Dave Gordon is an established Toronto-based political writer. His website is DaveGordonWrites.com"It’s uncertain whether the federal government’s National Forum on Combating Antisemitism, occurring next month, is a case of “too little too late,” or “better late than never.”For the past sixteen months antisemitism in Canada has reached unprecedented levels, rising six-hundred percent. Jews are the target of 70 percent of all religion-motivated hate crimes; particularly alarming given that Jews make up less than 1% of Canada's population.And so, a federally-led conference is at least a good gesture to figure out how to address the pressing issue.Justice Minister Arif Virani has been tapped to co-chair the Forum. The problem, however, is that Virani's statements in the past year demonstrate a bias that undermines his ability to lead such a crucial initiative.For one, his support for the UN-initiated “International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People,” on Nov. 29 is particularly problematic. Since 1977, this date has commemorated the UN General Assembly's adoption of the 1947 Partition Plan, which was accepted by Jewish leaders but rejected by Arab states, leading to war against the nascent State of Israel.What, precisely, does the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, represent?Take it straight from the UN itself. The UN Secretary General, António Guterres, issued a statement two months ago marking the occasion, saying that “nothing justifies the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.” This suggests that Israel is deliberately targeting an entire population for the actions of a few. But the facts do not bear this out.He also said: “Gaza is in ruins, more than 43,000 Palestinians — mostly women and children — have been reportedly killed.” Citing casualty numbers without pointing out that they come from terror group Hamas, or that the group does not distinguish between combatants and civilian deaths, is rather rich. Guterres added all this is “appalling and inexcusable.”The term "appalling" suggests that the strikes are morally offensive, implying that Israel is acting in a way that violates basic human decency. By calling the strikes "inexcusable," Guterres is suggesting that there is no valid reason or justification for Israel's actions, regardless of the context or provocation. The hard bias is what’s inexcusable.Still, it’d be a leap to say that Virani believes these things — because we don’t know — but the dots are connecting quite damningly that this Day of Solidarity has some serious issues.In fact, Palestinian spokesman Mustafa Barghouti in a 2022 Turkish media interview, explained his own interpretation of International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. The Member of the Palestinian Legislative Council since 2006 said the day is to commemorate “more than 75 years of Israeli ethnic cleansing.” Palestinians since Israel’s independence have been living “under a system of apartheid,” he continued. Barghouti — who is also a Member of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Central Council, and Former Minister of Information in the Palestinian government — further expressed his support for the boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel. Thankfully, the Liberal government has stood against these kinds of wrong ideas and accusations. So perhaps Virani hadn’t realized the deeper meaning of his X post.But by endorsing this day, Virani implicitly supports a narrative that delegitimizes Israel's very existence. He risks further discomforting the very community the Forum is meant to support and protect.Furthermore, Virani's public statements on the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas reveal a concerning lack of nuance and understanding.In May 2024, he tweeted: “The strikes that killed Palestinian civilians including women and children, are horrific. This devastation cannot continue.” While civilian casualties are indeed tragic, this statement fails to acknowledge the complex realities of the conflict, including Hamas's use of human shields and its stated goal of Israel's destruction. It fails to mention how Israel takes more than reasonable steps to avoid hitting non-combatants.Interestingly, no results on his X account for “Hizbollah” or “Hezbollah.” A search for “rocket” — as in twelve thousand indiscriminate rocket and mortar attacks from Israel’s neighbours — only brings up a tribute to hockey legend Rocket Richard. Nothing on Iran’s unprovoked attacks against Israel. There were two tweets, a year apart, referring to “hostage” — both in remembrance of Oct. 7, 2023. No words of specific remembrance, though, for the Canadian hostages murdered by Hamas: Judih Weinstein Haggai, Shir Georgy, Adi Vital-Kaploun, Alexandre Look, Ben Mizrachi, Netta Epstein, Tiferet Lapidot, and Vivian Silver.If he wants to wade into geopolitics of the conflict, at least show some semblance (or pretence) of being fair to both sides.The Jewish community in Canada, which has experienced an alarming surge in hate crimes and threats, deserves leadership that can approach this issue without preconceived biases.Furthermore, in more than a few examples on X in the past year when Virani denounced an antisemitic act, he tossed in mention of Islamophobia — or, “all forms of hate”.Mentioning both together creates a false equivalence. Pairing the two can be seen as a political maneuver rather than a genuine response to antisemitism. It comes across as an attempt to appease different groups, rather than directly confronting the specific issue at hand.For the National Forum on Combating Antisemitism to be successful, it must be led by individuals who can approach the issue with impartiality and a deep understanding of its complexities.To give him some credit though, mere weeks after the Oct. 7 massacre, Virani condemned on X the wave of antisemitism across Canada. And, at an Ottawa conference focusing on ways to combat antisemitism in late Oct. 2023, run by Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, Virani spoke of his desire to “stand up to” Jew-hatred. He said, “we want to make sure that the kind of hate we are seeing does not get a foothold and it does not grow in our society.” The “we” here doesn’t appear to include the ruling government, as the problem grew exponentially.Governments, he said “have a fundamental role to play in making sure that citizens” are not “feeling hate or being smothered by hate.” And they “need to act long before” perpetrators “can act out on their hate.”“Before we see another devastating act of fatal violence motivated by hatred, we need to take action,” he added. I’m hard pressed to find evidence since then of any kind of action of which he speaks. Words yes, actions no. It would be poignant to ask Virani about this, at the forthcoming forum.Terry Glavin laments, in his recently published 7,000-word Free Press report, “The Explosion of Jew-Hate in Trudeau’s Canada” explaining how antisemitism is “going mainstream, from the bottom to the top.” Don’t dump the blame entirely on the Liberals, mind you. It’s just that when you see a fire, the idea is to pull out a fire hose, arrest the arsonists; not stand and say “hey, fires are really bad.”Or in some cases, when there were black clouds of smoke, they were ignored or waved away.The Liberal Party's actions regarding certain individuals and organizations, for example, have raised concerns about their sincerity towards battling antisemitism.In 2021, Jenica Atwin joined the Liberals after leaving the Green Party, following controversy over her statements on Israel – including that it was “apartheid.”As Minister of Diversity and Inclusion, Ahmed Hussen's department awarded a contract for anti-racism training to Laith Marouf, despite Marouf's history of public antisemitic remarks. Reports suggest Hussen may have been informed about these issues before they became public in August 2022.Now, as Minister of International Development, Hussen oversees decisions on aid to Gaza, which often involves working with UNRWA, an organization that has faced its own controversies of ties to Hamas.These incidents have led some to question the Liberal government's commitment to addressing antisemitism.On the other hand, again to the federal government’s credit, two documents were recently compiled, about rising Jew-hatred in this country.One was “Heightened Antisemitism in Canada and How To Confront it” at 76 pages, from December, 2024. Among its recommendations: More committees, more studies, more Holocaust education, campus safety, more IHRA adoption, better policing, better vetting of government funding to those who align with hate, and the federal government to “consider” a “new intimidation offense” in the Criminal Code. The other paper, “Canadian Handbook on the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism” at 56 pages, was released Oct. 2024. Let’s see how this all pans out.Studies, committees, press releases, platitudes in Question Period, and earnest-sounding speeches at conferences ... hopefully next month’s National Forum on Combating Antisemitism won’t be more of the same.And hopefully, Virani comes to the conversation with all the “action” he promised almost five hundred days ago.One can hope.Dave Gordon is an established Toronto-based political writer, whose byline has appeared extensively in main stream publications. His website is DaveGordonWrites.com"
