[Fdu] Open Letter in Support of Educator Nadia Shoufani

[Cynthia Wright]

>>>>> http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/open-letter-in-support-of-nadia-shoufani 
>>>>> <http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/open-letter-in-support-of-nadia-shoufani> 
>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> ​[ to sign the petition, go to the above link -- where you can 
>>>>>>> also see a list of signators to date ]​
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>   Open Letter in Support of Nadia Shoufani
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> teachers for palestine
>>>>>>> *teachers for palestine *
>>>>>>> The Petition 
>>>>>>> <http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/open-letter-in-support-of-nadia-shoufani#description> 
>>>>>>> 1 Highlight 
>>>>>>> <http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/open-letter-in-support-of-nadia-shoufani#highlights> 
>>>>>>> 144 Comments 
>>>>>>> <http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/open-letter-in-support-of-nadia-shoufani#comments> 
>>>>>>> 532 Signatures 
>>>>>>> <http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/open-letter-in-support-of-nadia-shoufani#signatures> 
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> As teachers and educators committed to the values of free 
>>>>>>> speech, civic engagement, social justice, and respectful 
>>>>>>> dialogue across difference, we are deeply alarmed by the smears 
>>>>>>> and libelous accusations against ESL teacher Nadia Shoufani by 
>>>>>>> conservative pro-Israel lobby groups – accusations that have 
>>>>>>> been uncritically repeated by irresponsible journalists at the 
>>>>>>> CBC and The Toronto Star and have resulted in the Dufferin-Peel 
>>>>>>> Catholic District School Board’s cowardly decision to suspend 
>>>>>>> Ms. Shoufani from her job.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On July 2, 2016, Ms. Shoufani spoke at the Al Quds rally at 
>>>>>>> Queen’s Park. In regards to content of the speech Ms. Shoufani 
>>>>>>> made, one would expect officials of a school board to be able to 
>>>>>>> do some basic research. B’nai Brith in a press release has 
>>>>>>> accused Ms. Shoufani of having “praised terrorists,” an 
>>>>>>> accusation dutifully repeated by the CBC. One of the men 
>>>>>>> Shoufani referred to was Ghassan Kanafani, a writer and 
>>>>>>> important Palestinian cultural leader who was assassinated by 
>>>>>>> the Israeli Mossad in 1972. The other was Georges Abdallah, a 
>>>>>>> prisoner in France since 1984 and a "cause celebre" with a UN 
>>>>>>> Human Rights organization (The Working Group on Arbitrary 
>>>>>>> Detention) now trying to free him.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> The claim that both men were “terrorists” because they were once 
>>>>>>> members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine is 
>>>>>>> specious, not only because of the arbitrariness of terms such as 
>>>>>>> “terrorist,” but because the U.S. did not put the PFLP on its 
>>>>>>> “terror list” until 1997, 25 years after Kanafani was murdered 
>>>>>>> and 18 years after Abdallah had left the organization.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Ms. Shoufani has also been attacked for saying that Palestinians 
>>>>>>> have the right to resist occupation and oppression and to fight 
>>>>>>> for their freedom. Under international law, this is true. 
>>>>>>> Israel's crimes have been documented in detail by many human 
>>>>>>> rights organizations such as Amnesty International and the 
>>>>>>> Israeli human rights group B’tselem, crimes that include the use 
>>>>>>> of torture, the jailing of children, the legally-defined crime 
>>>>>>> of apartheid, and violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention and 
>>>>>>> many other UN resolutions governing the Israeli treatment of 
>>>>>>> Palestinians. The illegal siege of Gaza, which started in Sept. 
>>>>>>> 2006, continues despite many Israeli promises to lift it. 
>>>>>>> Palestinians under occupation, with no army, navy or air force, 
>>>>>>> are trying to survive the treatment doled out by one of the 
>>>>>>> world's most advanced military powers. Those who are facing such 
>>>>>>> crimes do, in fact, have the /legal/ right to fight for their 
>>>>>>> freedom under the international conventions of the very same 
>>>>>>> United Nations that voted Israel into existence.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> As for B’nai Brith’s claims made about the Al Quds rally, Al 
>>>>>>> Quds has evolved over the years to become an inclusive event 
>>>>>>> whose main intent is to bring public attention to the ongoing 
>>>>>>> Israeli occupation and persecution of Palestinians. These days, 
>>>>>>> it regularly draws in a diverse crowd of Muslims, Christians 
>>>>>>> (Ms. Shoufani is herself Catholic), the unaffiliated, and Jews, 
>>>>>>> including members of the ultra-orthodox Jewish sect Neturei 
>>>>>>> Karta, who regularly lend their voices to the Palestinian cause 
>>>>>>> and can be seen clearly in the video of Ms. Shoufani’s speech 
>>>>>>> that has been circulating on YouTube. Apart from the Neturei 
>>>>>>> Karta, many Jewish people were in attendance that day, including 
>>>>>>> Ken Stone, a member of Independent Jewish Voices (Canada) who 
>>>>>>> also spoke at the rally. The Al Quds event has for several years 
>>>>>>> been actively consulting with Jewish community members in 
>>>>>>> planning their event. Accusations that it is some sort of 
>>>>>>> anti-Semitic “hatefest” – a term used by B’nai Brith in its 
>>>>>>> press release celebrating the suspension of Ms. Shoufani – is 
>>>>>>> baseless and slanderous. The Jewish community is very diverse, 
>>>>>>> after all, and not all Jews share the same views on Israel as 
>>>>>>> B’nai Brith.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Though B’nai Brith was once a genuine human rights organization, 
>>>>>>> in recent decades it has aligned itself with the anti-gay 
>>>>>>> Christian right (its former head, Frank Dimant, regularly 
>>>>>>> praised anti-gay pastors Charles McVety and John Hagee) and 
>>>>>>> become increasingly a single-issue organization devoted mainly 
>>>>>>> to attacking critics of Israel. Though it has largely alienated 
>>>>>>> the Jewish community it still purports to serve and has seen its 
>>>>>>> membership drop precipitously (to less than 4000 members in 
>>>>>>> 2007), it still, mysteriously, commands attention among 
>>>>>>> journalists and public officials, including school boards, 
>>>>>>> despite the fact that its anti-gay links would seem to 
>>>>>>> contravene Ontario’s Safe and Accepting Schools Act.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Similarly, The Friends of Simon Weisenthal has made allegations 
>>>>>>> against Ms. Shoufani. This is an organization that has developed 
>>>>>>> close ties with many school boards, delivering Holocaust 
>>>>>>> education programs of some merit that unfortunately often 
>>>>>>> crassly use Holocaust education to push its own pro-Israel 
>>>>>>> political agenda – even providing all-expense-paid trips for 
>>>>>>> school board staff to pro-Israel conferences – despite the fact 
>>>>>>> that many Holocaust survivors, such as the late Dr. Ursula 
>>>>>>> Franklin, spoke passionately in defense of the right to speak 
>>>>>>> publically against Israeli crimes.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> While school boards need to be aware of the political agendas of 
>>>>>>> these organizations and sever links with them, the Dufferin-Peel 
>>>>>>> Catholic District School Board has unfortunately given into 
>>>>>>> their bullying, suspended Ms. Shoufani from her job, and brought 
>>>>>>> her to the College of Teachers, despite the fact that she has 
>>>>>>> not been accused of professional misconduct; that the board’s 
>>>>>>> own internal investigation has yet to reveal any wrongdoing; and 
>>>>>>> that the rally she attended – as a private citizen when school 
>>>>>>> was no longer in session– as well as the content of the speech 
>>>>>>> she gave were both lawful and legitimate. Indeed, the board has 
>>>>>>> not been able to cite any wrongdoing by Ms. Shoufani. Her 
>>>>>>> suspension, the board alleges, is for not providing 
>>>>>>> documentation they requested on time – despite the fact that the 
>>>>>>> deadline they imposed was both sudden and unexpected and that 
>>>>>>> Ms. Shoufani did, in fact, submit all the documentation they 
>>>>>>> requested, through her union and on time, which begs the 
>>>>>>> question of why she is still suspended, other than to pacify her 
>>>>>>> political critics.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> We call on the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board to 
>>>>>>> immediately reinstate Ms. Shoufani, who was simply expressing as 
>>>>>>> a private citizen lawful calls for justice, and to not allow 
>>>>>>> itself to be bullied by organizations that purport to represent 
>>>>>>> the Jewish community but who push a narrow political agenda that 
>>>>>>> is not shared by all Jews and who use their platform to silence 
>>>>>>> and intimidate views they disagree with. This is behaviour we 
>>>>>>> discourage in our students. It should not be tolerated by school 
>>>>>>> boards.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Finally, we applaud Ms. Shoufani for her courage to speak truth 
>>>>>>> to power, and we hope that many others will step forward to do 
>>>>>>> the same until justice and human rights for Palestinians are 
>>>>>>> achieved.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Signed,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Teachers for Palestine
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Educators for Peace and Justice
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> ​
>>>>>>>

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