"The article sheds light on the controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism which is being proposed as part of a larger anti-racism motion to city council. We thank you for mentioning the U.N. report which criticizes IHRA, and for briefly noting some of the key concerns. However, I would like to point out a number of areas where this discussion could be strengthened.
First, you write that “some groups, including one Jewish group, claim it could curtail criticism of Israel and Zionism.” This sentence fails to capture the strong opposition by many Canadian civil society groups against the adoption of IHRA. If your article mentioned some of these prominent and respected organizations, it would be clear to the reader that the opposition to IHRA is widespread and based on serious concerns."
February 8, 2023
To:
Maria Rantanen, Journalist, Richmond News
Dear Ms. Rantanen,
I’m writing to you on behalf of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME, https://www.cjpme.org) to express our concerns regarding your news article titled “Definition of anti-Semitism encompassed in broader Richmond anti-racism motion,” which was published by Richmond News on February 6, 2023.
The article sheds light on the controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism which is being proposed as part of a larger anti-racism motion to city council. We thank you for mentioning the U.N. report which criticizes IHRA, and for briefly noting some of the key concerns. However, I would like to point out a number of areas where this discussion could be strengthened.
First, you write that “some groups, including one Jewish group, claim it could curtail criticism of Israel and Zionism.” This sentence fails to capture the strong opposition by many Canadian civil society groups against the adoption of IHRA.[1] If your article mentioned some of these prominent and respected organizations, it would be clear to the reader that the opposition to IHRA is widespread and based on serious concerns.
Among the groups that oppose the adoption of IHRA are the Canadian Labour Congress, the BC Civil Liberties Association, the Canadian Federation of Students, the Union of BC Indian Chiefs and Independent Jewish Voices. In fact, just yesterday, over thirty Canadian civil society groups have signed a letter calling on the federal government to abandon using IHRA to vet Canadian Heritage grant recipients, arguing that it “fails to sufficiently capture right-wing and white-supremacist antisemitism” and has been “instrumentalized by pro-Israel advocacy groups to silence legitimate criticism of Israeli state policy and… Zionism.”[2] Canadian groups who signed this letter include the Canadian Association of University Teachers, Amnesty International Canada, the Canadian Arab Institute, the Jewish Faculty Network and the Urban Alliance on Race Relations.
Second, your article presents the threat to free speech as a hypothetical concern, but there have been many documented examples of IHRA being used to silence criticism of Israel and Zionism and suppress support for Palestinian human rights.[3] While you mention that IHRA claims that criticism of Israel is not necessarily anti-Semitic, in practice many pro-Palestine and anti-Zionist activists have been targeted for speaking out against Israel’s occupation of Palestine.[4]
We respectfully ask that you specify which groups are opposed to IHRA, and that you provide more context on the dangerous implications for free speech. We ask that you add the following paragraph to your story:
“IHRA is opposed by many Canadian civil society organizations, including Canadian Labour Congress, the BC Civil Liberties Association, the Union of BC Indian Chiefs, Amnesty International Canada, as well as several Jewish groups such as Independent Jewish Voices. These organizations warn that IHRA has been used in many cases to silence criticism of Israel and suppress Palestine activism.”
Thank you for making these changes. Should you wish, you can contact me at 438-380-5410 for more information.
Sincerely,
Reem Majid
Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East
[1] https://www.noihra.ca/partners
[2] https://www.ijvcanada.org/30-civil-society-groups-to-canadian-heritage-ditch-controversial-antisemitism-definition-from-granting-procedures/