‘Brand Israel’s’ first test fails

By Nora Loreto, News Editor

On August 26 at 6:00, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs launched its new ‘Brand Israel’ campaign at the Miles Nadel Community Centre in Toronto. 

The campaign is an attempt to give the controversial state a new international image. According to the Canadian Jewish News, Sidney Greenberg, vice-president of Astral Media, Joel Reitman, president and CEO of MIJO Corporation, and David Asper, executive vice-president of Canwest Global Communications Corp, made the launch possible. All three have donated resources to Israel for the campaign, totalling $1 million. 

The ‘Brand Israel’ ads will soon hit Toronto’s streets and, according to the organisers, will be targeted toward ethnic communities, with a focus on building Muslim-Jewish relations.

In order to understand the opposing views of some of the attendees, I stood on both sides, between 6:15pm and 6:30pm and listened for what the groups were saying; who they were supporting; what they thought about the state of Israel; and what they thought about the other side.

‘Brand Israel’ Protestors

The crowd protesting the announcement was a diverse group, and included, among others, activists from the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid, Not in our Name-Jewish Voices Against the Occupation, No One Is Illegal and Neturei Karta, Orthodox Jews Against Zionism.

Some of the members of the crowd chanted: 

Brick by brick

Wall by wall

Israeli apartheid is going to fall

Justice for Palestine

Freedom for Palestine

From Turtle Island to Pales

tine, 

Occpation is a crime

Fight the power

Turn the tide

End Israeli Apartheid

And I overheard the following conversation:

“Who are those people [pointing to the other side]” 

“They’re part of the Jewish Defence League.”

“And who are you?”

“We’re a broad-based coalition of community groups, labour groups and students. Today’s inauguration of the ‘New Israel’ campaign will not be tolerated in Toronto”.

Jewish Defense League Supporters

The crowd supporting the announcement, while smaller, was comprised of students and older people. Waving flags and placards, they sang Hatikva, the Israeli national anthem and shouted back at the protesters. 

I overheard the following, between a supporter and a passerby: “Well, it’s simple. They can stay in Israel if they pledge allegiance to the flag.” 

Some of the members of the Zionist crowd chanted:

Brick by brick

Wall by wall

Israel will never fall.

Some people shouted: 

Stop the child killers

You hate women and 

homosexuals

Stop the suicide bombers

The Koran is evil

There’s no such thing 

as Palestine

Palestine is a bunch of 

terrorists 

Muslims are racist

I approached two women and a man who were chanting many of these statements behind me, to ask for their names and who they represented. They refused and would only say that they are supporters of the Jewish Defence League. 

The Jewish Defence League has in the past been described by the FBI as a “known violent extremist Jewish Organization.”  

The RFP is committed to fostering an environment free of Islamophobia. To ensure that these hateful words are not published unqualified, there’ll be a follow-up article on Islamophobia and resisting all forms of hate including Islamophobia, Anti-Semitism and Racism.