"Your op-ed also rightly noted the tactics proposed by Pierre Poilievre, who has pledged to introduce harsher laws—including measures targeting acts of vandalism—framed as public safety initiatives and efforts to combat rising antisemitism. In practice, these proposals serve a more insidious purpose: to suppress legitimate criticism of Israel, an apartheid state, by conflating anti-Zionism with antisemitism."
April 25, 2025
To:
Andrew Mitrovica, AL Jazeera columnist
Dear Mr. Mitrovica,
I am writing on behalf of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) to thank you for shedding light on the significance of the upcoming Canadian federal elections and the concern many voters share about candidates’ positions on Israel’s ongoing genocide of Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip.
I also appreciate your attention to the grassroots mobilizations taking place across the country, including the Vote Palestine and Muslim Vote campaigns. Our policy staff at CJPME have been actively involved in this initiative, helping assess where candidates stand on Israel’s genocide in the occupied Palestinian territories and working to ensure that Palestinian human rights are a central issue on the ballot.
Your op-ed also rightly noted the tactics proposed by Pierre Poilievre, who has pledged to introduce harsher laws—including measures targeting acts of vandalism—framed as public safety initiatives and efforts to combat rising antisemitism. In practice, these proposals serve a more insidious purpose: to suppress legitimate criticism of Israel, an apartheid state, by conflating anti-Zionism with antisemitism.
Political philosopher Leo Strauss, in On Tyranny, warns us that the suppression of free thought can emerge even in liberal democracies, not always through overt authoritarianism, but through more insidious means. Perhaps Strauss was right. Liberal democracies can, and do, take on tyrannical traits—and we are witnessing it now. From the United States, where pro-Palestinian solidarity is being criminalized through student detentions and threats to revoke visas, to Canada, where similar patterns are emerging, we are seeing the slow but deliberate crackdown of political expression.
Though the op-Ed was balanced overall, I kindly ask you to clarify two points.
First, the op-ed notes that “scores of Canadians” recently demonstrated in Ottawa. In fact, over 30,000 people gathered on Parliament Hill to demand an arms embargo on Israel and an end to Canada’s complicity in the genocide in occupied Gaza. If possible, I kindly ask that the article specify the number of people who attended the protest, as the scale of the protest speaks to the depth of outrage and the strong sense of moral responsibility felt by thousands across the country who stood in solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Second, in the sentence referencing “large nationwide and energised grassroots movements, including #ElectPalestine, MuslimsVote and Vote Palestine,” kindly note that ElectPalestine and MuslimsVote are part of the same campaign. The website electpalestine.ca redirects to muslimsvote.ca, and the two names are used interchangeably by the organizers.
Overall, the op-Ed was balanced. I thank you once again for your contribution.
Please continue to write about Palestine and draw attention to voices and movements that are often sidelined in Canadian mainstream media.
Until Palestine is free, from the river to the sea.
In solidarity,
Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East