In his weekly Canadian Jewish News media analysis column “According to Reports,†Paul Michaels, CIC Director of Communications, surveys the mainstream media’s stalwart support against the TIFF boycott.
The “Toronto Declaration” group’s attempt to hijack the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) to serve its political agenda against Israel fell flat. Mainstream media uniformly and resoundingly rejected the ploy.
In “Protest off base” (Toronto Sun, Sept. 4) film critic Bruce Kirkland argued that art should be free from the intrusion of any group’s political agenda. “Art should encourage debate -including on the complex Israeli-Palestinian question that so vexes the protesters – and not repress it through bully tactics and censorship,” he wrote, adding: “I am not calling the protesters fascists, Nazis or even anti-Semites. I am calling them ignorant and ill-informed. They are playing politics with cinema. They are attacking a festival that, on-screen, embodies the very essence of free speech and open debate.”
In the Sept. 4 editorial “Artists for censorship,” the Globe and Mail commended TIFF and its co-director Cameron Bailey for adamantly refusing to back down in the face of intimidation from the protest group, led by Canadian filmmaker John Greyson and author Naomi Klein.
The Globe noted that in “trying to treat Israel as a pariah among nations, the group would scorn anyone who does not accept its one-sided worldview. Capitulation to these self-appointed censors should not be an option.”
Thee paper quoted Bailey’s message on TIFF’s website: “‘As the programmer of City To City, I was attracted to Tel Aviv…because the films made there explore and critique the city from many different perspectives…We will continue to screen the best films we can find from around the world.’”
The Globe concluded: “By refusing to be cowed, TIFF has stood up for artists everywhere.”
The Toronto Star also had a strong editorial. In “Tel Aviv tiff at TIFF,” (Sept. 8 ) it placed the protestors in the broader context of recent anti-Israel extremism.
“It is tempting to ignore this latest, tedious tiff over TIFF, spawned by a few dozen protesters who signed the petition …The anti-Israel diatribes are becoming a bore: Complaints against the Royal Ontario Museum for showing Israel’s biblical Dead Sea Scrolls; “Israel Apartheid Week” for high-minded student activists; CUPE locals calling for a boycott of Israeli academics; and the latest Pride parade featuring a float that attacked gay-friendly Israel for apartheid policies (ignoring other Middle Eastern regimes that persecute gays).
“Now TIFF is the target for those who would treat Israel as a pariah, demonize every aspect of its existence, and smear its supporters in Canada.”
In “There’s justice, then there’s propaganda” (Globe and Mail, Sept. 10) Canadian filmmaker Robert Lantos exposed Klein’s distortions of the historical record about Tel Aviv, distortions that appear to be serving a broader purpose – the delegitimization of Israel itself. Lantos’ way of putting this was blunt: Klein and her gang, he wrote, “are clamouring for nothing short of the annihilation of the Jewish state.”
None of the commentaries – and there were others – was swayed by the protestors’ denial that they were trying to censor or boycott the Tel Aviv films, only the focus on the city. After all, it’s hypocritical for Klein to deny engineering a boycott when she is in the forefront of an international campaign to impose a boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) action against Israel.
In “Israel: Boycott, Divest, Sanction” (The Nation, Jan. 7) Klein argued that the “reason the BDS strategy should be tried against Israel [instead of any other country like the United States or Britain for their actions in Iraq and Afghanistan] is practical: in a country so small and trade-dependent, it could actually work.” Thus Klein, the purported champion of social justice, admitted to being a bully.
Inflicting this bullying on Toronto’s internationally esteemed film festival roused widespread disgust in Toronto media circles. Call this what it is: a victory for decency and common sense.
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