Criminalizing Holocaust denial would draw a moral line in the sand, say two advocates for legal action, but a lawyer and Canadian-Israeli former member of the Knesset has reservations.<\/p>\n
Michal Cotler-Wunsh, head of the Nefesh B\u2019Nefesh Institute for Aliyah Policy and Strategy and a former Israeli parliamentarian, acknowledged free speech concerns but focused more on the need for evidence-based decision-making before criminalizing those who question historical facts around the Shoah. She also noted that the countries that have adopted criminal sanctions against those who spread historical fabrications \u2013 Germany and France, for example \u2013 are among the very places where antisemitism is at its worst.<\/p>\n
Sacha Ghozlan, a French legal expert and former president of the Union des \u00e9tudiants juifs de France (Union of French Jewish Students), dismissed free speech concerns and warned against confusing cause and correlation between antisemitism and legal proscriptions.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think you can draw a line between rising antisemitism in its new forms and the fact that a country has developed legislation to address rising Holocaust denial,\u201d Ghozlan said.<\/p>\n
Dr. Carson Phillips, managing director of the Neuberger Holocaust Education Centre, in Toronto, generally agreed with Ghozlan. Holocaust denial and expressions of hatred should not be protected grounds based on free speech arguments, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t see this so much as a freedom of speech,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is really an abuse of speech.\u2026 Does the listener have to be exposed to hate speech and an abuse of free speech?\u201d<\/p>\n
He argued that \u201cputting a fence around free speech\u201d is legitimate in cases where historical revisionism can lead to expressions of hatred.<\/p>\n
The three speakers were panelists in an event presented by the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) March 29, titled Perspectives on Criminalizing Holocaust Denial.<\/p>\n
A private member\u2019s bill introduced in Parliament by Saskatchewan Conservative MP Kevin Waugh would amend the Criminal Code section that prohibits inciting hatred \u201cagainst an identifiable group\u201d to include \u201ccommunication of statements, other than in private conversation, that wilfully promote antisemitism by condoning, denying or downplaying the Holocaust.\u201d<\/p>\n
Phillips contextualized Holocaust denial as a threat to Canadian society.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Holocaust is often [viewed] as being one of the foundational cornerstones of modern human rights and an attack on the Holocaust is certainly an attack on Canadian values and Canadian democracy and it needs to be taken very seriously,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
While he supports criminalization, he acknowledged that this is only a part of the solution.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am an educator,\u201d he said, adding that education has to exist alongside legal prohibitions.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo me, it\u2019s not an either\/or situation, it\u2019s a combination,\u201d he said. \u201cI see this as really strengthening and working together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Legislating against Holocaust denial would send a societal message, Phillips argued.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really important to draw a moral line,\u201d he said. \u201cIn Canada, where we are a pluralistic society with strong democratic values, I think this is one example of a way of being able to draw a moral line in the sand and being able to say there are certain abuses of free speech that will not be tolerated and for very good reasons because we know where this can lead \u2013 obviously, to the Holocaust. But also looking at it from the perspective that Holocaust denial is a form [of], and leads to, antisemitism but it is also an attack on democratic values, which we value so much within the Canadian context.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ghozlan said that social media companies have faced calls to pull down expressions of hatred and Holocaust denial, but have often demurred based on the free speech assurances of the U.S. Constitution.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it\u2019s not freedom of speech, it\u2019s fake news,\u201d he said. Advocates need to \u201clevel up pressure on social media, explaining to them that Holocaust denial is not about freedom of speech but it\u2019s about an abuse of freedom of speech,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Cotler-Wunsh, former Blue and White party member of the Knesset and Canadian-raised step-daughter of legal scholar and former Canadian justice minister Irwin Cotler, said she has always been a fighter against antisemitism. But she raised red flags around the issue of free expression and focused more narrowly on whether a prohibition on Holocaust denial would have the desired outcome.<\/p>\n
\u201cDoes the criminalization of Holocaust denial in fact meet the goal of combating antisemitism?\u201d she asked. Banning Holocaust denial \u2013 which is easily debunked \u2013 may simply be a feel-good act that is \u201clow-hanging fruit\u201d in the battle against anti-Jewish hate and might detract from the bigger responsibility to remain vigilant, contest mistruths in the marketplace of ideas and educate, rather than merely seek to silence, she said.<\/p>\n
Canada already has fairly robust legal consequences for hate expressions and Cotler-Wunsh warned that new laws that are difficult to administer, or that sit on the books without being enforced, could have the opposite of the intended effect.<\/p>\n
By example, she said, a recent controversy around the Holocaust represents a missed opportunity. After Whoopi Goldberg said on the TV show The View that the Holocaust \u201cwas not about race,\u201d she was suspended from the show for a period.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would have argued, if anybody would have asked me, that that was a great, great missed opportunity,\u201d said Cotler-Wunsh. It was \u201cexactly the moment to educate the millions of viewers of that show and be able to utilize that opportunity to engage in what the Holocaust was about.\u201d<\/p>\n
Education, while slow, is the only answer, she contended.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the end of the day, education is the key and that is one of the hardest things to say because it actually is the longest process,\u201d said Cotler-Wunsh. \u201cThere is no quick fix in education.\u201d<\/p>\n
Where compulsion should be exercised, she said, is on social media platforms, which she said should adopt and implement the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance Working Definition of Antisemitism.<\/p>\n
She worries that passing legislation against Holocaust denial might let elected officials off the hook. She imagines legislators thinking, \u201cOh we\u2019ve done something. We confronted antisemitism, when in fact data and empirics may show that criminalizing Holocaust denial hasn\u2019t actually made a dent in the rising antisemitism in Europe 30 years [after some countries criminalized it].\u201d<\/p>\n
Cotler-Wunsh, Ghozlan and Phillips were in discussion with Emmanuelle Amar, director of policy and research in CIJA\u2019s Quebec office. The event was opened and closed by Jeff Rosenthal, co-chair of the national board of CIJA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Criminalizing Holocaust denial would draw a moral line in the sand, say two advocates for legal action, but a lawyer and Canadian-Israeli former member of the Knesset has reservations. Michal Cotler-Wunsh, head of the Nefesh B\u2019Nefesh Institute for Aliyah Policy and Strategy and a former Israeli parliamentarian, acknowledged free speech concerns but focused more on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[801,21399,305,458,3076,2873,6122,2251,19921,21398],"class_list":["post-38602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world","tag-antisemitism","tag-carson-phillips","tag-centre-for-israel-and-jewish-affairs","tag-cija","tag-education","tag-free-speech","tag-holocaust-denial","tag-law","tag-michal-cotler-wunsh","tag-sacha-ghozlan"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38602\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}