World Social Forum 2016: Just Another Joke of an International Gathering that Gets Its Jollies By Trashing Israel

The goal of the World Social Forum 2016, which gets underway in Montreal today, is

to gather tens of thousands of people from groups in civil society, organizations and social movements who want to build a sustainable and inclusive world, where every person and every people has its place and can make its voice heard.

According to a report in the National Post, however, there's one wee nation which these virtuous ones wish to exclude from their avid inclusivity (my bolds):

Along with eco-responsibility, accessibility and security, the Forum has identified “non-apartheid” as one of its four key commitments, promising to censor pro-Israel viewpoints. “We have already taken a stand to exclude all people, organizations or activities that promote any kind of oppression, supporting Palestinians and all the people struggling for their emancipation and freedom,” its website says. An accompanying document advises the boycott of academics, artists and products it links to “Israeli apartheid.” The CIJA has identified 28 separate events that it says target Israel. Two of the event’s 21 major sessions deal with “Israeli apartheid.”

Because of the deranged focus on Israeli malfeasance, as well as the presence of an egregiously anti-Semitic cartoon on the WSF site, the Canadian government has now rescinded its support:

MPs Anthony Housefather, representing the Montreal riding of Mount Royal, and Michael Levitt, representing the Toronto riding of York Centre, also took exception to the World Social Forum’s heavy emphasis on the anti-Israel BDS movement. 

“The Prime Minister, the Government of Canada, and the Canadian Parliament have been very clear that we oppose the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement and that anti-Semitism is never acceptable,” the MPs said in a statement. 

Forum organizers cancelled a session that had been scheduled to show how Islamist terrorists are “in the service of world Zionism-capitalism.” The page for the event had featured a cartoon of a hook-nosed orthodox Jew with a Star of David on his hat, a drawing that Reuben Poupko, co-chairman of Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) Quebec, said was “not so different from those that appeared in Nazi papers.”

Not surprisingly, the chap behind the cancelled session is in major freak out mode (a la an irate Al Quds Day "protester" at Queen's Park):

For an event to be removed it has to violate the Forum’s principles, which prohibit proselytism, violence and political partisanship. Seyyed Ali Mousavi, organizer of the workshop that featured the offensive cartoon, was livid that his event was judged to contravene Forum principles. 

“World Social Forum is occupied by Israeli tanks and petrodollars Saudi Arabia,” he wrote on the Forum website. 

Hey, tell us something we don't know, Seyyed.

If Seyyed is an example of the sort of "inclusiveness" aficionado who will be participating in this event, the government should have done some due diligence before granting its imprimatur. Now that the chat is out of the bag re the forum's mindset, there is absolutely no excuse for these organizations/institutions, including the Quebec government and McGill University, to continue their partnership.

Update: From the sounds of it, this is a Marxist-Islamist jubilee (and, yes, both Naomi Klein and Harpoon Siddiqui will be speaking here).

World Social Forum 2016: Israel-hate is in the air

and on the agenda.