Ben White is coming to Canada … Eh

Ben White, CiF’s resident Hamas shill and antisemitism justifier is coming to Canada to join the Towards the Dignity of Difference, “Neither a Clash of Civilizations or End of History” conference coming up at the University of Alberta in Edmonton from October 2-4, 2009.
He will be speaking at the section called Dialogue and resistance – mutually exclusive or parallel tracks?  Global civil society engages with Palestine/Israel which is described in the following terms:

Since the 1990s and the Oslo peace process there has been a growth in the number of NGOs in the West – as well as on the ground in Palestine/Israel – who have invested in what has been described as a ‘peace industry’. Dialogue between Jews and Palestinians is encouraged, and boycotts are considered ‘extremist’ or unhelpful. Meanwhile, in the last few years, a significant section of Palestinian society has officially called for what is known as BDS (Boycott Divestment Sanctions) to be adopted by governments and global civil society as a way of pressuring Israel to comply with international law and enable Palestinian rights to be realised. Does dialogue work – or is it more a matter of what kind of dialogue? Are dialogue and tactics like BDS mutually exclusive? What are the main obstacles to a just peace in Palestine/Israel?”

So predictably, Ben White will be promoting the boycott-divestment movement as opposed to the approach promoting dialogue. Nothing new for those familiar with his diatribes on CiF.

He will be joined in this section by Dr. Moustafa Abu Sway, a Professor from Al Quds University of Jerusalem and a known Hamas supporter. Militant Islam Monitor says the following about the “Peace Professor”:

“During the years 1997 to 2002 one can follow Abu Sway’s continuous connection with two known Hamas leaders Sheik Jamal Hamimi, and Hasan Yousef, both of whom are linked to terrorist funding . Hasan Yousef runs the Zakat “charity” department at Al Quds University. Below are photos showing Abu Sway seated next to the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem. This proves that he is considered a significant figure by the PA and by the Hamas political and ‘spiritual’ leadership .”

Another guest speaker speaking along with White is Dr. Ghada Hashem Talhami from Lake Forest University. While she’s on break from writing about Palestinian and Arab women’s issues, she is busy claiming that Israel is a terrorist state and is the driving force in the “Clash of Civilizations” discourse.
Her conference page outlines this pretty well:

“The Clash of Civilizations” purveyors of continuing and future bloody confrontations between the West and the Islamic world have succeeded in impressing upon the Western mind the essential violent nature of Islam. In this context the struggle against terrorism has been reduced to the struggle to save Western civilization, consistently represented by the US and Israel, from the non-Judaeo-Christian barbarians at the gate. This paper will argue that Israel as a state routinely condones official terrorism even in open debates of the Knesset. Some of Israel’s prominent historians of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict like Benny Morris advocate a pre-emptive form of state terrorism. The endorsement of a violent solution to this conflict was always supported by the US which views global terrorism through the same lenses like Israel. The US has also resorted to redesigning the world and its security organizations in a manner compatible with its own understanding of this problem (which is based on the Israeli view recall!). According to Professor Mahmood Mamdani of Columbia University, the world is now living under a new “Humanitarian World Order” perpetrated through the US-controlled Security Council which selectively condemns some types of terror, as in Darfur, and ignores others. This paper will conclude with a plea for a universal definition of terror and a unified campaign against it.”

At Qumsiyeh, Human Rights Web, in a review of Sharing the Land of Canaan: Human Rights and the Israeli-Palestinian Struggle, by Mazin B. Qumsieh, Talhami endorses the argument that Palestinians are the descendants of the Canaanites along with the Jews, thus the rightful inheritors of the land.  Interestingly, the Qumsiyeh webpage (in which the Talhami review appears) has for background the map of Israel without the borders of the West Bank and Gaza and this is not because this source supports the Israeli Right wing “greater Israel” position.
So judging from this, Ben White is in good company. Sitting between a Hamas activist and a supposed feminist who has no trouble sitting next to a Hamas activist herself and who believes in a one-state based on Canaanite heritage (despite being from Jordan herself). Or perhaps, Ben will sit between them so that no sensitivities are disturbed.
Anything for peace…as they say.

Tags from the story
, ,
Written By
More from The Alchemist
If my MEMRI serves me well….
Recently we pointed out how Brian Whitaker – commissioning editor of CiF...
Read More
Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *