Ever since Oct. 7, there has been a deluge of antisemitism propagated under the veil of anti-Zionism. Cartoons of world-dominating Jewish rats and hook-nosed devils; claims that Israel has no right to exist; calls for the death of Jews… the list goes on. These Canadian examples of real-world instances of antisemitism are just some of the many detailed in a new 56-page government handbook, published Oct. 31 by the office of Canada’s special envoy for preserving Holocaust remembrance and combatting antisemitism. For Special Envoy Deborah Lyons, publishing this handbook was near the top of her to-do list after being appointed to the post last year, completing the work begun to fulfill a promise the Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made in 2022. While the handbook has no legal power, Lyons hopes that by setting out in clear, understandable terms what contemporary antisemitism looks like, Canadians can recognize it when they see it—and take action in their workplaces, unions, school boards, the police, the courts and on campus. Lyons admits her team wanted to avoid provoking pushback from anti-Zionist activists, and so they agreed to exclude certain current pro-Palestinian references, such as the chant, “From the river to the sea”. But that hasn’t stopped the federal NDP and anti-Israel groups from attacking the handbook already, which Lyons says just proves the need for it, amidst the ongoing tensions that have divided many Canadians since Oct. 7. Lyons returns to The CJN Daily to explain what did and didn’t make it into the handbook, and why. We’ll also hear from handbook’s main author, Noah Lew..

What we talked about:

• Read the Canadian Handbook on the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism, issued Oct. 31, 2024, and watch this short video with simple definitions of what is and is not antisemitism.
• Learn why Canada adopted the IHRA definition of antisemitism in 2019, in The CJN.
• Hear why an antisemitism handbook was high on Deborah Lyons’ to do list after she was appointed as Canada’s special envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism in Oct. 2023, on The CJN Daily.

Credits

• Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner)
• Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer)
• Music: Dov Beck-Levine

Support our show

• Subscribe to The CJN newsletter
• Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt)
• Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

On Nov. 7, mobs of Dutch soccer fans rampaged through central Amsterdam beating up Israeli and Jewish tourists there to see the Maccabi Tel Aviv team play. The outbreak of violence happened on the eve of the 86th anniversary of Kristallnacht, when organized gangs of Nazi soldiers in Germany and occupied Austria targeted Jewish businesses, torched synagogues and sent 20,000 Jewish men to concentration camps. Video of the Dutch attacks prompted some world leaders to describe the night as a “pogrom”. In hindsight, however, the mayor of Amsterdam is now backtracking on using the word “pogrom”, saying the word has been weaponized to score political points. And while her comments have angered many Jewish leaders in the Netherlands, at least two of them agree that the horrific comparison is an overstatement. On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, you’ll hear why. Dave Heilbron, the Dutch-Canadian leader of a pro-Israel lobby organization based in Amsterdam, and Annet Betsalel, a Dutch filmmaker and Holocaust educator in the small town of Bussum, both join the show to discuss what Jewish life in the Netherlands has been like over the past couple of weeks. They say while calling the attacks a pogrom may be exaggeration, Dutch Jews are still nervous about more antisemitic attacks, costly security bills and rising anti-Jewish hatred across the political spectrum in Europe.

Related links

• Read why soccer hooliganism in Europe has disturbing antisemitic chants and symbols, in The CJN.
• Learn more about Anne Betsalel’s work on the rescue of Canada’s Veffer family in the Netherlands during the Holocaust, on The CJN Daily.
• Why a new Canadian book about who betrayed Anne Frank has outraged Dutch Jews, in The CJN from 2022.

Credits

• Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner)
• Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer)
• Music: Dov Beck-Levine

Support our show

• Subscribe to The CJN newsletter
• Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt)
• Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

The organizers of a vigil for Yahya Sinwar, the former leader of Hamas whom Israeli forces killed earlier this year, have decided to cancel their controversial event just one week before it was scheduled to take place in Mississauga. But the pro-Palestinian organizing group insisted in a written release that it was not intimidated by “pro-Israel lobbies”; instead decision came out of concern for the “safety of our city”. That, and “the urgent food security issue declared 3 days ago,” which their members will be “volunteering to eradicate.” (The news release did specify the food security issue, nor how they plan to eradicate it.)

Nonetheless, before the cancellation, the event made national headlines for its controversial nature. Mississauga’s mayor, Carolyn Parrish, told B’nai Brith Canada that the rally was allowed to proceed under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Many Jewish and civil society leaders were disgusted after Parrish parroted the promotional flier which compared Sinwar, an internationally recognized terrorist, with Nobel Peace Prize–winning icon Nelson Mandela, who had once also been labelled a terrorist while he was fighting against apartheid in South Africa. Parrish has not apologized for the remarks, despite pressure from Jewish groups.

What does Mississauga’s Jewish community want to see next? On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, we speak with Noah Farber, a political consultant who monitors antisemitism at local public schools; Rabbi Audrey Pollack, the spiritual leader of Congregation Solel of Mississauga; and Dr. Roselyn Allen, a veterinarian who is the security director at that same Reform synagogue.

Related links

• Learn which schools in Mississauga held anti-Israel protests coinciding with the anniversary of Oct. 7, in The CJN.
• It’s not the first time Mississauga has rented city space to anti-Israel groups, in a breach of city policy: read more in The CJN archives (from 2020).
• Why Reform Jewish supplementary schools have a new pro-Israel curriculum developed by Rabbi Lawrence Englander, of Solel Congregation of Mississauga, in The CJN.Example

Credits

• Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner)
• Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer)
• Music: Dov Beck-Levine

Support our show

• Subscribe to The CJN newsletter
• Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt)
• Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)