Issues, ethics, memory
A Politics and the Pen fundraiser at the Chateau Laurier Hotel in Ottawa went smoothly for most of the evening. But it turned nasty near its end when one of the MPs co-hosting the event implied in a quip that the NDP is antisemitic.
David Shulman is an Israeli author, professor emeritus, and peace activist. In a recent article in The New York Review of Books, he describes how extremist Israeli settlers in the occupied territories are attacking Palestinian homes and villages, crops and herds. Shulman calls it a second Nabka.
NATO leaders, including Canada, have agreed to spend 5.0% of Gross Domestic Product on the military. Prime Minister Mark Carney says Canada will more than double its military spending. That will fuel the arms race and crowd out spending on much-need social programs.
In an earlier post, I wrote about some of the books that I had read and enjoyed in 2024. There were too many to squeeze into one post, so this is a second instalment.
Many supporters of Israel in the current war upon Gaza claim that Jewish people are indigenous to the region and have a right to claim it as their homeland. Author Rashid Khalidi, whose ancestors were a prominent family in Palestine prior to the creation of Israel, reminds us there were Palestinians living there long before the creation of Israel in 1948.
Gideon Levy is a columnist for the Israeli newspaper Haaertz and a fierce critic of his country's media, especially its reporting on Israel's longtime occupation of the West Bank, and now of its conduct in the war on Gaza. On November 13, speaking online from Tel Aviv, Levy delivered the annual Peter Stursberg Foreign Correspondent’s Lecture, sponsored by the School of Journalism and Communication at Carleton University.
Shrouq Al Aila, a young Palestinian journalist, spoke to us directly from Gaza recently. She told us that she could hear explosions from Israeli bombs nearby. It has been a deadly year for journalists in Gaza, not to mention the rest of the people there. Hearing Shrouq talk was a disturbing and enlightening experience.
Pulpit and Politics 