An Israel critic and a Muslim advocate: PSAC's 'antisemitism' panel has Jewish members crying foul (2024)

OTTAWA — A major public sector union has assembled a panel to address antisemitism that features a prominent anti-Zionist and critic of Israel, alarming several of the union’s Jewish members.

The “Addressing Islamophobia and antisemitism in the workplace” seminar scheduled for Monday is being organized by the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), one of Canada’s largest public sector unions. It features only two panellists: Amira Elghawaby, Canada’s special representative on combatting Islamophobia, and Avi Lewis, a former Al Jazeera correspondent and member of the anti-Zionist Independent Jewish Voices group.

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Independent Jewish Voices has publicly supported anti-Israel protests and encampments, while Elghawaby has accused Israel of deliberately starving and killing Palestinians and has defended anti-Israel protesters who swarmed a Toronto Jewish hospital chanting in support of “intifada.”

Several Jewish PSAC members say the panel is a tepid and lazy attempt by the union to be seen to be doing something about the systemic antisemitism reported by Jewish public servants. Last year, numerous Jewish PSAC members told the National Post that their union’s increased anti-Israel activism after October 7 had left them feeling excluded and unsafe.

“For most Jewish Canadians, Israel is an important part of their identity, their Jewishness. Many, like myself, also have friends and family in Israel,” said Ari, a Jewish PSAC member who requested anonymity out of fear of retaliation.

“Anti-Zionism is a fringe view in the community. It is hurtful, unfortunate, and damaging to Jewish public servants that PSAC is yet again amplifying fringe views and presenting them as mainstream.”

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Some PSAC members had previously expressed anger that PSAC used union money to give $50,000 to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). Several governments have evidence alleging that UNRWA works to assist the terrorist group Hamas that runs the Gaza Strip.

Earlier this year, 14 Jewish PSAC members filed complaints against their union with the Canadian Human Rights Commission, accusing union leadership of fostering and enabling a “culture of discrimination and harassment” after Hamas’s October 7 attacks in Israel. The attacks saw scores of terrorists storm Israeli towns and kibbutzes and conduct a campaign of murder, kidnapping and sexual assault against innocent men, women and children.

Lewis, who also formerly worked at the CBC and now teaches “social and political change” at University of British Columbia, has accused Israel of genocide in its war with Hamas, which continues to hold over 100 hostages from the attack. He is a longtime critic of Zionist policies. (Zionism is the belief that Jews deserve a homeland.)

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One PSAC member described the panel including Elghawaby and Lewis as a tactic by the union that was “transparent at best.”

“Rather than engage Amira’s counterpart, Deborah Lyons (the Canadian envoy for countering antisemitism), PSAC has chosen to use a fringe token Jew with an illustrious anti-Israel record to speak on behalf of antisemitism,” she told the National Post.

“This is all so PSAC can claim that not only are they not antisemitic, but (that) they are fighting it, and we should all be thankful.”

National Post has confirmed that Lyons was not invited to take part in the panel.

Concern over the seminar even prompted a letter earlier this week from the Jewish Public Servants’ Network to newly elected PSAC president Sharon DeSousa, expressing concern over the inclusion of Lewis on the two-person panel.

“While Mr. Lewis has many impressive accomplishments relating to environmental advocacy, he does not have an educational or professional background in antisemitism and has made statements that deny the lived experiences of antisemitism claimed by many of our community members.”

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The group received no reply from DeSousa, who also did not respond to National Post’s request for comment on the controversy.

Heather, another Jewish PSAC member, said things have gone from bad to worse for Jewish union members.

“We’ve spent the last few years waiting and hoping that PSAC would take a stand against antisemitism in support of its Jewish members, but they haven’t,” she said.

“We’ve had disappointment after disappointment from PSAC failing to acknowledge the hate that its Jewish members are facing, or even acknowledge us at all. By refusing to address antisemitism, PSAC has been condoning it.”

Richard Marceau, vice president of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, said the union’s efforts at doing something about antisemitism were disappointing.

“Inviting someone like Avi Lewis — who is not an expert on antisemitism, who is a marginal figure in the Jewish community and who is viciously opposed to Israel — to train union members on antisemitism shows how unserious PSAC is about combatting Jew-hatred,” he said.

“PSAC is tokenizing Jews. One would have thought that being taken to the Human Rights Tribunal by many of its Jewish members would have given pause to PSAC leadership in how they deal with this issue.

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“Instead, they are doubling down.”

National Post
bpassifiume@postmedia.com

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