North Star with Ellin Bessner

Late Monday night, March 18, 2024, Canada’s lawmakers voted to keep a key part of the country’s foreign policy on Israel-Palestine the same as it’s been for decades. The controversial opposition-led motion, originally put forward to the House of Commons by the NDP’s foreign affairs critic and a longtime Palestinian advocate, Heather McPherson, called for Canada to immediately recognize Palestine as a state. She and others donned keffiyehs and watermelon pins during the House vote. But a last-minute deal with the Liberal government saw the NDP agree to remove that seemingly critical demand. In the end, the motion simply restated Canada’s longstanding view that a Palestinian state must be contingent on a two-state solution, and should come only as part of a negotiated peace between Israel and Palestinians. The motion, which is non-binding and purely symbolic, nonetheless passed 204-117, leading to celebrations from the NDP, Green Party and Bloc Québécois—while Jewish communal organizations swiftly expressed outrage over the motion’s call for an immediate ceasefire, continued funding for UNRWA and a ban on weapons sales to Israel. (The motion also calls for the immediate release of Israeli hostages and blames Hamas for the murders and kidnappings of Israelis.) On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, we bring you highlights from the fiery debate, including words from Jewish MPs who voted against the motion—including Anthony Housefather, Melissa Lantsman and Marty Morantz—as well as Jewish MPs who voted in favour, such as Liberal Julie Dabrusin and the NDP’s Leah Gazan. (Karina Gould and Ya'ara Saks also voted in favour, while Ben Carr voted no.)

The photo has caused outrage in Canada’s Jewish community. Last week, the government released an image of the minister of foreign affairs, Melanie Joly, and Ya’ara Saks—her Israeli-Canadian cabinet colleague and Toronto area MP—smiling and holding hands in Ramallah with the leader of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas. The grip and grin photo was taken on March 12, while the two Canadian politicians were on a diplomatic swing through the region, pledging aid to both sides while the war between Israel and Hamas enters its 24th week. The furor over the photo comes just as Canadian lawmakers on Monday are set to debate a key NDP motion in Parliament which, among other things, would see this country unilaterally recognize Palestine as an independent state. Will this motion will pass? What is Canada signalling about whose side they are on, now that Ottawa has also restarted financial aid to UNRWA, blocked export permits for military equipment to Israel and pledged $1 million to investigate sexual assaults on Palestinian prisoners by Israeli police and soldiers? On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, we dive into that infamous photo, the upcoming vote and what it all means. With Conservative insider Anthony Koch of AK Strategies; Emma Cunningham, a former Ontario NDP riding president; and Joe Roberts, formerly of JSpace Canada, and now a lobbyist and managing director with Winston Wilmont Public Affairs in Ottawa. What we talked about: Read the NDP motion on recognizing Palestine as an independent state, on the House of Commons website. When the Liberals voted in favour of an NDP motion to re-examine Canada’s relationship with Israel and Palestine, in May 2023, on The CJN Daily. Read about Emma Cunningham’s departure from the Ontario NDP over antisemitism, in The CJN. 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. 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. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

It’s been a week since Selina Robinson scorched her premier and former B.C. NDP colleagues for their “silence” after Oct. 7, and for the way they’ve treated the prominent Jewish politician ever since. Robinson quit the governing party on March 6—the day of her 60th birthday—releasing a blistering five-page letter. Robinson said she was heartbroken, but felt compelled to leave when her premier, David Eby rejected her “too political” offer to host a bridge-building initiative between Muslims and Jews. He’d already fired her from her cabinet post as the minister responsible for post-secondary education back in February. Her troubles began when she participated in a live webinar hosted by B’nai Brith in January, wherein she described pre-1948 Israel as a “crappy piece of land” without an economy. Despite issuing two long apologies and offering to take anti-Islamophobia training, the premier declared she had “screwed up” too badly. Since the controversy began, she’s received a death threat that forced her to leave Canada for a while. Her constituency office was vandalized with posters comparing Zionism to Nazism. But Robinson vows she won’t be cancelled so easily. Selina Robinson sat down with _The CJN Daily _ahead of Wednesday March 13, the day she sits in the provincial legislature for the first time as an independent MLA representing her Coquitlam-Maillardville riding in Vancouver. What we talked about Read about the B.C. Jewish community’s outrage after Selina Robinson got fired from cabinet, in The CJN Watch the controversial remarks which Selina Robinson made on Jan. 30, 2024, during her webinar with B’nai Brith’s League for Human Rights Read the full text of Selina Robinson’s resignation letter from the B.C. NDP caucus 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. 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. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

Canada’s main kosher supervision agencies, the Kashruth Council of Canada (COR) and the Jewish Community Council in Montreal, which runs the MK brand, do not believe Canada wants to ban kosher slaughter. But they say new regulations to reduce animal suffering will have the same impact and puts the nation’s entire domestic kosher meat industry “very much at risk”. COR and MK and two of the country’s largest kosher meat producers—Shefa and Mehadrin—are launching a legal challenge to the country’s new slaughter regulations, which were introduced in 2019 but have only begun being enforced since 2023. Under the regulations, animals must be first stunned with a bolt to the brain, which is not permitted under Jewish law. Alternative methods are also being allowed, such as stunning after the neck is cut, with is still a no, or giving the animals more time to die—but will cost meat processors too much money to make it profitable much longer, the plaintiffs argue. The collective of Jewish organizations filed for a judicial review on March 8, 2024, in the Federal Court of Canada. They’re arguing that kosher slaughter is already humane—and say they have the science to prove it. On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, we hear the backstory from Richard Rabkin, managing director of COR, and Rabbi Saul Emanuel, the executive director of the Jewish Community Council of Montreal. What we talked about Learn more about the history of similar threats to kosher meat production in Canada, 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. 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. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

For decades, Israeli entrepreneurs have been mounting traveling real estate trade shows here in Canada, to encourage Diaspora Jews to buy property in Israel. But in the wake of Oct. 7, there has been renewed attention paid to anything having to do with Israel and Palestinians, meaning several of these annual real estate events in Montreal and Toronto last week touched off large, aggressive anti-Israel street protests. Critics accuse the promoters (and buyers) of stealing Palestinian land, especially because some of the apartments for sale are located in disputed areas of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The UN and Canada consider these illegal settlements because they are still under Israeli military rule since being captured during the 1967 Six Day War. So are the protests hurting business, or are they having the opposite effect, as Diaspora Jews worried about the rising antisemitism at home look for a safer place to live or invest in Israel as a show of support? On today’s The CJN Daily, we go inside one of the real estate events in Toronto to see what they are all about. We also speak with Israeli promoter Gidon Katz of the Great Israeli Real Estate Event, and with Ben Murane, head of the New Israel Fund of Canada, who explains why the event is problematic for many. [Ed. note: Organizers of this past week’s Israeli Real Estate Event have been a client of The CJN for many years, buying ad space in our magazines and other news products. ] What we talked about: Read more about the protests at two Israel real estate sales events in Toronto, and also at the tour’s stop in Montreal, in The CJN. Israeli real estate events have been visiting Canada since at least 2009, in The CJN. Watch and learn more about the made-in-Canada Oscars’ antisemitism ad that was originally supposed to air during the Super Bowl in The CJN. 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. 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. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

Warning: This episode contains descriptions of sexual violence against women, and may be disturbing to some listeners. On March 4, days before International Women’s Day, the office of the UN’s Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict released their long-awaited report on what happened to Israeli women near Gaza on Oct. 7. The report paints a gruesome picture of what happened to some of the 300 Israeli women who were attacked and killed by Hamas—and also warns that hostages still being held in Gaza are likely still being rape and tortured. The UN’s fact-finding mission to Israel took place last month, with the blessing of the Israeli government. And the resulting 23-page report is important for a whole host of reasons. Supporters say it spells out, for the first time—despite repeated denials by Hamas and their supporters—”clear and reasonable grounds” to believe rapes, and even gang rapes, happened that day. It also cites “clear and convincing” grounds sexual violence happened to hostages—then, and even now. On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, we speak to Ruth Halperin-Kaddari, a professor and Israeli legal expert on women’s rights, who helped make this report happen. She was in Toronto. What we talked about Read the UN special representative’s report on sexual violence during and after Oct. 7 Learn more about the work of Ruth Halperin-Kaddari at Bar Ilan University and the Rackman Centre Hear Canada’s ambassador to Israel, Lisa Stadelbauer, explain why she was “ashamed” it took her so long to pay attention to #believeIsraeliwomen, on The CJN Daily (and read other CJN coverage) 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. 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. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

It’s been more than 150 days since Hamas captured Israeli hostages on Oct. 7 and took them into Gaza. Hamas leaders claim they don’t know where all the hostages are, or even if they are all still alive. But Nir Maman, a security expert who lives in Toronto, has his theories—including his take on why the Israel Defense Forces haven’t been able to rescue them. Maman, 47, is one of the older volunteers who’ve flocked to the Jewish State to help his native country respond to the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust. But despite his age, Maman offers a special set of skills: the married father of five is also an elite counter-terrorism expert who trains police and military in North America and Israel how to rescue hostages and conduct urban warfare. For the last four months, Maman has been deployed with an IDF light infantry reserve battalion in Hebron, in the West Bank. He’s been manning checkpoints, hunting for terrorist cells and conducting raids. He was on leave back home in Canada last week, for just 11 days, until it was cut short by a surprise summons to return to the front lines—this time, in Gaza. He spoke to _The CJN Daily _during his furlough, about what the war has been like and whether Israel can rescue the remaining hostages. What we talked about: Learn more about Maman and his CT707 counter-terrorism company Follow Maman on Instagram Learn about other lone soldiers in the IDF on The CJN Daily and in The CJN 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. 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. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

Brian Mulroney didn’t meet a Jew until he left his home in Quebec to go to boarding school. Yet despite this, the Canadian prime minister, who died on Feb. 29, made fighting antisemitism and supporting Jews—and Israel—priorities during his lengthy political career. Mulroney, 84, died after a fall in the bathroom of his home in Palm Beach, Florida, friends say. He had recently been treated for prostate cancer. Mulroney served as prime minister for nine years, from 1984 to 1993. He resigned due to growing separatist sentiments in Quebec, a recession and record-low popular support. However, Jewish leaders and experts say Mulroney’s support for Jews in and out of office was remarkable. His dedication included hiring a succession of Jewish political advisors to be his chiefs of staff; appointing Norman Spector as the first Jewish ambassador to represent Canada in Israel; establishing a public inquiry to investigate how Nazi war criminals were allowed into Canada after the Holocaust; and welcoming Chaim Herzog, then the president of Israel, as the first leader of the Jewish State to address Parliament, in 1989. On today’s edition of The CJN Daily, we explore why Canada’s 18th prime minister felt moved to fight what he called “a noxious social cancer” of antisemitism, even to his last days. We hear from philanthropist Charles Bronfman; Irwin Cotler, the former special envoy on combatting antisemitism; political panelist for _The CJN Daily _Stephen Adler; and Don Abelson, the founding director of the Brian Mulroney Institute of Government in Nova Scotia. What we talked about: Read professors Don Abelson and Monda Halpern’s scholarly paper about Brian Mulroney and the Jews, “On the Right Side of History” Read Ron Csillag’s article about Brian Mulroney’s legacy, in The CJN Watch Mulroney’s last public speech, to the World Jewish Congress in New York, from Nov. 2023 Why criticism of Israel is not necessarily antisemitism, Mulroney said: 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. 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. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

On Feb. 26, Canada signalled it is done waiting for internet giants and social media companies to protect children from consuming or being victims of harmful online content. Justice minister Arif Virani introduced Bill C-63, which sets up a new Digital Safety Commission to handle these cases and impose multimillion-dollar fines on social media sites for not complying. For the Jewish community, the new law would also toughen penalties for those who incite hatred, including antisemitism, and promote genocide or Holocaust denial. It’s a long-awaited piece of legislation for Jewish advocacy groups like CIJA, Friends of Simon Wiesenthal and B’nai Brith: all have been warning about the dangerous explosion of online hate, saying that it could lead to actual terrorism, especially after Oct. 7. But some critics, including the federal Conservatives, fear the new law may go too far in curbing free speech, and have hinted they will vote against it as the proposed law now makes its way through Parliament. On today’s The CJN Daily, we speak with Bernie Farber, who was one of the consultants hired by the government to shape the new legislation, and with professor Michael Geist, an internet law expert from the University of Ottawa, who sees some red flags. What we talked about: Read more about the Ottawa teenager charged in December with a terror-related bomb making plot against Canadian Jews, in The CJN Read how Canadian Jewish leaders reacted to the Canadian government’s new Online Harms Bill, in The CJN See the actual Online Harms Act for yourself on the Government of Canada’s website and read the accompanying explanation 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. 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. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

Last Thursday, Feb. 22, the school of business at McGill University in Montreal had to quickly cancel its in-person classes and switch to online learning, because anti-Israel protesters blocked access to the department’s Bronfman building, off Sherbrooke St. W. The protest was called by a campus Palestinian club and was the latest incident in an escalation of what the authors of a new study have found was an alarming rise of antisemitism on Canadian university campuses, especially after Oct. 7. Researchers at the Abraham Global Peace Initiative (AGPI) released their 2023 campus antisemitism report on Feb. 16. It documents the “intimidation, harassment, and regrettably, violent behaviour against Jewish students” and also the “blatant targeting of Jewish students”, and calls into question the effectiveness of the institutions’ embrace of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs. They also gave letter marks for each of the universities: York, University of Toronto and Concordia got the lowest grades of F, while five schools weren’t much safer: University of Victoria, Queen’s, Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson), UBC and Lethbridge–they all scored Ds and D-. Dr. Neil Orlowsky is Director of Education for the AGPI, and he joins to review the findings, and why he feels parents should consider the report before advising their teens where to attend university this fall. What we talked about: Read how a blockade impacted classes at the McGill University Bronfman building last Thursday, in The CJN. Read the AGPI’s 2024 report on campus antisemitism, and hear The CJN’s coverage of the AGPI’s first report in 2022 on the best and worst schools for Canadian Jews, on The CJN Daily. Excellent campus safety resources page for Jewish students in Montreal, by Federation CJA. 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. 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. Hear why The CJN is important to me.