National Post: Stephen Tannenbaum (letter to the editor) "Family massacre deserved coverage" (15/3/2011) "On March 11, terrorists broke into the Fogel family home in Itamar on the West Bank. They stabbed to death Udi Fogel, his wife Ruth and their 11-and four-year-old sons. They also slit the throat of the Fogel’s youngest daughter, three-month-old Hadas. While it is hard to imagine the mentality that would allow a grown man to stab young boys in the heart and slaughter a baby girl, it is almost as difficult to understand why most of the world media chose to relegate this event to a news brief or, as the National Post did, to ignore it completely. While I appreciate the need to devote most of your Monday edition to the disaster in Japan, I note that the Post did find room to report on the resignation of a U.S. State Department spokesman and on regional voting in Russia, but not on this massacre"
Today’s News and Views About Israel & Mideast
Toronto Star: Linda Gradstein: "Israel seizes ship carrying weapons" (15/3/2011) "Israeli commandos boarded and seized a Liberian-flagged ship that Israel says was carrying “tons” of weapons from Syria to Egypt. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the weapons originated in Iran and were on their way to Gaza, which is ruled by the Islamist Hamas movement." Send letter to editor
Winnipeg Free Press: BASSAM HOZAIMA, Canada-Palestine Support Network (letter to the editor) "Reasoned debate" (15/3/2011) "Re: We’ll not censor what hasn’t been said (March 12). It’s nice to know my alma mater, the University of Manitoba, has a president who understands the value of academic freedom and freedom of expression. In today’s world of multimedia spin wars, sitting down together to discuss issues like the history and current state of the Israeli government’s occupation of and apartheid policies toward Palestine is as important as ever. With live discussion, there is more direct accountability for one’s behaviour and statements and more opportunity for reasoned and informed debate. I am confident in my position in support of identifying Israel as an apartheid state and in calling for international action to end Israel’s occupation, yet I welcome an open and reasoned debate on the issues. This week’s events at Israel Apartheid Week offer an excellent opportunity to find out for yourself what all the fuss is about." Send letter to editor
Winnipeg Free Press: Yude Henteleff (letter to the editor) "Reasoned debate" (15/3/2011) "David Barnard attempts to justify the University of Manitoba permitting celebration of Israel Apartheid Week on its campus by a number of rationalizations, including ensuring the safety of students. That’s closing the bottle after the poisons of anti-Semitism and the destruction of Israel, the real objects of the week, have escaped. He also asserts that holding the week is justified by the right of freedom of speech as being a paramount right under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. He is wrong and should have first consulted his faculty of law…"
City TV Winnipeg: Anchor: "Gazans urge factions to unite" (15/3/2011) "To Gaza City where it’s estimated that ten thousand are urging the governments to unite. In 2007 Hamas violently over ran Gaza. Prior attempts previously failed. The rally was organized on Facebook." Clip unavailable
City TV Toronto: Anchor: "Demonstrators call for Palestinian reconciliation" (15/3/2011) "A live look at the Gaza Strip where midday prayers are underway and behind the gathering of midday prayers, a massive gathering underway. We’re watching this for you at this hour. About 500 Palestinians have gathered. The group mobilized on Facebook. The demonstrators are marching in Gaza’s main square calling for reconciliation between Hamas Islamists who run the Gaza Strip and president Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah group."
CBC.ca: AP: "Egypt dissolves state security agency" (15/3/2011) "Egypt will replace the controversial security agency accused of human rights abuses during the rule of recently ousted leader Hosni Mubarak, the interior minister announced Tuesday."
National Post: Nathan Boidman (letter to the editor) "Readers can’t agree if ‘Israeli apartheid’ exists" (15/3/2011) "As a member of the Jewish community, exposed to the frightening spectacle of academic freedom twisted and perverted into a hateful anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish vendetta, it was comforting to read that Stephen Harper, Michael Ignatieff and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney utterly reject (in Mr. Kenney’s words) "the anti-Semitic harassment, intimidation and bullying" that increasingly accompanies Israeli Apartheid Week…"
