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June 12, 2009
CJC celebrates 90th
Canadian political leaders take part in plenary.
DAVE GORDON
Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) celebrated its 90th anniversary recently and to honor the occasion, four political party leaders came to Toronto to offer words of congratulation and to speak of their support for Israel.
CJC's 29th plenary was held Sunday, May 31, at the Beth Emeth Bais Yehuda Synagogue in the Toronto suburbs. Taking the dais separately were leader of the Conservative party Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the Liberal party's Michael Ignatieff, the NDP's Jack Layton and Elizabeth May from the Green party. MP Carole Freeman (Châteauguay, Saint-Constant) of the Bloc Québécois sent regards via letter.
Harper took the opportunity to announce the introduction of legislation in the House of Commons by Conservatives that will allow victims of terror to sue perpetrators responsible for those acts, including foreign states. "This will help many victims seek long-overdue justice against those who have harmed them and their families," he said.
The prime minister also reiterated how Canada boycotted the United Nations World Conference Against Racism, or Durban II, and extolled the Conservative party for being one of the first in condemnation of the Hamas regime in Gaza.
Harper took issue with those politicians who attend similar forums to praise and support Israel, "but when Israel is attacked for the umpteenth time ... they accuse it of war crimes, and demand that unilaterally it suspend its right to self-defence. You will not hear that kind of doublespeak from our government, ever."
Iran's regime was denounced for its "malevolent, anti-Israeli, anti-Jewish declarations," and the prime minister spoke of his disdain for other, subtler hatred of the Jews. "I am very troubled by the degree to which opposition to the government of Israel has become, in some circles, an intellectually respectable cover for anti-Semitic discourse."
At the plenary, Harper was conferred the Saul Hayes Human Rights Award by CJC.
"Criticism of Israel is legitimate, but attempting to describe Israel's very existence as a crime against humanity is not, and that is why I denounced Israel Apartheid Week," said Ignatieff, who vowed that Canada would not be silent when Iran denies the Holocaust and threatens Israel.
He said that Canada could help the Palestinian Authority develop its own state, on one condition: that the terrorists in its midst were rooted out. He also noted that, more than 60 years ago, his father was a Canadian diplomat on the U.S. special committee on Palestine.
Earlier in the plenary, Layton was asked what he thought of so many anti-Israel groups associating with left-wing politics. "We [NDP] don't stand with those you've described.... I don't align myself with them or support them. I simply pledge to you to work against anti-Semitic remarks and approaches, and to call upon those administrations that we talked about, such as that in Iran, to change their ways."
Layton's brief answer to being asked about union boycotts of Israel was: "We don't support them."
Israel Vice-Prime Minister Silvan Shalom made his first North American address at the plenary. Recently, Canada Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon caused a stir when he openly called the building of Jewish homes east of Israel's Green Line, "illegal." When asked for his response, Shalom insisted that Israel maintains the property rights over the West Bank.
"Israel has decided not to build new settlements, but of course we have natural growth within the settlements. The decision of the current government is very clear: we will enable the settlers to have natural growth. If they have new babies and need new kindergartens, we are going to build for them new kindergartens," he told the Jewish Independent.
The Palestinians, Shalom added, still need to recognize Israel as a Jewish state and to fight extremists among their populations. "While they are asking us to move toward them, we are asking them to do what is needed, and bring us safety and security."
The Samuel Bronfman Medal for outstanding Jewish community service was presented at the plenary to Toronto's Julia and Henry Koscitzky, decades-long philanthropists and volunteers. Samuel Bronfman was CJC's longest serving president, from 1939 to 1962. Outgoing CJC co-presidents Rabbi Reuven Bulka and Sylvain Abitbol also spoke at the milestone event.
Dave Gordon is a freelance writer in Toronto. His website is DaveGordonWrites.com.
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