Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Canary Mission. Is it helping?

From Emunah:

In the Bay area, we’ve experienced firsthand the smug hypocrisy of the hard left and witnessed the indignities they've committed in the name of “justice". They’ve repeatedly blurred the lines between private and public. More than once we’ve seen groups like Code Pink take their protests to their opponents homes.   Family and neighbors of their target are dismissed as collateral damages.  From the protests at Berkeley Professor John Yoo’s home, to the aborted invasion of the home of the Israeli general consul, being a self-righteous activist means never having to say you’re sorry.


When has justice has ever been achieved using unjust means?

On many occasions we’ve experienced the shrill expression of their “right to free speech”, over the rights of others.  Synagogue and Jewish community events have been disrupted, virtually without consequence. 

Canary Mission is a consequence.

No, we don’t know who is behind it, and no, its not us. (and you can stop asking, now)  But after watching our activists threatened and attacked, and seeing our institutions defiled and vandalized by the same handful of extremists,  its clear there needs to be a consequence. The  “catch and release” policies of municipal law enforcement have been useless up to now. The organized Jewish community lacks an effective strategy.

There's a thoughtful discussion taking place at Divest this  (the lawful good branch of the Worldwide Zionist Conspiracy) about the efficacy of the Canary Mission "naming and shaming" tactic, examining it from both an ethical and a practical perspective.


I find myself dissenting.  Canary Mission functions as a distiller of information, profiling anti-Israel activists' own words, gathered from youtube, social media and the mainstream press. It fills a need.


Kinneret Israel 
Several years ago, an anti-Israel activist and Al-Awda volunteer , Kinneret Israel bluffed her way into a job at several local Hebrew High schools, and proceeded to hijack a curriculum on Jewish identity with her special brand of Israel-hate.  Baffled (and bored) students complained to their parents. Parents complained to the schools. Kinneret was eventually  "let go". Predictably, there was nothing on her resume regarding her anti-Israel activism when she applied for the position.

If a quick google search of her name had brought up her history of anti-Israel agitation, Kinneret's malignant disregard for community values would have been obvious, and she simply never would have been hired.

If Canary Mission continues to meticulously and cautiously source and document their work, they can become a valued asset to the community.

 Remembering the words of the great Albus Dumbledore:

“The truth." Dumbledore sighed. "It is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should therefore be treated with great caution.” 


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Kinneret Israel is now teaching a class calling Demystifying the Middle East at City College of San Francisco. Its incredibly biased, but the department is run by JVP'ers, so its not going to change. Be fore-warned

Anonymous said...

Remember when JVP's Penny Rosenwasser of the Interdisciplinary Studies Department taught a class on anti-semitism that functioned as a " how to" manual