'Thin line' between freedom of speech and 'freedom of hate,' says Israeli ambassador
The Canadian Press
Thu, October 19, 2023
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| ISRAEL APOLOGISTS CALL THIS ANTI-SEMITISM |
OTTAWA — Israel's envoy to Canada says it is important for democracies to assess when a line has been crossed between freedom of speech and what he calls "freedom of hate."
Iddo Moed, Israel's ambassador to Canada, spoke generally about what he sees as a "thin line" between the two in an interview with The Canadian Press.
He said he couldn't comment on the nature of any demonstrations seen in Canada since Hamas launched surprise attacks on Oct. 7, when rocket attacks and raids by militants killed hundreds of civilians in southern Israel during a major Jewish holiday.
Israel retaliated with airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian territory controlled by Hamas, and cut off access to essential supplies. More than 4,000 people have died in the latest Israel-Hamas war.
Almost immediately, the conflict sparked protests worldwide.
Political leaders, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other Liberal ministers, swiftly condemned demonstrators who attended pro-Palestinian rallies in cities such as Toronto and Montreal in the aftermath of the Hamas attack.
They viewed the gatherings as celebrations of the attack by Hamas, which Canada has listed as a terrorist organization since 2002. One sign spotted at the Oct. 9 protest outside Toronto's Nathan Phillips Square read: "Occupation is a crime, resistance is a response."
The Gaza Strip, home to some 2.3 million people, has been under blockade by both Israel and Egypt since Hamas took control in 2007. Israel has defended the restrictions as a security measure, as Hamas has always embraced violence as a way to liberate Palestinian territories occupied by Israel. Palestinians have argued the blockade is collective punishment by Israel.
On Tuesday night, pro-Palestinian protesters marching through downtown Ottawa made their way to the front of a convention centre, where Trudeau and other federal leaders were speaking at a conference on antisemitism organized by the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs.
The scene outside prompted organizers to direct attendees to leave through a back entrance and to exercise caution when going outside.
Speaking broadly, Moed said on Wednesday that there is a "distinction between freedom of speech and freedom of hate."
"I don't think that democracies allow people to hate and to incite, and I think that that is something that is looked at very carefully in many places, including Canada," he said.
He added that it is "perfectly fine" if people feel strongly about support for Palestinians.
"The only issue is, I think that we, as democracies, should look at … when is a line crossed that is between supporting a cause and between changing our values in a way that incites hatred and violence and even glorification of horrendous terrorist attacks.
"That's very, very important."
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre told reporters last week he finds it "abhorrent" that anyone in Canada voices support for Hamas, but he said Conservatives believe in freedom of speech and freedom of assembly and "people are free to state their own opinions, even opinions that I find abhorrent."
Police agencies across Canada have said they are monitoring for threats against synagogues and members of Jewish communities across the country. There were police officers outside the antisemitism conference in Ottawa this week.
CIJA said in a statement that "rabid pro-Hamas demonstrations" are being staged in cities across Canada.
Liberal MP Anthony Housefather, who attended the recent antisemitism event in Ottawa, said that protests about what is happening in the Middle East do not belong "at a Jewish community event."
"This was a Jewish community event to stop antisemitism. It seems like a strange place to have a protest about what's happening in the Middle East."
Housefather, who is Jewish, said the conflict has led to both Jewish and Muslim people in Canada feeling vulnerable.
"We need to make sure that we don't add to that vulnerability."
Quebec Liberal MP Sameer Zuberi, who is Muslim, told reporters on Wednesday that people in the Muslim Canadian community have been facing threats.
He said that his sister-in-law, whom he called "visibly Muslim," was bringing his nine-year-old niece to school and was "accosted."
"Two people gave her the middle finger — different people not in the same group. They followed her," he said.
The pair didn't make it to his niece's school that morning, Zuberi said.
"That is unacceptable expression of speech. Why did that happen to her?"
Federal Mental Health and Addictions Minister Ya'ara Saks, an Israeli Canadian, told the House of Commons earlier this week that her daughter removed her Star of David on a university campus.
Moed told The Canadian Press that Israel feels a lot of support from Canada, noting that there have also been "strong manifestations in support of Israel throughout Canada in many communities."
"We feel at home, we feel among friends," he said.
"We know that there are others who don't support Israel and that is fine. That's the way democracies work."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 19, 2023.
Stephanie Taylor, The Canadian Press
Ontario politicians debate censuring legislator for statement on Israel-Hamas war
The Canadian Press
Wed, October 18, 2023
TORONTO — Ontario's legislature began debate Wednesday on a Progressive Conservative motion that could lead to a New Democrat legislator effectively prevented from speaking in the House unless she apologizes again for a statement she made about the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Sarah Jama, who was elected earlier this year in a byelection in Hamilton Centre, published a written statement last week decrying "the generations long occupation of Palestine" without mentioning the attack on Israeli civilians by Hamas militants.
Condemnation came swiftly, particularly from Tories, and Jama posted an apology on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, but she did not retract the original statement.
The Progressive Conservatives have now put forward a motion to censure Jama, calling on the Speaker not to recognize her in the House — in order to ask a question or debate legislation — until she retracts and deletes her original statement and also apologizes in the legislature.
"The member's musings at any other time would still have been offensive and unacceptable for any elected representative of the people of Ontario, but to make them in association with a violent act of unrepentant and unprovoked terrorism is repugnant and intolerable to the greatest extent of those words," Government House Leader Paul Calandra said in debate.
NDP Leader Marit Stiles said the government is trying to muzzle a democratically elected member of provincial parliament even though she has already apologized.
The Tories are playing political games, Stiles said, using Jama as a way to distract from the fact that the RCMP is investigating the government's decision — which it has now reversed — to open parts of the protected Greenbelt lands for housing development.
"We're not going to allow this government to continue to do this, this distraction, deflection," she said Wednesday.
"This is a government that has their back up against a wall. They've shown that they will do absolutely anything and stoop to just the most disgusting actions and lowest lows in order to avoid the questions that the Official Opposition, the people of Ontario have about their land speculation grab."
The Tories note that not only has Jama not deleted her original statement, she has now pinned it so that it always appears as her top post on social media platform X. Stiles said she did not know what it meant to "pin" a post, but that Jama's apology posts clearly stated that she unequivocally condemned Hamas's attack on Israeli civilians.
The National Council of Canadian Muslims said Wednesday that actions such as the Progressive Conservatives calling for Jama's censure have real life consequences in the form of hatred directed at Muslims.
"We cannot use this horrific conflict where so much pain and trauma is being felt by everyone to score political points," Uthman Quick, the group's director of communications, said at a press conference.
"That is because we've seen that rhetoric escalates, and communities are made to bear the brunt of the backlash."
He said on his way to the press conference he received reports of multiple hijab-wearing Muslim women being spat on in Ontario and across the country.
"The temperature, the atmosphere, the environment, is it's untenable right now," he said, adding that his heart goes out to members of the Jewish community across Canada that are affected by the violence against civilians.
Jewish groups have strongly condemned Jama's statement, and the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies said her apology was too little, too late.
"Given her longstanding record of causing hurt and harm to the Jewish community in Hamilton Centre and beyond, we stand by our call for Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles to do the right thing and remove her from the Ontario NDP caucus," the group wrote in a statement last week.
Jama also faced criticism from Jewish groups during her successful byelection campaign in March, with B'nai Brith accusing her of being a "radical anti-Israel advocate."
She said the criticism centred around what she describes as standing up for Palestinian human rights and her association with student groups running "Israeli Apartheid week" on campus 10 years ago, which shouldn't be conflated with anti-Semitism.
Debate on the Tories' motion is likely to continue in the legislature next week. The Progressive Conservatives have a majority so it is set to pass, but the Speaker would not necessarily be bound to follow it, and could exercise his discretion to still allow Jama to speak.
The motion would not prevent her from voting or attending, though she has not been at the legislature this week. Stiles has said Jama has Palestinian family members and she is being given space to deal with family issues.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 18, 2023.
Allison Jones, The Canadian Press
The Canadian Press
Wed, October 18, 2023
TORONTO — Ontario's legislature began debate Wednesday on a Progressive Conservative motion that could lead to a New Democrat legislator effectively prevented from speaking in the House unless she apologizes again for a statement she made about the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Sarah Jama, who was elected earlier this year in a byelection in Hamilton Centre, published a written statement last week decrying "the generations long occupation of Palestine" without mentioning the attack on Israeli civilians by Hamas militants.
Condemnation came swiftly, particularly from Tories, and Jama posted an apology on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, but she did not retract the original statement.
The Progressive Conservatives have now put forward a motion to censure Jama, calling on the Speaker not to recognize her in the House — in order to ask a question or debate legislation — until she retracts and deletes her original statement and also apologizes in the legislature.
"The member's musings at any other time would still have been offensive and unacceptable for any elected representative of the people of Ontario, but to make them in association with a violent act of unrepentant and unprovoked terrorism is repugnant and intolerable to the greatest extent of those words," Government House Leader Paul Calandra said in debate.
NDP Leader Marit Stiles said the government is trying to muzzle a democratically elected member of provincial parliament even though she has already apologized.
The Tories are playing political games, Stiles said, using Jama as a way to distract from the fact that the RCMP is investigating the government's decision — which it has now reversed — to open parts of the protected Greenbelt lands for housing development.
"We're not going to allow this government to continue to do this, this distraction, deflection," she said Wednesday.
"This is a government that has their back up against a wall. They've shown that they will do absolutely anything and stoop to just the most disgusting actions and lowest lows in order to avoid the questions that the Official Opposition, the people of Ontario have about their land speculation grab."
The Tories note that not only has Jama not deleted her original statement, she has now pinned it so that it always appears as her top post on social media platform X. Stiles said she did not know what it meant to "pin" a post, but that Jama's apology posts clearly stated that she unequivocally condemned Hamas's attack on Israeli civilians.
The National Council of Canadian Muslims said Wednesday that actions such as the Progressive Conservatives calling for Jama's censure have real life consequences in the form of hatred directed at Muslims.
"We cannot use this horrific conflict where so much pain and trauma is being felt by everyone to score political points," Uthman Quick, the group's director of communications, said at a press conference.
"That is because we've seen that rhetoric escalates, and communities are made to bear the brunt of the backlash."
He said on his way to the press conference he received reports of multiple hijab-wearing Muslim women being spat on in Ontario and across the country.
"The temperature, the atmosphere, the environment, is it's untenable right now," he said, adding that his heart goes out to members of the Jewish community across Canada that are affected by the violence against civilians.
Jewish groups have strongly condemned Jama's statement, and the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies said her apology was too little, too late.
"Given her longstanding record of causing hurt and harm to the Jewish community in Hamilton Centre and beyond, we stand by our call for Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles to do the right thing and remove her from the Ontario NDP caucus," the group wrote in a statement last week.
Jama also faced criticism from Jewish groups during her successful byelection campaign in March, with B'nai Brith accusing her of being a "radical anti-Israel advocate."
She said the criticism centred around what she describes as standing up for Palestinian human rights and her association with student groups running "Israeli Apartheid week" on campus 10 years ago, which shouldn't be conflated with anti-Semitism.
Debate on the Tories' motion is likely to continue in the legislature next week. The Progressive Conservatives have a majority so it is set to pass, but the Speaker would not necessarily be bound to follow it, and could exercise his discretion to still allow Jama to speak.
The motion would not prevent her from voting or attending, though she has not been at the legislature this week. Stiles has said Jama has Palestinian family members and she is being given space to deal with family issues.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 18, 2023.
Allison Jones, The Canadian Press
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