Say It By Its Proper Name: Genocide

Genocide is violence that targets individuals because of their membership of a group and aims at the destruction of a people. Raphael Lemkin, who first coined the term, defined genocide as "the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group" by means such as "the disintegration of [its] political and social institutions, of [its] culture, language, national feelings, religion, and [its] economic existence".

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I wasn't planning to write a blog entry today, but I came across a story that so egregiously outrageous that for the sake of my own health, I had to put it down in words.

If you have read some of my recent posts, you will see I am always quick to hold to account the atmosphere of fear and censorship that is becoming increasingly common in the U.S., especially with regard to students demonstrating support for Palestinians. Today's post, however, hits closer to home. To understand the obscene nature of what has happened, here is a bit of context about Tareq Hadhad. a Syrian refugee who settled in Nova Scotia and became a Canadian success story as well as a Canadian citizen in 2020.

Hadhad’s family had made chocolates in Syria for more than 20 years, but their factory was destroyed in a bombing that forced them to leave the country in 2012.

Peace by Chocolate opened for business in 2016 and now ships its confections around the world. The company employs locals in Antigonish and newcomers to Canada.

Hadhad said Canadians are respected around the world for “values that stand for peace, for love, for kindness, for inclusion, for welcome, for friendliness, for social justice.

In addition to employing a significant number of people, Hadhad donates a percentage of the profits to peace initiatives.

Upon becoming a citizen, he said,

“I feel that I’m Canadian. I feel that I’m free. I feel that I belong. And I feel that I am so proud to be part of this big family of 37 million Canadians from coast to coast to coast.”

Hadhad may have to revisit that assessment, given the contempt a Canadian legal association has shown him.

The Advocates’ Society informed its members in an email last week that it would be uninviting Tareq Hadhad, a Syrian refugee turned Canadian entrepreneur, as the keynote speaker at the prominent legal group’s annual “End of Term Dinner,” at the Metro Convention Centre in June.

The decision comes after some members expressed concern about Hadhad’s public social media posts touching on the Middle East, the email explained. “While it was never our intention for Mr. Hadhad to speak about the conflict, with regret, we concluded that this is not the right time or event for Mr. Hadhad to address our members,” it read, adding: “We also recognize that many of our members will be harmed and feel unwelcome because of our decision not to proceed with Mr. Hadhad.”

Exactly what was the 'offence' that prompted this anti-Arab racism? Well, it seems that certain members of the society poured through Hadhad's social media posts, and, spoiler alert, Toronto lawyer Jonathan Lisus found nothing.

He said he saw an absence of commentary on the [October 7 2023] kidnappings, murder and other atrocities committed [against Israelis] by Hamas; nor, he said, could he find Hadhad calling on Hamas to release hostages or renounce its call for the destruction of Israel.

Also, Lisus found that Hadhad had used the G word: 

In May 2024, Hadhad wrote: “Just looking at this and thinking of all the children that we failed everywhere and continue to fail in Rafah and all of Gaza. This genocide must be stopped. Children should wake up to the sounds of birds not the sounds of bombs.”

“Sadly, Mr. Hadhad’s record of public statements makes a strong case that while expressing understandable concern for civilian deaths in Gaza he is unsympathetic, and certainly indifferent, to the harm and suffering of Jewish people and the Jewish state,” Lisus wrote in his email to the Advocates’ Society.

Compounding this cowardly injustice, Hadhad made it clear that his was to be a non-political address:

“My intended remarks focused solely on the values that unite,” the statement said. “There is a lot of division already in our world — I don’t want to contribute to it further. My role is to bring people together, not further divide them, and I remain proud of my story and the message I share across Canada and internationally.”

Night after night the news shows us the dire injury, death and devastation Israel is inflicting on Gaza. Yet somehow our sympathies are supposed to be reside solely with the Jewish state. Somewhere, George Orwell must be nodding ruefully and knowingly. 

 

We Are All Complicit

There are still many who both turn a blind eye to the ongoing genocide in Gaza and justify israel's atrocities as mere self-defence. If you believe that fiction, all I can say is your critical-thinking skills are grossly deficient. 

But even if we are rightfully appalled by those atrocities, most of us, in our own ways, are complicit in them. We do not openly protest the carnage; we do not write letters decrying it; we continue to elect people who will only worsen the genocide; we do not demand that Canada stop being an echo chamber for American Middle East policies that only enable and embolden the destruction of countless lives.

The following is very, very difficult to watch. If you choose to view it and are subsequently still staunch advocates of Israel's actions, I don't know what to say to you.

Today is the start of a new year. I wish it were a new start for humanity as well, but I suspect that is not in the cards.

UPDATED: See No Evil

I have lived long enough to think I have seen the worst things that humanity has to offer. I shan't enumerate examples here, since they are legion. But not all evil deeds are acts of commission. Many deep moral stains originate in omissions, failures to act. The West's complicity in the Israeli-led Gaza genocide falls under both rubrics, of course.

In its passion to avoid any accusation of anti-semitism (anti-semitism and criticism of Israel having been susscessfully conflated), the West is clearly complicit in the genocide. Indeed, even a modest support for Palestinians provokes rebuke and condemnation. In Ontario, for example, Hamilton Centre MPP Sarah Jama was censured for wearing the keffiyeh, rendering her persona non grata in the legislature and resulting in her ouster from the provincial NDP.

But such reprovals are not limited to the provinces. Indeed, Heather McPherson, an Alberta NDP MP, is now being singled out for rebuke.

A New Democrat MP was warned Monday that her decision to don a watermelon pin — a symbol of the Palestinian cause — could be construed as a political “prop” that has no place in the House of Commons. 

During question period, Edmonton-Strathcona MP Heather McPherson took to the floor of the lower chamber to castigate Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government for its response to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

“Entire families have been decimated. Children are starving to death. When will the Liberals live up to their obligations?” McPherson said, calling for sanctions on the Israeli government and the implementation of an “actual arms embargo.”

That attempt to stir the conscience of the government was met with a stern warning from House Speaker Greg Fergus., suggesting her pin was a prop, supposedly forbidden in the House.

In a heated exchange over what is and is not permitted to be worn in the Commons, McPherson rose on a point of order to question Fergus’s suggestion.

“I have to tell you that I stand here proudly wearing the pin that stands in solidarity to Palestinian people, but people within this place are wearing pins for a various number of reasons,” McPherson said.

She referred to a moose hide pin that a number of MPs wear in the Commons, which was born from an Indigenous-led movement to end violence toward women and children. 

Then, for some sensitive' souls in the House, she went too far:

The NDP MP’s reference to poppies also being worn in the chamber for Remembrance Day, however, was met with outrage from the opposition benches, with Conservative MPs expressing disbelief on social media over the comparison. 

She also reminded members that she, along with others, wear a number of other pins, including a Ukrainian one, to mark a thousand days since Putin invaded Ukraine.

Funny thing about freedom of expression, isn't it? It is apparently only permitted when the state declares who is an acceptable target for denunciation. In the corrupted currents of this world, it would seem that Israel gets a free pass, no matter what crimes against humanity it perpetrates.

UPDATE: Predictably, the U.S. vetoed a UN resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza:

The United States on Wednesday vetoed a U.N. resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire in the war in Gaza because it is not linked to an immediate release of hostages taken captive by Hamas in Israel in October 2023.

The U.N. Security Council voted 14-1 in favor of the resolution sponsored by the 10 elected members on the 15-member council, but it was not adopted because of the U.S. veto.

The resolution that was put to a vote “demands an immediate, unconditional and permanent cease-fire to be respected by all parties, and further reiterates its demand for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.”

Hmm. Sounds to me that the resolution did call for the immediate release of the hostages, but I guess Israel's perennial, unconditional friend just can't bring itself to do anything other than perpetuate the carnage in Gaza.