Last week a judge accepted a copyright infringement request from Indigo requiring Canadian telecommunications companies to block the website Indigo Kills Kids. The ruling came days before protests are planned at 40 Indigo stores.
As of writing, Telus, Videotron and Rogers had removed a website seeking to rekindle the boycott of a store whose owners assist the Israeli military. But Bell had yet to adhere to the judge’s order to temporarily remove the site as the case proceeds.
The censorship bid is part of Indigo and the genocide lobby’s aggressive response to a grassroots campaign challenging billionaire power couple Heather Reisman and Gerry Schwartz’s support for Israeli violence and apartheid. As the judge considered the injunction against the Indigo Kills Kids website, Reisman sent a long message to all Indigo staff explaining how she and her husband don’t actually assist the Israeli military or induce young Canadians to join it. The CEO’s message also suggested that Wednesday’s protests may pose a danger to staff.
Simultaneously, the Reisman/Schwartz instigated Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs announced a BUYcott of Indigo in response to the day of action. Their promotion material states: “Canadians won’t be intimidated by antisemitic lies. Show your support by shopping at Indigo Chapters in store or online on Wednesday, September 25.”
But in an e-mail to its members CIJA undercut their “antisemitic lies” smear. Likely crafted by a newbie enthralled with Israeli militarism, the lobby group’s message boasted that Reisman and Schwartz’s “philanthropy includes the HESEG Foundation, which provides scholarships to Lone Soldiers who serve in the Israel Defense Forces.”
Realizing how this fact undermined their claim that Reisman was targeted for being Jewish, CIJA sent a follow-up message noting, “earlier today we sent out an email promoting a BUYcott at Indigo and Chapters across Canada in response to a BOYCOTT of Indigo and Chapters being promoted by ‘activists’ who keep repeating a vicious lie. In that email we referred to the HESEG Foundation, a charitable foundation founded by Heather Reisman and her husband Gerry Schwartz, and made an accidental error describing what the HESEG Foundation does. Please do not in any way circulate the original email.”
In the follow-up email, CIJA removed any mention of scholarships to non-Israelis who join the Israeli military. Instead, they noted, “Heather Reisman and her husband, Gerry Schwartz, are renowned philanthropists who have consistently supported Israel and the global Jewish community.” (more...)
Should we subsidize billionaires helping Israeli military?
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