CIJA responds to 'Post' article after CNP called for removal of Jews from Canada
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, an agency of the Jewish Federations of Canada, responded directly to the 'Post's July 14 article surrounding Patron's tirade.
By ZACHARY KEYSERSandra Easterbrook-Barna stops to look at the Pearl and Pine Retirement Residence adorned with Canadian flags on Canada Day in Burlington.(photo credit: REUTERS)
Jewish organizations worldwide have spoken out in condemnation of and are taking action against the Canadian Nationalist Party, whose far-right white-nationalist leader Travis Patron shared antisemitic rhetoric and conspiracy theories involving Jews on the party's official social media channels on Saturday.The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), an agency of the Jewish Federations of Canada, responded directly to The Jerusalem Post's July 14 article surrounding Patron's tirade."You may have come across this article in today’s Jerusalem Post about Travis Patron, leader of the Canadian Nationalist Party (CNP)," said CIJA president and CEO Shimon Koffler Fogel. "On its social media pages, the CNP leader re-uploaded a video (first posted in 2019) which calls for 'that parasitic tribe' to be 'removed from Canada once and for all.'"His lengthy rant about 'swindlers,' 'snakes' and 'inside manipulators' – as well as a subsequent reference to Jews and “the synagogue of Satan” – make his antisemitic agenda crystal clear," Fogel continued. "It is absolutely outrageous that such vile hatred would take up any space in the public square. Such dangerous and dehumanizing language has all too often led to violence."The CIJA noted that "calling for the removal of Canada’s Jewish community is a clear redline," and that they have contacted the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) – the Canadian version of the Federal Bureau of Investigations – as well as Elections Canada in addition to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, for allowing the antisemitic rhetoric to remain on its platforms, which is a clear violation of the community guidelines. It is also a revelation that the platforms needs better oversight with regard to racist and antisemitic content, which is something each platform has publicly stated they are working towards.The willful promotion of hate and advocating genocide is illegal in Canada as outlined by sections 318 and 319. "These laws are used in very rare cases," according to Fogel, "given the high premium we place on free speech" but the RCMP has been made aware of the party's violation of Canadian law, and has opened a file looking into the matter."Only 284 Canadians voted for the Canadian Nationalist Party in the last election, a clear indication that this kind of vicious hatred lives on the farthest fringe of society," Fogel said. "Despite this, the ideas they promote must be strongly condemned, and the fact that the CNP remains a registered party with Elections Canada calls for a forceful and strategic response from our community."The Simon Wisenthal Center also filed a hate speech complaint against the party to the RCMP, as well as to Saskatchewan's Minister of Justice and Attorney- General Don Morgan, urging him to punish Patron to the full extent of the law.“By calling Jews parasites, by accusing Jews of being invaders and conspiring to control the media and banking system, this man is evoking some of the most dangerous antisemitic tropes in history," Rabbi Meyer May, executive director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center and Museums of Tolerance, said in press statement.“Canada’s hate speech laws were designed to draw the line at exactly this kind of venomous, inciting language, and we urge the police to enforce the law,” said Jaime Kirzner-Roberts, Director of Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Campaign Against Antisemitism. “There is no doubt that Travis Patron is willfully promoting hatred against the Jewish people, and we are urging the RCMP to take action and lay charges against him as soon as possible. The hate spewed by Mr. Patron has absolutely no place in our country.”THE CANADIAN Nationalist Party shared both a video and a flier featuring Patron, with the latter displaying the proper way to do a Roman salute – which can be easily construed as a Nazi salute."The question remains, as it always shall: Is he a member of that 'parasitic tribe?' Is he the 'black sheep?' A member of the so-called 'inside manipulators?'" Patron asked in the shared video. "Everywhere these people go, they infiltrate the media, they hijack the central bank, and they infect the body politic like a parasite."These people, they walk among us, and you could walk right past them on the sidewalk – and you wouldn't think twice about it," Patron states, afterwards giving a long pause for thought staring at the camera sternly. "While we focus our attention on our brothers and our sisters, who are with us not against us, these 'black sheep' hide, and they perpetrate, and they pull the strings. And they laugh about it. And they watch us. And we fight each other. And they profit from our wars. And they seek to control and demoralize us in every aspect of what we try to do."Patron further made a comment that could be construed as being oblivious to the Holocaust, although not directly mentioning it."It's their world, and we're just a number to them," he stated. "If they had their way, our entire way of life would be eradicated. They don't like us. In fact, they despise us because of what we are; they cannot coexist with it."Patron then formulates a call to action, calling for the removal of Jews from Canada as per the general consensus in the Canadian Nationalist Party."What we need to do, perhaps more than anything, is remove these people, once and for all, from our country," he concluded.While the flier touches on the same rhetoric shared in the video, it does have one important addition: "The people we speak of are not truly 'Jews.' They are liars and deceivers attempting to shield themselves from criticism using a false identity. Let us be aware and expose them for what they are: a tribe of parasites."
