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Antisemitism in Canada at Levels Not Seen Since World War II:
Former Justice Minister
By Isaac Teo
October 18, 2021
Canada has been experiencing some of the worst outbreaks of antisemitism not seen since the end of the Second World War, says former justice minister Irwin Cotler, Canada’s special envoy on preserving Holocaust remembrance and combating antisemitism.
“What we’re witnessing has been a global escalation in antisemitism, but Canada has not been free from that international dynamic,” Cotler said in an interview.
Cotler, Canada's special envoy on preserving Holocaust remembrance and combating antisemitism, says antisemitic
hate crimes are on the rise in Canada and around the world. (The Canadian Press/ Sean Kilpatrick)
Cotler was named special envoy last November, a role that was made permanent by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during his virtual appearance at the concluding plenary session of the Malmo International Forum on Holocaust Remembrance and Combating Antisemitism on Oct. 13.
Trudeau said Cotler’s office will also be supported by increased resources.
Since 2017, Statistics Canada has consistently reported the Jewish community as the most frequently targeted religious minority when it comes to hate crimes. In 2019, out of 608 cases, antisemitism accounted for nearly half of them, with 296 cases.
Jewish advocacy group B’nai Brith Canada also reported 2020 as the “fifth consecutive record-setting year for antisemitism in Canada,” in its annual audit of antisemitic accidents, with recorded incidents up 18.3 percent from 2019.
The report noted that over 44 percent of violent incidents in 2020 were related to COVID-19 prejudices, including “Jews being spat on and otherwise assaulted, including with the use of weapons.”
Cotler said since the COVID-19 pandemic spread around the world there has been a parallel “pandemic of antisemitism,” particularly on social media, where Jews are accused of “having manufactured the COVID-19 virus, of having spread it, and of having sought to profit from it.”
‘While it begins with Jews, it doesn’t end with Jews’
Cotler said he sees the Holocaust as a metaphor for radical evil, and antisemitism as a metaphor for radical hate.
“In a word, Jews were murdered in the Holocaust because of antisemitism, but antisemitism itself did not die in the Holocaust,” he said. “And it remains the bloody canary in the mineshaft of global evil today.”
I agree completely, in fact, I would go so far as to say that antisemitism is Satanic.
“As we’ve learned only too painfully and too well, that while it begins with Jews, it doesn’t end with Jews,” the international human rights lawyer added.
The names of the victims of the shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh are held during a vigil
against anti-Semitism and white supremacy at the Human Rights Monument in Ottawa on Oct. 28, 2018.
(The Canadian Press/Justin Tang)
Antisemitism has also crept into Canadian campus culture, said Cotler, and is rising at an “alarming” rate. He recounted testimony shared by representatives from the Jewish community during the National Summit on Antisemitism in July, which he convened.
Cotler said speakers at the summit said they were being bullied and excluded from campus culture by those who see Israel as an “oppressor” in the Middle East.
“’We [Jewish students] are being marginalized, bullied, in fact excluded from the campus culture, where we are held out to be … sort of part of white supremacists because Israel is held out to be the white supremacist oppressor in the Middle East. And so we are denied even a right to speak and to participate in the campus culture,’” he said, recounting one student’s remarks.
Addressing the same summit, Trudeau said antisemitism has no place in Canada. “It is unacceptable that Jewish communities and people still face violence, hate, and discrimination in our country,” he said.
Cotler said when it comes to Israel, it’s crucial to distinguish the difference between criticizing the country’s policies and singling out the Jewish state or Jewish people.
“If there was a criticism of an Israeli policy, that is not an issue—that’s fine. Like any other state it can be criticized,” he said.
“If, however, Israel or the Jewish people or Jews are singled out for selective opprobrium and indictment, then that’s a standing denial of equality rights, of equal protection, and equal treatment before the law.”
Cotler said Canada pledged to translate its commitment against antisemitism into concrete action during the Malmo forum attended by over 50 government leaders and their delegations.
Canada’s “Country Pledges” include promoting education and awareness about the Holocaust and antisemitism, supporting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, and “combating the scourge of antisemitism, Holocaust denial, and distortion.”
Canada's universities need to begin searching for the truth in every aspect of life. They are certainly not good at it right now.
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Trial of 96-year-old Nazi concentration camp secretary charged
with complicity to murder over 10,000 people begins in Germany
19 Oct, 2021 11:04
KL Stutthof in Sztutowo. © Michal Fludra / NurPhoto via Getty Images
The trial of a 96-year-old former Nazi concentration camp secretary has begun in Germany after she was detained following an attempt to flee over charges of complicity in the murder of thousands of people during the war.
Irmgard Furchner is the first woman to go on trial for decades over crimes committed by the Nazis, having been charged with complicity in the murder of more than 10,000 people at the Stutthof concentration camp, in occupied Poland, where she served as a secretary.
The 96-year-old went on the run earlier this year in an attempt to avoid attending a court hearing over the charge, leaving the retirement home where she lived on September 30 in the German town of Quickborn. She was later caught in Hamburg and released “under the condition of precautionary measures” after being fitted with an electronic tag.
The pensioner worked in camp commander Paul Werner Hoppe’s office, as a secretary, between June 1943 and April 1945, taking dictation and handling correspondence. Hoppe was later tried and convicted as an accessory to murder, being sentenced to nine years in prison by a court in Bochum, Germany.
Around 65,000 people are thought to have died at Stutthof camp, including “Jewish prisoners, Polish partisans and Soviet Russian prisoners of war,” according to court documents.
Having told the judge that she does not wish to appear in the dock during her trial, the International Auschwitz Committee claimed she has shown a “contempt for the survivors and also for the rule of law” during court proceedings.
The trial of Furchner comes as a 100-year-old man stands trial accused of aiding and abetting the killing of thousands of prisoners at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp in Brandenburg, Germany. Josef Schuetz, who is the oldest man to stand trial for Nazi-era crimes, has claimed he is innocent.
Russia & Israel are united by both nations’ ‘resolute rejection’ of
anti-semitism and ‘any manifestations of xenophobia’ – Putin
19 Oct, 2021 10:12
Intense hatred for xenophobia, the battle against anti-Semitism, and the outright rejection of any attempts to rewrite and falsify the history of World War II are just a selection of the stances that unite both Israel and Russia.
That’s according to Russia's President Vladimir Putin, who, on Monday, wrote a Telegram to Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to congratulate him on the 30th anniversary of the restoration of diplomatic relations between the two nations.
“Over the past decades, Russia and Israel have gained considerable experience in fruitful cooperation in many areas, as well as partnership in resolving major international issues,” Putin wrote. “We are united by a resolute rejection of anti-Semitism, any manifestations of xenophobia and ethnic strife, as well as any attempts to falsify history and revise the outcome of World War II.”
According to Putin, the joint efforts of the governments in Moscow and Jerusalem will help ensure the “fundamental interests” of both capitals, helping to “promote peace, security, and stability in the Middle East,” he said.
Bennett is due to visit Russia on October 22.
The Prime Minister assumed office in June this year, following an agreement that will see Israel’s leadership rotate to coalition partner Yair Lapid in two years. Following Bennett’s signing in, Putin sent a similar message, calling on the two nations to “combat the glorification of Nazism, denial of the Holocaust and the Red Army’s decisive contribution to the victory.”
Last year, during a trip to Jerusalem, Putin called for politicians to stop using the Holocaust for “posturing,” calling it the duty of “current and future” leaders to “protect the good names of heroes.”
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