CIJA bans Independent Jewish Voices co-founder from its “Antisemitism” conference
Image of Diana Ralph, a co-founder of Independent Jewish Voices in 2008.
Update: The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) claims to have refunded Diana Ralph's conference fees. The Canada Files will confirm when the refund is received.
Written by: Diana Ralph
As a devout Jew who cares deeply about opposing antisemitism, along with all other forms of oppression, I wanted to attend The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA)-sponsored “Antisemitism: Face it, Fight it” conference held October 16-17 in Ottawa. The Canada Files (TCF) had invited me to cover the proceedings as a journalist.
Without any explanation, CIJA refused TCF’s request for my media credentials. So, on October 5, I registered as a participant, and received an email confirming my registration and accepted my $536.75 payment of conference fees. TCF covered the cost of the conference fees. I was looking forward to attending.
But at 11:38 pm on October 15, on the eve of the conference, I received this terse email from the CIJA conference organizers:
“We are writing to let you know that we won't be accepting your registration application and your registration fee has been refunded. Registration is now full for the conference.”
It certainly wasn’t full 10 days earlier. So, again, no explanation. No refund has been given so far.
But I can speculate on why my presence was not welcome. This conference is NOT about protecting Jews from antisemitism. It’s about shutting down criticism of Israel and treating as antisemitic all principled opposition to Israel’s discriminatory and oppressive policies toward Palestinians. CIJA (Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs), the main sponsor of this antisemitism conference, is Canada’s main Israel lobby organization.
CIJA’s main purposes are to promote Canadian policies supportive of Israel and to challenge the rising sympathy in Canada and worldwide for Palestinians’ rights. As Shimon Fogel, CEO of CIJA, explains, the “most important” goal of the conference is “showing our collective support for the people and land of Israel… We want to hear leadership in the political sector declare that anti-Zionism equals antisemitism.”
Definitions of antisemitism and Canadians’ changing views of Israeli apartheid
What is antisemitism, actually? I like the IJV definition: “Antisemitism is racism, hostility, prejudice, vilification, discrimination or violence, including hate crimes, directed against Jews, as individuals, groups or as a collective – because they are Jews. Its expression includes attributing to Jews, as a group, characteristics or behaviours that are perceived as dangerous, harmful, frightening or threatening to non-Jews.”
At least three other good definitions exist which do not conflate criticism of Israel or Zionism with antisemitism.
Antisemitism is certainly hateful and dangerous and should be opposed. But studies have demonstrated that overwhelmingly antisemitic incidents have nothing to do with criticizing Israel. They are mostly associated with right-wing, white supremacist movements. A recent Canadian study also demonstrated that other groups, particularly Black people, Muslims, and Asians experience more violence and systemic oppression than Jews do. So, it makes sense to link struggles against antisemitism with all other forms of racist oppression.
But that’s not what CIJA and the Israeli government mean by “antisemitism.” They strenuously focus on what they call “the antisemitism of the left” and they weaponize accusations of antisemitism as a cudgel to silence and even criminalize principled criticism of oppressive Israeli policies. They attack as antisemitic virtually any progressive movement which dares to express solidarity with Palestinians, such as Black Lives Matter, Jeremy Corbin’s government in Britain, the World Social Forum, and the World Conference to Combat Racism.
As Israel has become ever more blatantly oppressive toward Palestinians, Canadians in general and even Jewish Canadians have become ever more critical of these apartheid policies.
A 2018 survey[1] found that almost twice as many Canadians had a negative opinion of the Israeli government as had a positive opinion, and over half thought it would be reasonable for Canada to impose sanctions on Israel.
Meanwhile, almost half (48 per cent) of Jewish Canadians agreed that “Accusations of antisemitism are often used to silence legitimate criticism of Israeli government policies.”
CIJA leads the charge to denounce as “antisemitic” any criticism of Israel and Zionism. In 2009, it played a major role in organizing the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Antisemitism (CPCCA), a well-funded unofficial inquiry to encourage Canadian MPs, city policy makers, police, universities, and public schools to ban Palestine solidary initiatives. In 2011, it promoted Canada adopting Ottawa Protocol on Antisemitism, which entrenched as official Canadian policy that denounces as antisemitic Palestine solidarity and especially the Palestinian call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions(BDS).
In 2016, under CIJA pressure, Canada’s parliament passed a motion to reject BDS and to “call upon the government to condemn any and all attempts by Canadian organizations, groups, or individuals to promote the BDS movement.” In 2019, CIJA succeeded in pressuring the Canadian government to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism, which treats virtually any criticism of Israel as antisemitic.
Last year, in November 2022, CIJA and the Ottawa Jewish Federation co-sponsored a major “Antisemitism” conference in Ottawa designed to pressure the city and the Ottawa Carleton District School Board to crack down on Palestine solidarity content.
This year’s conference ups the ante. CIJA spent the past year organizing it as “the first-ever wide-scale convening of the Jewish community and allies from across Canada to face, fight and push back against antisemitism.”
The conference brings together the spectrum of Canada’s political leaders including Justin Trudeau, Jagmeet Singh and Pierre Poilievre. It also includes “international human rights” lawyer Arsen Ostrovsky who recently tweeted an image of an Israeli military boot crushing a Palestinian bug. When challenged on the genocidal meme Ostrovsky responded, “these are not 'people'. This is Hamas - savages and barbarians. Exactly like vermin.”
So why would CIJA bar me from attending? I’m a well known as a Jewish advocate for justice for Palestinians. CIJA doesn’t want Jews like me sullying their lovefest for Israel or exposing our politicians with uncomfortable coverage of the ways they enthusiastically endorse Israel’s horrific assault on innocent civilians in Gaza.
Citations
[1] Diana Ralph (2020) “Two Jews, three opinions: Jewish Canadians’ Diverse views on Israel-Palestine” in Emily Regan-Wills, Jeremy Wilderman, Michael Bueckert, Nadia Abu-Zahra (Eds.). Advocating for Palestine in Canada: Histories, Movements, Action. Halifax: Fernwood.
Editor’s note: Introducing Operation 135, The Canada Files’ campaign to go from 65 to 200 consistent financial supporters. The Canada Files is the country's only news outlet focused on Canadian foreign policy. We've provided critical investigations & hard-hitting analysis on Canadian foreign policy since 2019, and need your support.
Please consider joining 73 consistent financial supporters, in setting up a monthly or annual donation through Donorbox.
Diana Ralph co-founded Independent Jewish Voices in 2008. She is a lifelong social justice activist, and former professor at Carlton University.
More Articles
