{"id":1091,"date":"2016-02-15T21:59:57","date_gmt":"2016-02-16T02:59:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/?p=1091"},"modified":"2016-02-15T21:59:57","modified_gmt":"2016-02-16T02:59:57","slug":"look-at-which-organized-group-is-seeking-to-squelch-free-speech-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/?p=1091","title":{"rendered":"Look at Which Organized Group is Seeking to Squelch Free Speech … Again!"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u00a0Look at Which Organized Group is Seeking to Squelch Free Speech … Again!<\/span><\/h2>\n
\"Frederick<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Jewish Groups Denounce Choice of Antisemite to Headline \u2018Freedom to Read Week\u2019 Event in Toronto<\/a><\/h1>\n
FEBRUARY 14, 2016 9:20 PM<\/span>\u00a035 COMMENTS<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n
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Author:<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\"Self-described<\/a><\/p>\n

Two major Jewish groups gently ripped into the Canadian branch of the international organization PEN \u2014 which campaigns on behalf of writers persecuted or imprisoned for expressing themselves freely \u2013 for inviting a highly controversial author to headline an event it is co-sponsoring, theCanadian Jewish News<\/em>\u00a0reported<\/a>\u00a0on Sunday.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) and the Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Center asked PEN why it is headlining the event, to be held on Feb. 24 at the Toronto Reference Library, with self-described \u201canti-Zionist\u201d Max Blumenthal, whose fringe positions on Israel\u00a0have earned him the label of antisemite.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Blumenthal, author of\u00a0The 51 Day War: Ruin and Resistance in Gaza\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel<\/em>, was invited by PEN Canada, in conjunction with Independent Jewish Voices and Another Story Bookshop (as part of \u201cFreedom to Read Week\u201d) to be the star attraction at the event, titled \u201cEmbattled Truths: Reporting on Gaza.\u201d His co-panelist will be\u00a0Toronto Star<\/em>\u00a0foreign affairs reporter Olivia Ward.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe thought this is an odd choice,\u201d CIJA spokesperson Martin Sampson told the\u00a0CJN<\/em>. \u201cWhy would they do that? Why would they put their reputation at risk by associating with Blumenthal? I think his extreme positions disqualify him\u00a0for being a rational, reasonable\u00a0contributor in the discourse about Israel.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Center CEO Avi Benlolo told the\u00a0CJN<\/em>: \u201cMax Blumenthal represents the radical left\u2019s extremist belief that Israel is the embodiment of all evil and has no right to exist. His most recent book \u2013 [which has been] dubbed the \u2018I Hate Israel Handbook\u2019 \u2013 supports the mainstreaming of growing antisemitic attitudes by conflating Israel with Nazi Germany. While shunned by conventional media outlets, the book is popular on major antisemitic, neo-Nazi and conspiracy theory websites such as\u00a0Stormfront<\/em>\u00a0and David Duke\u2019s\u00a0Rense<\/em>, where his work is used to promote anti-Jewish hate. I\u2019m not sure what PEN is trying to achieve by giving Blumenthal a podium from which to spew his hatred, but if its goal is to contribute to increasing antisemitism in Canada, then I guess they will succeed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the\u00a0CJN<\/em>, PEN spokesperson Brendan de Caires\u00a0responded by saying that the group\u2019s mandate is to \u201craise difficult subjects\u2026 We are a free speech organization. We embrace an open exchange of ideas.\u201d And \u201cthe whole premise of our discussion is that this [Gaza] is a hot topic.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

De Caires added, \u201cWe have no stake in the content of what Mr. Blumenthal says. [But] we support his right to say it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

According to\u00a0CJN<\/em>, Toronto Public Library stakeholder relations manager Ana-Maria Critchley said that, in spite of the controversy, the event will be going ahead as planned. \u201cBlumenthal has been invited very clearly not because of his personal views, but to speak on his experience as a journalist,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Max Blumenthal\u2019s name came to the fore recently, when the latest batch of emails released from the server of Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton revealed correspondence with her former adviser, Sidney Blumenthal, the author\u2019s father. In these exchanges, Blumenthal senior sent Clinton links to a number of anti-Israel articles written by his son.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/form>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Look at Which Organized Group is Seeking to Squelch Free Speech … Again! Jewish Groups Denounce Choice of Antisemite to Headline \u2018Freedom to Read Week\u2019 Event in Toronto FEBRUARY 14, 2016 9:20 PM\u00a035 COMMENTS Author: Two major Jewish groups gently … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[198,456,274,199,486,487],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1091"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1091"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1091\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1092,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1091\/revisions\/1092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}