John Ivison: The crucial words Carney left out of his antisemitism speech

Advertisement 1This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Former Liberal minister Irwin Cotler says that Mark Carney's antisemitism speech on June 1 was well intended, but “there was no mention of Israel and no acknowledgement that, for Jews, Israel is part of the Jewish peoples’ covenantal reality.” Photo by John Kenney/National Post/FileArticle contentIn the course of researching my biography on Irwin Cotler, I spoke with his old McGill debating partner, Moses Znaimer, the CityTV and MuchMusic founder.Sign In or Create an Accountor View more offersArticle contentIn typically unfiltered Znaimer fashion he wondered aloud what the former Liberal party justice minister thought about his old party, “which betrayed the Jewish community, in favour of the huge Muslim influx, of which they are largely the authors.”Article contentWe apologize, but this video has failed to load.Try refreshing your browser, ortap here to see other videos from our team.We apologize, but this video has failed to load.Try refreshing your browser, ortap here to see other videos from our team.Article contentArticle content“It must be heartbreaking,” he said.Article contentPlatformedThis newsletter from NP Comment tackles the topics you care about. (Subscriber-exclusive edition on Fridays)By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.Thanks for signing up!A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.The next issue of Platformed will soon be in your inbox.We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try againInterested in more newsletters?

Browse here.Article contentZnaimer is no stranger to provocative statements. But the enmity toward the Liberals is a view that is widely held in the Jewish community — and there is evidence to suggest the accusation is grounded in fact.Article contentNot least, there was the candid admission by Mélanie Joly, the then foreign affairs minister, that local politics was shaping Canada’s more hostile official approach to Israel during its war with Hamas.

According to former NDP leader, Tom Mulcair, she said to him: “Thomas, have you seen the demographics in my riding?”Article contentThe influx Znaimer referred to is also a reality. There are around 1.8 million Muslims in Canada, of which 500,000 arrived between 2015 and 2021, compared to just 300,000 Jews.Article contentYou don’t need to be a conspiracist to connect the demographics to policies like resuming funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, an organization with documented ties to Hamas; to the unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state; to the ban on export permits of military equipment to Israel in the middle of the conflict; and, perhaps, most egregiously, to the failure to stand up to Islamic and progressive extremism in Canada, a toxic witches’ brew of hatreds that has seen antisemitic incidents surging to record levels last year.Article contentArticle contentThe systemic removal of missing-person flyers, torn from lamp posts in Toronto after the recent disappearance of 14-year-old autistic Jewish girl, Esther, is perhaps the purest evidence that evil is afoot on our streets. She is, literally, the poster child of the irrational, timeless disease of antisemitism.Article contentRead More Ivison: Bill Browder's never-ending quest for justice John Ivison: Liberals can do better than abandon promised free trade in Canadian booze Advertisement 1Story continues belowThis advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.Article contentIt is against that background that Prime Minister Mark Carney on Monday walked into the Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto, Canada’s oldest Jewish congregation, to acknowledge that his government and its predecessor have made mistakes that need to be fixed.Article contentHe leaned on the teachings of the Hebrew prophets in his definition of a just society as one that is sustained not merely by laws “but by obligations we owe to each other.”Article contentHe said that is the covenant that made Canada possible, a covenant that is being tested by the scourge of antisemitism, but which needs to be renewed.Article content“Canada’s civic compact is failing Jewish Canadians,” he said, adding that if the covenant fails one community, it fails all.Article contentThere probably weren’t that many votes up for grabs in the room, but Carney will have earned grudging respect for citing Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize winner, the late Elie Wiesel, who said the opposite of love is not hate, it is indifference.Advertisement 1This advertisement has not loaded yet.Trending Trump renews '51st state' rhetoric as LeBlanc admits 'turbulence' on D.C. trip News Why Preston Manning says sticking to 'status quo' in face of Alberta separation is 'extremely unwise' Canadian Politics Advertisement 2Story continues belowThis advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Chief heart surgeon at Jewish General Hospital quits province amid rising antisemitism in Montreal Canada B.C. man beat a woman with a bat in her bedroom.

A judge praised his remorse and reduced his sentence News Chris Selley: At a synagogue, Carney tells the wrong people to abandon their ethnic rivalries NP Comment Advertisement 2AdvertisementThis advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content“The time has come. Canadians must stand up for each other,” Carney said.Article contentThe impact any government can make on the tides that wash over society is necessarily limited. Ottawa has a duty to protect its citizens and has allocated $75 million to the Canada Community Security program to protect synagogues and Jewish day schools and community centres. “It pains me that we had to commit any dollars to this,” Carney said.Article contentThe combatting hate legislation (Bill C-9) that is currently in committee in the Senate is also welcome, particularly the provision that makes it an offence to willfully promote hatred by waving Hamas or Hezbollah flags.Article contentBut the malignancy of antisemitism will only be eradicated by making it socially unacceptable to incite hate based on someone’s faith.Article content“History teaches us that hatred metastasizes when society grows indifferent to it, when intimidation becomes routine, when conspiracy becomes discourse, when citizens choose to look away,” Carney said.Article contentCotler, the government’s former special envoy for combatting antisemitism (Carney has since abolished the office), said the prime minister’s speech was well intended and well delivered.Article contentArticle content“He appreciated that the civic compact is broken and that Jews deserve not only the right of protection, but the right to live a thriving life,” Cotler said in an interview Tuesday.Article content“But the thing that was missing from his talk was, there was no mention of Israel and no acknowledgement that, for Jews, Israel is part of the Jewish peoples’ covenantal reality.

There was no recognition in the speech about the delegitimization, dehumanization and demonization of Israel, which has put a target on every Jew’s back.”Article contentFor my part, I felt that it was an unusually eloquent and heartfelt speech but that it fell short for a different reason: it failed to be honest about the cause of the corruption in the body politic.Article content“We welcome the peoples of the world, in all their diversity and splendour. We don’t welcome the world’s hatreds,” Carney said. “When you come to Canada, you bring your faith, your traditions, your language, your story but you leave behind your animosities.”Article contentBut that is not happening. Islamists arrive and are given permission to give vent to their ancient loathing by anarcho-socialists, and their naive campus enablers, who love Palestine but hate Canada, and despise Jews most of all.Article contentArticle contentThe Montreal4Palestine group continues to defend the mock hanging of a man wearing a kippah last month, saying it was directed at a specific political figure (Israeli politician Itamar Ben-Gvir), not at Jews. Will it take a real lynching to convince the waverers that this is not legitimate freedom of expression?Article contentGiven the demographics, it is clear why the prime minister was ambiguous in laying the blame.Article contentBut, as Elie Wiesel learned in the death camps, neutrality helps the oppressor and silence encourages the tormentor.Article contentThe malignancy will continue to metastasize if we keep obscuring its source.Article contentNational PostArticle contentArticle content Get the latest from John Ivison straight to your inbox Latest from Shopping Essentials Prime Day 2026 isn't here yet — but these early deals in Canada are already worth it Deals and discounts in Canada ahead of Prime Day 2026 16 hours ago Amazon Prime Day Are you a mosquito magnet?

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