No Stone Left Unturned; No Slander Too Fantastic to Hang on Israel

"[It is] unconscionable [to allow Israeli athletes to participate in the matches in light of the Jewish state’s alleged] ongoing genocide in Palestine [during the Israel-Hamas war. The Canadian government and Tennis Canada must] forbid Canadian athletes to compete against Israeli athletes at the Davis Cup and all other international events." 

"[Canada should follow other nations who] refuse to legitimize Israel’s crimes [by pulling out of international sports competitions in which Israel is participating]."

"Sport is an important space for engendering national sentiment. For this reason, it has, both in the past and today, played an essential role in both promoting national sentiment tied to genocide and in producing national sentiment essential for dismantling apartheid states."

"As such, this is an important moment for Sport Canada and Tennis Canada to promote social justice and stand on the right side of history … sport sanctions against the nation [of Israel] are an essential tool for demonstrating Canada’s ongoing disapproval of Israel’s actions."

Open letter by over 400 signees

 

"We recognize this is a highly complex situation that goes far beyond sport. However, Israel has not been excluded from international sporting events, and it has not been suspended by the International Olympic Committee."

"Across tennis, careful consideration is given to the participation of teams and players representing every nation, and the safety of all players, tournament staff, and supporters is always paramount at every event."

"We will continue to work closely with Tennis Canada in relation to this event."

International Tennis Federation 

 

"Tennis Canada acknowledges the ongoing and deeply complex situation in the Middle East. As a national sports organization, our mission is to promote the sport of tennis and create opportunities for players and fans to engage with the game in a spirit of respect and inclusivity. Our focus remains on ensuring a safe, fair, and professional competition for all athletes, staff, volunteers, and spectators."

"[We will work closely with ITF and authorities] to ensure this event is conducted in accordance with international sporting standards and with the well-being of all participants as our top priority."

Tennis Canada response 

More than 100 protesters gathered outside Halifax City Hall to call for the cancellation of the Davis Cup tie between Canada and Israel. (Source: Carl Pomeroy/CTV News Atlantic)

 

A match-up between Israeli and Canadian tennis players is scheduled to be hosted in Halifax on September 12 and 13 as part of the Davis Cup finals. This is the leading team tennis event in the world and the result of the tie, through a series of five matches determines which country will advance to the 2026 Davis Cup Qualifiers.

 

An open letter, with signatures by over 400 academics, activists, athletes and writers argues that sport should no longer be seen as sport in isolation of world events without taking into account international situations of grave concern, and in this instance, Israel's military operations in Gaza. Military operations, as it happens, occasioned by Palestinian terrorist groups flooding from Gaza into southern Israel on October 7 of 2023 on a mission of mass death. 

 

Since the invasion of Gaza by the Israel Defense Forces whose purpose was to destroy the leading terrorist group Hamas, to ensure that their promise of delivering one October 7 after another, following another -- in perpetuity until Israel fails to exist -- will never come to fruition. The Israeli military has had to cope with terrorist groups that unfailingly integrate themselves within the general population so that in striking terrorist operatives, the general civilian population is placed in mortal danger.

 

Nothing stops the terrorist operatives from placing rocket launchers in crowded civilian enclaves, guaranteeing that return fire will result in collateral damage, for the heads of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Fatah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine have no intention of sparing Palestinian civilians from the military responses by Israel countering the atrocities committed by them in Israel. Numbers of civilians injured or killed in the conflict simply play into the terrorist propaganda of victimhood, aiding their narrative of 'genocide'.

 

Israeli athletes competing in the Davis Cup 2025 Qualifiers Israel vs. Germany. Photo: IMAGO/Paul Zimmer via Reuters Connect

 

The open letter addressed to Sport Canada and Tennis Canada insists that "This is an important moment for Sport Canada and Tennis Canada to promote social justice and stand on the right side of history". In response the International Tennis Federation which organizes the Davis Cup, stated it had no intention of barring Israel from competing. As did Tennis Canada, stating that the match will proceed as planned, emphasizing its role is one of promotion of sport.

 

Journalists and University of British Columbia professors Naomi Klein and Avi Lewis, Alex Neve, (former secretary-general of Amnesty International Canada, now a professor at University of Ottawa), and three former United Nations special rapporteurs were among the 'social justice' luminaries whose signatures adorned the letter. Every one of whom has always been a vividly committed accuser of Israel's very existence. 

 

A "small mob of extremists" is how David Cooper, vice-president of government relations for the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs characterized the letter signees, adding that their censure of Israel in accusing the Jewish state of 'apartheid' and 'genocide' place them in no position to determine which nation may or may not compete in a sport dedicated to bringing human endeavours to a high degree of performance while respecting the sportsmanship of all countries whose athletes are capable of qualifying for championship status. 

 

A sign posted on Agricola Street in Halifax calls for officials to cancel the Davis Cup match between Team Canada and Israel that's scheduled for Sept. 12 and 13 at Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia. (Credit: Rob Roberts)

 

The Last Message from Halifax Harbour, December 6, 1917

"The blast crushed internal organs, exploding lungs and eardrums of those closest to the ship, most of whom died instantly."
"Glass shattered ... sending out a shower of arrow-shaped slivers that cut their way through curtains, wallpaper and walls. The glass spared no one. Some people were beheaded where they stood."
"... It pierced the faces and upper chests of anyone unlucky enough to still be standing in front of a window."
Curse of the Narrows by Laura MacDonald

"Dense clouds of smoke rose into the still morning air, shot through with flashes of fierce red flame. The spectacle drew all eyes. Women in the north end went to their windows to look, or came outside their houses into the street. Men stopped work to gaze."
"The [rail] cars were tilted violently over on the tracks as far as the safety chains would permit, then clashed back into their usual positions."
"The glass broke gently all along the train, coming inside, but injuring none of the passengers. [As the train sat still, passengers were horrified to see [hundreds] of dazed, stricken survivors (of the explosion) on the tracks] black as if they had been shovelling coal and streaming with blood."
"Shrieks of agony rose from the ruins of the houses round about, and then they [train passengers] realized that the houses were on fire and in them were living, sentient, human beings in danger of the most horrible deaths."
Archibald MacMechan, official historian, December, 1917, Halifax, Nova Scotia

Photographs by a British sailor Royal Navy Lt Victor Magnus -- A set of unique photographs taken during the First World War by a British sailor shows the biggest manmade explosion in history

At 8:43 a.m. on December 6, 1917, two ships collided in the Halifax harbour. One of the ships was Belgium-registered, the Imo, a Norwegian ship heading out to sea carrying war relief supplies. Suddenly a French ship, the Mont Blanc, veered directly in the path of the Imo, as it headed toward Bedford Basin. The collision resulted in the Mont Blanc's bow plates crumpling inwardly three metres, and as it did, sparks sprayed from steel grinding against steel. That caused the Mont Blanc to flame up.

The Mont Blanc had arrived the night before from New York. It was unable to enter the harbour as it arrived too late to pass through Halifax harbour's anti-submarine nets, closed for the night. The steel nets were lifted the following morning, and the Mont Blanc moved to enter the harbour. It was carrying explosives for the Western Front battlefields of the First World War. On board the Mont Blanc was 2,300 tons of picric acid, a component of munitions and bombs at that time.

Below deck on the Mont Blanc were 224 tons of TNT along with 61 tons of gun cotton below decks, and on deck were positioned drums full of benzine fuel. It was the benzine fuel that had immediately the Mont Blanc caught on fire, spread that fire. The collision between the two ships in the harbour took place at 8:43 a.m. The immediate conflagration caught the attention of people nearby, looking on from their windows, or from where they were working in shops and in the harbour itself. They would not have known that the Mont Blanc represented a floating arsenal of explosives.

Experts say the blast, the aftermath of which is shown here, was the largest manmade explosion prior to the development of nuclear weapons    Photos: Royal Navy Lt Victor Magnus

And they can't have missed noting that the Mont Blanc's crew in two lifeboats frantically rowed away from their abandoned ship, in the direction of the Dartmouth shore. At the time, a 45-year-old employee of the railroad that operated out of the docklands was on duty in the dispatch centre in the middle of the rail yards, there to coordinate rail traffic. After the collision and immediate fire someone rushed into the rail centre to warn Vincent Coleman of what had occurred.

He reacted by telegraphing in Morse code a message from Halifax to Truro: "Hold up the train. Ammunition ship afire in harbour making for Pier 6 and will explode. Guess this will be my last message. Good-bye boys." He would not have known, of course, that the six-car train with its 300 passengers had already passed Rockingham station where the last stop signal before entering Halifax stood; running late, it still managed to avoid the most disastrous part of the ensuing blast. And that took place at 9:04 a.m.

Vincent Coleman's message would be the only one to get through to the outside world. He made no effort himself to flee, but tapped out that last frantic message, knowing that from where he sat in the dispatch centre some 200 metres from the detonation site he was doomed. The Halifax explosion was recognized as the largest man-made blast up until the catastrophe that an atomic bomb visited on Hiroshima in 1945. While 1,600 people were killed immediately, another 400 died of wounds days later.

The stunning concussion that resulted from the two ships' collision was so great that cookstoves in the kitchens of homes toppled over and as they did, ignited many of the woodframe houses in the city. Within a mile of the blast site structures were levelled or received severe damage. As for the Mont Blanc, it simply fell apart, hurling pieces of its infrastructure everywhere. An anchor shaft weighing 520 kilograms was hurled across the city and remains four kilometres distant from the dock, exactly where at landed, as a memorial to the disaster.

And then a 15-metre tsunami swept into the harbour, furiously flushing itself throughout three blocks through the streets of Halifax and Dartmouth.There were 9,000 people who were injured, accounting for over one in five residents of Halifax's wartime population killed or injured. Over 1,600 homes had been destroyed, and 12,000 Haligonians were left with no shelter as winter closed in. And then a blizzard hit.

Telegraph lines had been destroyed in the explosion. Halifax was cut off from contact with the outside world. Yet, Mr. Coleman's message had got through, alerting the nation and its neighbours of the unspeakable tragedy that had just occurred, spurring them to emergency rescue action.

The Norwegian steamship Imo is shown beached on the Dartmouth shore after the 1917 Halifax explosion. Its collision with the munitions ship Mont-Blanc sparked the fire that set off the explosion. (Nova Scotia Archives & Record Management/Canadian Press)

 War-Time Propaganda Whoppers

"Very few of the soldiers ... seemed to know what happened. They all thought the ship had been turned around on account of the mumps or measles on board." [Truth]
"She [Canadian troop vessel Awatea] was running along with a destroyer on either side when two subs rose to port and starboard. The one to port fired a torpedo and the destroyer on that side either got in the way or steered into its path to protect the troop ship."
"The torpedo hit the destroyer and its magazine blew up, killing all aboard." [Fable]
"I am to block all newspapers ... every effort is being made to keep it quiet." [Truth]
H.B. (Bruce) Jefferson, Atlantic Regional Censor of Publications, Halifax, August 24, 1942

"A streak of white had suddenly ribboned the ocean's surface as the wake of the torpedo headed for Awatea. It was seen aboard a United States destroyer in the escort. Its engines racing, the destroyer slashed its way to the side of the liner with its cargo of humanity and deliberately absorbed the torpedo intended for Awatea."
The destroyer was ripped to shreds."   [Propaganda]
Ottawa Journal, June 30, 1944 "Sacrifice of US. Saves Canadians"

"I have never heard of this. For the censor not to know? That's unusual. Jefferson knew about every ship movement and had access to senior naval sources. He heard all the rumours and talked with all the reporters. His journal shows that."
Stephen Kimber, journalism professor, University of King's College, Halifax

File    The USS Ingraham destroyer.

Halifax City, on Canada's east coast, is no stranger to disasters. In both World Wars, dreadful accidents occurred resulting in wholesale loss of life and destruction. In 1917, the harbour was full of ships reflecting battles on the near horizon with an assembly of transatlantic convoys carrying troops and supplies, including explosives to the war front. A Belgian relief vessel and a French munitions carrier collided in the harbour and soon afterward a massive explosion levelled a good part of the city, killing 1,900 people, injuring 9,000 and destroying 1,600 buildings.

Rescuers Work After the Halifax Explosion.  Canada. Dept. of National Defence / Library and Archives Canada / PA-022744

The second occurrence took place during World War II, when two troop ships, Awatea and Lititia set off bound for Scotland in a convoy of ships. "7:20 a.m. Awatea backs away from pier 20 and follows the Letitia to sea", wrote wartime censor, Bruce Jefferson, keeping careful note of all ship movement from Halifax Harbour. Nazi U-boats were known to lurk in the North Atlantic between North America and Europe.

The two troop ships had an escort guarding their passage; a U.S. battleship, a cruiser and 11 destroyers. The USS Ingraham, a 205-metre-long warship held deck guns and dozens of depth charges; steel barrels packed with explosives, primed to explode near submerged submarines. The battleship moved that day through dense fog off Sable Island, ten hours out of Halifax when it received a message that a German submarine had been spotted.

Immediately the destroyers began to move swiftly back and forth between the troop ships and supply vessels, searching for the submarine in the fog-shrouded atmosphere. Aboard the Ingraham its sailors had armed and unlocked the depth charges, in preparation for dumping them into the sea on a U-boat. It was dark as Hades with the fog laid over. Awatea's bow rammed into US Buck's stern and seven sailors, trapped in the destroyer, died

Five minutes later the supply ship USS Chemung sliced the Ingraham head on, splitting it in half and sinking it immediately. Hundreds of sailors trapped inside the ship drowned or were tossed into the frigid waters. The armed depth charges exploded, and the sea was churned into a bloodbath. Of the Ingraham's crew of over 300 men, 11 survived.

      A Convoy in Bedford Basin, Halifax, Nova Scotia on April 1,1942    National Archives of Canada

Awatea made its way back to Halifax, its bow ripped apart. The thousands of soldiers aboard the troop ship had no idea what had happened. The explosions were described to them as depth charges targeting submarines, hardly noted by most of the troops fast asleep when the collisions too place. Naval authorities were concerned to keep the true story of what had occurred from public knowledge. It suited their purpose to stick with the story of a German U-boat firing on the convoy.

In reality, a U.S. Navy board of enquiry report released at the conclusion of the war clarified what had really occurred. The escorts' sonar systems, likened to underwater radar, had in all probability picked up the presence of a school of dolphins. The heavy fog had disguised reality from a fleet on the lookout for the presence of ubiquitous and feared German submarines known to sink merchant marine vessels and warships alike in the North Atlantic.

 In New York City the East Coast Memorial recalls the tragedy and the memory of all those lost lives is memorialized. But during the war years although the censor may have had a fairly good idea of what had actually occurred, the story that went out served the war-propaganda drama machinery of the day, not the pedestrian verity of cause-and-effect.