The Canadian Reform Jewish Community Endorses the IHRA Definition of Antisemitism

With the steep rise of antisemitism in the modern world on both the far left and the far right of the political spectrum, the Canadian Council for Reform Judaism, the Reform Rabbis of Canada, and ARZA Canada: Association of Reform Zionists of Canada – collectively the voices of liberal and progressive Judaism in Canada – welcome and endorse the contribution of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism in providing definitions and guidelines to aid in identifying and, by extension,  combatting this troubling phenomenon.

We applaud the governments of Canada and Ontario for having adopted the IHRA definition. We encourage all provincial and municipal jurisdictions to adopt the definition in order to provide consistent and clear understanding of how to define and combat antisemitism.

Canadians are proud of our Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms which guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law. The IHRA definition of antisemitism will help in clarifying those limits when antisemitic acts are perpetrated.

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The Canadian Reform Jewish Movement opposes Keren Kayemet L’Israel/Jewish National Fund proposal to purchase private Arab land in West Bank for Jewish settlements                               

February 22, 2021 – The Canadian Council for Reform Judaism, ARZA Canada and the Reform Rabbis of Canada strongly oppose the recent vote at the executive level of KKL-JNF to purchase private land in the West Bank for Jewish settlements.

In the past, KKL secretly purchased land for Jewish settlements in the West Bank against the wishes of its own board of directors. Now, with a change in leadership since the last World Zionist Congress, the board has been emboldened by its small right-wing majority to propose a policy to purchase such land. The vote at the executive level was 6-5 in favour, indicating there may be room to exert influence on many of the board members.

This proposal seriously undermines the possibility of successfully negotiating a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians. By continuing to purchase private land in the West Bank, the KKL-JNF would make a contiguous Palestinian state impossible to achieve.

Merkaz Olami, the political arm of the Masorti-Conservative movement in Israel’s National Institutions, also spoke out against the plans to buy land in the West Bank, as did Arzenu (the political voice of Reform, Progressive and Liberal Religious Zionists) and the World Union for Progressive Judaism.

The proposal is also fiercely opposed by senior officials within the Israeli government, including Defense Minister and Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz.

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