North Star with Ellin Bessner

It’s been nearly five months since officials at the University of Windsor signed what many observers describe as the most far-reaching agreement by any post-secondary school in Canada to meet the demands of pro-Palestinian students who erected protest encampments in the spring. In return, the Windsor student council and the so-called Liberation Zone protesters agreed in July to dismantle their encampment peacefully, with no academic penalties. But the terms of the deal outraged Jewish leaders in the city and across the country: they felt it went too far, rewarded illegal activities, and ignored the trauma felt by the small group of Jewish students who attend Windsor and have long complained they have been the targets of campus antisemitism after Oct. 7. While local Jewish leaders are still working on a legal challenge against the university, and some major Jewish alumni have cancelled their philanthropic donations in protest, the university has recently taken some steps to address the concerns of Jewish students: a campus Jewish advisor has just been hired, (along with someone who will advise Palestinian students). Two links about antisemitism have been uploaded to the school’s new anti-oppression website. And the Jewish students club has just been invited to join a campus Parade of Nations event next semester. So has the situation on campus iactually mproved at all for Jewish students? The CJN Daily’s host Ellin Bessner traveled to Windsor recently to speak at a Jewish community event. On today’s episode, she interviews Justin Hébert, head of the Jewish Students Association at the Windsor law school, Stephen Cheifetz, president of Windsor’s Jewish Federation, and Marion Zeller, the federation’s new CEO. Related links Read more about professor Ira Cohen, the new Jewish Student Advisor appointed in Oct. 2024, at the University of Windsor. Why the University of Windsor offered a separate agreement for Jewish students after a deal to end the student Palestinian encampment in July contained widespread boycott of Israel and increased support for Gaza and Palestine, in The CJN. Hear Jewish leaders law student Sydney Greenspoon and Federation chair Stephen Heifetz explain why they will fight the University of Windsor’s deal with encampment protesters, from July 2024, on The CJN Daily. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Dov Beck-Levine Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

Please consider donating to our #GivingTuesday campaign so that we can continue bringing you these important stories… Rabbi Adam Scheier says what happened to him in downtown Montreal on Sunday, Nov. 24—when a police officer saw the full-time kippah wearer silently watching and filming a nearby pro-Palestinian march, and ordered him to move along to avoid igniting any problems—shows “unacceptable and intolerable” conditions being demanded of his community. The spiritual leader of Congregation Shaar Hashomayim, the oldest Ashkenazi synagogue in Canada, founded in 1846, has subsequently been speaking out about the way his city’s leaders have handled the local explosion of antisemitism during the past 14 months. In his view, the experience revealed how rather than enforcing the law and protecting the rights of Jewish people, authorities are now asking them to hide for their own protection—while crowds of mask-wearing demonstrators chanting hateful slogans have been given free reign on the streets. Scheier was out with his wife and daughters shopping for a birthday gift when he purchased a coffee at the Second Cup. He wanted to show appreciation for the café chain quickly cutting ties with its franchisee at the Jewish General Hospital after she was spotted making antisemitic gestures while shouting antisemitic slogans. The modern Orthodox rabbi subsequently met with senior police commanders and local politicians, although police will not say what they intend to do in response. On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, Rabbi Scheier joins to describe his ordeal, in conversation with Joel Ceausu, the new Quebec correspondent for The Canadian Jewish News. Related links Why Montreal's Jews have become the most targeted for hate crimes since Oct. 7, in The CJN. Why masked anti-Israel protesters gathered outside Congregation Shaar Hashomayim synagogue on Nov. 5, 2024 violating a court-ordered buffer zone preventing such events outside houses of worship, in The CJN. Quebec premier Francois Legault demands Montreal mayor act after weekend of violent anti-NATO, and antisemitic protests erupt Nov. 20-21, in The CJN. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Dov Beck-Levine Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

For the 61st week since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, Jewish Canadians–and increasingly, some of their non-Jewish allies–came out to stand for two hours in the cold on Sunday Dec. 1 at a Toronto street corner in support of Israel, to call for the release of the 101 remaining hostages held in Gaza, and to pray for Israel’s soldiers. For over a year now, a similar scene also takes place every Sunday in Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg and Montreal: hundreds of people turn out, rain or shine, for solidarity rallies and marches. While the smaller cities’ events have been mostly uneventful and peaceful, the Toronto rally has been recently dogged by groups of masked, pro-Palestinian protesters trying to disrupt and provoke, which has meant the need for a large police presence and even private security companies to keep things safe. But despite that development, and the arrival of a second Canadian winter adding an extra challenge to participating, the organizers from coast to coast say their local rallies have kept the hostages front and centre plus have created a badly needed sense of community for Jews facing an explosion of antisemitism in Canada since Oct. 7. On today’s The CJN Daily, we speak with the founders of three #BringThemHomeNow vigils Daphna Kedem in Vancouver, Michel Aziza in Winnipeg, and Michal Bental in Montreal. Guidy Mamann of the Toronto Rally for Israel also joins. Related links Learn more about the Toronto rallies, including the Aug. 2024 assault against an 88-year-old Jewish man at Bathurst and Shepard, in The CJN and on The CJN Daily. Follow the Montreal Bring them Home Now rally on Instagram or on Threads, Follow the Vancouver Bring Them Home Now rally on Instagram or X/Twitter. Follow the Winnipeg Bring Them Home Now rally. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Dov Beck-Levine Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

Donna Blackburn, a long-serving trustee on the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, has been formally censured by her peers and must take antisemitism training. The vote came on Nov. 26, following an official complaint accusing Blackburn of using slurs about Jews being powerful bullies. While the OCDSB stopped short of suspending Blackburn outright, as others in similar situations have been, Jewish leaders are applauding the school board’s somewhat unexpected stand against antisemitism. The OCDSB has long been accused of treating Jewish students and staff differently than other equity-seeking groups. In this latest example, Dr. Nili Kaplan-Myrth, a trustee on the board, lodged a complaint this summer after a dispute over the Capital Pride Parade. She and Blackburn, a long supporter of the parade, clashed when the school board pulled out of the event after organizers openly supported the Palestinian cause, blamed Israel for a “genocide” in Gaza, said Israel was pinkwashing the war, and called for a boycott of sponsors who were Zionists. On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, we hear reaction from Jewish leaders in Ottawa: Kaplan-Myrth; Stacey Freedhoff of the new Jewish Parents of Ottawa Students Association; Rabbi David Rotenberg, who runs twenty NCSY student clubs in Ottawa public schools; and Ariel and Ethan Podolsky, Grade 12 students at Sir Robert Borden High School, where many recent incidents targeting Jewish students have taken place. Related links Learn more about Jewish Parents of Ottawa Students Association, and Ottawa’s NCSY clubs. Read a student’s perspective on antisemitism in Ottawa schools, by Talia Freedhoff, in The CJN. When two students from Sir Robert Borden High school were charged in 2023 after making antisemitic gestures at a Jewish classmate, in The CJN. Read the consultant’s official findings on the code of conduct complaint levelled by trustee Dr. Nili Kaplan-Myrth about trustee Donna Blackburn’s antisemitic comments and texts during the lead up to Capital Pride. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Dov Beck-Levine Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

It lasted just over 10 minutes, but on Nov. 22, Henry Wolfond became an astronaut. The Canadian business executive is still processing what it means to have fulfilled his lifelong dream, having flown out as a paying tourist aboard a commercial spaceship operated by Blue Origin, owned by Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos. During this journey—which took Wolfond and five others roughly 106 kilometres into the sky—Wolfond pinned a yellow ribbon for the Israeli hostages onto his space suit, and carried “Bring Them Home Now” dog tags and other Jewish gear with him, (as well as his granddaughter's Taylor Swift bracelets.) While blasting off on the Blue Origin program, Wolfond reflected on his own family’s origins—how his ancestors escaped pogroms in Tsarist Russia, and how members of his wife’s family perished in the Holocaust. On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, Wolfond explains how he returned to terra firma with a reinvigorated mission: to help end modern-day antisemitism in a post-Oct. 7 world. Related links Watch the whole Blue Origin New Shepard NS-28 mission carrying Toronto’s Henry (Hank) Wolfond, on YouTube. Read about Wolfond’s son Adam, a poet living with autism, in The CJN. Learn how Henry Wolfond’s father-in-law, a Holocaust survivor, commissioned a new Torah in memory of his lost family, in The CJN. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Dov Beck-Levine Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

It’s been an open secret for a year now: the esteemed Canadian human rights advocate, Irwin Cotler, 84, has been living under round-the-clock police protection in Montreal. But until recently, Cotler had heard only vague chatter about the source of the death threats. A month ago, on Oct. 26, the RCMP warned Cotler to stay home, under guard, because he was in imminent danger—within the next 48 hours—of being murdered by agents tied to Iran’s terrorist regime. The news was kept out of the media until a Globe and Mail story appeared in Nov. 18. Cotler, the founder of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights and a former justice minister, confirmed it was all true. He has since heard that some suspects have been arrested in the U.S., and the threat level against his life has lowered somewhat. So Cotler is now turning his ordeal into a clarion call for an issue he’s been pushing for more than a decade: get Canada to wake up and pay attention to the dangers posed by Iran’s “transnational” interference in our country’s political and civil life, including targeted killings on Canadian soil. Cotler joins The CJN Daily‘s Ellin Bessner to discuss what he’s just been through, the antisemitic protests across Canada, and what Israel should do about the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant. Related links Why the Israeli Ambassador urged Canada to list the Iranian National Guard Corps as a terrorist organization in April 2024, in The CJN. Why Canadian Jewish leaders including Cotler have been warning about the threat from Iran for decades, in The CJN from 2010, and in 2018. Since 2017, Canada has laws banning listed Iranian nationals from entering Canada, and also banning any Canadians from helping to sell products or handle money or property for Iranian terror entities. Why Canada has been trying to deport 22 Iranians linked to human rights abuses and murder. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Dov Beck-Levine Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

Ever since Oct. 7, there has been a deluge of antisemitism propagated under the veil of anti-Zionism. Cartoons of world-dominating Jewish rats and hook-nosed devils; claims that Israel has no right to exist; calls for the death of Jews… the list goes on. These Canadian examples of real-world instances of antisemitism are just some of the many detailed in a new 56-page government handbook, published Oct. 31 by the office of Canada’s special envoy for preserving Holocaust remembrance and combatting antisemitism. For Special Envoy Deborah Lyons, publishing this handbook was near the top of her to-do list after being appointed to the post last year, completing the work begun to fulfill a promise the Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made in 2022. While the handbook has no legal power, Lyons hopes that by setting out in clear, understandable terms what contemporary antisemitism looks like, Canadians can recognize it when they see it—and take action in their workplaces, unions, school boards, the police, the courts and on campus. Lyons admits her team wanted to avoid provoking pushback from anti-Zionist activists, and so they agreed to exclude certain current pro-Palestinian references, such as the chant, “From the river to the sea”. But that hasn’t stopped the federal NDP and anti-Israel groups from attacking the handbook already, which Lyons says just proves the need for it, amidst the ongoing tensions that have divided many Canadians since Oct. 7. Lyons returns to The CJN Daily to explain what did and didn’t make it into the handbook, and why. We’ll also hear from handbook’s main author, Noah Lew.. What we talked about: Read the Canadian Handbook on the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism, issued Oct. 31, 2024, and watch this short video with simple definitions of what is and is not antisemitism. Learn why Canada adopted the IHRA definition of antisemitism in 2019, in The CJN. Hear why an antisemitism handbook was high on Deborah Lyons’ to do list after she was appointed as Canada’s special envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism in Oct. 2023, on The CJN Daily. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Dov Beck-Levine Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

On Nov. 7, mobs of Dutch soccer fans rampaged through central Amsterdam beating up Israeli and Jewish tourists there to see the Maccabi Tel Aviv team play. The outbreak of violence happened on the eve of the 86th anniversary of Kristallnacht, when organized gangs of Nazi soldiers in Germany and occupied Austria targeted Jewish businesses, torched synagogues and sent 20,000 Jewish men to concentration camps. Video of the Dutch attacks prompted some world leaders to describe the night as a “pogrom”. In hindsight, however, the mayor of Amsterdam is now backtracking on using the word “pogrom”, saying the word has been weaponized to score political points. And while her comments have angered many Jewish leaders in the Netherlands, at least two of them agree that the horrific comparison is an overstatement. On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, you’ll hear why. Dave Heilbron, the Dutch-Canadian leader of a pro-Israel lobby organization based in Amsterdam, and Annet Betsalel, a Dutch filmmaker and Holocaust educator in the small town of Bussum, both join the show to discuss what Jewish life in the Netherlands has been like over the past couple of weeks. They say while calling the attacks a pogrom may be exaggeration, Dutch Jews are still nervous about more antisemitic attacks, costly security bills and rising anti-Jewish hatred across the political spectrum in Europe. Related links Read why soccer hooliganism in Europe has disturbing antisemitic chants and symbols, in The CJN. Learn more about Anne Betsalel’s work on the rescue of Canada’s Veffer family in the Netherlands during the Holocaust, on The CJN Daily. Why a new Canadian book about who betrayed Anne Frank has outraged Dutch Jews, in The CJN from 2022. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Dov Beck-Levine Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

The organizers of a vigil for Yahya Sinwar, the former leader of Hamas whom Israeli forces killed earlier this year, have decided to cancel their controversial event just one week before it was scheduled to take place in Mississauga. But the pro-Palestinian organizing group insisted in a written release that it was not intimidated by “pro-Israel lobbies”; instead decision came out of concern for the “safety of our city”. That, and “the urgent food security issue declared 3 days ago,” which their members will be “volunteering to eradicate.” (The news release did not specify the food security issue, nor how they plan to eradicate it.) Nonetheless, before the cancellation, the event made national headlines for its controversial nature. Mississauga’s mayor, Carolyn Parrish, told B’nai Brith Canada that the rally was allowed to proceed under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Many Jewish and civil society leaders were disgusted after Parrish parroted the promotional flier which compared Sinwar, an internationally recognized terrorist, with Nobel Peace Prize–winning icon Nelson Mandela, who had once also been labelled a terrorist while he was fighting against apartheid in South Africa. Parrish has not apologized for the remarks, despite pressure from Jewish groups. What does Mississauga’s Jewish community want to see next? On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, we speak with Noah Farber, a political consultant who monitors antisemitism at local public schools; Rabbi Audrey Pollack, the spiritual leader of Congregation Solel of Mississauga; and Dr. Roselyn Allen, a veterinarian who is the security director at that same Reform synagogue. Related links Learn which schools in Mississauga held anti-Israel protests coinciding with the anniversary of Oct. 7, in The CJN. It’s not the first time Mississauga has rented city space to anti-Israel groups, in a breach of city policy: read more in The CJN archives (from 2020). Why Reform Jewish supplementary schools have a new pro-Israel curriculum developed by Rabbi Lawrence Englander, of Solel Congregation of Mississauga, in The CJN.Example Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Dov Beck-Levine Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

Just before Rosh Hashanah, Rev. Dr. Andrew Bennett, a Catholic community leader in Ottawa, launched a campaign to convince more of his Christian colleagues to take a public stand against spiking antisemitism. Bennett, a deacon with a Ukrainian-Greek Catholic shrine in the national capital, made the Canadian Christian Declaration Against Antisemitism, hoping to receive a few hundred signatures by the time his petition closed on Oct. 25. To his delight, more than 700 people joined his initiative, including faith leaders from many Christian denominations—including leaders from Catholic, Anglican, United and Evangelical churches. So what happens next? Bennett has committed to put the declaration’s words into action, with plans to hold a summit in 2025 for interfaith leaders. His ultimate goal is to establish a year-long program to pair individual congregations, schools and groups for in-person events and Shabbat dinners. On today’s The CJN Daily, Bennett joins to explain why he believes Christians have an ancient moral and religious responsibility to protect and encourage their “Jewish cousins”, and why he believes Canadians–including Christians and also Muslims–cannot remain silent in the face of record-breaking anti-Jewish hate crimes. Related links Learn more about the Canadian Christian Declaration on Antisemitism, and what's behind the group's support for Jewish Canadians. How Rev. Dr. Andrew Bennett served as Canada's first and only Ambassador for Religious Freedom from 2013-2016, in The CJN. Read about Dr. Phil (McGraw) and the eight non-Jewish allies honoured last week by the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies, in Toronto. Watch the Rally for Humanity interfaith event held Sunday Nov. 10 in Vaughan, Ontario, and learn more about their petition headed for the House of Commons. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Dov Beck-Levine Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)