[van-announce] June 7: Picket the JNF Dinner and its Honouree John Baird, Vancouver

[Charlotte Kates]

*Picket the JNF Dinner and its Honouree John Baird*
<http://www.cpavancouver.org/index.php/2015/05/17/picket-the-jewish-national-fund-dinner-its-honouree-john-baird/>


*Sunday, June 7, 2015, 5pm Four Seasons Hotel (W. Georgia and Howe St.),
Vancouver*

Please join us on June 7 to say Stop the JNF!!
Join Facebook Event <https://www.facebook.com/events/686044534834950/>
*No Greenwashing Apartheid! No Charity Status for the JNF!*

In a classic “greenwashing apartheid” move, the Jewish National Fund (JNF)
Pacific Region is holding its annual Negev dinner to raise funds to build a
park in Sderot, a “green lung” they claim. At the same time, not far away,
the Bedouin village of Al Araqib in the Negev/Naqab has been destroyed more
than 80 times by Israeli and JNF paramilitary forces, but the Palestinians
of the village refuse to surrender, returning time and time again to
rebuild (more info at stopthejnf.org <http://www.stopthejnf.org/>).
The JNF also notes in its publicity for the event that the park will
“honour the memory of the 66 soldiers who were killed during Operation
Protective Edge”, better known as Israel’s horrific aggression on Gaza last
summer.
And equally fitting is the guest speaker that the JNF is honouring for the
evening, John Baird, who signed the infamous January 18, 2015 Memorandum of
Understanding
<http://www.international.gc.ca/media/aff/news-communiques/2015/01/18b-3.aspx?lang=eng>
as one of his last acts as Canada’s Foreign Minister that committed to
develop “a coordinated, public diplomacy initiative both bilaterally and in
international and multilateral fora to oppose boycotts of Israel, its
institutions, and its people within three to six months”. This is the same
John Baird that in an address to another 2012 JNF dinner explained to the
audience, “Why Israel holds such a special place in my heart
<http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/john-baird-why-israel-holds-such-a-special-place-in-my-heart>
.”

Organized by: *Canada Palestine Association*, email info at cpavancouver.org
Endorsed by: *Independent Jewish Voices-Vancouver*