Union may ban Israeli academics who support offensive

[Praxius]

CUPE Ontario president Sid Ryan speaks at a press conference Thursday, July 12, 2007.

CTV.ca | Union may ban Israeli academics who support offensive

An Ontario union may ban Israeli academics from teaching or speaking at the province's universities unless they condemn the current military action in the Gaza Strip, according to the Globe and Mail, sparking a fierce debate.

The newspaper says the Ontario arm of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) will introduce the proposal in a meeting next month.

It will call for "a ban on Israeli academics doing speaking, teaching or research work at Ontario universities" if they support Israel's military action.

The proposal was drafted after a Dec. 29 attack on an Islamic university in Gaza, which Israel claimed was connected to Hamas.

"Attacking an institution of learning is just beyond the pale," the Globe quoted CUPE Ontario president Sid Ryan as saying. "They deliberately targeted an institution of learning. That's what the Nazis did."

That is exactly what they did, didn't they?

I guess I wasn't in the wrong to be thinking of passing the Nazi crown from the US to Israel.

fk'n nazis.

Comparing Israel to the Nazi regime, and potentially moving to censor Israeli academics, infuriated Bernie Farber, chief executive officer of the Canadian Jewish Congress.

He said the university may have been used by Hamas to store weapons, and it has not been confirmed either way.

Then don't bomb it you idiot!

"What happened at the university still is in question. Was it a place where arms are being stored?" he told the Globe. "Anyone who compares Jews and Nazis really enters into the dark realm of anti-Semitism. Mr. Ryan should be absolutely ashamed of himself."

Blow it out your arse you fk'n nazi.... I am so sick and tired of hearing the "Anti-Semitism" card continually played to avoid anything negitive pointed their way..... they continually do whatever they please and anybody who is against them is anti-semetic.

I swear everytime something negitive is said..... it just has to be anti-semitism..... god forbid! :angry3:

Maybe if Israel stopped acting like Nazis, they wouldn't be called Nazis...... gee, now there's a concept. :roll:

The latest Middle East conflict began on Dec. 27 when Israel retaliated against Hamas rocket attacks, which had intensified after the end of a truce agreement.

More than a week later, Gaza health officials report 550 people have been killed, of which an estimated 200 were civilians. About 2,500 have been wounded.

Meanwhile, Hamas continues to fire rockets into Israeli border towns.

The United Nations has called on both sides to stop fighting, and there is mounting international pressure for a ceasefire.

I say good for these guys in Ontario..... Israel has attacked a University, they just been reported to have attacked a UN School which ended up killing 34, mostly children..... they're attacking hospitals, homes, power, food, fuel, and the people themselves......

Hell, Israel has killed way more civilians then they have Hamas members.

You know, a few years ago, I never had a beef with Israel one way or the other..... but ever since their attack a couple of summers ago and how they conducted themselves back then.... and how they are conducting themselves now, they're just a bunch of ignorant, power tripping, childish nazis.... and this Sid Ryan explained it very clearly.

If our nation didn't support Nazi Germans in WWII and would refuse to allow them to teach our children in the past, why would we allow the same kind of people teaching our children now?

 

[Praxius]

If you ask me, I think some people who suffered under the Nazis in WWII should have gotten their heads checked around the time they formed Israel..... cuz it seems like a few people over there have an itchy finger of making others suffer whom they deem are below them.

 

[Praxius]

Related Update:

CUPE president Sid Ryan, seen in this 2006 photo, has apologized for comments he made comparing the Israeli offensive in Gaza to what the Nazis did during the Second World War.

CUPE leader apologizes for comparing Israeli army to Nazis
CUPE leader apologizes for comparing Israeli army to Nazis

The president of the Ontario arm of the Canadian Union of Public Employees apologized Wednesday for comments earlier in the week comparing bombings by the Israeli army to actions taken by the Nazis during the Second World War.

"I was wrong to say what I did," Sid Ryan said in a release. "It was never my intention to hurt or cause offence to anyone."

Ryan told a newspaper that a Dec. 29 attack on an Islamic University in Gaza, which Israel claimed was affiliated with Hamas, was "beyond the pale," comparing the move to actions taken by the Nazis.

"I was attempting to draw attention to the terrible bombing of a learning institution," Ryan said Wednesday. "I got caught up in the emotion and the comparison I used was hurtful and completely beyond the pale."

Bernie Farber, chief executive officer of the Canadian Jewish Congress, said it is "a good thing" that Ryan "came to his senses."

"It's sad that it took him more than two days to understand that that was an anti-Semitic and racist comment," Farber said.

Ryan has brought "a lot of shame" to himself and CUPE with his remarks, Farber said.

Ryan should concern himself with working on issues dealing with an economy in which workers' jobs are being threatened, Farber said.

"That's more important for him to take a look at than calling Jews Nazis."

And why am I not suprised this was going to happen?

It was a fair comparison.... if Israel is doing it, and if Germany did it in WWII.... then it's true isn't it?

And what ever happened to freedom of speech?

How were his comments anti-Semitic?

Does anti-Semitic mean you're not allowed to say anything negitive towards Israel?

 

[DurkaDurka]

Well, when he is speaking in an official capacity as a union leader, he's speaking for all members of the union. If he's going to make statements like that to the media he can rightly expect that people are going to call him on it.

 

[Cannuck]

Said Sid Ryan

""I was attempting to draw attention to the terrible bombing of a learning institution," Ryan said Wednesday. "I got caught up in the emotion and the comparison I used was hurtful and completely beyond the pale."

There seems to be alot of that going around.

 

[Praxius]

Said Sid Ryan

""I was attempting to draw attention to the terrible bombing of a learning institution," Ryan said Wednesday. "I got caught up in the emotion and the comparison I used was hurtful and completely beyond the pale."

There seems to be alot of that going around.

Well I certainly can't blame people for having their emotions take hold of them when hundreds of civilians and compounds globally accepted as sanctuaries from war are attacked by a large military force that shows they don't really care about them.

And eventually emotions were a good chunk of the reason why many countries took up arms in WWII in the first place. (Be either the Germans angry at their situation in the world or those who fought them for the suffering they inflicted apon millions.)

Emotions are a justified human reaction and without them, we're not human, and we'd just let things like this continue because they wouldn't affect us in any manner that'd make us care enough to do anything about it in the first place.

And that is exactly what they expect to happen.

 

[taxslave]

Sounds like a typical comment from a terrorist supporter. I wonder if he took a vote among the union members to see if they agree with him or just the other jew haters?

 

[Praxius]

Sounds like a typical comment from a terrorist supporter. I wonder if he took a vote among the union members to see if they agree with him or just the other jew haters?

I'll use myself as an example here:

Just because I hate what Israel is currently doing, I hate their lack of diplomatic abilities, their continual use of cluster bombs on civilian populated areas, and how they treat those around them, along with their war mongering ways..... doesn't mean I hate Jewish people in general.

I don't judge groups, I judge individuals and their actions..... they can be American, Canadian, Irish, Scottish, Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Hindu, German, Dutch, a jar of pickles, gay, straight, bi, transformer, whatever..... if they do something I think is wrong, I'm going to voice my opinion and I'm going to stick by that opinion.

And just because Israel is majority Jewish, doesn't give them a green light to do whatever they please by playing the anti-semetic card everytime they want to get away with something.

Sorry, but they're just as human as you or I, which means they can screw things up and be corrupt just like you or I.

Jews arn't anymore perfect then anybody else..... we're all equal, which means they get equal criticism for the screwed up things they do..... and if they do things that Nazi Germany did in the past and it gets pointed out..... well too bad for them.

Welcome to the real world, I say.

Added:

I also fun it a bit humorous in regards to how people love to use the word terrorist a lot these days to try and justify their own position..... when the people they're defending have killed plenty more civilians and innocent then those "Terrorists" everybody hates.

Seems kinda counter productive if you ask me...... which nobody did, but oh well,

Whoop, there it is.

 

[Walter]

Currently 50000 kids can't go to school because Ryan's union is on strike. Perhaps Ryan should get his head out of his ass and settle the strike at York University instead of complaining about something that is out of his league. What a twit.

 

[Colpy]

Ryan apologized in the Globe and Mail today. The man is a complete moron.

BTW, the Nazis were engaged in genocide against the Jews. The Jews were not firing missiles, bullets, or even rocks at them..........

And the Jews in the 1940s were not throwing anything at the Nazis from schools, neither missiles, nor mortars, nor bullets, nor rocks, nor even nasty names.....

You people can't fool me, hard as you try, you are really not so stupid as to believe the comparison between nazi and Israeli or American is an apt comparison.

If you DO believe that, you are either a complete idiot, or you require a in-depth history lesson, or you need a long-tern stay in a psychiatric hospital.......

So which is it?

Trolling, moronic, ignorant, or crazy???????

 

[Unforgiven]

These fools that toss the Nazi card and genocide around should go witness the real thing. Then maybe they would think twice about devaluing the horrors that others have suffered.

 

[CDNBear]

Buzz Hargrove is an idiot. He's embarassed himself and the union.

 

[Praxius]

Ryan apologized in the Globe and Mail today. The man is a complete moron.

BTW, the Nazis were engaged in genocide against the Jews. The Jews were not firing missiles, bullets, or even rocks at them..........

And the Jews in the 1940s were not throwing anything at the Nazis from schools, neither missiles, nor mortars, nor bullets, nor rocks, nor even nasty names.....

You people can't fool me, hard as you try, you are really not so stupid as to believe the comparison between nazi and Israeli or American is an apt comparison.

If you DO believe that, you are either a complete idiot, or you require a in-depth history lesson, or you need a long-tern stay in a psychiatric hospital.......

So which is it?

Trolling, moronic, ignorant, or crazy???????

E) - None of the above.

The factor you and every other Israel defender keep leaving out is the civilians.

Those civilians are not shooting rockets, they're not shooting guns at the Israeli army, they are not the one's who are fighting, but they are who Israel is fighting and bombing, and killing and starving.

You blame the civilians (who are in the centre of this debate in the thread to begin with and a University is a civilian compound and a place of education) for what Hamas has been doing and justify Israel's direct attacks apon them in a gross disproportion.

Hell, they're even attacking UN Aid convoys..... when the hell did the UN launch rockets? How about those children in the schools trying to hide from the attacks, but get bombed anyways?

When you go after the civilians who are just trying to stay alive and you simply don't care what happens to them, or you deliberatly attack to kill them..... you are no better then the Nazis, plain and simple.

We can nit pick on all the other various things the Nazis did or didn't do, but this is one thing they did do, and if Israel is also doing it...... well the shoe fits.

Added:

But I will agree with you on one thing.... Ryan is a complete moron.... for not standing up for what he believed in and bent over backwards like a lil b*tch for the anti-semitic defense crowd.

 

[Praxius]

These fools that toss the Nazi card and genocide around should go witness the real thing. Then maybe they would think twice about devaluing the horrors that others have suffered.

Like a hypocrite, you would know?

I don't mean that in offense, but if I'm a fool for tossing words around because I may or may not have witnessed the real thing....... did you ever witness the real thing?

I thought not, so therefore your own comments cancel yourself out..... unless you actually did, which I currently believe you didn't.

But I always allow myself to be corrected.

 

[DurkaDurka]

But I will agree with you on one thing.... Ryan is a complete moron.... for not standing up for what he believed in and bent over backwards like a lil b*tch for the anti-semitic defense crowd.

He's entitled to his personal opinions, but when he is making these opinions known on behalf of a large union he opens his self and the union to criticism. The union did not have a vote do mandate this position, hence him apologizing now.

 

[Praxius]

He's entitled to his personal opinions, but when he is making these opinions known on behalf of a large union he opens his self and the union to criticism. The union did not have a vote do mandate this position, hence him apologizing now.

Oh I am not disagreeing with that, but if you open your mouth like he did and like I do at times, you can't excuse what you say.... you said it because you believe it to be true, regardless of emotion..... and suddenly backing down from your position just to save your job so you can continue to work with the people you basically just claimed you couldn't work with based on personal beliefs/morals (Whether others think they are right or wrong) shows the guy has a big mouth but doesn't have a pair between his legs to back it up.

So to me, he is a loud mouth moron, even though I believe what he said was technically true..... you don't jump in front of a camera or audio recorder to shoot off your two cents to look like a hot shot, only to come back a couple days later to retract everything you just said..... that just makes someone look like an idiot.

Which is why, in a off sense, I agree with Colpy's view on the guy.

 

[tracy]

E) - None of the above.

The factor you and every other Israel defender keep leaving out is the civilians.

Those civilians are not shooting rockets, they're not shooting guns at the Israeli army, they are not the one's who are fighting, but they are who Israel is fighting and bombing, and killing and starving.

You blame the civilians (who are in the centre of this debate in the thread to begin with and a University is a civilian compound and a place of education) for what Hamas has been doing and justify Israel's direct attacks apon them in a gross disproportion..

I don't ignore the civilians. I just recognize the obvious. Civilians ALWAYS suffer in war. Their innocence or guilt has nothing to do with it. Their very existence in a country at war means they are in danger because there is no way to guarantee their safety. Wars aren't fought by lining up soldiers on a field and going at it anymore. Whether they agree with what they government is doing or not is another matter. The fact that the majority of them voted for Hamas tells us something, but not everything. Unfortunately, as we all know, your government's actions impact you somtimes in a good way and sometimes in a bad way.

 

[Praxius]

I don't ignore the civilians. I just recognize the obvious. Civilians ALWAYS suffer in war. Their innocence or guilt has nothing to do with it. Their very existence in a country at war means they are in danger because there is no way to guarantee their safety. Wars aren't fought by lining up soldiers on a field and going at it anymore. Whether they agree with what they government is doing or not is another matter. The fact that the majority of them voted for Hamas tells us something, but not everything. Unfortunately, as we all know, your government's actions impact you somtimes in a good way and sometimes in a bad way.

So with that mentality, if Harper decided to send a few aircraft accross into the US, or over the poles to russia to make a suprise attack on the US or Russia to start a bunch of crap with them, the US and Russia have every right to bomb and shell the living hell out of my friends and my family?

I didn't vote for Harper, I never voted for the Conservatives, I didn't vote for us to goto war in Afghanistan (Not that harper did either, but as an example...) and I sure didn't vote for us to attack the US or Russia.

And I am sure Hamas didn't win with a 100% vote result..... but because they were voted in, all of the civilians, whether they voted for Hamas or not, are fair game?

 

[tracy]

So with that mentality, if Harper decided to send a few aircraft accross into the US, or over the poles to russia to make a suprise attack on the US or Russia to start a bunch of crap with them, the US and Russia have every right to bomb and shell the living hell out of my friends and my family?

Yes. That's right. Do you think the US would have put up with thousands of rockets being launched at them from Windsor over a period of years? The very idea is ridiculous. If the US or Russia were in Israel's position, Gaza would have been bombed extensively long ago. Look at Russia's response in Chechnya or Georgia for an example of that. I'm pretty sure the civilian casualty count wasn't 0 in either of those places.

I didn't vote for Harper, I never voted for the Conservatives, I didn't vote for us to goto war in Afghanistan (Not that harper did either, but as an example...) and I sure didn't vote for us to attack the US or Russia.

Doesn't matter. He's your PM and the decisions his government make affect you. Sucks sometimes, but that's reality.

And I am sure Hamas didn't win with a 100% vote result..... but because they were voted in, all of the civilians, whether they voted for Hamas or not, are fair game?

No, all the land they govern is fair game. Unfortunately the reality is people live there. Do you think it would be possible to take out an enemy government like that an not kill any civilians? The intention isn't to kill innocent people, but the reality is it's impossible not to do it.

 

[#juan]

Sounds like a typical comment from a terrorist supporter. I wonder if he took a vote among the union members to see if they agree with him or just the other jew haters?

Bullcrap
The guy said nothing about supporting terrorists. He said nothing about hating Jews. His point was the inhumane Israeli bombing going on in Gaza and most civilized countries in the world are complaining about that.