CJC, errand boy for anti-Semites

Here are those e-mails. Some excerpts:

A number of us have been working painstakingly and over the long term to build bridges between the Jewish and Muslim communities here in Canada.  This effort has borne some fruit as attested, for example, by the positive reaction from various Muslim leaders to CJC’s press release.

This is a version of Stockholm syndrome, when one is so desperate to appease one's tormentors that one psychologically begins to side with them. There are milder versions of this -- it's why foreign diplomats are rotated amongst countries, lest they "go local" and begin to advocate for the country to which they have been dispatched, rather than for their home country.

The CJC was more interested in its "relationship" with various Muslim leaders, than with freedom of speech or the separation of mosque and state.

These are the words of moderate Muslims who merit our respect and encouragement. They are individuals like those you met at CJC’s civil discourse conference in Vancouver and whose contributions you undertook to publish in your magazine.

Moderates, eh? The list of moderates on the CJC's list includes Syed Soharwardy in the form of two of his personal organizations, the Islamic Supreme Council and the ironically named Muslims Against Terrorism. No true moderates supported the fatwa -- moderates like Tarek Fatah, or the columnist we ran regularly in the magazine, Salim Mansur believe in freedom and pluralism too much.

We all share with you your disgust at the vile antisemitic cartoons, articles, television series, movies, statements, etc., many of them directed at our beloved State of Israel, that pollute sectors of the Muslim world, including in the West. But in the specifically current Canadian context does the publication of the cartoons serve as an antidote?

You, better than most, know Hillel’s dictum not to do unto others what we would not want others to do unto us. In other words, two wrongs don’t make a right. 

Huh? The Western Standard was a news magazine, and these cartoons were news. To imply that the publication of them was some weird Zionist conspiracy to "get even" with anti-Semitism is, well, something that Syed Soharwardy would say.

My favourite line is Prutschi's final note to me:

Your decision leaves me regretful.

Section # 27 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms does state: "This Charter shall be interpreted in a manner consisten with the preservation and enhancement of the multicultural heritage of Canadians."

Only a full-fledged dhimmi would imply that multiculturalism means that other cultures -- including our own domestic culture of tolerant pluralism, free speech, and a Judeo-Christian heritage -- have to submit to the cultural sensitivies of radical Islam.

Stopping living our Canadian lives whenever they conflict with radical Islam isn't multiculturalism. That's submission to one culture. It's not the Canadian way, and it's not the Jewish way. But, then again, the "Canadian Jewish Congress" hasn't lived up to its name for years.