July 23, 2012: United Church meeting in Ottawa may be dominated by Israeli-Palestinian conflict

By Michael Regenstreif

The 41st General Council of the United Church of Canada will be held at Carleton University in Ottawa from August 11 to 18 and virtually all of the advance attention has focussed on a United Church working group’s report on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict which – not surprisingly – lays almost all responsibility for the situation at Israel’s feet and calls for boycott of goods produced by Israeli settlements in the West Bank and some measure of divestment from Israel.

The report questions the validity of Israel as a Jewish state and even finds moral equivalency between the current situations of the Palestinians with the plight of the Jews of Europe during the Holocaust:

“The deepest meaning of the Holocaust was the denial of human dignity to Jews. ‘Never again’ is a call that must continue to echo throughout the world. The implication of this call is not that Israel will be free from accountability for unjust policies, but rather that there will be no question or doubt that Israel and Jewish people throughout the world are deeply respected. The working group is also aware that the occupation has meant a loss of dignity for Palestinian people. This loss of dignity is evidenced not just by the occupation but also in the denial of the legitimacy of the Palestinian experience. This is accentuated by the view that any form of Palestinian resistance, even non-violent resistance, is unacceptable. Palestinians must be afforded dignity and respect for the struggles they face.”

As the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs noted in a response to the report, “the ‘deepest meaning’ of the Shoah (Holocaust) was the industrialized mass murder of six million Jewish men, women and children whose only crime was that they were Jewish,” and that such “moral equivalence is deeply offensive to Jewish Canadians and individuals of conscience from all backgrounds.”

While the report has enjoyed the expected support of the anti-Zionist left, including Independent Jewish Voices, it remains to be seen how widespread its support is among United Church members. An Ottawa-area minister, Reverend Andrew Love of Grace St. Andrew’s United Church in Arnprior, has spoken out against the mostly one-sided report and has organized a United Church petition calling for its rejection at the General Council. Reverend Love, instead, calls for support for those on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian divide who are actively working for peace.

Late last month, a group of nine Canadian senators – five Conservatives and four Liberals – all members of the United Church, published a letter condemning the report, which “does not mention a single expectation of the Palestinians in its recommendations. To put it bluntly, the Church cannot maintain credibility in criticizing Israeli policies (such as settlements and the security barrier) while relieving the Palestinian leadership of its own duty to advance peace.”

It will be interesting to see which path the United Church will choose to take at its General Council.

Thank you Laurie Dougherty

As editor of the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin, I rely on the collaboration of many people and one of my most important collaborators is the archivist of the Ottawa Jewish Archives. Almost everything that appears in the Bulletin pertaining to the history of Ottawa’s Jewish community is done with the help of the archivist.

For the past three-and-a-half-years, the archivist has been Laurie Dougherty. Laurie also spent 18 months as assistant archivist before that. As we were finishing production of this edition, we bade farewell to Laurie who left the Ottawa Jewish Archives on July 12 to become archivist for the town of Arnprior, where she lives.

Laurie has been a great person to work with – particularly on big projects like the 2009 supplement celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Jewish Federation of Ottawa or the year-long page 5 reprint features we’ve been doing throughout 2012 to mark the 75th year of the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin (with a special supplement to come with our Chanukah community-wide issue on November 26).

There have also been many occasions when I’ve called on Laurie to find or verify all kinds of information. For example, I wanted to add the late Erwin Koranyi’s date of birth to the remembrance of him, which appears on page 4 of this issue. When an Internet search only turned up the year, I dialled Laurie’s extension and she was able to quickly find the exact date in the Archives files.

As well, the From the Archives photos Laurie regularly submitted to the Bulletin and the feature articles she wrote about Archives projects and displays have been greatly appreciated. See Laurie’s article about the Archives’ current display on page 13 of this issue.

Thanks for everything, Laurie! All the best in your new job. We’re going to miss you.

June 18, 2012: The Olympic Games should remember the Olympians murdered in 1972

By Michael Regenstreif

The opening ceremonies for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games will take place in London on July 27 and many people around the world are asking that a moment of silence be observed in memory of the 11 Israeli Olympians murdered by terrorists during the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany.

Initially, two Israelis were murdered and nine more taken hostage by Black September, a PLO faction at about 4:30 am on September 5, 1972, during the second week of the games. Less than 20 hours later, at four minutes past midnight on September 6, the nine hostages were machine gunned to death.

The Munich Massacre shocked the world. It was, and remains, the darkest moment of the modern Olympic movement (rivalled only, perhaps, by Hitler’s use of the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin as a showcase for Nazi pageantry).

This year, 40 years after the massacre, the State of Israel asked the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to remember the slain Olympians with a moment of silence at the opening ceremonies in London. All Israel asked for was a 60-second pause in the otherwise joyous celebrations. Israel was supported in its request by many throughout the world. As we reported in the May 7 issue of the Bulletin, the Jewish Federations of North America asked Jewish communities to sign an online petition in support of Israel’s request.

However, the IOC has refused the request. Would the response have been different if the murdered athletes had come from almost any other country in the world? I’m tempted to think so.

Israel, in a campaign led by Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, continues to campaign for the moment of silence and is being supported by political leaders in such countries as Australia, the United States and Canada. On June 7, Liberal MP Irwin Cotler, a former minister of Justice, spoke about the issue in the House of Commons and said Canada should support Israel in its quest for remembrance.

“For 40 years, there has been no official Olympic remembrance, no honouring of memory, no moment of silence,” said Cotler.

“Let us solemnly observe this 40th anniversary of remembrance. It is our duty to observe a moment of silence to remember. We remember. Never again. Never again, not for Jews, not for anyone.”

In response, Minister of State (Sports) Bal Gosal and Minister of Foreign Affairs John Baird wrote to IOC Chair Jacques Rogge expressing “Canada’s disappointment with the International Olympic Committee’s decision not to agree to the request by the Government of Israel” and urged the IOC “to reconsider the decision given the gravity of the events that took place in Munich in 1972.”

As Gosal and Baird noted, “The terrorist attack targeted not only Israel, but the spirit and goals of the Olympic movement. Given the impact of this tragedy, on the Olympic community as a whole and the world, it should be marked publicly as part of the official opening ceremony of the games.”

May 21, 2012: An inspiring visit by Israel’s elder statesman

By Michael Regenstreif

It was quite extraordinary – if not awe-inspiring – to watch Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shimon Peres, the State of Israel’s remarkable president and elder statesman, in action over the two days he spent in Ottawa during his official state visit to Canada, May 6 to 10.

At 88, Peres is the world’s oldest head of state, but he seems more than able to maintain a gruelling schedule of travel, meetings, speaking engagements and events that would wear out many half his age.

I was on hand for several of Peres’ Ottawa events, beginning with a Monday morning welcoming ceremony in front of Rideau Hall.

The ceremony was filled with pomp and circumstance.

With Governor General David Johnston and a long line of dignitaries, including Foreign Minister John Baird and Israeli Ambassador Miriam Ziv and a Canadian Armed Forces honour guard and military band there to greet him – as well as an invited gallery of Jewish community leaders and students from the Ottawa Jewish Community School – the Israeli president’s car arrived at Rideau Hall accompanied by Mounties on horseback.

Peres was sure-footed as he inspected the honour guard, greeted the dignitaries, listened to the governor general’s speech, made a speech of his own, and then did a royal-style walkabout to greet the invited guests.

In his remarks, Peres spoke warmly, in both French and English, about “the uninterrupted friendship that your people have shown towards my people from the very first day of our statehood.”

He also recalled his first visit to Canada, more than 60 years ago, when he was sent here by then-prime minister David Ben-Gurion to buy arms for the nascent state.

After the ceremony, the president and governor general held a private meeting inside Rideau Hall. But Peres was soon on the move again – to Parliament Hill where he was greeted by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in front of Centre Block.

Stepping inside, there was another brief welcoming ceremony where Peres signed the Parliamentary guest books before going into a private meeting with Harper in the prime minister’s office.

During his visit to Ottawa, Peres also held meetings with Opposition Leader Thomas Mulcair and Interim Liberal Leader Bob Rae. All three of Canada’s major party leaders are well regarded as supportive friends of the State of Israel.

Other events during the Israeli president’s time in Ottawa included a state dinner in his honour at Rideau Hall, a meeting with academics on joint scientific collaboration between Israeli and Canadian institutions, which culminated in the signing of a memo of understanding between the Royal Society of Canada and the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, and a ceremonial tree planting on the grounds of Rideau Hall.

As Canadian Jews, most of us have planted trees in Israel – if not literally, then through donations. But here was the president of Israel planting a tree in Canada. Quite appropriately for a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who has dedicated much of his later career to the peace process, the tree was an Eastern White Pine, which the Iroquois call the ‘Tree of Peace.’

His final event before moving on to Toronto and Montreal was a reception for 600 people hosted by Ambassador Ziv at the National Gallery attended by diplomats, cabinet ministers and MPs, Supreme Court justices, academics, journalists, military officials and Jewish community leaders.

Peres gave a long riveting speech at the reception. Holding the microphone in his hand, he spoke without a script or even notes. He talked about the State of Israel in both historical and contemporary terms, about Israel’s enduring friendship with Canada and about his past visits here. He spoke about a rapidly changing Middle East and, at length, about science and technology, making predictions about breakthroughs a decade or so away. He even cracked a couple of jokes. An amazing performance that earned sustained ovations from the high-powered audience.

As I mentioned, Peres is Israel’s elder statesman. He has been at the very centre of Israeli political life for all of Israel’s history. First as an adviser to Ben-Gurion, and his emissary, and then as a member of the Knesset, influential cabinet minister, and prime minister – he was acting prime minister for several months in 1977 and held the office officially from 1984 to 1986 and 1995 to 1996 – and now as president, Israel’s head of state.

When I heard Shimon Peres speak about the future and confidently envision a Middle East of peace and co-operation, the vision seemed like it really could come to be.