Bibi comes to town

>> Protesters promise to turn out in force for Netanyahu’s Concordia visit

by KEN HECHTMAN

It may be surprising that former Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyahu, widely regarded as the man who did the most to destroy hopes for peace between Israelis and Palestinians, will be speaking next week at Concordia. The far-right ideologue’s appearance here is already stirring up a hornet’s nest of opposition.

Through the umbrella group Montreal Coalition for Peace, Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) is organizing a demonstration against the allegedly restricted-entry event, Netanyahu’s record as Israeli leader and the occupation in general.

“This has nothing to do with academic freedom,” says protest organizer Samer Elatrash. “Binyamin Netanyahu’s appearance at Concordia is a campaign stop on the comeback tour of the most dangerous man in Israeli politics. Israeli political campaigns always start in North America. The donors, the big endorsing organizations and the dual citizens who vote by the planeload are all here. Every candidate has to come here to court them.”

Even accepting that, it’s not immediately obvious why Palestinians who hate Ariel Sharon fear Binyamin Netanyahu. Elatrash explains: “Sharon is an unrepentant war criminal, but he’s pragmatic. Netanyahu is pure ideology. In the last Likud party conference, Netanyahu pushed through a ‘no-Palestinian-state-ever’ policy. Sharon voted against it. I don’t believe Sharon plans to allow one, but at least he sees the value in not taking away all hope.”

Netanyahu’s other contributions to the Israeli political debate include bringing the idea of mass expulsion into the mainstream, introduced in a 1989 speech which suggested it should have been done while the world was distracted by the Tiananmen Square massacre, and the concept of the “Jewish Majority,” the claim that measures passed by Yitzhak Rabin’s Labour coalition weren’t binding because his parliamentary majority included five non-Jewish votes.

Elatrash dismisses charges of suppressing freedom of speech by claiming that Netanyahu would be in violation of the Criminal Code’s hate speech provision as soon as he opens his mouth. “Everything he says is hate propaganda, calculated to incite violence,” he says, charging that, in Netanyahu-speak, “terrorist” is a nationality rather than a job description, Israel’s internationally recognized borders are “the Auschwitz borders,” peace treaties are “surrender agreements” and generals turned Nobel Laureates are “traitors.” When Yigal Amar made his statement to the Israeli police after assassinating then-PM Yitzhak Rabin in 1995, it was peppered with phrases lifted from two months of Netanyahu’s incendiary Knesset speeches attacking Rabin and the recently signed Oslo II agreement.

By invitation only

A secondary concern is the belief that Netanyahu will be using the university to speak to a handpicked crowd of supporters. “If it’s open invitation, I want to be there. If it’s for Jews only, I’m sorry, but this isn’t Israel,” says SPHR executive Tasnim Elasmar. Hillel Montreal executive director Simon Bensimon, whose organization is sponsoring the talk, initially refused to confirm or deny the invitation-only nature of the event, saying only, “That’s up to Netanyahu’s people.” However, Hillel organizer Ethy Cohen says, “We never asked for that, Netanyahu’s people never asked for that. Concordia security told us we had to do it invitation-only or not at all.” Concordia PR spokesperson Chris Mota says the invitation requirement is for “crowd-control purposes only,” and that Hillel would fill e-mailed requests [to info@drummerweb.com, or possibly info@hillel.montreal.qc.ca - web.] for tickets on a first-come-first-served basis, though she conceded that nothing would stop Hillel from discriminating against anyone if they so chose.

Concordia Palestinians aren’t reassured. Elatrash says, “I don’t want to dwell on Concordia politics, but it’s completely in keeping with Hillel’s practice of keeping undesirables out [of off-campus events] and silencing them [in on-campus events].”

Elasmar adds, “When we bring in speakers, Hillel sends their ‘truth squads’ and we allow it. Everybody has freedom of speech. Now they’re using our university, our public space, for a segregated event. We expect broad student opposition.”

The protest’s rules of engagement remain unclear. The official SPHR mailout bills it as peaceful and legal. Elasmar clarifies, “We’re not there to make a riot, we’re there to make a statement-Netanyahu’s not welcome.”

Other organizers admit there will be attempts to blockade Netanyahu, and an unsigned mailout being forwarded among Black Block circles clearly states, “The intention of this demonstration is to stop Netanyahu from speaking.” Participants are asked to assemble in Norman Bethune Square at 10:30 a.m. on Monday, September 9. :