Nearly 50 NDP Riding Associations

Strange how accusing the Chinese government of human rights abuses is not anti-Chinese racism but genocide to be decried by the NDP. Of course the open air prisons in Palestine with the Israeli restrictions on electricity, potable water, medical supplies and travel between areas while watching illegal settlers burning down villages is nothing compared to reeducation camps for people considered terrorists where they have to endure propaganda that says that there is no East Turkestan. Stranger still how the CBC has effectively banned the use of the term Palestine but seems to think that East Turkestan is a place.

Mighty Middle wrote:

A debate over the definition of anti-Semitism has spilled over to the federal New Democrats ahead of the party convention next month.

Nearly 50 NDP riding associations have endorsed a motion that opposes a working definition of anti-Semitism set out by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.

Critics of the definition say it chills legitimate criticism of Israeli policy. Those who back it say it crystallizes understandings of anti-Semitism, which they say includes demonization of the Jewish state.

Read more here https://www.thestar.com/politics/2021/03/19/ndp-membership-wades-into-de...

Bear in mind, it is likely that the person who started this thread, a person who is one of the few Liberal Party supporters on this page, only did so because he thinks he can harm the NDP by doing so.

In reality, more and more Canadians- including much of the prohibitive majority of people who oppose and have always opposed AS and done all they could to fight its spread wherever it pops up- are turning against the IHRA definition, out of the recognition that there is no reason to insist that people proclaim their support of Zionism and agree to restrict criticism of the Israeli government in a way that it is never limited for any other government on the planet just to prove they're against AS.

This passage, from the link the OP posted to an article in a right-wing Toronto newspaper, is worth including here:

The IHRA definition does very little to actually protect Jews against anti-Semitism. What it serves to do is simply to conflate anti-Semitism with legitimate protest against Israel,” said Aaron Lakoff, a spokesman for Independent Jewish Voices Canada.

B’nai Brith Canada has characterized the movement promoting boycotts, divestments, and economic sanctions against Israel as anti-Semitic under the IHRA definition, an example of how organizations can “weaponize anti-Semitism to shut down Palestinian voices,” Lakoff said.

The statement’s lead author, Kenneth Stern, has disavowed its deployment, writing in a Guardian opinion piece that “right-wing Jewish groups” had moved to “weaponize” a definition created initially to assist European data collectors.

The point of contention is not the 39-word definition itself, which describes anti-Semitism as expressions of hatred toward Jews, but rather the way some groups have applied it and the appended list of examples that contextualize it.

“The IHRA definition has already been used to attempt to silence voices of solidarity with the Palestinian people,” said former NDP MP Svend Robinson.

Referring to Twitter posts in January that created a storm on social media, he added: “It’s been used to target NDP MPs Charlie Angus and Leah Gazan, who spoke out on the issue of Palestinian access to vaccines.”

 

I will take the dare; "Canada's national news agency  The Canadian Press is "Right Wing."  Hell that was easy since I actually agree with the statement. For context I also think your Liberal cabinet members are almost all right wing. The Canadian Press is an imperial mouthpiece for Canada's ruling elite paid for by our large media moguls.

I found the final part of the deleted article pretty chilling.

A Twitter post by Angus on Israel’s vaccination policy set off a Twitter dust-up in January.

The online post linked to an article in the Guardian newspaper that highlights how Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza were not among the beneficiaries of Israel’s rapid rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, whereas Jewish settlements are.

“This is appalling,” Angus wrote, capping off the tweet with the words “#apartheidstate.”

The post sparked more than 1,000 likes, but also backlash, including from B’nai Brith and Liberal and Conservative lawmakers.

Ontario Progressive Conservative MPP Gila Martow said in a Jan. 3 tweet that the comment underscores why Ontario needed to adopt the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism, which the province did months earlier.

Explicity stating that tweets about the mistreatment of Palestinians are an example of what needs to be targetted by this new definition. Not that it is a surprise, but to see it stated so baldly is extremely disturbing. All the whining you hear about 'cancel culture' and here is an open and blunt assault on free speech through legislation. And from the meatheads up in arms about Don Cherry-crickets.