‘The problem with the concept is that it incorrectly applies the concept of racism to conduct which is not racist,’ says CIJA
The Toronto District School Board controversially embraced “anti-Palestinian racism” policies in 2024, a move that Jewish activists say puts the country’s largest school board on a collision course with its own antisemitism policy — and offers a case study of a broader, divisive discussion unfolding across Canada.
At a time when tensions are growing in Canada over the Gaza war, and against a backdrop of record-breaking antisemitism in Toronto public schools, it has sparked a debate about the degree to which advocating for Palestinians crosses into hate speech and justifies violence against Israel, or the extent to which support for Israel and accusations of antisemitism are targeting Palestinians.
“Jewish children are being victimized in our schools at unprecedented rates, and the TDSB response has been to actively work towards the exclusion of Jewish identity in schools,” TDSB parent Aaron Kucharczuk told National Post. Kucharczuk is part of a growing coalition of community groups worried about the TDSB’s support for a term they say advocates removing guardrails protecting Jewish students.
The neighbouring Peel District School Board has used the ACLA’s precise definition, as have the Thames Valley District School Board and the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, according to documents shared with the Post.
While the debate is one over politics in the Middle East and one of domestic and school board politics, it’s also a conflict of definitions.
Majid told listeners during the June 2022 panel that APR “is not the Palestinian version of IHRA, you know, we’re not looking for this to be weaponized like IHRA,” arguing that the intent of the antisemitism definition “is to silence us and to shield Israel from criticism.”
Deborah Lyons, the Liberal government’s Special Envoy Combatting Antisemitism, said that attempts to dismantle IHRA at a time of skyrocketing antisemitism are deeply alarming, given the exceptional level of harassment Jews have experienced since the October 7 attacks.
Moving forward with this definition will … threaten the rights of Jewish Canadians to express their history, faith, and identity openly
“Claims that Jews are overreacting to or politicizing the anti-Jewish hatred could come from a lack of understanding of the definition of antisemitism itself,” Lyons told the Post in a written statement. “It is needed now, more than ever, given that Canadian Jews — who make up only one per cent of the population — are the target of 70 per cent of all reported religiously motivated hate crimes.”
Steinberg said IJV co-sponsored a demonstration in April featuring Samidoun leader Charlotte Kates, where she called Hamas fighters the “beautiful, brave and heroic resistance of the Palestinian people, which did not begin on October 7, which has continued for over 75 years, which has continued over 120 years.”
Samidoun was designated a terror organization by Canada in October.
In December, digital sleuths revealed IJV’s federal incorporation paperwork listed CJPME as its mailing address.
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“Since October of last year, our family has watched in horror as children in Gaza who look like our children are displaced, starved, maimed, orphaned and killed,” Sultan said during her delegation, condemning the TDSB for its alleged silence. “But worse, (it) has contributed to a climate where our grieving and traumatized families are dehumanized and experiences erased.”
Sultan shared stories exemplifying the alleged demonization of Palestinian voices, including the Simon Wiesenthal Center conducting anti-racism and antisemitism training and opposition at her son’s public school from including a morning announcement about the “Nakba,” referring to the expulsion or flight of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in 1948 following five Arab nations invading Israel seeking its destruction.
The board did not address whether APR is in tension with TDSB’s antisemitism definition. “As the plan to address anti-Palestinian racism is still in development, we are not able to speculate on what it will include,” Bird said.
However, these precise fears were echoed by Jewish groups in November when Canada’s special representative combatting Islamophobia suggested the federal government might adopt the term. B’nai Brith Canada argued that adopting a definition of anti-Palestinian racism would directly “undermine Canada’s commitment” to the IHRA antisemitism definition.
“Moving forward with this definition will … threaten the rights of Jewish Canadians to express their history, faith, and identity openly,” the group said in a statement.
In December, a report released by the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights in the House of Commons by Liberal chair Lena Diab recommended the federal government “formally recognize discrimination towards Palestinians as a distinct group” and specifically cited the ACLA’s definition.
Lacking a definition makes gauging the level of anti-Palestinian racism at the TDSB difficult. A freedom-of-information request shared with the Post from a concerned parent in the board showed no reported incidents of APR between September 2023 and July 2024. Bird explained that was a consequence of TDSB’s “operations portal” lacking the selection given the undefined term.
What cases they heard were not disclosed to the Post when asked in a follow-up request to share details of such incidents. A request for comment to Toronto Palestinian Families, another local group supporting the definition, to provide examples of APR went unanswered.
Majid, responding on behalf of herself, Sultan and the ACLA, told the Post by email that issues of anti-Palestinian racism in the district “have become public and covered in the media” without referring to any specific incident. A review of news reports about the subject yielded few results, with most recent coverage mentioning the definition but providing no concrete examples of in-school harassment.
“There are other issues that have not been made public because people fear reprisals if they report,” Majid added. “Students and educators describe incidents of being doxed, smeared, disciplined or cancelled over expression related to Palestine.”
An update provided by TDSB in February covering September to December 2023 gave statistical teeth to these stories. Antisemitic incidents have jumped 50 per cent compared with the same period in 2022. Moreover, those numbers reflect a relative increase. Reviewing the data in absolute terms – 25 antisemitic incidents during the 2022 reporting period versus 69 a year later – reveals antisemitic harassment has tripled.
The TDSB adopted IHRA in 2018 and has effectively ignored it
“He shared resources on Palestinian human rights with TDSB educators to help students understand the events taking place in Palestine at the time,” is how the ACLA rendered the controversy, making no reference to the controversial links.
“The problem with the concept is that it incorrectly applies the concept of racism to conduct which is not racist and does not constitute any breach of human rights,” said Richard Marceau, general counsel for the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA). Marceau affirmed the right of Palestinians to live “free from discrimination and harassment under human rights law” and demanded Canadians “unequivocally condemn” any discrimination or harassment targeting the Palestinian community.
Majid did not respond to questions on whether she or the ACLA wished to repeal the IHRA working definition of antisemitism.
Andria Spindel, executive director of the Canadian Antisemitism Education Foundation, said demolishing the TDSB’s existing antisemitism definition would expose Jewish students to more hate. Spindel called on the board to live up to its prior commitments at a time when doing so is urgently needed.
“The TDSB adopted IHRA in 2018 and has effectively ignored it. Implementation requires education of all responsible bodies – educators and administrators, then monitoring, and reporting and consequences for bad behaviour,” Spindel told National Post in an email.
“Tragically, our educational system has been politicized and truth doesn’t prevail.”
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