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OPINION: The Passing of the Jewish NDP?

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BY AIDAN FISHMAN

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This past week, Canadians mourned the passing of Dave Barrett, British Columbia’s first NDP premier – and to date, Canada’s only elected Jewish premier.

During his tenure in the early 1970’s, Barrett brought many classic NDP policies to the west coast, including BC’s first labour relations board, public auto insurance, and the BC Human Rights Code.

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Barrett was also a staunch Zionist, delivering a well-received speech at the 1979 Jerusalem Conference on International Terrorism – chaired by none other than Professor Benzion Netanyahu, the father of Israel’s current prime minister.

In those days, it was possible, and even quite common, to be a proud Jew and a proud foot-soldier of the Canadian Left. But if certain activists have their way at next week’s biennial NDP convention, that will no longer be the case.

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Hard-left devotees from across the country have banded together to submit what they call “The Palestine Resolution”. The Resolution demands that Israel withdraw its citizens from territory disputed with the Palestinians, ends its blockade of the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, and open the door to millions of Palestinian refugees – all without a single concession from the Palestinian side.

The Resolution even demands that Parliament stop undermining “non-violent movements seeking a just resolution,” a euphemistic reference to the bigoted Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement, which seeks to enforce a complete ban on Israeli academia, Israeli cultural institutions and Israeli goods in Canada.

Ironically, the BDS Movement violates the terms of the same human rights codes that Barrett and like-minded progressive premiers implemented across the country. Boycotts based on religion, nationality or place of origin directly contravene the spirit of tolerance that the NDP claims to stand for.

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Before heading down this dark and lonely road, the NDP should examine the fate of other left-wing parties that have taken an anti-Jewish turn.

In 2014, the Green Party of Canada’s Jewish President, Paul Estrin, was pressured to resign after he expressed support for Israel during its war with the Hamas terrorist group. Two years later, the party was forced to expel Monika Schaefer, one of its founders and a former candidate, who had become an online promoter of Holocaust denial. Schaefer is now sitting in a German jail, facing charges of inciting hatred against Jews.

These moves presaged the Green Party’s adoption of BDS in August of 2016. Four months later, the chastened party formally dumped BDS, while replacing it with a similarly anti-Israel policy.

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The shift came too late for Jewish Greens, many of whom had already abandoned the party in disgust.

Meanwhile, the NDP’s British cousin is embroiled in an antisemitism controversy of its own. With the far-left “Momentum” faction in control of Labour, members previously expelled from Holocaust denial and other forms of anti-Jewish rabblerousing are being welcomed back with open arms.

It would be sad to see the same fate befall the NDP, which has a rich history of Jewish participation and activism. Aside from Barrett, both the federal and Ontario branches of the NDP have been led by Canadian Jews: father and son team David and Stephen Lewis.

As it stands, Israel is the only foreign country mentioned in the NDP Policy Platform. No China, and no mention of Russia either. Even the United States is not referenced by name.

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Certainly nothing about Israel’s regional competitors such as Iran, Saudi Arabia and Qatar – all of which own horrendous human rights records that far outstrip Israel’s perceived sins.

The obsession has to end somewhere.

Canadians expect progressive parties such as the NDP and the Greens to concentrate on working toward a more just and sustainable Canada. They don’t expect those parties to promote a boycott of the world’s only Jewish State, especially against a backdrop of rising antisemitism in Canada and abroad.

— Aidan Fishman is the interim‎ national director of B’nai Brith Canada’s League for Human Rights

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