View as webpage

Earlier this week, a pro-Palestinian national conference in Ottawa billed as advocating “resistance by any means necessary,” featured speaker Khaled Barakat, a man linked to a PFLP-terror group who called for Canada’s terrorist entity list to be "abolished."

CIJA and the Jewish Federation of Ottawa were among many Jewish organizations that, in recent weeks, have questioned why he was allowed to speak at a venue under the jurisdiction of the City of Ottawa, which, in 2014, developed guidelines and policies to prevent use of civic venues to promote hate. National Post reporter Terry Glavin shed light on this controversy in this article.

During his presentation Barakat asked a "rhetorical" question.

“What did the PFLP actually did [sic] against #Canada, Canada’s interests, or commit any crimes against Canadians here or abroad...?”

The Answer:

The PFLP murdered two Canadians in horrific terrorist attacks.

Barakat’s wife, Charlotte Kates, who heads the Samidoun Palestinian Prison Solidarity Network, which has been declared a terrorist organization by the Israeli Ministry of Defense, also spoke at the conference.

On May 27, 2021, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolved to conduct an unprecedented, open-ended Commission of Inquiry (COI) to investigate “all alleged violations and abuses of international human rights law” by Israel in its territories.

A preliminary report released on June 7 is neither factual nor impartial, rendering it misleading and unreliable. We invite you to read the report and the background and to consider the citations provided for further detailed information.  

June 1-2, 1941, brought an end to more than two millennia of peaceful existence for Baghdad's Jewish community, which then comprised one third of the city's population. During what is now known as the Farhud, Iraqis murdered hundreds, injured many more, and destroyed the Jewish community in a Nazi-inspired wave of antisemitism that, by 1951, led to 90% of the historic Jewish community of 135,000 fleeing the country, leaving all property and assets – even their citizenship – behind.

CIJA’s Eta Yudin, daughter of one of the more than 850,000 Jews forced from their homes in North Africa and the Middle East, speaks about the Farhud and the importance of keeping alive the story of the Jewish refugees from Arab lands.

Ontario Government Relations Professional

Did someone forward you this email? Click here and sign up to receive CIJA updates directly to your inbox.

Help make Week in Review better by sending your feedback!

Follow us on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram