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1642950
18 March 17 • 2011
Toronto Mayor Threatens
Anti-Israel Parade Funding
TORONTO (JTA) — Toronto Mayor
Rob Ford says he will withhold more
than $100,000 in city funding to
the annual gay pride parade if an
anti-Israel group again is allowed to
participate.
Ford, who was elected on a right-
wing, waste-slashing agenda last
November, told the Canadian Jewish
News last week that he will cut fund-
ing to the annual Pride Toronto event
if Queers Against Israeli Apartheid
is allowed to participate in this sum-
mer's parade.
"Taxpayers dollars should not go
toward funding hate speech:' Ford
told the weekly, repeating a pledge
he made while campaigning for the
mayor's post.
Pride Toronto received $123,807
from the city last year.
To counter the presence of Queers
Against Israeli Apartheid in last
year's parade, UJA Federation of
Greater Toronto and the Canadian
Jewish Congress marched in solidar-
ity with members of Kulanu Toronto,
the Jewish community's main gay
advocacy group.
The loss of city funding would
be a blow to Pride Toronto, which
emerged from last year's festival
with a debt of nearly $110,000 due
to alleged financial mismanagement
and the loss of a $400,000 federal
grant, reported Xtra, a Toronto news-
paper for gays and lesbians.
Syria Eyes Libyan Seat
On Human Rights Council
(JTA) — Syria is seeking to replace
Libya on the United Nations Human
Rights Council.
Libya was suspended from the
47-nation body on March 1, the first
time a country has
been suspended
since the council
was founded in
2006.
Syria, led by
President Bashar
Assad, declared
March 9 that it is
Bashar Assad
running for a seat
in the May 20 elec-
tions, according to U.N. Watch, a
Geneva-based human rights group.
"It's an outrage said Hillel Neuer,
executive director of U.N. Watch, in a
statement. "Gadhafi was just ousted
by the U.N. on grounds that a gov-
ernment which brutalizes its own
people doesn't belong on the world's
highest human rights body. Well, the
Assad regime runs a notorious police
state that denies the Syrian people
the right to free speech and freedom
of assembly, jails journalists and
tortures dissidents. It sponsors some
of the world's most vicious terrorist
groups and has assassinated numer-
ous journalists and opponents in
Lebanon. The U.N. and the cause of
human rights will be severely dam-
aged if Syria's Assad regime wins a
seat.
U.N. Watch called on the United
States and the European Union to
lead a vigorous campaign to defeat
Syria's candidacy.
Nicaragua, led by Daniel Ortega,
a major Gadhafi supporter, also is
seeking a seat.
Knesset Committee
To Discuss J Street
JERUSALEM (JTA) — An Israeli
Knesset committee will hold a hear-
ing on the activities of J Street.
The Knesset Immigration,
Absorption and Public Diplomacy
Committee said March 9 that the
hearing on J Street, which calls itself
a "pro-Israel, pro-peace" organiza-
tion, would be held as soon as next
week.
Critics have rapped J Street for
criticizing Israel's policies in the
West Bank and being pro-Palestin-
ian.
The committee, chaired by Danny
Danon of the Likud Party, will invite
the Israeli lawmakers who attended
J Street's annual meeting last month
to testify.
"I asked for the hearing not
because of the content of J Street's
beliefs, but because I want to look
into the commitment of Jewish love
and support for Israel," Kadima
lawmaker Otniel Schneller told the
Jerusalem Post. "If they don't love and
support Israel, then they should not
present themselves as pro-Israel."
Americans for Peace Now said it
was outraged by the hearing.
"After aggressively attacking dis-
senting voices in Israel and trying
to suppress diversity at home, some
Israeli legislators are now extending
their intimidation campaign across
the ocean:' Americans for Peace Now
CEO Debra DeLee said in a statement
released Thursday. "The attempt to
de-legitimize an American organiza-
tion that supports Israel and works
tirelessly to engage tens of thousands
of Americans in pro-Israel activity is
bad for Israel."