Ottawa asked to adopt ‘anti-Palestinian racism’ approach, alarming Jewish groups worried about pro-Israel speech

Better to concentrate on refining a working definition of Islamophobia or anti-Muslim hate than anti-Palestinian racism. Just as criticism of Israeli policies and actions is legitimate, so should criticism of the governing bodies in the West Bank and Gaza.

While there are a number of working definitions of Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hate, there is a need for a more widely adopted definition, comparable to IHRA. A challenge, of course, is that there is no comparable international group to develop such a working definition:

Jewish-Canadian groups are voicing concerns after special anti-Islamophobia representative Amira Elghawaby met with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last week to urge him to adopt a federal definition of “anti-Palestinian racism.”

Critics warn that embracing the concept could end up targeting Jewish Canadians by conflating pro-Israel speech with racism, while insulating pro-Palestinian interpretations of history from criticism.

“While we stand firmly behind protections against discrimination for all communities, including Palestinians, (anti-Palestinian racism) crosses a line by targeting expressions of Jewish identity linked to Israel,” said Richard Marceau, the vice president of external affairs at the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, in a statement to the National Post.

“Holding differing opinions is not a breach of human rights,” continued Marceau.

Elghawaby said in a press release that she met with the prime minister to “highlight how Islamophobia, and its intersections with anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab racism, continues to harm our social fabric, undermines pluralism and poses a direct threat to our democracy.”

She said in the statement that she welcomed Trudeau’s “commitment on adopting a definition of (anti-Palestinian racism) to describe the bias and discrimination far too many Canadian Palestinians are experiencing.”

The Prime Minister’s Office didn’t respond when asked by National Post whether Trudeau plans to follow Elghawaby’s suggestion.

A definition of anti-Palestinian racism put forward by the Arab Canadian Lawyers Association in a spring 2022 report calls it “a form of anti-Arab racism that silences, excludes, erases, stereotypes, defames or dehumanizes Palestinians or their narratives.”

“Racism is an appropriate construct for describing the experiences of Palestinians,” reads the report. “Israel’s treatment of Palestinians is… at its essence(,) predicated on the superiority and dominance of one group of people over another.”

The definition directly mentions “denying the Nakba,” a term used to characterize the displacement of Palestinians during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War as an act of ethnic cleansing. It also includes “failing to acknowledge Palestinians as an Indigenous people with a collective identity.”…

Source: Ottawa asked to adopt ‘anti-Palestinian racism’ approach, alarming Jewish groups worried about pro-Israel speech