Why was PA’s Canada envoy forced to resign over a tweet?

Dana Olwan The Electronic Intifada Vancouver 25 October 2011

A video featuring a Palestinian girl reciting a poem was at the center of a diplomatic storm in Canada.

The Electronic Intifada

On 17 October, the Canadian government subjected Linda Sobeh Ali, the chargé d’affaires of the Palestinian Authority’s delegation in Ottawa, to what The Globe and Mail described as a “high-level dressing down” (“Palestinian envoy is asked to leave Ottawa after controversial tweet,” 18 October 2011).

Ali’s transgression was her tweeting of a poetic recitation by a young Palestinian girl on YouTube (“Heartbreaking poem of young Palestinian girl,” YouTube). Nationalistic in its rhetoric, the poem invites Palestinians and Arabs to work towards freedom, revolution and the liberation of Palestine.

Canadian government officials, under orders from John Baird, the foreign minister, have deemed this poem offensive. They falsely claim it culminates with a call for “the death of Jews.”

The officials who alerted Baird to the poem relied on an English-subtitled version that mistranslated the final verse from a call to “extinguish the soul of a Zionist” to an invocation “to war that raze the injustice and oppression and destroy the Jews [sic]” (“Feds turf Palestinian rep,” Toronto Sun, 18 October 2011). This was the version tweeted by Ali and subsequently used as pretext for her dismissal from her capacity as representative of the Palestinian Authority in Ottawa.

The incident was set into motion when Baird was notified of the tweet by Shimon Fogel, chief executive officer of the Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs, a lobby organization that actively works towards strengthening the Israel-Canada relationship. Two weeks later, with the aid of Morris Rosenberg, Baird’s deputy minister, the Palestinian representative was brought in for a high-level “sit down.”

Unsatisfied with simply making his own — and by extension the federal government’s — opinions on Ali’s conduct known to her, Baird also involved the Canadian representative in the West Bank, Chris Greenshields, who then notified the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah of its dissatisfaction with Ali’s retweet.

Gleeful reporting in media

In an email sent by Chris Day, a spokesman for Baird, Ali was informed in no uncertain terms that her “serious transgression” has lead the Canadian government to “have taken the decision to limit communication with this official until a replacement is selected.” While the media is adamant to point out that Ottawa did not order Ali’s removal, the email circulated by Day amounted to a discharge, endorsed by the highest level of the Canadian government. Or, as The Ottawa Sun reported, “The federal government is sending the Palestinian representative to Canada packing.”

Linda Sobeh Ali has since shut down her Twitter account and, in response to pressures from the Canadian government, she has resigned and will be heading back to the West Bank or reassigned to a different location. Emotional, apologetic and regretful is how Ali is being represented to Canadians. She is sorry to have retweeted a poem she had not seen nor heard. She has no interest in spreading “hate” and she “regrets” the poem’s “controversial” and political content, she has told the media (“Palestinian envoy apologizes for controversial retweet,” CBC News, 18 October 2011). The Palestinian Authority has asked her to submit her resignation because it has no wish to “offend” Ottawa.

But what exactly is Ali apologetic about? Why doesn’t the PA wish to take a stand against the Canadian government, a government that has repeatedly declared and acted upon its unwavering commitment to the Israeli state even in the face of illegal settlement expansion, continued land expropriation and theft, and mass population removal and displacement?

What part of the poem’s call for Palestinian liberation and struggle against Zionism offends the Canadian government’s sensibilities? Or does this recent attempt merely replicate the strategies used in the US to stifle the expressions of Palestinian children who live under Israeli occupation and experience its transgressions on a daily basis? Does the Ottawa government take issue with the poem’s strong invocations against the settler-colonial project of Zionism? Perhaps this designation of Zionism as a settler-colonial project is too close for comfort for Baird, an important figurehead for the settler colonial state of Canada?

An undignified “recall”

Linda Sobhi Ali’s apology and the PA’s “recall” of its representative embolden the Canadian government’s lie that the poem spreads hate. This affair renders apparent the national and international politics of public shaming and deception being played out against Palestinian representation in Canada and by extension Palestinian Canadians and the Canadian public at large.

It lays bare how the Palestinian struggle against Zionism is being scripted as unjust, hateful, and deserving of state censorship and control. This latest act of surveillance and discipline needs to be understood as a national spectacle of racial, national, political and gendered significations.

Sexist stereotypes

Through her apology, Ali is painted as a weak female official, an inept representative of a loathed non-state entity, whose foolishness and recklessness cost her an important job. Relying on the tired gendered stereotypes of the hysterical, emotional and irrational woman, Miranda Stephenson described Ali to CTV as “very emotional, very regretful, [and] in tears at points.”

Compelled to disavow her tweet and distance herself from the political content and message of the poem, a humiliated Ali has said: “I am against hate. I am pro-peace. I’m a person who is advocating for the dialogue between Jews and Palestinians because that is the only way that will lead us to a just, lasting peace” (“Ousted envoy ‘regrets’ anti-Israel ‘retweet’,” Ottawa Citizen, 19 October 2011).

But these apologies, concessions and disavowals are insufficient for a federal government that has proven eager to stifle legitimate critique of Israel, punish Palestinian representation and demonize Palestinians and their allies in Canada. Because, like Shimon Fogel, this government ascribes to the politics of obfuscation and distortion that would have Canadians believe that there is no difference between a poem that calls for a struggle against Zionism and one that spreads anti-Semitism through calling for “a war that … destroy[s] the Jews” (“Palestinian official in Canada apologizes for offensive tweet,” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 19 October 2011).

Complicit media

What does this reprimand signify in broader political terms? It displays the Canadian government’s uncritical support for Israel and its allies in Canada. In this political climate, and in accordance with the new and all-encompassing definition of anti-Semitism provided by the federal government and signed by Baird, speaking out against Zionism and Israel is an act of racism (“Canada becomes the first country to sign the Ottawa Protocol,” press release, Citizen and Immigration Canada, 19 September 2011).

Meanwhile, the Canadian public is encouraged to accept a mistranslation for a fact, showcasing, at best, a failure of journalistic integrity, and at worst, a willful act of public deception. Baird has fired a shot warning the Canadian public and the international community at large that this government will not tolerate opposition to Israel in any form. Expect Ali’s reprimand to be one of many pro-Israel performances in the year ahead by Canada’s Conservative government.

Dana Olwan is former National Chair of Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights. She resides in Vancouver, British Columbia.

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Comments

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Tom replied on

What is the Canadian Government doing to protect the rights of Muslims???

To protect THEM against hate speech. It is greatly disturbing that the Prime Minister of my country openly and publicly states that "Islamism is the greatest threat to the world today"?!!!

Is he so bereft of sanity that he can't see that it is comments like this which are the real danger!!

Let him try to publicly state that "maybe" in "some miniscule way", possibly, if there is a small consensus, that Zionism "might" (and only might) have played a "Minor" role, in the problems we have in the world ---- he would be publicly lynched.

I'm absolutely disgusted to live in this country when these politicians (who don't represent me) voice their opinions on my behalf.

Harper doesn't speak for me. I am one of the large percentage of Canadians who are not represented in Canadian Government. I couldn't vote for any of the candidates because they are all awful "products:. Unreliable, untrustworthy, unintelligent and utterly uninformed about the reality of the plight and challenges facing all people around the globe who are not part of the political "elite". When did they stop being our servants???

Each of them are so far removed from the realities of the day to day work that most of us endure, simply to make ends meet, that if the tables were turned, they would wilt and die from the effort.

My hands are calloused and rough. And, every time a politician has come to me to shake my hand, it is always, --- ALWAYS, soft and doughy.

It is impossible for these politicians to represent me. They can't understand the challenges I face every day. Not only to provide for my family, but more importantly, staying alive.

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Christa replied on

It is not surprising that the Zionists in Canada are in full force now, trying to equate anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism. That said, Sobeh's departure is a good thing. A self-described "doctor", though she doesn't have a PhD or an MD to her name, Sobeh did not come to Canada on merit and wasn't suited to the job. Her reaction to the Zionists demonstrates that she was very much the pushover that the author claims she isn't. Sad -- there are many great Palestinians out there who can easily take on the Zionists -- and win.

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Jim replied on

I don't think there was anything sexist about this.

Canada's neoconservative government is strongly allied with the Netanyahu government, and is strongly influenced by the local diaspora supporters of the ethnic cleansing of Palestine.

The Palestinian envoy made a mistake which allowed the Canadian government to gain political points for the Israeli cause.

Right or wrong, that's the reality of the situation today and we have to deal with it. Diplopmats have a responsibility to be clued into these factors.

If anything needs to be addressed here it is the uncritical media, which allows itself to be taken in by every propaganda move of the Israeli government and its supporters.

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Susan replied on

The Palestinian Charge' de Affaires' Dr Linda Sobeh is a very nice person. Too nice. While "israeli" ambassadors regularily speak to Canadians, Canadian media and Canadian politicians as if we are misbehaving schoolchildren, Dr Sobeh backed down at the tiniest criticism. No apology was necessary. It would have sufficed to stand firm and simply correct the mistranslation, refer to the mistranslation and the correct translation repeatedly in media interviews and to use this calculated Zionist propaganda as an opportunity to educate Canadians about the on-going Palestinian suffering, on-going Zionist land theft and to demand that Canada and it's partners recognize and help implement international law and UN resolutions regarding Palestine. Whether I agree with Dr Sobeh's politics and strategies or not, she should not be recalled to Palestine or go without a fight.

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Rafeh Hulays replied on

The only mistake she and the PA made was to roll over. Harper and co are bullies and you need to stand up to bullies. Rolling over only encourages their trangressions. People here and in the article are disappointed by the media in Canada. They should not. The "news media" have long been cowed or been stacked by pro-Israel journalists and psycophants. We should simply point that, with the exception of few, our media is bankrupt and ia complicit in the crimes agaist humanity commited against Palestinians.

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Jim replied on

The Israelis and their supporters 'own' certain frames. When we venture into their territory we only confirm their narrative in the minds of the public.

Palestinians should focus on their own narrative and eventually they will win, because they are in the right.

When the talk is about defeating Zionists, or Israelis in general, it triggers everyone to think of the Zionist 'victimhood' narrative, and they will gain politically from it. Just as the recent prisoner swap allowed the Israelis to engage in an orgy of victimhood stories and sweep the world's compliant media along with it.

In my opinion diplomats shouldn't make those mistakes, however nice they are.

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martina replied on

As long as there is no resistance, Zionist groups will find open doors in the Canadian establishment. The PA should not have given up so quickly. Another example of the spineless collaboration with Zionist policies is Carleton University hosting a fundraising gala for the JNF!

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Malek replied on

The PA has been running on "capitulation mode" for many years. They don't dare venture to think about saying "no" even if they have a chance of following through and gaining on that "no."

The first thing that comes to mind in the PA's decision-makers' brain is "Canadian funding," not "Palestinian national struggle." So, the fear of losing funding is what made the PA do what it did in Sobeh's case.

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Jim replied on

An opportunity for us to explain the role of the JNF if obliterating the Palestinian presence in Israel.