JERUSALEM (JTA) — A Canadian Jewish human rights group is calling on the LBGT community to reject a "queers" anti-Israel apartheid program in Toronto.
"Queers Against Israeli Apartheid" is being held Saturday to "reignite Toronto’s queer community in the fight against apartheid," according to an announcement on the Ontario Public Interest Research Group Web site.
"Israel has now begun to frame itself as a tolerant, queer-positive democracy," the announcement read. "This can never be reality under occupation."
The keynote speaker is El-Farouk Khaki, co-founder of Salaam: Queer Muslim Community and Pride 2009 Grand Marshall.
B’nai Brith Canada called on members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community to reject the program.
“It is the height of irony to single out democratic Israel in this fashion when it is the only country in the Middle East that guarantees the fundamental freedoms of all its citizens without distinction," said Frank Dimant, the executive vice president of B’nai Brith Canada. "In stark contrast, the rights of the LGBT community in neighboring Arab countries are routinely trampled on.
“Members of Canada’s LGBT community who are constantly battling discrimination should be mindful not to become part and parcel of the anti-Israel machinery that continues to churn out hateful and divisive propaganda.”
