Those Contemptibly Useful Idiots

"Even though CJPME [Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East] was founded as an organization for 'Canadians of all backgrounds', we are now viewed through a lens of identity politics by many."

"Even though CJPME has never claimed to be 'Palestinian' or to 'speak for Palestinians', many in the movement presume that non-Palestinians in leadership at CJPME are illegitimate."

"I've been ready to leave CJPME for some time, and these new winds indicated to me that the time had finally come."

"We never intended to start an organization, but when the local Palestinian community organization said that they could accept my wife as a member, but not me [as a non-Palestinian], we realized that we wanted to build an organization that welcomed ALL Canadians."

Thomas Woodley, founder and president CJPME

"CJPME is a diverse board and staff -- comprising people from all walks of life, both Palestinian and non-Palestinian."

"Our mission is to enable Canadians of all backgrounds to promote justice, development and peace in the Middle East, and here at home in Canada."

CJPME Board statement

"This organization, which is led by two white men presents itself as the largest Palestine solidarity group in 'Canada' while silencing & punishing dissenting Palestinian voices."

"My experience as a Board member exposed @CJPME & other 'non-profits' as highly oppressive groups behind their benevolent facade."

"Shame on the cowardice & complacency of CJPME board members."

Ghada Sasa, former CJPME board member

 

Evidently Ghada Sasa had been suspended soon after the October 7, 2023 atrocities for having argued that the Nova music festival concertgoers were slaughtered not by Palestinian terrorists but rather by Israeli forces. She denounced the group, calling out the president and vice president, Thomas Woodley and Michael Bueckert respectively, following her suspension.  She holds a social science doctorate from McMaster University.

In an interview with an Alberta talk show host, she commented that she "was reading a lot of the people who were killed were actually killed by Israel. Hamas was not trying to kill [Israelis]". CJPME responded in a statement: "Ms. Sasa has never been authorized to speak on behalf of the organization. In addition, some views that Ms. Sasa has expressed publicly are not aligned with the policies and positions of the organization". 

Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East, an anti-Israel group established in Canada that has attained a level of prominence, saw its president resigning with the explanation that ongoing opposition to his leadership among activists targeted  him "as a non-Palestinian", unsuitable to lead the group. When he felt compelled to resign the presidency, Thomas Woodley wrote his supporters that since the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel, the anti-Israel activist movement has viewed CJPME as illegitimate, citing its non-Palestinian leadership.

It was the exclusionary views of the local activist community, commented Thomas Woodley, that led to his and his wife Grace Batchoun founding of the group in 2004 in Montreal against the backdrop of the Second Intifada. With Mr. Woodley's resignation, the CJPME board decided to name Michael Bueckert as interim president of CJPME and its Foundation, in refutation of Woodley's claim of discrimination as a 'non-Palestinian'. 

On the morning of October 7, one of CJPME's earliest public statements rationalized the invasion of southern Israel by Palestinian terrorists through blaming Israel: "After years of Israeli assaults on Gaza, an attack by Hamas on Israel has killed at least 40. Now Israeli airstrikes have already killed 160 as Gaza braces for bloodshed. Canada must call for a ceasefire and an end to root causes of violence: occupation, siege & apartheid."

Soon afterward, CJPME retweeted an image of a Hamas bulldozer destroying the Israeli border fence posted by Palestinian journalist Mariam Barghouti who wrote: "Gaza just broke out of prison".

CJPME followed that up by writing: "Israel's decades-long confinement of more than 2 million Palestinians inside the world's largest open-air prison is critical context for understanding today's escalation of violence". Through the months that ensued, violence flared across the region, Israel forced to counter other Iranian-backed proxies in Lebanon, and Yemen's Houthis attacking shipping in the Red Sea. 

 

CJPME  had no problems throwing its moral indignation at Israel's response to being attacked on all fronts. "The Houthis are targeting Israeli-related ships of those that are heading to Israel to show support for Palestine and for Israel to stop its bombardment campaign on Gaza", wrote the group. 

 

Wholeheartedly, passionately supporting the terrorist groups manipulated by the Islamic Republic of Iran whose foremost agenda is the destruction of the State of Israel before launching itself a far more ambitious, larger, wider net they feel is required in homage to fundamentalist Islamism to destroy others as well, for having forfeited the right to life by refusing to submit to Islam.

"In the years after 9/11, people became dimly aware that Arabs were not the same as Pakistanis or Indians. It was a faltering start to coming to terms with the existence of Palestinians."

"Then came the solidarity: white people wearing keffiyehs, the Free Palestine badges, lovely posh ladies petitioning outside HSBC over the bank's investment in illegal West Bank settlements."

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Although Passive in Response, a Majority of Canadians Support Removal of Pro-Hamas Encampments at Canadian Universities

"For many, they had already made their point, and/or they were not going to achieve their objective, however it was understood -- which was also unclear to many Canadians."

"[The protesters' goals and objectives] are being seen as increasingly unclear."

"For many, the underlying issue was a matter of trust, and the 55-plus group trusts the university leaders to a much greater extent than they did the encampment organizers."

"[A] considerable [49 percent of students in the survey said they didn't know or preferred not to answer] potentially suggesting a high degree of stigma associated with taking a position on either side of this."

Jack Jedwab, president, Association for Canadian Studies

 

According to a new national poll conducted by Leger for the Association for Canadian Studies, most Canadians support police having taken down illegal, disruptive pro-Palestinian encampments at Canadian universities. Some 70 percent of Canadians surveyed were in agreement that officials were correct in having police and private security dismantle an encampment at McGill University and at downtown Victoria Square in Montreal.

On the morning of July 5, police in riot gear began to dismantle the camp at Victoria Square, mere days following the province's public security minister accusing the city in public of being too passive with the presence of the protesters in the public arena. Once Victoria Square was cleared of the encampment, in another five days police and private security firm agents were at McGill using excavators and front-end loaders to disassemble about a hundred tents and tarps at the McGill encampment after over two months of legal battles, counter protests, accusations of antisemitism and concerns over security risks.

Twice, Quebec courts refused to issue an injunction against the encampments. Finally, flyers promoting a "revolutionary summer program", ostensibly to 'educate' those not sufficiently imbued with hatred for Jews and Israel, who needed an additional propaganda boost to venerate the terrorist group Hamas. The flyers featured photographs of keffiyeh-wrapped Palestinian fighters with raised rifles.

Members of the Divest for Palestine Collective had planned and organized the Victoria Square camp, in an effort to apply pressure on Quebec's pension fund manager to sever links with Israeli institutions that the group accused of being complicit in the conflict in Gaza between Hamas and Israel. Spurred by encampments set up at universities in the United States, the McGill University encampment was the first to appear in Canada. Quickly followed by over a dozen other Canadian universities, including University of British Columbia, University of Toronto and University of Alberta.

 

Workers dismantle the anti-Israel encampment at McGill University in Montreal on July 10. Photo by John Mahoney /Montreal Gazette

Demands were noisily issued that universities cut ties with Israel, end all collegial arrangements with Israeli universities and divest from any companies or corporate interests that supply arms to Israel, or which profit from the war with Hamas. Those protesters enjoyed the support of 19 percent of Canadians, according to earlier Leger polling. McGill and Victoria Place, according to Jack Jedwab of the Association for Canadian Studies were seen as valid proxies for public opinion on other encampments.

A majority of Canadians over -- 69 percent -- agreed with their removal. Twice as many students favoured removal of the encampment of those expressing an opinion, while 40 percent agreed that police were right to take down encampments, while 18 percent disagreed. 42 percent of students responded they preferred not to answer, or just did not know. The degree of opposition to the encampments with just 13 percent of Canadians of all ages polled disapproving of their removal suggested protesters increasingly perceived them as disruptive to student life and the broader community.

The encampment at McGill was described by its vice chancellor Deep Saini as a "heavily fortified focal point for intimidation and violence" organized largely by outsiders who used tactics designed to "threaten, coerce and scare people". Support for encampment removal was highest among Canadians aged 55 and older, with 62 percent reporting they "strongly agree" officials were correct for police and private security to take down the McGill tents.

Nearly half (48 percent) of 18- to 34-year-olds strongly or somewhat agreed with the removal of the McGill encampments, even as 24 percent  strongly disagreed. Of that age group, 27 percent said they did not know or preferred not to answer.

Aerial view of the pro-Palestinian camp on the McGill University campus in downtown Montreal on Thursday, May 9, 2024. Photo by Dave Sidaway /Montreal Gazette