Liberal MP Anthony Housefather travelled to Florida to campaign for Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz before celebrating her victory in Tuesday’s primary, prompting criticism from the Conservative candidate who previously challenged him in Montreal.The cross-border campaigning reflects a longstanding political partnership between Housefather and Wasserman Schultz built around their support for Israel, efforts to combat antisemitism and calls for social-media companies to protect Zionist identity under their hate-speech policies.A photograph circulating Wednesday shows Housefather wearing a Wasserman Schultz campaign shirt while canvassing alongside campaign workers in Florida.“My friend Debbie Wasserman Schultz is an amazing Member of Congress and I am thrilled she won a resounding victory in her primary in Florida 20 tonight,” Housefather wrote on Facebook following the result.“I am always on Team DWS.”Wasserman Schultz defeated four other candidates to capture the Democratic nomination in Florida’s newly redrawn 20th Congressional District. .She is seeking a 12th term in Congress and will face Republican Brent Andersen in November. Unofficial Florida election results showed all precincts reporting Tuesday night.Housefather is the Liberal MP for Mount Royal and serves on the justice and public safety committees while being an active member of the Canada-Israel interparliamentary group. Neil Oberman, the former Conservative candidate who ran against Housefather in Mount Royal, criticized the Liberal MP for participating in an American election campaign.“When Mark Carney said ‘Canada First. Canada Strong,’ his MP apparently heard it as ‘Canada … eventually. Where’s my red, white and blue gear?’” Oberman wrote on X.“Nice to know your tax dollars that pay his salary goes towards him spending summer having his social media comms manager send out Party talking points while he’s down south doing photo ops and banging doors for a U.S. congressperson, huh?”Oberman also suggested Housefather might be “more interested in priming to run for election in an adjacent district in Florida instead of fighting for us here at home.”Oberman offered no evidence that Housefather’s travel was paid for with parliamentary funds. Housefather’s post did not disclose who covered the cost of the trip.The two politicians’ relationship extends beyond personal friendship and party politics.Housefather and Wasserman Schultz helped establish the Inter-Parliamentary Task Force to Combat Online Antisemitism, bringing together politicians from Canada, the United States, Israel, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the United Kingdom.The task force is multipartisan, with its membership having included Liberal, Conservative and NDP politicians from Canada and Democrats and Republicans from the United States.In September 2022, Housefather and Wasserman Schultz participated in hearings with representatives from Meta, TikTok, YouTube and Twitter regarding hate on their platforms.The following year, they joined other task-force leaders in sending letters to those companies requesting greater transparency and stronger enforcement against antisemitic material.The recommendations included incorporating the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism into content-moderation policies and treating Zionism as a protected characteristic in certain contexts..The lawmakers argued that the term “Zionist” can be used as a substitute for “Jew” or “Israeli” when targeting people online.“Online and off, Zionist ‘coding’ mainstreams the targeting and exclusion of Jews from equal access and participation,” their 2023 statement said.Critics of that approach argue it risks conflating hatred directed at Jewish people with political opposition to Zionism or criticism of the Israeli government.The task force’s proposal did not call for every criticism of Zionism to be prohibited. It asked platforms to recognize instances in which “Zionist” is being used as a proxy to attack people based on Jewish or Israeli identity.Housefather has been one of the Liberal government’s most prominent supporters of Israel and was appointed special adviser on Jewish community relations and antisemitism in 2024.Wasserman Schultz, a former chair of the Democratic National Committee, has similarly been a leading pro-Israel Democrat in Congress.
