Will Capital Pride’s Appeasement Be Enough?
They tried to buy peace but all they did was abandon their principles
Fred Litwin is back with a follow up on the story he wrote last week about Capital Pride’s decision to issue a public statement on the war in Gaza. As Fred showed in his last article this statement is full of false and misleading rhetoric and is contrary to the stated mission of pride which is to make everyone welcome. But it looks like abandoning their principles hasn’t satisfied the anti Zionists. Read more below.
On August 6th, Capital Pride issued a ‘Statement in Solidarity with Palestine.” I wrote on this Substack that “Capital Pride, like other mainstream LGBT groups, have lost their way.” Principled solidarity would have meant that Capital Pride would have highlighted the plight of our LGBT brothers and sisters around the globe who are being persecuted and even executed for who they are.
It now seems that Capital Pride’s statement might not have gone far enough. A group on Instagram called Queers4PalestineOtt, along with Queers Against Pinkwashing, issued a response.
I don’t know how big these groups are, but Queers4PalestineOtt currently has over 1,000 followers on Instagram.
They object to the Capital Pride statement because of the “problematic language” which makes it “seems to be an attempt of ‘pink washing.’” They found that the language “purpotrates [sic] an ‘all lives matter’ sentiment” and lacks any “substantial accountability in complicity.’
And so Queers4PalestineOtt has some kindly recommendations for Capital Pride, and here are a few of them:
Disallow any involvement by police, corrections, and military personnel in “any capacity” at Pride. They don’t want any “killers at Pride.”
Declare Capital Pride to be an apartheid free zone.
Disallow any businesses or organizations which are invested in ‘Israeli’ settlements from any involvement in Pride, including marching.
Require sponsors to acknowledge they are taking action to implement the demands of the BDS movement.
Adopt the Arab Canadian Lawyer’s Association definition of anti-Palestinian racism as part of Pride’s organizational policies.
Vet new sponsors using the lists of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Midde East (CJPME), the Canadian BDS Coalition’s List of Shame, and Who Profits, which is an independent research center that exposes the role of the private sector in Israeli occupation.
Queets4PalestineOtt says that “we cannot promise it will be easy, but it will be right.”
I imagine there are discussions going on with Pride on how to implement these recommendations. Of course, that will be totally opaque to the general community. In fact, I could not even find a list of Capital Pride’s Board of Directors on their website. The last annual report they provide is from 2019.
Should Pride not put these steps into action, there will be trouble at Pride. Montreal Pride last Sunday was delayed for forty-five minutes because of protesters. They were only able to re-route the parade because Rene Levesque Boulevard runs in two directions. The smaller streets in Ottawa provide a tempting opportunity to cause havoc.
I think it’s time for people to say enough!
Mark Sutcliffe, the Mayor of Ottawa, could have told Capital Pride that their statement runs afoul of the very solidarity they espouse and that the City of Ottawa will have nothing to do with them. But no, he met with the executive director of Capital Pride and his only ask was that the organization meet with the Jewish community.
Yeah, that will work!
They never met with the Jewish community before they issued their statement. Why would they meet now? And even if they did, do you think there are any words in the English language that could convince them that they have a jejune understanding of the middle east?
It’s time for us to call them out. The IHRA definition of antisemitism warns us that applying double standards to Israel may be antisemitic. Capital Pride says that “the violence and instability we are witnesses around the globe have had far-reaching impact on many members of our local communities.” We know that the calamities occurring in Gaza were triggered by the actions of Hamas and Iran, And yet, the only country that Capital Pride calls out is Israel. The measures they call for are directed only at Israel.
They are antisemites, and we can have no truck with them.
Remembering Past Calamities and an Looking to an Uncertain Future
As always, we thank Fred for sharing his thoughts with us. Unfortunately, the corruption of Capital Pride is part of a broader trend of hostility to Zionism that is sweeping through Canadian NGOs.
It is the fast of 9 Av and as those of us observing remember the calamities that have befallen the Jewish people in the past, we are still waiting to see what our enemies have in store for us in the present moment. The United States has mobilized a large military force in an attempt to deter an attack on Israel. There is to be a meeting on Thursday about a possible truce and hostage deal, but it is unclear if Hamas, now under the sole leadership of Sinwar, the twisted mind behind the depravities of October 7, is really interested.
Israel’s leadership is also publicly arguing and Netanyahu is accused by some of not wanting a deal. Israel’s other political divisions are resurfacing with talk of resuming the advancement of the government’s plan to curb the powers of the courts. Public Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir continues to bring unwelcome attention on Israel. Today he led several hundred Jews to the Temple Mount where they prayed, contrary to the status quo agreement with the Muslim authorities who have jurisdiction there. In the past, Israeli police would have prevented it, but Ben Gvir is in charge of the police and it seems that they now do his bidding. Netanyahu denounced his action, but it doesn’t seem to matter to Ben Gvir what the Prime Minister says.
As we wrote on Friday, the story of the war in the Canadian media seems calculated to promote anger against anyone here in Canada who stands with Israel. Today there is news that the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario has also waded into matters of international law by endorsing the nonbinding ruling of the International Court of Justice that calls Israel’s presence in the territories captured in 1967 illegal. They claim to be doing this in the name of social justice. This cannot but increase the uneasiness of Canadian Jews about the safety and future of their children in this country.
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Happy to see that Ottawa's Mayor has said that he won't attend Pride after they refused to change their position. Unfortunately many other civic leaders including Donna Blackburn of the OCDSB And Ariel Troster who represents Somerset Ward on City Council have not followed the Mayor's lead.
Unfortunately, as of this morning, we know that a meeting took place with various Jewish players including the Jewish Federation/JCC and CIJA. They drew a blank, despite being listened to. Of course the board, if such really exists, made that decision, to no retract anything... More's the pity! I hope no one affected will ever again support them, morally or any other wise. One has only to hear that such occurrences do not happen in some European countries where, if more than two people gather in the streets, the police disbands them, immediately.