A man waves a Hezbollah flag at a rally in Montreal.
Photograph by : David Boily, AFP, Getty Images
Posted on 08/09/2006 4:57:45 PM PDT by fanfan
OTTAWA (CP) - The vice-president of B'nai Brith Canada says his organization wants police and the federal government to crack down on pro-Hezbollah demonstrations.
Frank Dimant says the streets of Canada should not be flooded by extremists supporting a known terrorist group. He said his group has asked police forces and government officials to target the rallies.
"The streets of Canada will not be taken over by radical Islamic forces supporting terrorist activities," he said Wednesday. "B'nai Brith Canada will do its utmost to ensure that Canadians will not be intimidated by these terrorist sympathizers."
Mohamed Elmasry, president of the Canadian Islamic Congress, said Jewish groups need to tone down their rhetoric and focus their efforts on urging a ceasefire in Lebanon.
"We are living in a liberal democracy where opposing voices to an overseas conflict is acceptable as long as they are peaceful," he said. "There is no need to call on authorities to crack down on demonstrations."
Elmasry said he hopes a growing number of people in the Jewish community will call for peace as the number of casualties mounts.
"Jewish organizations should be pro-peace," he said. "There's been too much death, destruction and misery."
The Christians United for Israel coalition and Jewish groups are calling for a national day of prayer on Aug. 20 in support of Israel and peace in the Middle East.
The group is calling for 18 minutes of prayer. In Hebrew, the word for 18 is "chai," which also means peace.
Charles McVety, president of the Canada Christian College, said it's time for Christian leaders to drop their neutral stances and stand by Israel, the birthplace of their religion.
"It's time for us to throw off this garment of false neutrality and stand shoulder to shoulder with our Jewish friends," he said. "Each of us must find a way to support Israel in its time of need."
Alan Baker, Israel's ambassador to Canada, says it is unfair to say Israel is deliberately targeting civilians. He said his government is taking every measure it can to avoid the loss of innocent life, but said Hezbollah is shielding itself behind innocent people.
"Any civilian that's not involved in terror who's harmed, whether it's Israeli, Lebanese or Palestinian, is for us tragic and even a failure," Baker said.
He criticized opposition party members who have joined anti-war protests that have included Hezbollah sympathizers who have worn the group's colours.
Hezbollah rockets, Baker said, are being aimed at Israeli civilians and causing vast ecological damage to biblical forests in the north of Israel. It will take 60 years for these areas to recover, he added.
Baker said Israel only targeted a Beirut power plant when its armed forces learned that Hezbollah was using it to launch missiles into Israel. That strike caused a major oil spill, which has killed countless fish and birds in the area.
A man waves a Hezbollah flag at a rally in Montreal.
Photograph by : David Boily, AFP, Getty Images
Please send me a FReepmail to get on or off this Canada ping list.
I say let 'em demonstrate; but keep tabs on the ones who do.
I'm sure they are being watched and cataloged, but thats not enough.
I do not want to walk down the street beside a person who would hold the Hezb'allah flag.
I do not want to walk down the street beside a person who
would hold a Nazi flag, or a KKK flag.
Flags represent something. In fact, that is what flags were invented for.
I do not want 'these' flags flown in my country.
Well, I see from your home page that you're Canadian, so y'all go ahead and do whatever y'all want up there. But here in America a person has the right to fly whatever flag they want, and I believe that's the way it should stay.
When I look at this from a defensive perspective, I see people who support,
the BAD GUYS.
We can't allow this.
Just look at what is on the flag.
My FRiends, you are missing the point.
Flags are fine, but don't fly the flag of death and war in my country!
Well, I see from your home page that you're American, so y'all go ahead and be ignorant about what is going on in your own country. These are just 3 of many. Search "US,banned flags".
UPDATED: 10:05 am PDT April 5, 2006
SAN DIEGO -- In the wake of last week's immigration-reform protests, one school district is taking drastic measures, banning all symbols of patriotism, both U.S. and Mexican.
Beginning Monday, the Oceanside Unified School District is banning all flags and patriotic clothing. According to school officials, some students are using the garments and flags to taunt classmates
LONGMONT, Colo. Apr 1, 2006 (AP)— Dozens of high school students protested a temporary school policy forbidding students from displaying the U.S. flag as well as flags from other countries amid racial tensions following immigration rallies.
August 13, 2005
MARYVILLE - They began the meeting to ban one flag by pledging allegiance to another.
After board Chairwoman Carolyn McAmis called the meeting to order, everyone stood and repeated the Pledge of Allegiance to stars and stripes. About 45 minutes later, the board voted 3-1 to prohibit the display of stars and bars at school-sponsored events.
Translation: the Confederate battle flag is no longer welcome on campus.
Neither is Old Glory - if the rule is narrowly enforced. That's another irony. The way the policy is written, all flags are banned except those "approved by the principal and director of schools." I'll leave it to your common sense to determine which flag will get thumbs-up and which flag won't.
Hezbollah demonstrations are hate speech and as a result fit the bill as hate crimes:
If Hezbollah demonstrations are not banned, those committing hate crimes should be prosecuted under the full extent of the law:
"Hate" is defined as a crime under two parts of Canada’s Criminal Code: sections 318 and 319. To convict anyone under the Code, very specific proof is required: both of the criminal act itself, and of the intention or motivation to commit the crime. It isn’t enough that someone has said something hateful or untrue; the courts will only find someone guilty if they contravened the Code exactly, and if they did it deliberately.
In most cases, hate propaganda communicated through the Internet is an offence under the Criminal Code. Amendments to the Code, made under the Anti-Terrorism Act in December 2001, further clarify measures and offences regarding Internet hate crimes.
Section 318: Advocating Genocide
The criminal act of "advocating genocide" is defined as supporting or arguing for the killing of members of an "identifiable group" — persons distinguished by their colour, race, religion or ethnic origin. The intention or motivation would be the destruction of members of the targeted group. Any person who promotes genocide is guilty of an indictable offence, and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years.
Defining Genocide
Section 318 defines genocide as any acts committed with intent to destroy an identifiable group —such as killing members of the group, or deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the group’s physical destruction.
Section 319(1): Public Incitement of Hatred
The crime of "publicly inciting hatred" has four main elements. To contravene the Code, a person must:
communicate statements,
in a public place,
incite hatred against an identifiable group,
in such a way that there will likely be a breach of the peace.
Under section 319, "communicating" includes communicating by telephone, broadcasting or other audible or visible means; a "public place" is one to which the public has access by right or invitation, express or implied; and "statements" means words (spoken, written or recorded), gestures, and signs or other visible representations.
All the above elements must be proven for a court to find an accused guilty of either:
an indictable offence, for which the punishment is imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years; or an offence punishable on summary conviction. Section 319(2) defines the additional offence of communicating statements, other than in private conversation, that wilfully promote hatred against an identifiable group.
Section 319(3) identifies acceptable defences. Indicates that no person shall be convicted of an offence if the statements in question:
are established to be true, were relevant to any subject of public interest, the discussion of which was for the public benefit, and if on reasonable grounds it was believed to be true were expressed in good faith, it was attempted to establish by argument and opinion on a religious subject were expressed in good faith, it was intended to point out, for the purpose of removal, matters tending to produce feelings of hatred toward an identifiable group in Canada
Warrants of Seizure
Section 320 of the Criminal Code provides for the seizure and forfeiture of physical hate propaganda material kept on any premises for distribution or sale.
Section 320.1 added under the Anti-Terrorism bill in 2001, allows the courts to order publicly available hate propaganda to be deleted from computer systems, such as a Web site. The individuals responsible for posting the offensive material are given the opportunity to convince the court that it does not constitute hate propaganda. This provision applies to any hate propaganda located on a Canadian computer system, regardless where the owner of the material is located.
Additional Hate Provisions
The courts may define the motivations of hate, bias or prejudice as aggravating factors when sentencing an offender for other offences, such as assault, damage to property, threatening, or harassment. The result is usually a more severe punishment (section 718.2(a)(i)).
G-D bless the TNSAF!
Dude! Being a little brusque is one thing, but rude and stupid at the same time is another matter! We are not talking about school property here, ok? Jeeze, is it the poutine?
Hezbollah demonstrations are hate speech and as a result fit the bill as hate crimes:
Well, again, y'all do whatever y'all want up there in Canada. But I am totally against what limited but growing "hate crime" laws we have even here, to say nothing about expanding them to present Canadian levels or beyond. If someone advocates criminal acts then that is already a crime in all civilized countries. However, having different punishments according to the perpetrator's philosophical outlook is, to my mind, utterly wrong and dangerous. We don't need "thought crime" statutes. We don't need for the law to define what "hate" is. Such subjectiveness and overreach is anti-conservative and will come back to bite us for sure. When you get jailed for speaking out against gay marriage you'll know what I mean.
How about a ban on Hezbollah, since they're a bunch of Nazis, anyway.
O Elmasry, were 18 Jews recently arrested in Toronto for planning to carry out terrorist attacks against Canada and the U.S.?
FRmail me to be added or removed from this Judaic/pro-Israel/Russian Jewry ping list.
Warning! This is a high-volume ping list.
I'm sure they are being watched and cataloged, but thats not enough.
I do not want to walk down the street beside a person who would hold the Hezb'allah flag.
I do not want to walk down the street beside a person who
would hold a Nazi flag, or a KKK flag.
Flags represent something. In fact, that is what flags were invented for.
I do not want 'these' flags flown in my country.
They have every right to peacefully protest. My suggestion to you is to form a counter protest.
But you know? The Liberal Socialists put it on the books in Canada, and I experience a sort of glee in using the Lib Socialist weapon against the Hezbollah loving liberal socialists wing nuts of Canada.
There is someting so irresistable about seeing them hoisted with their own petard!
And I am very serious about an anti Islamofascist movement. We had an anti-fascist movement in Canada and the USA during WWII. It's time to bring it back, dust of the old anti-fascist cookbook followed by Churchill and Eisenhower, and put it to these Islamofascists, with justified public prejudice!!!
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