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March 26, 2004
Friends needed: Ezrin
New national group aims to protect Jews and Israel.
PAT JOHNSON SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN
A month ago, Hershell Ezrin was in Jerusalem, having breakfast
at the King David Hotel, when all the cellphones in the dining room
suddenly began ringing. A terrorist had struck again and, as is
usual in Israel, people immediately called their loved ones to confirm
their safety.
"It was almost so automatic," said Ezrin, head of the
Canadian Council for Israel and Jewish Advocacy (CIJA). "It
was like Canadians taking out an umbrella when it rains."
Umbrellas were the motif of the evening when Ezrin spoke to the
annual general meeting of the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver
March 17. CIJA is a new national body, formed in conjunction with
UIA-Federations Canada, Canadian Jewish Congress and the Canada-Israel
Committee. It is intended as an umbrella organization that will
reduce duplication and improve the effectiveness of Canadian supporters
of Israel. Ezrin, a former assistant to former Ontario premier David
Peterson and a diplomat who has represented Canada in New York and
Los Angeles, is the new agency's chief executive officer.
Ezrin promised his Vancouver audience that Western Canada will be
an integral part of the CIJA mandate. This promise will be tangibly
realized, he said, by the hiring of Vancouver-based staff to co-ordinate
regional pro-Israel efforts.
A top priority of CIJA, in addition to co-ordinating Zionist work
that had previously fallen under other groups' mandates, is to provide
help to Jewish students on campus, which Ezrin acknowledged is the
frontline in the pro- and anti-Israel debate at present. And CIJA
will counter anti-Israel bias and correct misperceptions about Israel
among Canadians generally. Citing recent public opinion polling
done for CIJA, Ezrin noted that just 35 per cent of Canadians know
that Israel has freedom of speech and 32 per cent believe Israel
has no freedom of religion.
"These are perceptions that we must counter in Canada,"
Ezrin said, adding that Canadian Zionists face tougher challenges
than their American counterparts.
"Our situation is different from the United States," Ezrin
said. "There's more support for Israel in the United States."
This is partly due, he added, to the American view of Israel as
a strategic ally and an adherent of similar democratic values. "Essentially,
the Canadian attitude toward Israel and the Middle East has more
in common with Europe than it does with the United States."
Another potential challenge for Canadian Jews, he said, is that
25 years ago Canadian Jews outnumbered Canadian Muslims two-to-one.
That ratio is now reversed. With fears that the Muslim community
might be predisposed against Israel, Ezrin said the Jewish community
and other friends of Israel must build new bridges to the Chinese-Canadian,
Indo-Canadian and other ethnic communities.
"It's very important for us to build as many alliances and
friendships as possible," he said.
CIJA's broad strategy, Ezrin said, is to put funds directly behind
"frontline" organizations, for example, student groups,
to provide specialized training to Israel advocates and to re-engage
Canadian Zionists in the political process through CIJA-PAC, the
public affairs committee arm of CIJA, which will raise Israeli and
Jewish concerns with politicians and governments. But Ezrin does
not underestimate the task before him.
"There is no silver bullet," he said. "This is a
huge task."
CIJA will also link Canadian journalists directly with Israeli experts
and Canadian voices for Israel. An example of this strategy was
having a Canadian at the International Court of Justice's hearing
on Israel's security fence in The Hague to speak to Canadian media
from a firsthand perspective, so that they did not have to rely
solely on wire stories for their coverage.
Part of the impetus for the creation of CIJA, Ezrin said, was a
realization that previous conditions no longer existed and a new
strategy was needed.
"All of our traditional old friends are our new enemies,"
he said.
Ezrin was not the only guest at the Federation meeting. Ya'acov
Brosh, consul-general of Israel to Canada, brought greetings on
behalf of his government. Brosh had spoken earlier in the day at
Langara College to an attentive crowd, but a similar attempt two
days earlier on the campus of Simon Fraser University devolved into
a 90-minute melee in which he was prevented from making his presentation.
(For more on the political situation on Canadian campuses, see the
Bulletin's Passover issue next week.)
In the business part of the Federation AGM, Arnie Fine was re-elected
for a second term as president and seven board members departed.
Seventeen new board members took their places and 16 two-year-term
directors continue their terms.
The meeting also celebrated a successful Combined Jewish Appeal
campaign, which this year raised a total of more than $5.5 million
– an increase of 23 per cent over the previous year. Of the
approximately $1.25 million in new funds, $670,000 will go to supporting
projects in Israel, $330,000 will go to local needs in British Columbia's
Jewish community and $250,000 will support Israel advocacy in Canada.
Pat Johnson is a native Vancouverite, a journalist and
commentator.
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