Canadian Arab Federation

The Canadian Arab Federation (CAF) was formed in 1967 to represent the interests of Arab Canadians with respect to the formulation of public policy in Canada. It presently consists of over 40 member organizations.

CAF's stated objectives include protecting civil liberties and human rights as well as combating racism and hate within Canada. It has been most vocal against anti-Arab and anti-Muslim activities in Canada, and has issued many position papers to the government with respect to its policies in the Southwest Asia and its domestic immigration policies. It discharges its political tasks by building media and government relations and grassroots support through various capacity-building projects within the Canadian Arab community, and promoting Muslim and Arab culture.

Khaled Mouammar led the organization in the 1970s and again 1980-1982. Omar Alghabra was president from 2004–2005. Mouammar was re-elected in 2006. Its current president is Farid Ayad.

History

Since its founding in 1967, the CAF has represented the Arab community with regard to a range of foreign and domestic issues.

The CAF opposed the Camp David Accord signed by Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin on September 17, 1978, and protested Begin's visit to Canada shortly thereafter.

In 1982, the CAF commissioned a study on the depiction of Arabs in political cartoons published between 1972 and 1982 in Canadian dailies. Published in 1986, the study determined that Arabs were repeatedly portrayed in a stereotypical fashion as bloodthirsty terrorists, untrustworthy, ignorant, cruel, and backward. The researcher pointed to the danger of such pervasive negative imagery, recalling the role played by German caricaturists in their similar depictions of Jews as laying the basis for the Holocaust.

In ''The Holocaust, Israel, and Canadian Protestant Churches'' (2002), Haim Genizi writes of the CAF's participation in a 1982–83 initiative of the Canadian Council of Churches (CCC) to launch a tripartite Southwest Asian discussion group for the CCC, the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC), and the CAF. When the CJC declined to dialogue with Arabs, meetings between the CAF and the CCC alone continued on for eight months, ending with agreement on the need to educate Canadians to dispel anti-Arab stereotyping. For the churches, there was also recognition of the need to formulate a clear policy on Southwest Asia situation.

During the Gulf War, CAF documented over 100 violent anti-Arab incidents, calling the security roundup of more than 1,000 Arab-Canadians the most encompassing security sweep in Canada's history.

On June 14, 2004, the CAF, in cooperation with the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CAN), presented before the Arar Commission, a Canadian special commission set up to investigate the extraordinary rendition and torture of Maher Arar. A Canadian citizen of Syrian origin, Arar was detained by American immigration officials at a New York airport on a stopover there between Geneva and Toronto. He was sent to Syria, where he was imprisoned and tortured for a year before being released. The CAF and CAIR-CAN reminded the special commission that there need, "be no contradiction between security and the fundamental values we share as Canadians". The joint submission continued:

Democratic and legal rights and liberties, pluralism, respect for human dignity and the rule of law are the principles that define us as Canadians. These are the 'basic tenets' of our legal system that find their explicit affirmation in the Charter. They are what safeguard democracy. If, in the name of fighting terrorism, we sacrifice these values for the sake of security, we lose our character, our identity, the very essence of a free and democratic society. We lose the war on terrorism if we become that kind of state that represses democratic rights and freedoms.

Alghabra was the president of the Canadian Arab Federation (CAF) in 2004-5. After Alghabra left CAF, the group made controversial statements, and Alghabra condemned those statements.

Israel-Palestinian conflict activism

1970s–80s

The CAF opposed Prime Minister Joe Clark's 1979 pledge to move the Canadian embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and welcomed Clark's eventual retreat on the issue. CAF President Khaled Mouammar said that moving the embassy would have meant recognizing territory that was taken by force. In 1980, Mouammar said he would call for a boycott of stores selling Dedy Toys, which imported materials from a settlement in the occupied West Bank.

In 1981, the CAF hosted a press conference for two Palestinian mayors who had been deported by Israel from the West Bank. The mayors called for Canada to put pressure on the government of Israel to permit them to return. Khaled Mouammar condemned Israel's attack on Iraq's Osirik nuclear reactor later in the year, and described Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin as an "unrepentant terrorist" who was a constant threat to the region.

In September 1982, the CAF led a non-violent demonstration in Toronto against the massacre of between 762 and 3,500 civilians, mostly Palestinians and Lebanese Shiites, in Sabra and the Shatila refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon. The organization later partnered with the Arab-Palestine Association to find sponsors for children who had been orphaned in the attacks.

When Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau recognized the right of Palestinians to a homeland in 1983, his statement was supported by the Canadian Arab Federation. Rashad Saleh, Mouammar's successor as CAF president, said that Canada's Arab community would strongly support any peace efforts brought forward by the prime minister.

Prominent members of the Canadian Arab Federation criticized the Very Rev. Canon Borden Purcell in 1984, for comments that he made about anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism. Purcell, who was chair of the Ontario Human Rights Commission at the time, had remarked that "public expressions of anti-Zionism have now replaced public expressions of anti-Semitism". Saleh responded that most Arabs oppose Zionism because of its pivotal role in the foundation of the State of Israel and of the "present plight of the Palestinians", adding that it was "not directed at Jews or their religion." Purcell later clarified that he did not believe "being anti-Zionist is necessarily anti-Semitic".

In March 1984, the Canadian Arab Federation reported that a Montreal company hiring aircraft technicians to work in Israel was using discriminatory practices against Muslims. According to the CAF, LPL Engineering Services Ltd. informed an applicant that he was disqualified for the position because of his religion. A spokesperson for the company subsequently said, "There's a war going on out there, so why should the Israelis employ Arabs to work on secret projects. Would the Americans employ Russians?" The CAF indicated that it would consider filing an application before the Canadian Human Rights Commission or the Quebec Provincial Human Rights Commission. In the same year, the CAF criticized the Canadian government for its refusal to allow into Canada the Most Rev. Archbishop Hilarion Capucci, titular archbishop of Caesarea for the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, who served several years in prison in Israel in the 1970s for using his diplomatic status to smuggle arms to the Palestine Liberation Army. The federation argued that his exclusion was part of "a strategy to keep articulate and informed spokesmen for the Palestinian cause ... out of the public eye."

Also in 1984, the CAF undertook a fundraising campaign to build a cultural centre in the Israeli Arab community of Nazareth. Saleh asserted that the Israeli government was not providing the city with adequate infrastructure.

Support for boycott of Israeli goods

In a press release responding to the recent stepped up Israeli attacks on Gaza known as Operation Summer Rains, the CAF urged the Canadian government to "join Canadian churches and unions by boycotting Israeli goods, divesting from Israeli companies, and imposing sanctions until Israel withdraws from all the occupied Arab territories, dismantles all settlements and tears down the Apartheid Wall."

CAF's president, Khaled Mouammar, has referred to Israel as "the Israeli apartheid regime". In "Impressions of Palestine – 1948 Today", he wrote of a "racist ideology that guides the Apartheid State of Israel" and of his conviction "that one day the nightmare brought about by Zionism and colonialism will come to an end."

Mouammar criticized Toronto Mayor David Miller for participating in Toronto's "Walk for Israel," stating that Israel is "a pariah state," and that Israel "systematically violates international law and practices racism".

In a letter published in ''The Globe and Mail'', Mouammar clarified that the CAF's stance on anyone who supports Israel is that "we he CAFassert that any support for Israel is support for apartheid, occupation and war crimes.""

In his capacity as president of the Canadian Arab Federation, Mouammar has condemned Zionist organizations in Canada for their support of Israel. In January 2007, he wrote that Bnai Brith Canada and the Jewish Defence League were using "bullying and intimidation tactics to silence criticism of Israel" and had launched "a vicious campaign of intimidation" against movements that call for boycotts of Israel within the Canadian political landscape. He also wrote that as more people support boycotts of Israel, "the more difficult it becomes for pro-Israel groups such as B'nai Brith and the JDL to spew their propaganda."

Regarding an October 2007 Hamilton Declaration which stated "We further specifically caution you against any recognition of Israel as a 'Jewish state.' Such a recognition would give Israel the façade of moral and legal legitimacy". Khaled Mouammar stated that he "certainly agrees" with the declaration. However, the CAF did not sign the declaration because it "does not qualify," since the document was endorsed at a convention for Palestinians, and not for Arabs in general.

In January 2008, the CAF and the Canadian Islamic Congress stated that " heApartheid regime of the Jewish state escalated its genocidal crimes against the indigenous people of Palestine" and that "Palestinians continue to endure death, deprivation and destruction under more than 40 years of brutal Israeli occupation that has become an insidious and unremitting genocide."

In March 2008, the CAF and the Canadian Islamic Congress stated that "Israel was founded upon the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people. Between 1947 and 1948, nearly 800,000 Palestinians were expelled from their homes and lands and over 500 Palestinian villages and neighborhoods were destroyed, and their inhabitants prevented from ever returning to their homeland."

In May 2008, on the 60th anniversary of Israel's founding, CAF president Khaled Mouammar stated that

CAF applauds the growing isolation of Israel through the boycott and divestment campaign that has been embraced by many labour, academic and religious organizations in Canada and abroad, and the growing realization among youth and students that Israeli practices and policies mirror those of Apartheid South Africa. CAF believes that popular awareness of the plight of Palestinians will bring the day when the Israeli occupation will end and the refugees will return to Palestine.

Criticisms of Canadian-Israel relations

Israel-Canada free trade agreement

In July 2006, CAF president Khaled Mouammar wrote that:

The Canadian government has been a major supporter of the Israeli Apartheid Regime, both economically (Canada has a Free Trade Agreement with Israel that grosses over 1 billion dollars) and diplomatically (Canada voted against the Palestinian Refugees Right of Return at the UN in March of this year, Canada was also the first country to declare sanctions against the Democratically elected Hamas government).

"Israel's values are Canada's values"

In April 2007, Mouammar criticized Bob Rae for supporting Israel, stating in the Vancouver Sun that:

Canadians have a duty to criticize politicians like Bob Rae who support an apartheid state that commits serious human rights violations, and those like Paul Martin and Stephen Harper who shamefully declare that "Israel's values are Canada's values."

Canadian opposition to UN resolution lifting blockade of Gaza

In February 2008, Mouammar criticised the Conservative Government of Stephen Harper, stating that:

The Harper government's decision to boycott and starve the democratically elected government of the Palestinians under occupation, and its opposition to a UN resolution calling for the lifting of the siege of Gaza, has given Israel the green light to intensify and escalate its crimes against the Palestinian people. The Harper government's silence, while Israel commits these massacres against the Palestinian people and engages in an ongoing campaign of assassinations in Lebanon and Syria, makes the government morally complicit in these crimes.

Canadian support for Israel's 2008–09 attacks in Gaza

In January 2009, Ali Mallah, a CAF Vice-President, sharply criticized the Conservative Government of Stephen Harper for its position on the 2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict. At a protest outside the Israeli Consulate in Toronto, Mallah stated, in a speech to the crowd, that:

anadian Minister of Transport John Baird was quoted as saying the resisters in Palestine are cowards. Well I have news for you John Baird and Stephen Harper, the only coward we know is Stephen Harper and his government.

Hezbollah

Ali Mallah, a CAF Vice-President stated Hezbollah "is seen as a symbol of the struggle against Israeli oppression, injustice and occupation." During the 2006 Israel/Hezbollah conflict, CAF President Khaled Mouammar criticized the Canadian Government stance on Hezbollah, stating that:

By refusing to deal with Hezbollah, a political party represented in the Lebanese government whose resistance to Israel's aggression is supported by 87 per cent of Lebanese citizens, Peter MacKay is parroting the Bush administration's stand and is emboldening Israel to launch further wars against its neighbours.

Hamas

In a policy paper released in November 2006, the CAF defended Hezbollah and Hamas, stating that "Both of these groups are legitimate political parties, with grassroots support, and are represented in the legislature and the cabinets of Lebanon and the Palestinian Authority respectively. Both groups are resisting the illegal Israeli occupation of Lebanon and Palestine respectively which right is guaranteed under international law" and called on the Canadian Government to "remove Hezbollah and Hamas from the list of banned organizations."

Canadian boycott of Durban II Conference

In January 2008, the Canadian government announced it was planning to boycott the 2009 World Conference against Racism (referred to commonly as "Durban II"). The Government justified its decision by stating that the first Durban Conference of 2001 "turned into an embarrassing promotion of racist attitudes" and became "a bit of a circus for intolerance and bigotry, particularly but not exclusively directed at the Jewish people."

The Canadian Arab Federation strongly opposed this decision, stating in a news release that "Canada's outright rejection of the conference sends a clear message to the Canadian public that the current government is disinterested icin promoting human rights and anti-racism." As for the activities of the first Durban conference in 2001 in relation to Israel, the CAF argued that this "indicates that the international community and human rights organizations are in agreement that the occupation of Arab lands, the mistreatment and killing of Palestinians, and the denial of the right of Palestinian refugees to return is in violation of international law and will be condemned and no longer accepted" and that "It is ironic that the Canadian government is so outspoken about shunning the conference due to the fear of hearing criticisms against the Israeli occupation, given its own past with hate and bigotry".

Statement on racism in Israel

In January 2007, CAF President Khaled Mouammar wrote in the Toronto Star that: "for the Jewish president of Israel to believe that he is being targeted because of his Middle Eastern origin speaks volumes about the racism permeating Israeli society. This does not come as a surprise to the 1.2 million Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel who are Christians and Muslims. The racism they face is a result of official racist policies by the Israeli government."
Mouammar concluded that "Racism in Israel is becoming mainstream."

B'nai Brith Canada, a Canadian Jewish organization, criticized CAF President Khaled Mouammar for his comments on Israel. B'nai Brith Executive Vice-President Frank Dimant wrote that:

Israel is a vibrant, democratic society founded on the principles of tolerance and respect for all of its citizens. This includes the more than 1 million Arabs who call Israel home, who participate in the political process and who have obtained top-level positions in society. This is in stark contrast to Israel's neighbouring Arab nations. While Mouammar may speak of discrimination of Arabs in Israel, it is curious that these same Palestinians have time and again expressed their preferred desire to live in Israel rather than be placed under the control of the Palestinian Authority.

Flyer on Bob Rae's political positions on the Middle East

During the Liberal Leadership contest (where delegates met to vote for the new leader of Liberal Party of Canada), a flyer circulated electronically among convention delegates denounced candidate Bob Rae for:

# Having delivered a speech to the Jewish National Fund (JNF). The flyer stated that "the Jewish National Fund manages all state lands in Israel and allows only Jews to live on such land, a 'practice that amounts to ethnic cleansing,' and added that 'Canadians have the right to know who supports the JNF in Canada.'"

# That his wife served as vice-president of the Canadian Jewish Congress, a lobby group, according to the flyer that "supports Israeli apartheid.

It was produced and disseminated to all Canadian Members of Parliament by Ron Saba, the editor of the website Montreal Planet. The CAF, in a news release, supported the contents of the flyer stating that "CAF believes that Canadians have the right to know the factual information provided."

The Canadian Jewish Congress condemned the flyer and its circulation by the "president of the Canadian Arab Federation." Both CJC's President Ed Morgan and CJC's CEO said the purpose behind raising the fact that Rae's wife is a member of the Congress's board was "strictly to say that his wife is a Jew."

Mouammar countered that the CJC response was "a pitiful attempt to discredit" the CAF and that the flyer "nothing to do with Bob Rae's and his wife's religion and ethnicity but has a lot to do with their political views." Mouammar also denied that the CAF had any role in distributing the flyer. However, the Canadian Press noted that it had procured a copy of an email from Mouammar forwarding the flyer to others.<

Yoine Goldstein, a Canadian Senator and the Vice President of the Jewish National Fund sharply criticized Mouammar for distributing the letter saying that it was racist and that it was "brazenly anti-Canadian."

Tarek Fatah and the CAF

In February 2009, Tarek Fatah

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