CAEF is celebrating our own cherished, and much loved founding President, Shirley Anne Haber, one of Six Torontonians to be honoured as Volunteer of the Year: watch the virtual presentation now on Facebook. Learn more about her selfless dedication to challenging hatred and antisemitism over two decades.
CAEF Chanukah Zoomathon and Art Sale, December 8th is about having fun, enjoying a musical and comedy variety show, purchasing unique art and supporting our mission to support Israel and fight Jew hatred.
Clarion Project in partnership with CAEF and other NGOs, presents on December 9th, a truly unique story of John Daly, a Jewish former Nazi who went from being a hater to being hated, and lived to tell the tale.
In case you missed it, learn how one man’s research contributed to our current understanding of Israel’s legal rights. Dr. Jacques Gauthier received the inaugural CAEF Advocate Award of Excellence on November 25th, watch full program.
CAEF is pleased to share this event as a proud member of Combat Antisemitism.
The Combat Anti-Semitism Movement in partnership with The Tel Aviv Institute will host an empowering event entitled, Dismantling Anti-Semitism: Jews Talk Justice.
December 16th at 4:00 PM EST
Recently, a coalition of progressive groups announced that they will be hosting a panel entitled, “Dismantling anti-Semitism, Winning Justice,” headlined by individuals who have themselves perpetuated anti-Semitism including Rep. Rashida Tlaib and Marc Lamont Hill. These speakers themselves promote antisemitism!
This diverse panel of activists will address the right of Jews to define oppression against them; they do not distinguish between combating all forms of anti-Semitism and fighting for other minority rights.
Complex, Yet Critical: Where does the Jewish Community’s Relationship with the Trudeau Government Stand?
By Zachary Zarnett-Klein
The multicultural mosaic of Canadian society is a critical pillar, one that makes our country unique. It adds to the vibrancy and richness of the fabric of our great nation. However, it also results in ongoing complexity as communities navigate their relationship with each other and with the federal government.
It’s first important to recognize that the Jewish community, like other ethnocultural groups in Canada, is not monolithic. To assume so would be to take a reductionist perspective. The pursuit of unity of purpose, despite disparity of opinion, is a lofty yet laudable objective.
On Nov. 25, the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed human rights advocate and former Justice Minister Irwin Cotler to the newly-created post of Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism.
Based on Cotler’s impressive body of work in law, academia, and politics, he’s an excellent, unifying choice. I want to fully acknowledge the importance of this announcement. While we wait to learn details of his mandate, we should watch his work closely and contribute when possible.
However, I cannot help but be troubled by this announcement’s timing, as it comes on the heels of Canada’s jarring vote at the United Nations on an Israel-related resolution.
Each year, the UN General Assembly considers the same basket of 20 or so motions on the “Question of Palestine,” but which serve to single out Israel, apply an unfair double-standard in assessing its policies, or worse.
One such resolution, which Canada approved, affirms Palestinian self-determination, but without reference to the same rights for Israel, and defies Jewish connections to what it classifies as “east Jerusalem”, including the Western Wall.
The vote marked the second consecutive year that Canada opposed Israel on this key resolution, while supporting Israel on most others.
Lest We Forget - November 30th is the Day of Remembrance of Jewish Expulsion of Jews from their Centuries Long Home in Arab Countries.
Many organizations held informative programs to commemorate the dreadful, unjust expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Jews, accompanied in some countries by harassment, terrorism, murder, confiscation of property, stripping of citizenship, and a complete ethnic cleansing. This Day of Remembrance of Jewish Refugees, as adopted by the Knesset, comes the day after November 29 when Arab countries in 1947 declared Jews must leave. Canada too marks this day since adopting a resolution in March 2014. The story told in the Montreal Gazette that year is here.
And for a video this week, listen to Avi Abelow for the Pulse of Israel
The Truth about Palestinian Arab Refugees?
On November 23rd, the former US Ambasador to the UN, Nikki Haley, issued a tweet calling on the Trump administration to release a report on aid funding to Palestinian refugees by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). She asked that it be declassified so the world would know the current number of those receiving aid, where the aid is going, how many people are really refugees by the legal, recognized definition of “refugee” as understood in regards to all other peoples of the world.
As reported in the Jewish Journal on November 25th by Aaron Bandler, Haley tweeted, “Very important that the Trump administration declassify the report that provides a current estimate of the number of Palestinian refugees who are receiving support. This goes to the heart of speaking hard truths in the name of moving peace forward.”
Congress required the report from the State Department in 2012 but it has never been released. Ask Why? Would this not present the real challenge to the UNRWA scam of declaring multi-generations of Arabs as refugees, even those settled in other countries such as Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, France, Canada, UK or elsewhere, or living in Gaza which is under independent rule, or remaining in Ramallah, Hebron and throughout Judea and Samaria which they never left so can’t be considered a “refugee” from somewhere else?