Palestinian-Canadian Slander of Jewish-Canadian Zionists

"We have identified at least 17 overnight summer camps throughout Canada that support the State of Israel in some way."

"These camps are not problematic because they encourage connection to Jewish identity."

"Rather, they pose a problem because they encourage support for a genocidal, settler-colonial state."

"[Protesters should demand that the OCA board, the Quebec and Nova Scotia camp associations revoke accreditation of] camps that hire, host, or support [current or former] Israeli military personnel". 

Palestinian Anti-Israel Coalition  

 

"In recent days, the Ontario Camps Association (OCA) Board of Directors became aware of correspondence circulating online related to the current conflict in the Middle East." 

"That correspondence contains statements and expressions that the Board finds deeply concerning, and in certain characterizations and claims, we believe reflect rhetoric that is discriminatory and antisemitic in nature. The accusations, aimed at our Executive Director, members of the OCA team, and several member camps, draw directly on stereotyped libels and tropes related to Israel, Zionism, and Jewish people—including “genocide” and “colonizers,” symbolic categories that are so often spread with specifically malicious intent." 

"We welcome respectful dialogue, discussion, and even disagreement but will not tolerate harassment, intimidation, antisemitism, or discrimination."

Ontario Camps Association 

Campers gather at a Jewish overnight summer camp in Canada. Jewish community leaders and provincial camp associations have warned that coordinated anti-Israel campaigns targeting camp accreditation and visibility risk impacting youth institutions central to Jewish identity and communal life. (Image: TheJ.Ca.)

 

The Ontario Camps Association board of directors, in response to a campaign targeting over a dozen Jewish camps throughout Canada that support Israel, issued a statement that it will not tolerate "harassment, intimidation, antisemitism or discrimination".  Accusations levied against its executive director Joy Levy, staff and a number of member camps in the province are clearly offensively despicable, and do not align with the Association's values.

 

In its support of the Jewish camps among its extended camp memberships, the board of the OCA clarified their position that campaigns such as this are recognized for their role within a broader, co-ordinated effort to harm Jewish communities and their children; to weaken the credibility of Jewish camp leaders and "Canadian Jewish life in general", as well as imposing a discriminatory test of which Jews are considered to be "acceptable". 

 

Its role, pointed out the Ontario Camps Association, is not to "evaluate member camps based on their religious or cultural identity. Camps must be places where children, staff, volunteers, and families feel safe, respected, and protected. That includes our Jewish community, without exception." Concluding their statement with an expression of complete faith in their executive director and staff which had come under fire by the campaign to discredit them.

 

Titled "When children's camps support a  genocidal state, it's time for a gigantic change", the slanderous campaign is led by the groups Just Peace Advocates, the Palestinian Canadian Congress, the Canadian Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions Coalition, Ontario Palestinian Rights Association, and Palestinian and Jewish Unity. The coalition of anti-Zionists compiled a list of 17 other Jewish-Canadian camps in Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba and Nova Scotia that they charge "support the State of Israel in some way".

 

That 'some way' identified more precisely as promoting a love and appreciation of Israel, supporting the Israeli military or giving employment to former IDF members. "This is not an abstract possibility. Multiple camps proudly and publicly share their staff connections to the Israeli military", they wrote, naming a few individuals with ties to Israel working at various camps. All citizens of Israel serve a mandatory conscription term in the military. The anti-Israel ensemble urged the OCA to hold its executive director, Joy Levy, accountable for 'racism' and support of 'a genocidal military'.

 

It also condemned B'nai Brith, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, and Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center "all of which espouse pro-Israel, Zionist perspectives". Posting a collection of Instagram screenshots from Levy's account of her attendance at pro-Israel protests occasionally holding an Israeli flag in a display of loyalty to the Jewish state.  

"We support our community's efforts at Jewish continuity, and Zionist expression, an integral part of Jewish identity, through a strong network of summer camp experiences for children and youth."

"We won't let the bigots and haters win. Ever!"

"[We stand with the OCA in its] tough, immediate and courageous response." 

Canadian Antisemitism Education Foundation 

This coalition of anti-Israel, anti-Jewish conspirators of antisemitic tropes are of course, responsible for years of ongoing protests, encampments, threats against the Canadian Jewish community, harassment, calling for a 'Final Solution', to 'Globalize the Intifada', chorusing 'From the river to the sea Palestine will be free', as code for the elimination of Israel. They have poisoned the atmosphere for Jewish life in Canada. Their numbers and reach into Canadian politics have gained them tolerance from authorities for their constant outbursts of antisemitic vitriol.  

 

Their own children's camps are known as hotbeds of hateful propaganda. Palestinian school curricula infamously teach their children to hate and to view Jews as their enemy, and to aspire toward martyrdom in the killing of Jews. The little dramas encouraged by Palestinian leaders and teachers where children act out their roles in confronting and attacking Jews imbue the children with a sense of nobility and heroism. In summer camps Palestinian children are taught warfare and to aspire to a time when they join the terror groups outlawed in Canada. 

 

Camp Massad on the shores of Lake Winnipeg     Ethan Cairns/Free Press