The following article was written in response to learning that NIki Ashton, NDP MP from BC is scheduled to participate in a dialogue with Jeremy Corbyn, former UK Labour Party leader in the new Progressive International Conference. The Progressive International founded in 2018 by a collaboration of the Sanders Institute and Democracy in Europe Movement (DiEM25) to unite progressive forces to transform the world. CAEF asks—how is promoting antisemitism a progressive position?
Niki Ashton, NDP MP for Churchill-Keewatinook Aski, has a reputation for supporting dictators and tyrants (NP Nov 28, 2020) so it is unlikely that Jagmeet Singh, Leader of the NDP, would not have expected more of her regressive behavior and this week she hit the lowest bar ever—choosing to be associated with the United Kingdom’s #1 antisemite, Jeremy Corbyn, former leader of the Labour Party. Under Corbyn the Party was so aggressively antisemitic it forced Jewish members to leave or collapse under the tyranny of Jew hatred.
An independent review of the UK Labour Party under Corbyn found there were truly grievous acts of Jew hatred expressed by party members, acts by Corbyn himself that demonstrated ill will towards the nation of Israel, the only Jewish state, support for terrorists who had endangered the lives of Israelis and the constant use of oblique tropes that stereotype Jews, making it clear that racism against Jews is part of the worldview of Corbyn who was kicked out of his Party for undermining its original values. So, is this the new young face of the NDP in Canada? Is this how “progressivism” is to be expressed in the NDP of today?
Jagmeet Singh is quoted as having stated that “.. New Democrats are committed to fighting anti-Semitism and will continue to push the Liberals to take more concrete actions, like tackling online hate…” (NP March 3, 2021). Well Mr. Singh, concrete action would seem to start with throwing Ms Ashton out of the New Democratic Party if there remains a shred of morality in the party and not just words. The Canadian Antisemitism Education Foundation is NOT shocked, not disappointed, but furious that in 2021 we have to remind any political leader of any political party or any elected Member of Parliament that Jew hatred Is Not Acceptable in Canada. Associating with a known antisemite is disrespectful to the entire Jewish community of Canada and because the event is billed as international, this is an affront to world Jewry, and a black eye for Canada.
Singh and the Party brass must not wait for the next shoe to drop, cancel Ashton’s engagement, sanction her behavior and really commit to fighting antisemitism. Jew Hatred is the oldest hate in the world and it is well defined in the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition, which Corbyn was unwilling to fully endorse, further proof of his inability to object to racism directed at Jews.
We note that Ashton has stood on the wrong side of history, pushing extreme leftist agendas, endorsing dictatorships like Maduro in Venezuela, Xi in China and the tyrannical undemocratic regimes of Hamas and the Palestinian Authority which tortures and kills its own people if they so much as make friends or do business with Jews. Is this Ashton’s model of “progressive”? And, to really display a lack of judgment and hit the lowest amoral bar, the event to which Ashton and Corbyn are billed to speak on March 20th is a fundraiser so it strikes CAEF as interesting that promoting Jew hatred will serve to now now funds! Really?
CAEF demands that Jagmeet Singh End Jew Hatred Now!
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