North Star with Ellin Bessner

Six months have passed since the president of Harvard University was forced to resign after she refused to sanction pro-Palestinian protesters. Claudine Gay was one of several university leaders who came under fire at a congressional hearing in Washington, D.C., last December during an investigation into how America’s Ivy League schools were failing their Jewish students and staff. In January, Harvard appointed a presidential task force to study antisemitism, and named professor Derek Penslar as co-chair. Penslar is a prominent Canadian scholar of Jewish history who runs Harvard’s Jewish studies centre. Just a few weeks ago, the task force issued an interim report, saying it couldn’t wait until the fall because they’d found a “dire” situation facing Harvard’s Israeli students, including derision and social exclusion. Harvard faculty and teaching assistants were also reportedly discriminating against and harassing pro-Israel students. On Tuesday, the report was publicly slammed by 28 Republican lawmakers as weak and a “re-inventing of the wheel”, while some Harvard Jewish students and leaders are upset the antisemitism group is committed to working closely with Harvard’s other task force currently studying anti-Muslim and anti-Arab bias. Derek Penslar joins The CJN Daily from Toronto to respond to the criticism, and explain why he nearly quit in the face of allegations he wasn’t Zionist enough to do the job. What we talked about: Read the Harvard Presidential Task Force on Combatting Antisemitism’s preliminary report, and read the interim report from the Task Force on Anti-Muslim and Anti-Arab bias, both published on June 26, 2024.  Read the letter from 28 Republican members of Congress slamming Harvard’s antisemitism task force’s findings, and released to the interim Harvard president on July 16.  Read why Derek Penslar thought anti-Zionism was not a big problem for university campuses back in 2014, in the CJN archives. **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 is by Dov Beck-Levine.  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. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

The head of Windsor’s Jewish community, Stephen Cheifetz, is calling in the big guns to fight back “significantly” against the University of Windsor, which agreed last week to accept a list of demands by its pro-Palestinian tent encampment protesters. In exchange, the protesters agreed to take down their two-month-old tent city peacefully. The July 11 deal is being described by Jewish groups and even by the Windsor encampment students themselves as the most far-reaching victory to date by campus protesters in Canada. It covers a request to divest from any Israel-related investments, to boycott Israeli universities, bring in more Palestinian students and scholars in light of what the UN deems a “scholasticide” when Israel bombed Palestinian schools where Hamas operatives were thought to be hiding. While the university itself insists it isn’t taking sides in the current Middle East conflict, school officials agreed to condemn what it terms “the illegal occupation of Palestine” and called for an immediate ceasefire. On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, we unpack the deal with law school graduate Sydney Greenspoon, as well as lawyer and former UWindsor law professor Stephen Cheifetz, who is now head of the Windsor Jewish Federation. What we talked about: Read the July 11, 2024 agreement between the University of Windsor and its pro-Palestinian encampment protesters, as well as the second agreement made with the UWSA, the student council.  Learn why The University of Windsor has a history of anti-Israel activity, in this 2015 article in The CJN archives. Read The CJN story about the deal signed in May between Ontario Tech University and its encampment students, which agreed to bring in more Palestinian students to study and to publish any investments in military firms that are involved in the violence in Gaza. **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 is by Dov Beck-Levine.  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. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

On the weekend, the IDF announced its forces had targeted a zone in the Khan Younis area of Gaza where the senior Hamas mastermind behind the Oct. 7 attack had been hiding. Initial reports said the attack aimed to take out Mohammed Deif, Hamas’ military chief. International condemnation was quick to blame Israel for dozens of civilians killed in the bomb blast. And while official Israeli channels endeavoured put their spin on the important military operation, a group of civilian Jewish public-relations whizzes were in a Tel Aviv studio going live with their own English-language briefings and social media posts. It’s a job Eylon Levy used to do after Oct. 7 as official international media spokesman for the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office. Levy’s earnest and calm handling of Israel’s p.r. war made him a celebrity, especially his expressive dark eyebrows that became famous in their own right on social media. But after six months into the war, the British-born former journalist was unceremoniously fired. The reasons are complicated. Levy pivoted, and assembled a team of p.r. pros to continue fighting the crucial information war for Israel. He’s come to Canada to drum up support for this new venture. On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, Eylon Levy joins to explain why the Israeli government’s in house public relations efforts to date have failed to counter the lies and propaganda from the Iran-backed Hamas organization, creating a situation which he believes has driven a wedge between Canada and the Jewish State, and also between Canadians and their non-Jewish neighbours. What we talked about: Learn more about the Israeli Citizen Spokespersons’ Office, Elon Levy’s new private public relations work for Israel and the Jewish people. Learn how to donate via JGive to the New Israeli Discourse and Citizen Spokespersons’ Office.  Follow their daily briefing Sunday to Thursday at 8 a.m. ET. **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 is by Dov Beck-Levine.  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. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

At the end of June, a queer artist group's craft market was scheduled to celebrate Pride Month in Saskatoon with an event called Cheers for Queers. The organizers declared support for Palestine, later laying down an umbrella ban on Zionists. Jews could come, they said—just not Zionist ones. That's when a local parent recalled an interview they'd heard on this very podcast stream, aired exclusively to subscribers of The CJN Daily, in which a Montreal-based lawyer discussed ways to combat antisemitism. Now other parents have joined her to form a new grassroots organization to draw newfound attention to the myriad problems faced by Jews in their Prairie city since Oct. 7—including a disturbing antisemitic drawing made on the blackboard of a Saskatoon public high school classroom. The activists join_The CJN Daily_ to explain how they successfully got the anti-Zionist market moved, for now, how a little divine intervention worked in their favour, and what they hope to do next. What we talked about: Read the 2SLGBTQ organization's statement about why it opposes Zionism and Israel Learn more about the Jewish community of Saskatoon expanding its community centre during the pandemic and renovating the Agudas Israel synagogue on The CJN Daily from June 2023 To hear the episode that inspired these women, and catch more bonus content aired exclusively for subscribers, subscribe for free to The CJN Daily (and search for the bonus episode on June 3, 2024) 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 is by Dov Beck-Levine. 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. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

A few days ago, Israeli Knesset member Sharren Haskel, who was born in Canada, made headlines when she said her 88-year-old grandmother, who lives outside of Paris, had been badly beaten by two Arab suspects who noticed the visibly Jewish elderly woman wearing a Star of David necklace. The alleged attack is part of a series of antisemitic violence against French Jews that has sprung up since Oct. 7—and spiked even higher in the run-up to the recent French election. Over the weekend, early ballot results proved a surge in popularity for the federal far-right party with Holocaust-denial roots, led by Marine Le Pen, but also tallied the shocking victory of a hastily assembled leftist coalition whose leader has sided with Palestinians, engaged in antisemitic tropes and downplayed the antisemitism problem sweeping France. Haskel posted on social media that France has abandoned its responsibility to protect Jews, and argues it's time for her grandmother—and other Diaspora Jews—to move to Israel for their own safety. The Israeli politician warns that these same antisemitic currents in France are also at play here in Canada, and brought her message directly to this country's lawmakers and Jewish leaders during a recent trip to Toronto and Ottawa, sponsored by the Exigent Foundation. Haskel joined The CJN Daily's Ellin Bessner to explain why she thinks Canada is seeing the growing influence of the forces of Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood, and why Canada's pro-Palestinian stance on the war—including support for UNRWA—is like "a knife in the back" that "will cost Israeli lives." What we talked about: Read Haskel’s article in a French newspaper from July 3 about how France is failing to protect its Jews from radical Islam Learn why Haskel’s IDF military service during the Second Intifada coloured her views of possible peace with Palestinians, in The CJN from 2017, and read other Sharren Haskel coverage in The CJN archives Follow Haskel on Instagram **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 is by Dov Beck-Levine.  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. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

Montreal-area Liberal MP Anthony Housefather said he is grateful to have been officially appointed on Friday July 5 as a special advisor to the Prime Minister and cabinet on relations with Canada's Jewish community, and on antisemitism. Housefather's new title also comes with a budget for travel, and to hire one extra staffer to help with the pile of files he is already working on, in the wake of unprecedented antisemitism which erupted in Canada since Oct. 7. Housefather isn't taking over the job currently held by Deborah Lyons, Canada's Special Envoy on combatting antisemitism and promoting Holocaust remembrance–but will continue working closely with her office, as he has been doing for the past three months. However, now the new title gives Housefather "an added level of respect", as he put it, when he knocks on the doors of politicians, university presidents and the police. In late March, Housefather said he was deeply unsure whether to remain in the Liberal party following a motion in Parliament on the Israel-Hamas war that all but three Liberals supported, which initially proposed Canada unilaterally recognizing a Palestinian state. But after a tete-a-tete with Justin Trudeau resulted in an offer of a new role helping Ottawa tackle antisemitism, Housefather chose to remain in government. He joins The CJN Daily to explain why the announcement took 13 weeks, what he can do about campus encampments, the controversial new Canadian Human Rights Commissioner Birju Dattani, and keeping Jewish schools and synagogues safer from protests and attacks. What we talked about: Read the official announcement from the Prime Minister’s Office on July 5, 2024 appointing Anthony Housefather as Special Advisor on Jewish Community Relations and Antisemitism Why Anthony Housefather was thinking about quitting the Liberal Party over its stance on Israel-Gaza in March 2024, in The CJN Hear our interview with Anthony Housefather from April 8, when he outlined what his new role would likely be, on The CJN Daily **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 is by Dov Beck-Levine.  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. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

An estimated 500 people turned out on Sunday, June 23, to march through the streets of Kitchener, Ont., carrying Israeli flags and raising funds to help victims of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel and subsequent war. The number might not sound like a lot, but to organizer Jeff Budd—whose family has sponsored this Walk for Israel for generations, and who expected maybe 150 people might turn up—it was astounding. The turnout was especially noteworthy against a backdrop of rampant antisemitism and anti-Zionism that's washed across the country. The region has been no exception: Kitchener's Beth Jacob synagogue was vandalized last month, and the University of Waterloo has been struggling with a vibrant pro-Palestinian encampment for the past six weeks. But the unexpected show of solidarity, including neighbours applauding from their porches, galvanized the city's small Jewish community of 2,400 people. Budd joins The CJN Daily with Rabbi Moshe Goldman of Chabad of Waterloo to explain how the walk came together and why they're feeling optimistic about Jewish allyship in Canada . What we talked about: Learn more about the recent Walk for Israel held in Kitchener and see their donation page Read about a white supremacist convicted of hate threats against a Kitchener rabbi and lawyer, in 2018, in The CJN Hear Ellin on The Globe and Mail's The Decibel podcast, speaking about how Canadian Jews have been impacted by antisemitism since Oct. 7 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 is by Dov Beck-Levine.  We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. D

Birju Dattani is a Canadian human rights lawyer who worked in the Yukon and his home province of Alberta before being catapulted into the highest-profile human rights job in the country a few weeks ago. In mid-June, Canada’s justice minster announced Dattani’s appointment for a five-year term as chief commissioner at the federal human rights watchdog. But the ink was hardly dry on the Order-in-Council before disturbing allegations began surfacing about some anti-Israel social media posts and lectures he made a decade ago while a university student in England. Jewish groups and other researchers discovered he’d shared a panel with a virulent Islamic terrorist, protested outside the Israeli embassy and once shared an article that compared Israelis to Nazis. Now the federal justice Minister Arif Virani has launched an investigation—although he isn’t rescinding the job offer, despite calls to do so from CIJA, B’nai Brith, Canadian Friends of Simon Wiesenthal and the federal Conservatives. Dattani denies he is antisemitic, saying he didn’t do the things he is accused of, has apologized if the revelations caused harm to the Jewish community, and is confident he will be vindicated. But as we’ll hear on today’s episode of The CJN Daily, at least one prominent Jewish outfit has a hard message for Dattani: “Apology not accepted.” Shimon Koffler Fogel, the CEO of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, joins from Ottawa to explain his position. What we talked about: Hear Michael Geist discuss his concerns about the new Online Harms law and the changes to the Canadian Human Rights Act and the powers it will give to the CHRC, on The CJN Daily. Read Birju Dattani’s official statement on his LinkedIn page distancing himself from the allegations, denying them, and expressing confidence he will be vindicated. Learn more about the changes to the Canadian Human Rights Act as part of Bill C-63, introduced in the spring of 2024, in The CJN. Read the order in council appointing Birju Dattani to the new position, on the Government of Canada’s website. 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 is by Dov Beck-Levine. 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. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

Canada Day is usually a holiday of patriotism and pride. But this year, nine months after Oct. 7 sparked new waves of antisemitism across the country, many Jewish Canadians continue to feel isolated, vulnerable and anxious. It seems like every few weeks, a new synagogue is attacked or vandalized; Jewish and Israeli children are being routinely bullied; open supporters of Israel can find themselves doxxed online, their businesses boycotted or alienated from their industries. To reflect on what’s changed, _The CJN Daily _gathered together some of the country’s leading intellectuals and newsmakers on a panel about the state of Jewish life in Canada. Their message: yes, life feels difficult. But don’t give up just yet. Joining the show today are Selina Robinson, an independent MLA in the British Columbia legislature who was ousted from the NDP caucus because of the Middle East conflict; David Weinfeld, a Canadian professor of Jewish history and former CJN contributor now living in Philadelphia; Artur Wilczynski, Canada’s former ambassador to Norway, just appointed the new antisemitism advisor to the University of Ottawa, now living in the nation’s capital; and Rabbi Lisa Grushcow, the spiritual leader of Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom in Montreal. Hear our guests on past episodes of The CJN Daily: Selina Robinson explains why she quit the B.C. NDP over its poor handling of antisemitism What Artur Wilczynski thought after Canadian lawmakers gave a standing ovation to an elderly visitor who turned out to be a Nazi war criminal David Weinfeld contributed to this book edited by David Koffman on why Canada remains the best place in the Diaspora for Jews 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 is by Dov Beck-Levine. 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. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

Author Robert Rotenberg never imagined that his newest police crime novel, written against the backdrop of European fascism, would come out at the same time that far-right political leaders are sweeping into office across the continent. Nor did he plan that What We Buried would be published in the aftermath of one of the most embarrassing moments in recent Canadian history, when lawmakers from all parties stood in the House of Commons last fall to give a standing ovation to an elderly guest who, it turned out, had been a former Nazi soldier. The incident shone a spotlight on Canada’s troubled legacy of unapologetically allowing thousands of former enemy soldiers into the country, legally, after the Second World War. Rotenberg’s newest novel, his seventh, is a departure from his trademark police procedural material based on real-life Toronto headlines. Instead, this story has a more international scope. It revolves around a true Nazi war crime that took place 80 years ago this month in Gubbio, a small hilltop town in Italy, where the Germans massacred 40 innocent civilians on June 22, 1944. Rotenberg joins The CJN Daily to talk about why he’s hoping the book resonates with readers in Canada, where Jewish groups have long felt the country’s never really come clean about its dark legacy of allowing Nazi soldiers to make new lives here. What we talked about: Read more about Robert Rotenberg’s book What We Buried and buy it Watch the video recording of Ellin interviewing Robert Rotenberg live onstage at the University of Toronto’s Innis Hall, on the occasion of his book launch Read reviews of Rotenberg’s other books in The CJN archives from 2012, and on The CJN Daily from 2022 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 is by Dov Beck-Levine.  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. Hear why The CJN is important to me.