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| Michael Regenstreif, Editor |
By Michael Regenstreif
Editor
Last June, the federal government adopted the International Holocaust
Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism as a component of its
anti-racism strategy. At the time, Canada was the 17th country to adopt the
definition.
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) – the advocacy agent for
Jewish federations in Canada, including the Jewish Federation of Ottawa – has
been encouraging provincial and municipal governments across the country to
endorse and adopt the IHRA definition as well.
In an era when, sadly, antisemitism and antisemitic hate crimes are on
the rise, it is important to have a common definition of antisemitism that can
guide law enforcement officials, the courts, the educational system, and all of
us. The IHRA definition does that by defining both classic antisemitism and
pointing out examples of how criticism of the State of Israel can and does
cross the line into antisemitism. However, the IHRA definition of antisemitism
explicitly states that “criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any
other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic.”
The line is crossed, though, by “applying double standards by requiring
of [Israel] a behaviour not expected or demanded of any other democratic
nation,” or “using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism
(e.g., claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterize Israel or
Israelis,” or “drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of
the Nazis,” or “holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state
of Israel.”
In other words, criticism of specific Israeli government policies or
Israeli politicians are as legitimate as criticism of specific Canadian or
American policies. For example, as I write, environmental protest actions by
several Indigenous nations in Canada have stopped Via Rail service across the
country and it is not anti-Canadian to criticize the government on how it has
handled the protests or even how it has handled the totality of relations – and
reconciliation – with Canada’s Indigenous peoples. But it would be
anti-Canadian to say that Canada has no right or legitimacy to exist as a
country because of how it has acted on the protests specifically, or even on
Indigenous relations generally.
Bill 168, a private member’s bill introduced by Ontario Conservative MPP
Will Bouma, would make Ontario the first province to adopt the IHRA definition.
The bill passed first reading at Queen’s Park two months ago and is now at
committee.
At the municipal level, few cities have yet taken any action on adopting
the IHRA definition. On January 28, the day after International Holocaust
Remembrance Day, the city of Vaughan, a Toronto-area suburb became the first
city in Canada to adopt the definition.
On International Holocaust Remembrance Day, a motion was presented at
Montreal’s city council calling for the city to adopt the IHRA definition. The motion
was presented by Councillor Lionel Perez, an observant Jew, who told the
Canadian Jewish News that he “believes the city should take this position
because of the increase in hate crimes against Jews.”
However, when the matter came before the city council, Perez withdrew
the motion when Mayor Valèrie Plante said defining antisemitism was “far from a
black and white issue” and suggested sending the issue of antisemitism to a
council committee which could devise a “Montreal model” to define antisemitism.
The following week there was no such hesitation when the city council of
Westmount – the suburb next to downtown Montreal where I lived for 27 years
before moving to Ottawa in 2007 – unanimously adopted the IHRA definition of
antisemitism.
I hope Ottawa City Council will also soon act to adopt the IHRA
definition.
Bulletin
website
I’m pleased and excited to report that work on the new Ottawa Jewish
Bulletin website is nearing completion and the site is scheduled to go live at www.ottawajewishbulletin.com
on Wednesday, March 4.
The new design is a big improvement on our old site, which we have not
been able to update since August.
Since then, we’ve been posting content to a temporary site at www.ojbulletin.blogspot.com which
we’ll continue to use until the new site goes live. It will be great to get
back to our real home on the internet.
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