governance

On war and antisemitism

Sharren Haskel, Israel’s deputy foreign minister, spoke with Canadian media on March 9. (photo from Consulate General of Israel in Toronto and Western Canada)

A terror attack against Canadian Jews on par with the Bondi Beach attack in Australia last December is inevitable if leaders in this country do not address the growing antisemitism crisis, according to Israel’s deputy foreign minister.

In an interview with the Independent Monday, Sharren Haskel reacted to recent shootings at Toronto synagogues and a larger trend of antisemitic acts.

“This will end in blood if the government is not taking serious actions. This is going to end exactly like the Bondi massacre,” she said.

Haskel is attuned to the Canadian situation because she was born in this country – one of only three Canadian-born individuals in Israeli history to sit in the Knesset. Her father lives in Canada and she has other family members here, who she visits frequently.

“I was always so proud of Canada being such a safe haven for Jews,” she said, calling Canada a place where acceptance of minorities, tolerance and coexistence have been strong, defining values.

“And to know where Canada was and where it is today is absolutely devastating,” she said. “It’s heartbreaking for me, and I think that not enough people truly understand the danger the Jewish community is [facing].”

Shootings at Jewish institutions and other acts of vandalism and violence have made Canada, according to an Israeli government report last year, the “champion on antisemitism.”

“It’s insane,” said Haskel.

When a racialized or other minority community in Canada expresses discomfort with a situation, she said, significant steps are taken to alleviate the problem.

Jews do not enjoy a parallel level of empathy, she said. “[Jews] say I am violently being attacked. I’m not allowed to enter my classes. I’ve been beaten. My business was shot at,” she said. “And nothing. Nothing.”

Elected officials have allowed the situation to go too far, said Haskel.

“The government is not setting a very clear red line,” she said. “We are far beyond words. Words don’t matter anymore. This is about actions now.”

The deputy foreign minister added that Canadians, too often, demonstrate inappropriate responses to international events. Critics of Israeli military approaches to Hamas and to the Iranian regime are coming from a place of privilege.

“In Canada, you are very lucky,” she said. “This is one of the most peaceful countries, you enjoy its freedom, and many people in the younger generation have received that freedom on a silver platter. This is not the case in the Middle East. Israel has faced a six-fronted war for the last two years against six different armies – all of them sponsored, trained, armed by this vile, fanatical regime in Iran.”

The Iranian regime has also undermined Israel’s neighbours, she noted, destroying Lebanon’s politics, social fabric and culture. In Syria, Iran backed the regime of Bashar al-Assad, which was overthrown in 2024 after a civil war in which the government explicitly targeted and murdered its own citizens, particularly minorities, killing at least 300,000 people and possibly as many as 650,000.

“It’s very easy to speak from a very comfortable, liberated place,” said Haskel. “But our reality in the Middle East is a very difficult and harsh one, where we are still fighting for our survival, for our freedom, for our rights as minorities here in this region against very extreme, radical, fanatical terrorist organizations and terrorist regimes.”

Haskel hedged on whether Israel’s war aim in the current conflict with Iran is regime change.

“The goal is to take out the long-term existential threat over Israel,” she said. “This is how we define it, and this is the goal of the war.”

That involves taking out Iran’s nuclear program, she said, as well as its ballistic missile program, and neutralizing the experts who are developing, manufacturing and advancing tools for mass destruction. This war is aimed at conclusively ending that threat, she said.

Past Israeli military and covert actions against the Iranian nuclear program resulted in continued Iranian determination to rebuild, according to Haskel.

“They didn’t get the message of our capability, of how determined we are that they will not be able to reach that master plan of annihilation of the state of Israel,” she said. “They’ve been working tirelessly on renovating, on re-creating, on reconstructing, all of that over again. And we are at the point where we say, look, you know, we cannot go every year into an operation like that to eliminate an immediate threat like a nuclear weapon, mass destruction, disruptive weapons.”

Haskel stops short of declaring whether that requires regime change, echoing US President Donald Trump, who has urged Iranians themselves to overthrow their government.

She is hopeful that the US-Israel actions will open a path “for the Iranian people to liberate themselves and to change these fanatical tyrants who have been abusing and torturing them for so many years.”

Should the regime be replaced by a Western-oriented government, the impacts would be broader than the Middle East. For example, Hezbollah, which is supported by Iran, is engaged in drug trafficking and money laundering in Latin America to help fund their operations, she noted.

Haskel believes that the world should be grateful to the United States and Israel.

“President Trump and Prime Minister [Binyamin] Netanyahu are leading right now an effort to protect humanity,” she said. “Every leader and every sensible person around the world needs to ask themselves who they want as their friends and who would come to their help when they really needed it the most.

“During our time in history, when freedom, real freedom, is in danger,” she said, “we are very fortunate to have two leaders like Trump and Netanyahu that stood up and took actions to defend humanity, to defend Western democracies.”

Haskel said that representing Israel carries a profound responsibility not only to the country itself but also to Jewish communities around the world. For her, that responsibility is deeply personal, particularly when it comes to Canada, where she has such close ties. Hearing directly from relatives and friends about rising fear and insecurity has reinforced her sense of duty.

Haskel, who has served as deputy foreign minister since 2024, was first elected to the Knesset in 2015. She was born in Toronto to an Israeli father and a Moroccan mother who met in Paris. The family lived in Canada before moving to Israel when Sharren was a year old. She was raised in Kfar Saba and studied in the United States and Australia. First elected on the Likud slate, she joined Gideon Sa’ar’s New Hope party in 2021.

Concerning actions

The federal government announced last week that they are eliminating the office of Canada’s Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism.

The announcement came in conjunction with the decision to eliminate the similar office of the Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia, and the announcement that there will be a new Advisory Council on Rights, Equality and Inclusion.

It is hard to find fault with the hope expressed by the government that the new council, which will be comprised of prominent Canadians from academia as well as experts and community leaders, will foster social cohesion, rally Canadians around shared identity, combat racism and hate in all their forms, and help guide the government’s work in fighting racism. However, cutting the one position in Ottawa explicitly committed to addressing antisemitism just doesn’t seem wise.

Given the precipitous rise in antisemitism in Canada, we might assume that the office of antisemitism was not a great success. On the other hand, it is nearly impossible to measure success and failure on these matters. Perhaps things would have been markedly worse without it. In any event, for what was no doubt a barely negligible cost in the bigger scheme of the federal budget, the office was at least a nod toward taking the matter seriously.

Perhaps the new office will have profound impacts that the two eradicated offices did not. The problem is that, in so many ways, antisemitism is different in form and content from other forms of racism. It needs and deserves to be recognized and treated in ways that reflect this meaningful difference.

It is a symptom of the problem of antisemitism itself that this basic recognition of difference elicits condemnations of “Jewish exceptionalism,” or worse. It is an unavoidable truth, though, and the unique challenges of antisemitism are not addressed when elected officials, commentators, academics and antiracist activists seem congenitally incapable of condemning antisemitism without couching that condemnation in a basket of other biases and bigotries that deserve their own condemnation.

It should be reason for concern that the homogenization of antisemitism is now being institutionalized in an agency that lumps biases against Jews – which Statistics Canada says account for 70% of religiously motivated hate crimes and almost one in five of all hate crimes in the country – into a catch-all council dealing with a vast range of social ills. (The fact that antisemitism is grouped with “religiously motivated hate crimes” is a problematic but common misnomer for another editorial.)

A second, seemingly unrelated story in the news last week should amplify this concern.

In a minor political coup, Doly Begum, the deputy leader of the New Democratic Party in the Ontario legislature, blindsided her leader by suddenly resigning her legislative seat and announcing she would run federally – not for their federal counterpart, the NDP, but for Mark Carney’s Liberal party.

Political commentators have had a field day poking the entrails of Ontario’s NDP and wondering what it might mean for the federal Liberal government’s left flank as some people ponder a snap election this year.

Those attuned to other nuances of the story soon found that Begum has been one of the Ontario legislature’s most vocal anti-Israel voices, with a particular inclination toward the “genocide” claim. Given that provincial governments have precisely no foreign policy responsibilities, Begum’s fixation on this issue suggests she may bring a very particular agenda should she be elected in the upcoming by-election.

There is no way that the prime minister, the Liberal party and anyone else involved in these headline-topping machinations was not aware of their new recruit’s repeated and inflammatory comments on this topic.

The welcoming of Begum into the Liberal fold seems like another message to Canadians about this government’s approach to Israel and Palestine and the inevitable fallout of that conflict on domestic harmony.

Coming on the heels of the federal government’s recognition of a “state of Palestine” last year, it is hard to imagine the latest developments as anything short of a slap in the face to Jewish and pro-Israel Canadians, and anyone who cares about combatting Jew-hatred.

האלימות בישראל מורגשת בהרבה מגזרים

בעברי כאשר גרתי בישראל לא חשבתי שהמדינה נחשבת לאלימה במיוחד אך בשנים האחרונות שיניתי את דעתי. כיום להערכתי האלימות בישראל מורגשת בהרבה מגזרים וכמעט בכל פינה. חדשות לבקרים אנו קוראים על אלימות מצד אזרחים נגד אזרחים אחרים ועקומת האלימות הולכת וגדלה. נראה שהישראלים פורקים כל עול, מצפצפים אחד על השני ומנסים לפתור את בעיותיהם באמצעות אלימות, שחלקה קשה ביותר. האם המצב יכול להשתפר בעתיד ועקומת האלימות תשנה כיוון ותקטן? לא ברור. אך ברור שהאלימות המקומית במדינה היא התנהגות מדבקת וזו תמונה שבאמת לא הולמת ומחמיאה למדינה שנלחמת על קיומה. חלק יטענו שלאור המצב הבטחוני המסובך בו נמצאת ישראל גדלה האלימות בין האזרחים. אני לא יודע אם זו הסיבה העיקרית לאלימות המשתוללת בישראל. בכל מקרה לדעתי אין שום הצדקה לנקוט באלימות בין האזרחים

הנה מספר דוגמאות לאלימות במגזרים השונים: גננות ועוזרותיהן מכות ופוגעות פיזית בילדים בגנים, שכנים רבים על מקומות חנייה והולכים מכות, בעלים מכים את נשותיהם ואף פוגעים בהן מינית, משתתפים בחתונות הולכים מכות באולמות האירועים, אורחים בבתי מלון רבים והולכים מכות בחדרי האוכל, חיילים בצבא רבים והולכים מכות בחדרי האוכל הצבאיים, יריבים פוליטיים הולכים מכות בהתכנסויות פוליטיות, וכמובן גורמים פליליים יורים על יריביהם ולא מעט מוצאים את מותם בדרך זו. התנהלות פלילית זו מאפיינת את המגזר היהודי ואת המגזר הערבי כאחד. כמובן יש גם אלימות במגרשים הכדורגל שזה לא דבר חדש, וכן בין תומכי ממשלת נתניהו למתנגדים לה. אחד מארגוני הפשע שהשתלטו על קבוצת הכדורגל של בית”ר ירושלים – לה פמיליה – הוא תומך נלהב בממשלת נתניהו ולכן הוא אחראי גם באלימות קשה בתחום הפוליטי. צריך להוסיף גם את האלימות מצד דתיים וחרדים שלא בוחלים בשום דרך לקדם את מדיניותם הקיצונית. חרדים פוגעים בגורמים המזוהים עם הרעיון שהגיע הזמן שגם הם יתגייסו לצבא. ואילו מתנחלים פוגעים קשות בפלסטינים בשטחים הכבושים, וכן בערבים ישראלים בשטחי ישראל

ישראל שהייתה בעברה מדינה סובלנית, מתקדמת וליברלית הופכת להיות יותר ויותר שמרנית, ימנית, דתית ואלימה. בעבר היה הבדל גדול ותהומי בין תושבי שראל לתושבי השכנות במדינות ערב. לצערי בשנים האחרונות הפער הולך וקטן והתנהלות הישראלים והאלימות שמורגשת בכל פינה, מזכירה יותר ויותר את השכנות שמעבר לגבול

גיבוי לדברי בנוגע לאלימות הקשה בישראל מצאתי שימוש בבינה מלאכותית של גוגל. שם נאמר כי: “אלימות בישראל בשנה שעברה אופיינה בעלייה חדה ומדאיגה במגוון מדדים, החל מפשיעה חמורה בחברה הערבית ועד לזינוק במספר מקרי הרצח של נשים”. לגבי אלימות נגד נשים מוזכר כי “שנה שעברה הוגדרה כאחת השנים המסוכנות ביותר לנשים בישראל”. ולפחות ארבעים וארבע נשים נרצחו אשתקד. ואילו “הפשיעה במגזר הערבי ממשיכה להחמיר” ואשתקד נרצחו כמאתיים וארבעים ערבים ישראלים. ובכלל: “כחמישה עשר אחוז מתושבי ישראל חוו אשתקד סוג של פגיעה (הטרדה מינית, פשעי רשת או אלימות)”

לפי הבינה המלאכותית של גוגל שלושת הגורמים העיקריים לעלייה באלימות הם: 1) המלחמה בעזה לאור השבעה באוקטובר שהיו לה השלכות פסיכולוגיות קשות שהביאו לעלייה באלימות במשפחה והחמירה את המתח החברתי. 2) עליה בתפוצת הנשק החם במיוחד במגזר הערבי ובמשפחה. 3) חוסר אכיפה ותקציבים תוך דגש על מחסור בתוכניות אסטרטגיות בין משרדי הממשלה, ומשאבים לרשויות המקומיות לטיפול בשורש האלימות. בתקופת ממשלת נתניהו נרשם זינוק חד במספר הנרצחים בישראל. מדובר בגידול של כשמונים וחמישה אחוזים

Killed for being Jewish

For Jews worldwide, the hope represented by the first candle of Hanukkah was snuffed out by the horrifying mass murder at a communal Hanukkah celebration in Sydney, Australia. At press time, 15 were confirmed dead, ranging from a 10-year-old named Matilda to an 87-year-old survivor of the Holocaust, Alex Kleytman.

There have been many antisemitic incidents and attacks in Australia in the past two years, as there have been in many places. One of the reasons this hatred is spreading is the refusal of leaders to recognize and address it specifically as Jew-hatred.

This stubborn blindness was evidenced in the words of Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in the immediate aftermath of Sunday’s mass murder.

“An attack on Jewish Australians is an attack on every Australian,” he said.

This is the sort of bromide politicians bring forth in moments like these, almost entirely devoid of meaning and, more significantly, a refusal to see the incident for what it is.

This was absolutely, decidedly, emphatically not an attack on “every Australian.” It was a targeted attack on Jewish Australians and to paint it as anything else – to universalize the very anti-Jewish particularity of the violence – is to deflect attention from the reality and true nature of the problem and ensure no resolution to Australia’s crisis of antisemitism is reached.

An Australian Jewish communal leader said antisemitic incidents in the country are “off the scale,” noting a series of recent antisemitic arsons, which pile upon recent attacks on synagogues, a daycare centre and an Israeli restaurant, as well as a tragically long list of less violent incidents.

The Australian problem is a microcosm of a larger global phenomenon. Government leaders, activists, commentators, NGOs and public figures worldwide for (at least) two years have been condemning Israel in the most malevolent terms, including outright blood libels and slanders that have become so endemic as to be treated as received truth.

The parallels between the tenor of frenzied rhetoric against Israel – including from the highest levels of government, society and media – and the unprecedented spike in antisemitic violence has seemed to spark almost no recognition of cause and effect. An alternative (and perverse) explanation seems to be that the victims of these incidents deserve it, considering their perceived complicity in Zionism.

Given the panorama of tragedy in the world and the myopic focus on the only one involving the Jewish state puts the lie to naïve assessments that there is no correlation here. Or that the Jewish victims are to blame. If overheated rhetoric toward any other identifiable group paralleled extraordinary targeted violence against members of that group (or anyone seen to be in sympathy or associated with them), almost anyone would recognize the correlation.

The Australian government, like so many others, seems to believe they can condemn Israel in the most strident, undiplomatic terms, on the one hand, and claim, on the other hand, shock and dismay – even bewilderment – when violence against Australian Jews erupts.

In the aftermath of the mass murders, Albanese committed to stronger gun laws, which are already some of the strongest in the Western world. Well, OK. But how about stronger laws and customs against antisemitic incitement? How about toning down the declarations from his own government, which some have accused of rewarding the 10/7 terror attacks by nearly instantaneously demanding and then leading a vanguard of nations to unilaterally recognize Palestinian statehood while terrorists are still in control there? How about listening to the voices of Jewish Australians who have been warning for more than two years that this sort of terror was becoming inevitable given the pitch of rhetoric?

It will be noted extensively that the attacks were apparently perpetrated by a father and son who are reported to be migrants from Pakistan. (The father is dead. The son is in hospital with significant injuries.) It should be noted at least as prominently that the man who disarmed one of the attackers is a Syrian Muslim. If we want to paint a broad brush of blame, we must also paint with an equally broad brush of heroism, truly incredible courage and heroic action. Let us not, though, pretend that there are not dangerous strains of cultural and theological antisemitism embedded in some communities that absolutely need to be addressed much more vigorously and vociferously than they are currently being addressed. It is also true that antisemitism knows no borders and has spread to nearly every pocket of the world over the last 2,000-plus years.

Early indications are that Australia is determined to ignore the obvious parallels between unrestrained continual damnation of Israel across society, including at the highest levels, and violence against Jews. Maybe other countries – like ours – will take heed and learn from Australia’s folly before it is too late. We hope so. Canada’s government and civil society have responded very much along the lines of Australia’s throughout these horrible two years.

What should governments do?

Left to right at the Jewish Seniors Alliance of BC Fall Symposium Nov. 23: Jeff Moss, Joyce Murray, Anthony Kupferschmidt, Dan Levitt and Isobel Mackenzie. (photo by Alex Roque Photography)

The Jewish Seniors Alliance of British Columbia’s fall symposium featured a panel discussion on the responsibilities of governments for seniors. The panelists discussed housing, transportation and healthcare services. They explored challenges in funding, staffing and service delivery, while also touching on topics such as the potential for community involvement in shaping senior support systems.

The Nov. 23 gathering, which took place at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver, opened with Jeff Moss, executive director of JSABC. He said provincial advocacy is “at the heart” of what JSA does, “and bringing together politicians in this space is really important, because the conversations that we have when we meet with the provincial government, or when we’re meeting with the opposition, [are] where we are advocating strongly for universal free home support for seniors in British Columbia.”

JSA’s partners in this campaign are Council of Senior Citizens’ Organization (COSCO), the BC Health Coalition, the Independent Long-Term Care Councils Association of BC, Family Caregivers of British Columbia and the BC Care Providers Association (BCCPA), whose chief executive officer, Mary Polak, addressed those gathered.

Polak shared that her father, who’s 96 years old, is in long-term care. He has some dementia issues and needs to have some specialized care, she said. “But in the time that he was at home with us and we were trying to give him the best quality of life we could in our own home, it was a real challenge to try and support that with home health services. And we were in a better place than many because at least we had some of the financial capacity to do that, and we had the family around us. But, for an increasing number of people, that’s becoming impossible, and it shouldn’t be that way.”

Ezra Shanken, CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, which also is a partner and supporter of JSABC, introduced Shay Keil, who sponsored the event with the BCCPA and JSA, along with Michael and Sally Geller, and the Zalkow Foundation.

“Seniors are the foundation of who we are,” said Keil. “You’ve built our families, our traditions and our values, and you deserve to be honoured, supported and celebrated. We often speak of m’dor l’dor, from generation to generation, and that idea is very close to my heart. I strongly believe in the connection between seniors and children and everyone in between. That belief is why I’m here today, and why I’m deeply committed to community through volunteering, supporting and staying actively involved in the organizations that strengthen the lives of those around us, including JSA.”

Keil introduced the emcee of the panel, Isobel Mackenzie, “who served as British Columbia’s seniors advocate from 2014 to 2024, and has spent her career championing the well-being, safety and dignity of our seniors.”

Mackenzie asked each panelist to come to the stage: Anthony Kupferschmidt, strategic lead for aging and older persons with the City of Vancouver, who has worked in similar capacities with other cities and groups, and is also a gerontologist; Joyce Murray, who has served both as a member of the Legislative Assembly and as a member of Parliament; and Dan Levitt, a gerontologist who has worked 30-plus years in seniors care, and is the current seniors advocate for the province.

Each panelist gave an overview of their opinions, starting with Kupferschmidt, who noted that much of what a municipality can do for the aging population requires financial support from other orders of government. However, a city can impact seniors in such areas as “zoning and related development charges, making sure that we have the right type of housing and the right mix of housing across the city.”

Municipalities can work with the provincial government, for example, on where care homes are located and support their development. Transportation is another key area, as are sidewalks and other “elements of an age-friendly city.” Cities have a role with respect to public libraries and the accessible services they offer, community centres, senior centres, pools, arenas, etc.

Levitt was the next to speak. “Currently, there are 5.5 million people living in our province, 1.1 million people are over 65,” he said. “Today, there’s one in five – 20% of all people are seniors. Fast forward just a decade from now and it’ll be one in four, 25%…. We have more people who are living longer and more people who are seniors, so 400,000 more seniors in the next decade.”

Levitt’s office monitors five areas: health care, transportation, housing, income and community services.

“The general trend,” he said, “is that there are more seniors and there are more investments, but there’s less available per senior.”

As an example, he said, a quarter of all seniors are living on $23,000 a year, or less than $2,000 a month. “And it’s not that hard to go find people living in the West End in affordable housing living on less than $1,000 a month, so they really need that income support from all levels of government, they need those subsidies.”

Levitt said there were 13,000 people on the waitlist for affordable housing last year. “How many of them got a space?” he asked. “Six percent, just under 800 people have got a space for affordable seniors housing in our province. We haven’t built enough, and there is a call right now to build more, but we’re not keeping pace with that demand.”

As well, he said, the province has been taking money away from long-term care homes, no longer funding overtime and agency nurses, for example, and this affects places like the Louis Brier Home and Hospital.

“It means that an already very thin margin is now almost impossible to operate without that government subsidy,” said Levitt.

“We haven’t invested enough either in seniors care,” he added. “We did a report in July, and our July report identifies that over 16,000 people are going to be short long-term care because we’re not building enough beds. There are 7,200 people on the waitlist today.” The burden of care, he said, is being transferred to families.

Murray took the conversation in a different direction.

“I was looking at the budget numbers about this when I was thinking about what I would be saying,” she said, “and the total new spending on OAS [Old Age Security] and medical care for seniors alone in the 2023 budget was $110 billion of new money…. Now, that’s going to tie into some of the demographics, for sure, but, when you break that down, that’s $4,300 per retiree 65 and older in new money in the 2023 federal budget versus $755 for younger Canadian under 45 in new money.”

She wondered about how well younger people were being supported. She also spoke of environmental concerns.

“What does it mean to be a good ancestor?” she asked. “And what do we think our society, our province, our country needs to do so that we collectively are good ancestors?”

“To govern is to choose,” said Mackenzie, noting that governments must make decisions about how “to allocate our finite resources to our infinite demands.”

The panelists talked more about that, as well as the way in which different levels of government work with one another. Murray said governments make policies they hope will attract voters, and seniors tend to vote more than younger people, so, for example, “a family with two members can earn up to $180,000 a year and still get their full OAS,” she said, asking, “Is that a good allocation of money?”

Mackenzie asked a variant of Murray’s question, considering how maximum monthly payments for public long-term care work.

“The person whose income is $200,000 a year is going to pay the same for their publicly funded long-term care plan as the person whose income is $70,000 a year,” said Mackenzie. “And so, if, on the one hand, we say, well, the people who have more should get less, which is the OAS argument, to what extent should we flip that and say, well, the people who have more should pay more when it comes to publicly subsidized long-term care? That’s, I think, missing from the discussion…. I think there are very uncomfortable conversations … that governments are going to have to have with their electorate and, as elected officials, you don’t like to have those uncomfortable conversations, for obvious reasons.”

Levitt thought the situation could be improved if governments helped people understand how much money they need to save to age well, what supports there would be for them as they age, and what people could do to support themselves.

Murray suggested, “Maybe what we need is like a citizens’ assembly, to start out by identifying what are the key things that are maybe broken or need improvement so that we can be good ancestors. And then have a citizens’ assembly that looks at what are the best solutions in other countries … and then create a proposal on that. I think we have to crowdsource the solutions here…. We need citizens to help us solve this.”

Kupferschmidt brought up Better at Home, a basket of non-medical services that seniors can access. “There has been public engagement into what those services should be…. However, there are examples of the service that is offered in one neighbourhood in the city is different than another,” he said, explaining that a “model with all the best intentions can sometimes create some disparities as well.”

Mackenzie stressed the complexities, both because everyone’s needs and everyone’s solutions are different. “And, in the end, in those environments, generally, we try to come up with solutions that meet the greatest good for the greatest number, but that certainly doesn’t meet the need for everybody all the time and that is, I think, the political challenge at all levels of government, whether they be the local, the provincial or the federal.”

Krieger takes on new roles

Nina Krieger, centre, member of the BC Legislative Assembly for Victoria-Swan Lake, connects with community members. Krieger is the new public safety minister and solicitor general. (photo from Nina Krieger)

After a cabinet shuffle last week, Nina Krieger, member of the legislative assembly for Victoria-Swan Lake, is the new public safety minister and solicitor general, replacing Garry Begg, who became parliamentary secretary for Surrey infrastructure.

Saying she is “humbled and excited” to take on the position, Krieger told the Independent: “Our province faces complex challenges, and I am committed to working with my colleagues, local governments, Indigenous leadership, police services, business and community organizations to build safe, healthy and resilient communities for everyone.

“Public safety is one of the central issues of our time,” she said, “and British Columbians are looking to us to strengthen public safety through effective support of our law enforcement services and working across government to address the root causes of public disorder.

“I look forward to working with partners around the province to take meaningful action to keep BC a safe place to live, work and enjoy this beautiful province we call home,” she added.

Before being elected to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia last fall, Krieger was the executive director of the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre (VHEC). She takes over her new cabinet position after having served as parliamentary secretary for arts and film. Prior to this shift in roles, she spoke with the Independent about her time in office since being sworn in.

“The role of MLA is a unique opportunity and responsibility. I don’t think anything can quite prepare you for the busy, ever-changing schedule, and the range of issues and people that you encounter on any given day,” Krieger said.

“The learning curve is steep but exciting and I’m grateful to be learning alongside other new MLAs, from veteran members of caucus and from the incredible teams behind the scenes at the BC legislature.”

Krieger describes the move from the VHEC as “bittersweet,” saying it was difficult to leave an organization and a community for which she cares deeply. Nonetheless, she said the skills, experience and values she honed during her work at VHEC have proved meaningful and timely in her current role.

“I keep in close touch with former colleagues and the Holocaust survivor community and was honoured to return to the VHEC this spring to emcee a Yom Hashoah commemorative program featuring Premier David Eby, presented in partnership with the Province of BC and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs,” she said.

Her introduction to the legislative side of the MLA job came during the recent spring session that concluded in May. She sat in the house and committee rooms, sometimes late into the night, delivering speeches about her community and constituents’ achievements and needs, as well as debating and voting on proposed legislation.

“I was proud to deliver several statements in the house, marking days of significance for BC’s Jewish community,” said Krieger.

“This spring, government passed legislation to protect consumers, respond to the threat of tariffs and implement countermeasures, deliver more renewable energy projects and major infrastructure projects, among other work,” she said.

During the summer months, MLAs return to their communities.

“I visit and meet with local organizations to hear about the work they do and how we can spotlight and support them,” she said. “I also have the chance to attend local events as an MLA over the summer, from graduation ceremonies to festivals, markets and sports games. With so many amazing people putting on great events around town here over the summer, it adds to the fun of this role.”

As the parliamentary secretary for arts and film, Krieger worked closely with the minister of tourism, arts, culture and sport to advance the

development and growth of British Columbia’s film, television and animation sectors, as well as supporting and growing the arts and culture sectors in the province. One of the perks of that job was attending film-related events and meetings, like local film festivals.

“It has been amazing to see the talent and work coming out of BC, and rewarding to stand strong in support of workers in the face of tariff threats,” she said.

Krieger acknowledges that it is a difficult time for Jews in the province and throughout Canada, with challenges in finding their political “homes.” She is grateful that there were Jewish voters whose values aligned with those of the BC NDP.

“I know that there is work to do to ensure that Jewish people in BC feel safe and supported, and that nobody is targeted because of who they are,” Krieger said. “Combatting antisemitism – which is illiberal, toxic to democracy and dangerous – requires the work of all levels of government and civil society.”

She continues to be in active contact with Jewish constituents and community leaders in Victoria, which, she says, is home to a diverse Jewish community. Constituents from a range of backgrounds have contacted her and expressed deep concern about the toll of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war on the civilian populations of the region.

“While foreign policy is beyond my scope as a provincial representative, it is vital to discuss ways to ensure that BC is a safe and inclusive place for all people,” Krieger said. “From my work as a Holocaust educator, I know that it is vital to counter misinformation, disinformation and conspiracy theories, which can fan the flames of xenophobia, antisemitism and hate, and keep communities divided. In my work as MLA, I hope to counter this by bringing people together, modeling respectful dialogue and upholding the values of truth and trust in democratic institutions.”

Krieger explained that her experience as an anti-racism educator showed her the importance of listening and continually learning with openness and compassion. It is relevant to her current work, she believes, because she is entrusted with the stories and experiences of many constituents, which are often shared to build a more just and inclusive society.

“The province helps fund anti-racism and anti-hate work done around BC,” said Krieger, “and I have the opportunity to talk to organizers that are the recipients of grant funding and hear about their work, share experiences and learn how we can continue to collaborate to do this vital work effectively.”

Sam Margolis has written for the Globe and Mail, the National Post, UPI and MSNBC.

Standing up to the PM

MK Dan Illouz opposes legislation that would enshrine the exemption of Haredim from military service. (photo from Knesset)

Dan Illouz, a Montreal-born Likud rookie member of the Knesset, is making a name for himself in Israel’s Parliament by speaking against his own party’s policy of opposing the draft of Haredim (ultra-Orthodox Jews) into the Israel Defence Forces.

“Exempting such a large group of people from their obligation to serve in the IDF at such a critical time is anti-Zionist,” the freshman lawmaker tweeted recently on X.

Responding to the challenge to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s leadership, the Likud has taken steps to clamp down on internal dissent by party lawmakers opposed to legislation that would enshrine the exemption of members of the ultra-Orthodox community from military service.

The IDF’s personnel shortage has become acute in the wake of Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, surprise attack on Israeli cities and kibbutzim ringing the Gaza Strip, followed by Hezbollah’s rocket campaign against the Galilee and Central Israel that began the next day. Reservists, called miluimnikim in Hebrew, have been repeatedly called up for months at a time. But, Netanyahu must balance his party’s stability in government with military personnel considerations, not to mention growing casualties.

In a move widely seen as linked to then-defence minister Yoav Gallant’s opposition to the controversial military draft exemption legislation – which has been demanded by ultra-Orthodox coalition partners whose support Likud needs to stay in power – Netanyahu fired Gallant last month and appointed Israel Katz in his stead. The prime minister then pushed for party discipline against dissenters like Illouz, who holds the rank of captain in the IDF reserves.

Coalition whip Ofir Katz informed Illouz that he was being removed from the Knesset’s economic affairs committee and foreign affairs and defence committee due to his “statements regarding coalition discipline and his conduct in recent days,” a spokesperson for Katz said.

In a further slap on the wrist, Illouz was barred from submitting private bills for six weeks.

Illouz has long spoken out against efforts to pass new legislation regulating exemptions for yeshivah students following a High Court ruling in June that they must enlist in the IDF unless a new bill is passed.

Digging in recently, Illouz announced his opposition to the coalition’s Daycare Bill, which seeks to circumvent a High Court ruling preventing state-funded daycare subsidies from going to the children of ultra-Orthodox draft dodgers.

“Exempting such a large group from the duty to serve in the IDF in such a critical period is a non-Zionist act that is unworthy of us as a nation – whether it be called ‘the enlistment law’ or ‘the daycare law,’ whose purpose is to cancel the daycares sanction and restore the funding,” Illouz declared.

The Daycare Bill was removed from the Knesset agenda last month after it failed to garner sufficient coalition support.

A member of the Quebec and Israeli bar associations, and a former legislative adviser to the Knesset’s coalition chair, Illouz previously served in a legal capacity at Israel’s Foreign Ministry. He is a graduate of McGill University Law School and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s master’s program in public policy.

Drawing on his legal expertise, Illouz co-authored a law banning any Israeli interaction with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), due to some of its members’ being involved with Hamas in general and in the Oct. 7 massacre in particular.

Humanitarian aid and services to the two million people in Gaza must now be based on alternative agencies such as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the UN International Children’s Emergency Fund and the World Food Organization, said Illouz. (More than 200,000 Gazans have fled to Egypt and elsewhere since war broke out in their coastal enclave 15 months ago.)

Born in Canada to Moroccan immigrants, Illouz made aliyah in 2009 after completing his law studies. Like all newly elected MKs holding foreign citizenship, he was required to surrender his second passport before being sworn in as a member of Israel’s Parliament.

Illouz continues to serve as the chair of the Knesset delegation to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and be a member of the Knesset delegation to the Inter-Parliamentary Union, an international body that brings together parliamentarians from 180 countries.

Gil Zohar is a writer and tour guide in Jerusalem.

On Holocaust education

Next year, for the first time in British Columbia, the Holocaust will be a mandated topic for Grade 10 students. Until now, the task of teaching this most important subject has fallen upon impassioned teachers and dedicated organizations like the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre (VHEC).

Like many Jews, however, I’m left with many questions about this new curriculum. The first is, why only Grade 10? What can be taught in a term (or even a year) that will adequately distill the story – the full story – of the Holocaust and its impact on today’s societies?

My husband, who taught grades 2-12 in British Columbia, defends the introduction of Holocaust studies so late, arguing that students are more receptive at Grade 10 to critical thinking about complex topics, like the events, attitudes and political forces that led to the Holocaust.

True, perhaps, but addressing today’s rising antisemitism, a goal cited in the province’s announcement last fall, will take more than a single year’s high school course. Linking the lessons of the Holocaust to the dangers of today’s misinformation about Jews and Israel is vital, but changing societal mindsets takes years. A 2021 survey of North American teens by the Canadian nonprofit Liberation75 provides an idea of the challenge ahead: nearly a third of respondents 13-17 years of age (most of whom were Canadian) either didn’t know what to think about the Holocaust, thought the numbers of Jews murdered had been exaggerated, or thought the Holocaust never happened. Those findings are concerning, especially when paired with similar results from an Azrieli Foundation survey of Canadian millennials two years earlier.

As the VHEC has demonstrated in its programs, there are ways to introduce Holocaust education at a younger age – and to continue the discussions, adding more complexity and detail as children get older. British Columbia’s Grade 12 curriculum currently includes an elective on genocide studies, but even though the Holocaust is a suggested topic, there is no requirement that teachers include it. Some teachers might teach about the world’s largest genocide, some may not.

How the new curriculum addresses this topic will have other implications for how future generations interpret its lessons. As B’nai Brith Canada’s Richard Robertson points out in the article in this issue on the Rodal Report (page 32), the Holocaust was far from just a “European issue.” At home, for example, the Holocaust had profound implications for Canada’s immigration policies, both when it came to limiting entry of Jewish refugees and its quiet acceptance of Nazi war criminals. Today’s debates about Holocaust education are testament to the need for its expansion, not only on its history in Europe, but what occurred here after the war.

For all these reasons, we should be introducing Holocaust studies earlier in schools. Jewish traditions have much to contribute to the discussion of pedagogy. Jews are innovators when it comes to making sure that our youngest generations are exposed to history, including our ancestors’ many encounters with antisemitism. For thousands of years, our tradition has ensured a safeguard against collective amnesia: we teach the young. We use the tools that best apply to the age group and the subject, and recognize the value of instilling a collective memory about the discrimination our people have faced. We use anecdotes and stories to impart historical lessons. For example, our children are taught from the earliest ages, at Purim, about how Esther and Mordechai averted a national pogrom and saved their people from genocide. The story of Hanukkah reminds children not to take our faith for granted, but to stand up for our principles.

No doubt, the curriculum for Holocaust studies will go through many changes in the coming years. What is clear, though, is that we have an imperative to make sure this history is taught.

Jan Lee is an award-winning writer. Her blog can be found at multiculturaljew.polestarpassages.com.

MP talks to community

MP Anthony Housefather was in Vancouver last week. (photo from Government of Canada)

Anthony Housefather, the Liberal MP who openly considered joining the Conservatives, made an urgent plea during a presentation in Vancouver last week for Jews and pro-Israel voters to keep a foot on both sides of the political divide.

Housefather, member of Parliament for the Montreal riding of Mount Royal, was on the West Coast for a series of meet-and-greets with Jewish organizations and individuals. At Temple Sholom just before Shabbat on May 17, Housefather was open about the disappointments some Jewish Canadians – including himself – have felt with the current Liberal government.

“We’ve seen a government that has had an excellent record on Israel for the past eight years turn away from that excellent record that we all cherish so much,” he said before going into examples he said show his party has been a voice for Jews and Israel.

Since Justin Trudeau and the Liberal party came to power in 2015, Housefather said, Canada has had a better voting record at the United Nations than the previous Conservative government had.

“We voted against 87% of the anti-Israel resolutions at the UN, comparable only to the United States, at about 90%,” he said. “Most European countries were between zero and 10%.”

On antisemitism, Housefather said it was his party that appointed a special envoy on Holocaust remembrance and antisemitism – first Irwin Cotler and now Deborah Lyons – and adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance Working Definition of Antisemitism. The federal government apologized for this country slamming the doors on Jewish refugees before and during the Holocaust, initiated Jewish Heritage Month, and made antisemitism one of four pillars of the federal antiracism strategy, he said.

“I’ve been proud of the record of my party while we have been in government on these issues,” he said.

“Since Oct. 7, I think the Jewish community across the country has felt somewhat abandoned,” he said. In January, the government was “not able to articulate that Israel was not committing genocide,” he said. The decision to restore funding to UNRWA – the UN’s Palestinian relief agency some of whose employees, evidence shows, were involved in the Oct. 7 terrorism – was a blow to many Jewish Canadians. The turning point for Housefather was the New Democratic Party motion that was widely seen as condemning Israel, including calling for an end to military trade with the country.

“Unfortunately, the decision was made to amend [the motion], which made the resolution better, but it was still bad,” Housefather said. In the end, only he and two other Liberals voted against the motion. What really hurt, said Housefather, was when the NDP member who moved the motion was given a standing ovation, including by Liberal MPs.

This combination of events led Housefather to question his place in the party and to publicly acknowledge he was considering crossing the floor. He decided to stay with the Liberals, in part because the prime minister tasked him with new responsibilities to address antisemitism, but also, he said, because he realized that his voice – and those of other Jewish and pro-Israel Canadians – is needed in the governing party.

“I need to be there to make our voices heard in the party,” he said. “Once you place all your eggs in one basket and you have no allies in the other party when it comes to power, then you’re screwed.”

Housefather has a list of actions he wants from the government and others. He is urging Criminal Code amendments to add “bubble legislation,” which would prevent protests within a certain distance from synagogues, Jewish schools and community centres, after protesters laid siege to a Jewish community building in Montreal and people inside were prevented from leaving for hours.

Police need to be told that they must enforce the law around harassment and hate speech, and university administrations need to act to keep students safe, he said.

Housefather pushed for parliamentary hearings on campus antisemitism, which have now begun.

He urged Jewish Canadians to develop relationships with their elected officials, and he passionately urged them to leave their hatred aside.

Housefather said he gets barraged by hate messages from antisemites and anti-Zionists – including death threats – but it’s the hate from Jews that really upsets him. No matter how much some voters agree with him on issues that are important to the Jewish community, he said, they nevertheless condemn him in extreme terms – “traitor,” “quisling” – for being part of the Liberal party.

“If our community wants MPs to support our community, you have to deal with them in a way that doesn’t send them hate, that doesn’t treat them like dirt.”

Above all, Housefather said, Israel and Jewish issues shouldn’t be a partisan issue.

“We should all fight for them and we shouldn’t be trying to create wedge issues that divide the Jewish community,” he said.

Legislating a fine line

Vancouver Police last week arrested a woman for praising the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks. The woman, who multiple reports say is Charlotte Kates, a leader in a group called Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, was later released as police develop their case to present to the Crown for possible charges.

News of the arrest was met with a level of satisfaction among Jewish community organizations. Kates and Samidoun have been sources of outrage and concern for years. The group is routinely described as having “direct ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP),” which is designated as a terrorist entity under the Criminal Code of Canada. Canadian Jewish organizations have called for Samidoun to receive a similar censure – as it has in Germany, where it is a banned organization, and in Israel, where it is designated as a terrorist entity.

Kates, a British Columbia woman who is married to Khaled Barakat, a senior member of the PFLP, was arrested in relation to recorded statements made outside the Vancouver Art Gallery last month. There, she referred to several terrorist organizations as heroes and described the Oct. 7 attacks as “the beautiful, brave and heroic resistance of the Palestinian people.” She led a crowd of hundreds in chants of “long live Oct. 7.”

Emergence of the video led to absolute condemnation from BC Premier David Eby.

“Celebrating the murder, the rape of innocent people attending a music festival, it’s awful,” said the premier. “It’s reprehensible, and it shouldn’t take place in British Columbia. There is clearly an element of some individuals using an international tragedy to promote hate that’s completely unacceptable.”

Kates is banned from participating in public protests for five months, according to a statement released by Samidoun. An investigation is underway and it will be up to Crown prosecutors to determine whether charges are laid and the case goes to trial.

In announcing the arrest, Vancouver police spokesperson Sgt. Steve Addison explained the line police walk.

“We defend everyone’s right to gather and express their opinions, even when those opinions are unpopular or controversial,” said Addison. “We also have a responsibility to ensure public comments don’t promote or incite hatred, encourage violence, or make people feel unsafe. We will continue to thoroughly investigate every hate incident and will pursue criminal charges whenever there is evidence of a hate crime.”

The arrest comes as the federal government begins a process of reviewing Canada’s approach to hate-motivated expression. New legislation beginning its way through the wending process of Parliament is focused especially on “online harms” and involves a multi-pronged approach that would see amendments to the Criminal Code, the Canadian Human Rights Act and new laws addressing cyber-bullying, “revenge porn,” encouragement of self-harm and other actions.

The bill (click here for story) is part of an ongoing effort to address the social and technological challenges of hate-motivated crimes, as well as the range of dangers presented to children and others by online predators, bullies and extortionists.

The federal government’s efforts, long delayed and inevitably controversial, are part of an age-old effort to walk a line between the right to free expression, on the one hand, and the right, on the other hand, for people to be free from harassment and threats based on personal identity or other factors. Any discussion of balancing these contending rights – which is anything but an exact science – is destined to disappoint or anger people on both sides.

The next steps in the current legal investigation – whether it proceeds to criminal charges and, if so, how the case proceeds and concludes – will also not satisfy everyone, if anyone. Indeed, it is a factor of this sort of case almost exclusively where many argue the challenging position that, in the words of Voltaire, “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”

Few today would defend to the death the right of anyone to glorify Oct. 7 (or anything else, probably), but the point is that the right of free expression is considered by many to be sacrosanct. This has always been a core differentiator between our society and that to which we so often compare ourselves, the United States, whose constitution prioritizes precisely this sort of freedom.

An absolutist position is much easier for courts to adjudicate. Drawing lines in moral conundrums is a much more challenging undertaking.

As we watch this one case proceed locally, we will also be carefully observing the broader, legalistic and philosophical disputations occurring in Parliament as Bill C-63 proceeds through the creation process. The outcome, in both instances, will be necessarily imperfect. The hope is that they should be as just as human endeavours can be.