Israel’s new envoy on antisemitism has harsh words for Canada after its abstention in a UN vote on the war with Hamas

Just ahead of her first visit to Canada as Israel’s newly-appointed Special Envoy on Combatting Antisemitism, Michal Cotler-Wunsh had strong criticism of the Trudeau government’s decision to abstain last week on a vote at the United Nations’ General Assembly about the Israel Hamas war. Cotler-Wunsh calls the decision by Canada to abstain, rather than vote “No”: “worse than silence”.

The new special envoy arrives in Canada today for talks in Ottawa on Parliament Hill, and then speaks in Toronto at a fundraiser for a Jewish group. Cotler-Wunsh is Israeli, but grew up in Canada, the daughter of professor Irwin Cotler, human rights crusader and Canada’s own first Special Envoy fighting antisemitism – a position he just finished last week.

Cotler-Wunsh was apppointed to her new post just three weeks before the Oct. 7 terrorist attack by Hamas on Southern Israel killed over 1,400 people and kidnapped over 239 more, using tactics which she calls “genocidal”. She’s working feverishly now to explain to the world why Jews and allies must fight “this existential war” on the Jewish State and people, and why Hamas’s tactics have roots in age-old antisemitism now disguised as modern anti-Zionism.

As you will hear, some moments of panic ensued when Cotler-Wunsh joined The CJN Daily host Ellin Bessner from her office in Tel Aviv right in the middle of a rocket attack.

What we talked about

• Learn more about Michal Cotler-Wunsh and her previous work as an MK in Israel’s Knesset, in The CJN.
• How Michal Cotler-Wunsh co-founded an inter-Parliamentary task force to combat online hate on social media, in The CJN.
• Read Michal Cotler-Wunsh writing in The CJN in 2016 about her father’s legacy.

Credits

The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.