The following story was kindly brought to my attention by Ariella Kimmel of the Canadian Federation of Jewish Students. It’s an object lesson in the totalitarian mindset which has taken hold of too many anti-Zionist activists - the same activists who shriek the words “free speech” when their own views are confronted.

The story comes from the University of Ottawa:

A Jewish student group at the University of Ottawa says it was snubbed because of its “relationship to apartheid Israel” when it approached a student-funded social justice group to promote an event.

Hillel, which is part of an international network of Jewish student associations, asked the University of Ottawa Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG) for help to publicize a Nov. 20 speech given by the head of a Ugandan group working on sustainable development projects in the African Jewish community.

Hillel organizers didn’t get a response to their request before the event, but later received an e-mail from the board of directors at the research group, saying it had researched Hillel and decided that though the event “seems very interesting,” the board of directors had decided not to endorse or promote it.

“This decision was made because your organization (Hillel) and its relationship to apartheid Israel,” said the e-mail. “Zionist Ideology does not fit within OPIRG’s mandate of human right’s (sic), social justice.”

Public Interest Research Groups have been created on campuses across North America since they were founded in 1971 by political activist Ralph Nader. The University of Ottawa’s was created by a student referendum in 1977 that gave the group 75-per-cent support.

It is funded almost exclusively by a $3.38 annual levy on each student. It is involved in issues ranging from animal rights to lowering tuition and raising awareness of fair trade. Its mandate is to “bring together and build upon a broad-based community dedicated to social, economic, and environmental justice.”

The group was the only campus organization to respond to Hillel’s request to promote its event “in such an interesting way,” said Raphael Szajnfarber, the president of Hillel Ottawa, which has members at the University of Ottawa, Carleton University and Algonquin College.

“It’s very disappointing to see a response like that,” he said. “We were also a little bit shocked that they would take such an explicit position.”

“There’s the blanket definition of Zionism as a negative thing,” said Mr. Szajnfarber, a fourth-year public affairs student at Carleton.

Hillel believes in “Israel’s right to self-determination, also known as Zionism,” he said.

“Hillel gets about $2,400 a year from the student associations at Carleton and the University of Ottawa. OPIRG gets much more than that. All students have to pay the levies, but OPIRG doesn’t treat all student groups the same way,” Mr. Szajnfarber said.

“Essentially, they have singled us out for our values. We have a problem with that,” he said. “Many students might find that problematic.”

Hillel sponsors a number of events of interest to students outside the Jewish community, he said. Recently, for example, the group sponsored a talk by Rabbi Steven Greenberg, an openly gay Orthodox rabbi, and another by Andreas Pretzel, who was in Ottawa to to talk about the persecution of homosexuals in Germany.

In an e-mail response to the Citizen’s request for an interview, a member of the research group’s board of directors, identified only as “Daniel,” said the group’s board will meet tomorrow night and will have a response available on Thursday.

The board does not have a chair and makes its decisions based on consensus.

“Our position is outlined in that e-mail you have,” he wrote.

Mr. Szajnfarber said Israel Siriri, the speaker Hillel was promoting, was to speak about schools that fed and educated 500 Jewish, Muslim and Christian children studying together.

“It’s a success story” he said. “We felt that it would have interest beyond Jewish students.”

Mr. Szajnfarber said he doesn’t want to link the research group’s e-mail with the campus political correctness controversy that erupted last week when the Carleton University Students’ Association voted to drop cystic fibrosis as the beneficiary of its annual Shinerama fundraiser to look for a more “inclusive” cause.

“I would call it political incorrectness,” he said of the research group’s e-mail. “If that’s politically correct, it’s unfortunate.”