Nov. 16 - Speaking Event with Professor Marc Ellis: "Does Judaism equal Israel?"

Join us for a special lecture by Professor Marc H. Ellis, an American intellectual, liberation theologian, and University Professor of Jewish Studies and Director of the Center for Jewish Studies at Baylor University. Professor Ellis will take on the difficult moral questions about Jewish support for the state of Israel, as well as examining "how Israel has replaced God and gutted the prophetic moral core of Judaism."

Ellis' current writings deal with contemporary Judaism , Jewish liberation theology, Jewish-Arab relations, and justice and peace studies. His impressive body of work has been praised by figures as diverse as Noam Chomsky and the Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The late Edward Said described him as "a man to be listened to with respect and admiration." Professor Ellis' most recent book is titled "Judaism Does Not Equal Israel: The Rebirth of the Jewish Prophetic."

This discussion will take place Monday, November 16th at the University of Ottawa, Fauteux Hall, room 147 at 7:30 p.m. Entry is by donation (suggested: $5 to $10).

This is truly a unique event not to be missed and we hope you will join us.
Co-sponsored by Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights at uOttawa and Independent Jewish Voices.

For more information, please email sphr.uofo@gmail.com. Don't forget to join our Facebook event page and help to spread the word.

Right to Education campaign @ uOttawa

Student Federation at the University of Ottawa adopts Palestinian Right to Education campaign

Ottawa, November 2, 2009 – In a victory for justice, University of Ottawa students successfully passed a motion affiliating their student federation to the Right to Education Campaign, a Palestinian student initiative to counter the effects of occupation on their education. Despite some opposition from Zionist and Conservative voices, the motion was successfully passed by a vote of 74 to 52.

Parts of the motion cited education as a “fundamental human right” and that the “[Israeli] occupation of the West Bank and Gaza and the ongoing closures, military roadblocks, and the construction of an illegal wall prevent thousands of students and teachers from reaching their universities and schools”. The campaign commits the SFUO to support the call for international action against violations against the basic right to education in the occupied Palestinian territories, and to build connections to Palestinian Universities through initiatives such as exchanges. The SFUO campaigns committee is bound to the campaign for at least a year, when the campaign can then be reconsidered.

Mahmoud Hmouz, member of Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights which put the motion forward, stated that “this victory proves that the tide is turning in Canadian Universities. Students in Canada know about the violations their peers in Palestine face and are no longer willing to stand idly by.” Robert Prazeres, also a member of SPHR points out that “we in Canada are not as far removed from the struggles of Palestinian students as we may think we are. Our universities support the ongoing injustices through links to the Israeli Academy while they ignore the plight of the Palestinian Academy and Palestinian Students. This is our response to that discrepancy.”

For more information, or to view the entire motion, contact:

Mahmoud Hmouz (English) at 613-335-4225, email mhmouz@hotmail.com
Robert Prazeres (English or French) at 613-447-4931, email bobpraz@gmail.com