians to self-determination. This is a position that finds favour in most countries around the world. Jews and non Jews alike are derided by Pro-israel organizations for upholding Palestinian rights. We are called “self-hating”, “anti-semites” and “Hamas lovers”, hardly words of peace and understanding. In Winnipeg we have reached out to the JFW for dialogue as we see their unequivocal support for Israel as damaging to the entire Jewish community and the cause of peace, but no response has been received .
Racism and anti-semitism do exist in our society. The genocidal conduct of Israel along with support from some Jewish organizations here only serves to muddle/confuse what anti-semitism is and feed those who bear ill will toward Jews .
Rubin Kantorovich
Winnipeg
Photos of UJPO and Independent Jewish Voices taking part in the Run for Palestine, September 15 at Assiniboine Park in Winnipeg.
Rally for Palestine - October 26, 2024, Winnipeg
Letter to the Editor, Winnipeg Free Press, October 31, 2024
Don’t weaponize star
Re: Police investigating after Stars of David drawn outside West End Grocery store (Oct. 29)
I would like to offer my support to the Zeid family who owns the Food Fare in my neighbourhood. The perpetrators of this crime have weaponized the Star of David in a hateful way to provoke and intimidate a Palestinian-owned business in the community.
Better that these people enter the store, buy some groceries and extend their concern and condolences to the Zeid family for all the losses they have suffered and express a desire for an end to this war and a just peace for Jews and Palestinians in Israel and Palestine.
Ellen Karlinsky
Winnipeg
Saturday’s rally is at Noon at the CBC Building on Portage Avenue. The focus on media, and how much of mainstream coverage is heavily biased towards Israel.
Following the rally, there will an action outside the offices of Magellan, who manufacture tail fins for the F-35 fighter jet. Saturday is an international Day of action calling for an immediate and complete arms embargo against Israel.
Letter to the editor
Re: Facts lessen tension, instead of inflaming by Rice Koop
As a professor of political studies at the University of Manitoba one would expect an informed and educated position regarding the current (as well as past) conflict in Israel/Palestine.
Mr. Koop asserts that the chant “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” is a call for the destruction of the state of Israel. He apparently has not heard the calls from the Israeli leadership for the annihilation of the Palestinian people. Benjamin Netanyahu as well as a number of his ministers have called for the destruction of the “Amalekites” (Palestinians)
Mr. Koop cites Ron Hassner, a political scientist, to support his claim. Who is Ron Hassner? He is associated with the Helen Diller Institute, a pro-Israel lobby at Berkeley University. Is it possible that his investigations could be driven by a pro-Israel bias?
The territory from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea is populated by roughly five million Palestinians living under Israeli occupation, whose human and civil rights have been denied and another two million Palestinians within the recognized borders of Israel that live as second class Israeli citizens. Could one not argue that the phrase “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” is a call for justice and equality for all who inhabit this territory?
UJPO Winnipeg
