Media Watch

Letter to the Editor of the Georgia Straight
(February 15th, 2008)

It might interest your readers to know that the "new-generation Israeli wines" that Jurgen Gothe was promoting (Feb. 14/08) are literally fruit from the vines of Israeli occupation. We recently sent a letter to the BC Liquor Distribution Branch on this very subject which they have responded to claiming this matter is not under their "jurisdiction" and they offer products on a commercial demand basis. Here are some excerpts of our original letter. (read more)


	CPA ARCHIVES Coming Soon	Media Watch: Letter to the Editor of the Georgia Straight (February 15th, 2008) It might interest your readers to know that the "new-generation Israeli wines" that Jurgen Gothe was promoting (Feb. 14/08) are literally fruit from the vines of Israeli occupation. We recently sent a letter to the BC Liquor Distribution Branch on this very subject which they have responded to claiming this matter is not under their "jurisdiction" and they offer products on a commercial demand basis. Here are some excerpts of our original letter. (read more)
	Letter to the Editor, by Gary Keenan, The Globe and Mail, October 11th 2003 Barbara Hodgson's excellent letter (More than a Memory, Oct. 8) regarding renowned British Arabist Gertrude Bell brings to mind the fact that the Middle East may well have been spared several decades of violence, death, and destruction if British Prime Minister Lloyd George had heeded her wise words regarding the 1917 Balfour Declaration. (read more) Letter to the Editor, by Gary Keenan, The Vancouver Sun, September 8th 2003 The Ottawa Citizen guest editorial's contention that al-Qaida hates the U.S. "because of what it is - namely, a capitalist democracy that embraces religious freedom, women's rights and MTV" rather than "because of its foreign policy" was rejected by the U.S. Senate's 9/11 Commission. (read more) Open letter to Sarah Efron, a freelance journalist, regarding reporting about the "Peace It Together" camp held this summer in Vancouver Thank you for the report you did for CBC Radio about the Israeli/Palestinian Peace Camp (http://www.urbanlegend.ca/stories/peacecamp.shtml). In your print edition, you quote me as saying that "As long as there is no equality (my emphasis ), dialogue is nice but doesn't lead anywhere...". (read more) Open letter to Mr. Andrew Holota, Editor of the Leader (Surrey/N.Delta), by Hanna Kawas, May 2004 In an editorial on April 23, 2003 in the Surrey/North Delta Leader, under the title ?What didn't happen?, you wrote: "Well, there it is then. Nothing left to do in Iraq but rebuild the country, unify diametrically opposed sects of Muslims, create a democracy instead of a fundamentalist theocracy, convince the Kurds they don?t want their own country, convince Syria to show Hezbollah the door, and make peace between Israel and Palestine." ? "If one still believes the anti-American peaceniks and bad-news-is-best television pundits, it'll never happen." (read more) Feedback on Evil Brain's Wall, by Gary Keenan, The Westender, November 2003 Kudos to columnist Brian Peterson for his insightful and much needed column regarding Israel's construction of an apartheid fence or wall around the occupied Palestinian West Bank. (read more) Arafat's fate should rest in Palestinian hands, by Gary Keenan, Vancouver Sun September 2003, reply to "Forget about peace until Arafat and Sharon are out of the way" Columnist Norman Spector neglected to mention the extremely important fact that Yasser Arafat is the democratically elected leader of Palestinians in the occupied territories. U.S. President George W. Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon have no right whatsoever to insist that Mr. Arafat be removed from power, especially when it is obvious he enjoys the overwhelming support of Palestinians. (read more) The Sharon government is a giant laboratory, by Gary Keenan, Calgary Sun September 2003, reply to "Realities of Israeli oppression rarely aired in North America" Kudos to Bill Kaufmann for his insightful commentary on Israel's brutal occupation of Palestinian lands. ("Realities of Israeli oppression rarely aired in North America," Sept. 1.) Kaufmann's reference to the fact those who criticize Israel's policies are frequently and unjustly accused of being anti-Semitic by Israel's supporters brings to mind the wise words of Uri Avnery, renowned Jewish Israeli journalist and former member of the Knesset: (read more) Is it Liberalism or Normalization?, by Hanna Kawas, a letter to Al Shurouq The Al Shorouq newspaper, in its last two issues, carried a letter from Jack Chivo (an extreme Zionist supremacist), an advertisement for an event for the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC), a full report in the second issue about this same event and then publicized another event for the so-called secular "Peretz Center". With this pretense at objectivity, Al Shorouq has regrettably fallen into the trap of endorsing what the Zionists say, what they do and what they promote. In effect, Al Shorouq has simply given the Zionists yet another platform to spout their lies against the Palestinian and Arab people. (read more) Targeting of non-combatants, by Gary Keenan, Georgia Straight May 2003 Of the many reliable sources that refute Cam Small's assertion that "there has never been any evidence to suggest that [Palestinian] noncombatants are being targeted [by Israeli soldiers]", I quote from an article by Chris Hedges (former bureau chief for the Dallas Morning News in Jerusalem and Middle East bureau chief for the New York Times), who witnessed children being shot and killed by Israeli soldiers in the occupied Gaza Strip: "Children have been shot in other conflicts I have covered...but I have never before watched soldiers entice children like mice into a trap and murder them for sport." ("A Gaza Diary", Harper's, October 2001). (read more) Anti-Palestinian letters mislead 1, by Hanna Kawas, Westender April 2003, reply to "Taking issue with ISM activists" (Letter author) Mr. Steve Lipari quotes UN Security Council Resolution 242 as a proof that the Palestinian territories are not occupied lands. He states that the resolution calls for Israel to withdraw "from territories" and not from "all the territories", conveniently forgetting to mention that the preamble of the same resolution de-legitimized any territorial conquest by "Emphasizing the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war". (read more) Anti-Palestinian letters mislead 2, by Rafeh Hulays, Westender April 2003, reply to "Taking issue with ISM activists" Alan Switzer's venomous criticism of International Solidarity Movement (ISM) activists is a classic example of attacking the messenger. He would actually have us believe that those who put their lives at risk to protect Palestinian civilians victimized daily under Israel's illegal military occupation are somehow anti-Semitic (an irony considering that Arabs are Semites) and advocates of the "final solution." Switzer then attacks ISM members for bearing witness to Israel's atrocities, but not those committed by China or despotic Arab regimes. (read more) Dr. Mate reveals a rare courage, by Gary Keenan, Westender March 2003 Other than revealing his ignorance, Dr. Moishe Golubchuk's ad hominem attack against Dr. Gabor Mate' (who appeared as an Urban Legend in the Feb. 20-26 issue) accomplishes nothing. (read more) Boycott the Vancouver Sun and the National Post, by Hanna Kawas, a letter to supportters of the Palestinian people, August 2001 The National Post published on July 30, 2001 an editorial under the title "Anti-racism, in name only". The Vancouver Sun on July 31, 2001 reprinted the same editorial as a "Guest Editorial" under the title "The West should shun conferences where the racism deck is stacked". On August 1, 2001, the Vancouver Sun published an opinion piece by Gerald M. Steinberg under the title "Canada shouldn't support condemnations of Israel". (read more)