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Toronto, ON Minister of Multiculturalism Jason Kenney should read the motion adopted by Ontario university sector members on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict before passing judgement, says Sid Ryan, President of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Ontario.
Clearly, Mr. Kenney has been poorly briefed about the spirit and intent of the motion, Ryan says. If he read it a little more carefully, he’d see for himself that it encourages peaceful ways to resolve the conflict.
The motion on the Middle East affirms the right to education for Palestinians; calls for educational events on campuses; encourages research into military connections between Ontario and Israeli universities; and, where these connections exist, calls for a lobby of Ontario universities to refuse to conduct research that benefits the Israeli military. The resolution does not call for a boycott of individual Israeli academics or all Israeli academic institutions.
Ryan said that defenders of Israel’s military action in Gazawhich killed over 1400 people, including hundreds of childrenare far too quick to label critics as intolerant.
It is a sign of desperation to intentionally slur critics of the Israeli state’s military offensives against a trapped civilian population as being intolerant’, Ryan says. Clearly, the best defence is a good offence, no matter how scurrilous and self-serving.
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Contact:
Sid Ryan, President, CUPE Ontario, cell 416 209 0066
David Robbins, CUPE Communications, cell 613 878 1431
