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Dear John,

This week, CIJA celebrated removal of a donation platform from a terror-tied organization, applauded the exclusion of a speaker with a documented history of antisemitism and other hate from a prominent Canadian Muslim group’s convention, and discussed the recent legislative actions in Israel and the discontent that has resulted from it. For more on this and on our upcoming Antisemitism: Face It Fight It conference and important mission for young leaders, read on.

- The CIJA Team

CIJA was part of a coalition of 11 international organizations that, in late August, issued a letter to the major payment processor Stripe demanding that they stop handling donations for Alliance for Global Justice, which was providing fiscal sponsorship and payment services to Samidoun. Samidoun is a Canadian not-for-profit that has been widely acknowledged as affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a Canada-, EU-, US-, and Israel-designated terrorist organization. 

This week, Stripe announced that it is no longer handling donations for an "anti-capitalist" and "progressive" charity following multiple Washington Examiner reports on the nonprofit group's terrorism ties. 

CIJA was pleased to learn that, after inquiries from the National Post, Egyptian Sheikh Nashaat Ahmed, a man who, as noted in the Post, openly prays “for the Jewish people to be destroyed, and who refers to Jews as evil beasts, the worst of the earth’s living creatures, and the descendants of apes and pigs” was pulled from the speaker list of the Muslim Association of Canada’s annual convention last weekend.   

Amira Elghawaby, Canada’s first Special Representative on Combating Islamophobia, was also scheduled to speak at the conference; however, after queries from the National Post, Canadian Heritage confirmed on Thursday that she had withdrew from the speakers lineup.

This is not the first time that MAC has promoted a speaker associated with antisemitism, homophobia, misogyny, and other hatred. While we are pleased the Government representative stepped aside from the conference and a speaker who promoted antisemitism was removed, several others at the conference nonetheless also had histories of hateful rhetoric that contrast starkly to Canadian values.

As noted by CIJA’s President and CEO Shimon Koffler Fogel in the Post article, “Year after year, the Muslim Association of Canada platforms speakers with records of promoting virulent antisemitism, homophobia, misogyny, and hatred at its convention. A major Muslim organization representing a community that itself is the target of hate should know better than to promote that same hatred towards other marginalized groups. Instead, they choose to amplify bigotry, prejudice, and intolerance. This year’s conference is a missed opportunity to show unity against the vitriol we all face. It is the responsibility of each of us to combat hatred and racism, and we should expect no less from Canadian Muslims.” 

Next week, Israel’s High Court will hear appeals against a key plank in the judicial reform plan of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. CEO and President Shimon Koffler Fogel recently sat down with Ellin Bessner from the Canadian Jewish News about Israel’s controversial judicial reform, the resultant civil unrest and political turmoil in Israel, and how Canadian Jewish leaders are figuring out how to navigate the crisis domestically and abroad. (Interview starts at 3:58)  

Antisemitism: Face It, Fight It. Your opportunity not just to make, but to be, the difference, in the fight against Jew-hatred.  

CIJA in the News 

Community Calendar

September 15-17 | Rosh Hashanah
September 24-25 | Yom Kippur 
October 16-17 | Antisemitism: Face It, Fight It

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Executive Director, Hamilton Jewish Family Services