CIJA@CIJAinfo
In response to the election of Avi Lewis as the leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP), Rachel Chertkoff, Senior Vice President, Community Engagement, and Richard Marceau Senior Vice-President, Strategic Initiatives and General Counsel, Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, issued the following statement:
“Today, the New Democratic Party elected Avi Lewis as its leader. We are left with a deep sense of sadness.
“Rachel’s uncle ran for a provincial arm of the NDP in 1963. He believed, as so many Canadian Jews of his generation did, that the democratic left was a natural home for a community that had faced persecution. It is hard to imagine that he would recognize the party today.
"The two of us, along with other concerned Jewish and allied activists, have spent years at the table with NDP leaders, staff, and members. We engaged in good faith and made the case that protecting Jewish Canadians from hatred is not partisan, but foundational. The hope we had that these leaders could bring themselves back from the brink is now exhausted.
“This weekend’s convention was a stark reminder of how far the party has drifted from its roots as the voice of Canada’s working class and trade union movement. Canadian Jews helped build that movement. Today, many are made to feel they no longer belong in it.
At a time when antisemitism has reached a crisis, the NDP has become a hostile place for the vast majority of Jewish Canadians who want to fight for progressive values. 94 per centof Jewish Canadians support the existence of the State of Israel yet have been pushed out.
“Avi Lewis is himself Jewish, and we respect his family’s history in this party. But Jewish identity is not a shield against accountability. When a leader declares that Zionism is inseparable from ethnic cleansing, he is not engaging in legitimate policy critique. He is telling Jewish Canadians that a core part of their identity is illegitimate. That is exclusion.
“On the eve of this convention, rabbis from across our community issued a clear call. They warned that Jewish members feel increasingly alienated, that antizionism is being used as a cover for antisemitism, and that NDP spaces are becoming unsafe for Jewish and all Canadians with mainstream views.
“We have said before and repeat now that criticism of Israeli government policy is legitimate. But there is a line between criticism and the systematic delegitimization of Jewish identity. That line has been crossed repeatedly. Today, it was crossed again, without ambiguity.
“We will hold Avi Lewis, as we hold every public leader, accountable.
“But we will not pretend today is anything other than what it is. A painful rupture, decades in the making, with dangerous implications for our community and all Canadians.”
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