The
government of Canada took an historic step [yesterday] by signing the Ottawa
Protocol to Combat Anti-Semitism. By
doing so, it recognized anti-Semitism as a
pernicious evil and a global threat against the Jewish people, the State of Israel and free,
democratic countries everywhere. As Prime
Minister Stephen Harper has noted,
„Those who would hate and destroy the Jewish people would ultimately hate and destroy the rest of us as
well.” The protocol is a
declaration that hatred of this nature
will not be tolerated in this country.
It sets
out an action plan for supporting initiatives that combat anti-Semitism and provides a framework for
other nations to follow. It also sets out a vibrant definition of
anti-Semitism which, for the first time in history, links anti-Semitism to the denial of the right
Jewish people have to their ancestral
home land — the State of Israel. This,
in fact, is what sets post-World War Two anti-Semitism apart from its historic roots. Today’s
anti-Semitism is all about denial:
denial of the legitimacy of Zionism as a Jewish
movement to reclaim the land of Israel; denial of a Jewish history in connection to the holy land and,
in particular, the centrality of
Jerusalem to the Jewish people; denial of
the Holocaust (while at the same time accusing Jews of Nazism); and denial of Jews to live free of
anti-Semitism, hate and
intolerance. In announcing the
Protocols, Foreign Minister John Baird
has expressed his government’s
unequivocal support for the State of Israel. In referring to this week’s turmoil at the United Nations and
the Palestinian threat to unilaterally
declare a state, Baird said,
„Canada will not stand behind Israel at the United Nations, we will stand right beside it. It is
never a bad
thing
to do the right thing.”
According to Baird, more and more countries are refusing to
participate in the UN conference dubbed
„Durban III” — otherwise known as an anti-Semitic hate fest which
began as a human rights forum in South
Africa in 2001; the forum ultimately degenerated into an anti-Semitic slinging match in which
repressive Arab and African countries
blamed all the problems facing their own
countries and the world on Israel. The governments of France, New Zealand and Poland (today) joined
Canada and 10 other western nations this
week by declaring they will not take
part.
Unquestionably, the Government of
Canada’s stance on Israel is based on
the principle of standing by your
friends — especially when they are democracies and advocates for human rights. Most Jewish
leaders would agree that Israel is
indeed Canada’s greatest ally in the fight
against hate and intolerance. But the fight against hatred and anti-Semitism must be won here in
Canada as well. The Ottawa Protocol is
mostly the result of a report published
this summer by a Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Anti-Semitism which was comprised
of leading Canadian politicians who
volunteered their time to probe the
increasing and alarming tide of anti-Semitism in Canada.
In a letter accompanying the report, Chairs of the Inquiry Panel and the Steering
Committee Mario Silva and Scott Reid
wrote, „The Inquiry Panel’s conclusion,
unfortunately, is that the scourge of anti-Semitism is a growing threat in Canada, especially on the
campuses of our universities.” The
report cites numerous examples of
anti-Semitism on various campuses including the infamous incident in 2009 when Jewish students at York
University were chased and barricaded
themselves in the Hillel lounge while a
mob outside taunted them with anti-Semitic slurs. The list of examples is quite long and disturbing.
Universities should take note of the
report and the signing of the Ottawa Protocols. They should put an immediate end to hateful and
fallacious events like Israeli Apartheid
Week; they should state unequivocally that
freedom of speech should not be abused to provide a cover for anti-Semitism; they should ensure that
Jewish students feel welcome on campus
and that their learning environment
should be freed from anti-Israel occurrences and finally, universities must become accountable for
allowing their private property to be
venues for hateful conduct among students. The Ottawa Protocol to Combat
Anti-Semitism is a template for every
Canadian to consider. But it is especially
a document of significance for universities that have allowed themselves to become vehicles of
hatred and complicit in its promotion.
As my friend, Professor Irwin Cotler said last night at the Ottawa signing
ceremony, anti-Semitism is not only the
longest known form of hatred in the
history of humanity — it is the only form of hatred that is truly global. Every person of conscience should take note of the Ottawa Protocols and
never forget the lessons of the
Holocaust when the world was silent.