Some 50 to 60 Jewish students demonstrated against Canada’s Middle East policy Tuesday night outside a B’nai Brith Canada dinner attended by External Affairs Minister Joe Clark.
Clark was invited to the B’nai Brith dinner, honoring former Ambassador to the United States Allan Gotlieb, before he angered Canadian Jews last week by removing restrictions on high-level Canadian contacts with the Palestine Liberation Organization.
A Canadian official met last week with an envoy from the PLO’s mission to the United Nations in New York.
Frank Dimant, executive vice president of B’nai Brith Canada, remarked in his speech that Canada had made a mistake by recognizing the PLO as a partner for negotiations with Israel.
Clark responded that whatever changes have taken place, “Canada remains committed to Israel’s security.”
Demonstrators outside the hotel chanted “Ho, ho, say no to the PLO” and “Say no to terrorism.”
Stephen Granovsky, vice president of the North American Jewish Students Network, declared, “We wanted to tell Mr. Clark that Canadian foreign policy is in disarray and that he has rushed into a policy that is not well thought out, is unfounded in principle and must be rejected.”
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