November 4, 2024
OTTAWA – B’nai Brith Canada is deeply disappointed by the weekend statement from the federal New Democratic Party (NDP) criticizing the Government’s release of a handbook for implementing the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism.
In a statement Saturday, the federal NDP cited concerns that IHRA had been weaponized and used to “silence legitimate criticism of [Israeli] state institutions.” (In fact, IHRA explicitly states that criticism of Israeli government actions is not antisemitic).
“The suggestion that IHRA limits free expression is unfounded and mischaracterizes the intention of this definition,” said David Granovsky, B’nai Brith Canada’s Director of Government Relations. “It is an essential new tool that will empower Canadians to engage in meaningful debate while drawing a necessary line against bigotry, demonization, and hate.”
“The IHRA definition has become the object of misinformation and disinformation, generating unnecessary controversy,” said David Matas, B’nai Brith Canada’s senior legal counsel, who has represented Canada at the IHRA organization and contributed to its advocacy. “The controversy and misrepresentation of the definition have occurred most frequently, paradoxically, at universities, institutions filled with educated people who should know better. The handbook, one would hope, will lead to greater understanding of the definition, dispel the controversy around it and lead to a more comprehensive adoption of the definition, particularly at universities where mischaracterizations of the definition have led to hesitations over adoption.”
The IHRA definition has been endorsed by more than 40 countries and numerous democratic institutions. It serves as a framework to help Canadians distinguish between acceptable critique of Israeli policies and antisemitic actions that target Jewish identity through demonization, delegitimization and/or double standards.
“By accusing IHRA of ‘weaponizing’ antisemitism, the NDP undermines our collective ability to protect Jewish Canadians from hate and misrepresents IHRA’s purpose,” Granovsky said.
In arguing that Canada needs a “broader range of guidelines, including alternative definitions, to identify and take action to stop antisemitism,” B’nai Brith believes the NDP wholly dismisses the international standard upheld by the IHRA definition and exclusively promotes alternatives such as the Jerusalem Declaration and Nexus Document. Alternatives to IHRA lack comparative levels of international support and are not as effective in conveying the complex nature of modern antisemitism.
The NDP also references “progressive Jewish organizations” opposed to IHRA, such as Independent Jewish Voices Canada and the New Israel Fund of Canada. Although diversity of opinion is essential in a democratic society, IHRA unquestionably reflects the consensus of mainstream Jewish communities worldwide in understanding and confronting antisemitism. “It is disturbing,” Granovsky said, “that the NDP would choose to elevate so-called ‘progressive’ perspectives as if they were actually representative of the Jewish community as a whole.”
Matas explained the definition is intentionally labelled as a “working” definition.
“Definitions do not work on their own,” he said. “The work has to be done by those who have adopted the definition, such as provinces, their police forces, prosecutors, human-rights commissions, and so on. The handbook is useful in that regard. It shows those who want to work with the definition or should be working with the definition how to go about doing that.”
The NDP’s insistence that IHRA be “non-binding” and not influence “federal funding decisions and university campus policies” ignores the pressing need for substantive measures against the alarming rise in antisemitic incidents across Canada. This language suggests the NDP is reluctant to act decisively against antisemitism, which is unacceptable at a time when Jewish Canadians are increasingly under threat.
B’nai Brith strongly urges the federal NDP and all Canadian political leaders to support IHRA as Canada’s standard for combating antisemitism. Jewish Canadians deserve unambiguous protection from antisemitic hate, in all its modern forms – without caveats or alternatives.
