"Media outlets must recognize that supporting Palestinian liberation and opposing Israel's apartheid policies are not acts of antisemitism. Media must stop allowing B’nai Brith to blur this distinction, as antisemitism should not be weaponized to suppress the fight for Palestinian liberation."
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The rise of antisemitism in Canada is a serious issue that warrants our attention. Unfortunately, B'nai Brith’s 2023 report perpetuates the partisan effort to conflate anti-Zionism with antisemitism. The data provided by B'nai Brith is not only demonstrably unreliable but also unfairly politicized, as the organization chooses not to release the vast majority of its findings. Nevertheless, the limited data that they do make public reveals numerous instances in which anti-Zionism is mischaracterized as antisemitism. For instance, a poster featuring watermelons accompanied by the slogan "Free Palestine" is labeled as antisemitic — this example is merely the tip of the iceberg. It is important to recognize that there is no inherent conflict between the fight against antisemitism and the struggle for Palestinian liberation, yet some pro-Israel advocacy organizations in Canada are fostering such a divide through these misleading reports.
While B’nai Brith’s 2023 report of antisemitic incidents found 5,791 examples, an investigation by Global News, which reviewed police data from major Canadian cities, found just 465 incidents in the same span. One antisemitic incident is too many, to be sure, but conflating legitimate criticism of Israel with antisemitism is a dangerous and disingenuous way to advance a political agenda. Such a vast discrepancy also casts doubt on the methodology and credibility of B’nai Brith's reporting.
Scholars like Robert Brym (University of Toronto) and Rhona Lenton (York University) have criticized B’nai Brith reports in the past for conflating antisemitism with legitimate criticism of Israel as a settler-colonial state that upholds an apartheid system in Palestine. They point out that B’nai Brith labeled criticism of Israel’s apartheid policies as antisemitism despite reputable human rights groups saying the same or the International Court of Justice's recent advisory opinion which ruled that Israel is upholding a system of apartheid in Palestine.
Media outlets must recognize that supporting Palestinian liberation and opposing Israel's apartheid policies are not acts of antisemitism. Media must stop allowing B’nai Brith to blur this distinction, as antisemitism should not be weaponized to suppress the fight for Palestinian liberation.
Lynn Naji, Junior Analyst, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East
Jason Toney, Director of Media Advocacy, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East