Israeli Ambassador came to talk about Peace?

A Report by Ben Saifer of "Not In Our Name" (NION) - Ottawa

See other reports on actions against Israeli Apartheid in Ottawa

Despite his rather poor reception during Israeli Apartheid Week, Israeli Ambassador Alan Baker came to Rockcliffe Park on Wednesday to deliver a talk entitled "The Fruit of Peaceful Relations in the Middle East" alongside the Jordanian ambassador.

The talk was delivered in a small and intimate room of about 50. The attendees included over a dozen community members concerned about justice and peace in Palestine/Israel, who came to confront the Ambassador on his assertions about peace in the Middle East.

The question period was a wonderful opportunity to educate the audience and challenge the Ambassador. He knew he was in a bit of trouble when, after trying to mislead the audience about Israel's control over Palestinian water resources, the first question of the evening came from a water engineer who had spent time working in Palestine, and who felt the need to set the record straight. This was just the beginning of an interesting question period of approximately 10 questions, nine of which directly challenged the ambassador's propaganda, covering topics ranging from the right of return to checkpoints. These questions came from a diversity of concerned community members. Since the moderator had no idea who sympathized with the Ambassador and who didn't (and considering the fact that we were all spread out throughout the room), the Ambassador was grilled time after time, and the moderator did not know how to react.

For a more detailed analysis of the evening, please read Lia's article . With two direct challenges in two weeks, hopefully the Ambassador is starting to learn that his views are no longer welcome in Ottawa…

…Then again maybe he isn't! If you can stomach it, please read the Ambassador's Valentine's Day article "The Myth of Israeli Apartheid" in the National Post Please write letters! I know it's very difficult (if not impossible) for an alternative viewpoint to be published in response to this article, but I feel (hope) that if enough people write letters in response, something will get through.

NION website

YYC: STOP ISRAELI APARTHEID