Jewish groups denounce passage of watered-down NDP Palestinian motion

Article content

OTTAWA — Despite an 11th-hour amendment that defanged the NDP’s contentious Palestinian motion in the House of Commons on Monday evening, Canadian Jewish groups reacted to the motion’s passage with alarm.

Shimon Koffler Fogel, president and CEO of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA,) reacted to the non-binding motion’s passage with both disappointment and anger.

Article content

Article content

“While the removal of the very problematic clause calling for unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state is an important result of the substantial mobilization of the pro-Israel community, the fact that the NDP failed to achieve its core objective is of little comfort,” he said.

“We are angered and deeply disappointed that the Liberal government has chosen to effectively sub-contract Canadian foreign policy to anti-Israel radicals within the NDP and the Bloc Québécois.”

By supporting the motion, Fogel feared the government was demonstrating Canada as an “unreliable partner on the world stage,” and one that bends at the whims of political fringe groups.

“It will not effectively address the humanitarian crisis. It will not liberate Gazans from the tyrannical rule of the Iranian proxy, Hamas. It will not promote peace,” Fogel said.

“It is shameful that the Liberal government has drawn moral equivalence between Israel, a declared democratic ally, and Hamas, a Canadian government-listed terrorist entity.”

Article content

Article content

Avi Abraham Benlolo, CEO and founder of the Abraham Global Peace Initiative, also denounced the motion. 

“Despite the failure of the NDP’s attempt to force Canada to change its policy regarding the unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state, we are disappointed that the majority of the Liberal Party provided overwhelming support for a final modified version of the motion that sided with Hamas, a designated terror organization,” he said in a statement.

“Canada is rewarding terrorism and rejecting the notion that Israel has a right to defend itself against Hamas, a Palestinian terror organization that murdered 1,200 civilians on October 7th and seeks the annihilation of the Jewish State.”

Benlolo likened the passage of the motion to other grim chapters in the history of Canada’s Jews, drawing parallels to this country’s 1939 refusal to dock the MS St. Louis — a ship carrying Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany.

“It’s doing it again with the radical left that has been pounding the Jewish community with antisemitism on our campuses and now with hateful genocidal calls on our streets,” he said.

Article content

B’nai Brith Canada likewise condemned the motion’s passage, calling it ‘unprecedented and appalling.’

“By adopting such a one-sided and irresponsible motion, the House has expressed an appalling degree of disregard for Israel’s right to defend itself,” said B’nai Brith Canada’s David Granovsky.

“Canada must not stand in the way as Israel works to neutralize the terrorists who are preventing the implementation of a sustainable peace.”

A B’nai Brith press release described the motion as a “worrisome sign” that demonizing Israel is becoming normalized in Canada, and that the government should be instead pressuring Hamas to release the remainder of their Oct. 7 hostages.

National Post

bpassifiume@postmedia.com
x.com/bryanpassifume

Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.

Article content