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B’nai Brith, JNF Irate over Green Party’s Anti-Israel Policy

During its weekend convention in Ottawa, the Green Party of Canada added support for the anti-Israel boycott movement (BDS) to its official roster of policies.

“With the Green Party’s support for unfairly singling out the world’s only Jewish state for contempt, it has firmly entrenched itself beyond the fringe of mainstream Canadian politics,” said Michael Mostyn, Chief Executive Officer of B’nai Brith Canada. “Greens have chosen to embrace the policy position of shills for 9/11 conspiracy theories and terror apologists rather than side with the democratic and environmentally-friendly State of Israel. This clearly reflects how out of touch the Green Party has become with Canadian culture and values and it has made itself less relevant after its convention this weekend by voting for the politics of division and demonization.”

Josh Cooper, Chief Executive Officer of the Jewish National Fund (JNF), said: “We are appalled that the Green Party has endorsed BDS against the only liberal democracy in the Middle East and a country that is a world leader in environmental technology and solutions.”

Paul Estrin, a former President of the Green Party, wrote on Facebook before the vote that “A vote for BDS is a vote by those who seek the delegitimization of Israel, and ultimately seek to have it, and its population, wiped off the map.” Estrin, who is Jewish, was compelled to step down as party president in 2014 after expressing pro-Israel views on his blog.

“Independent Jewish Voices” (IJV), a fringe group masquerading as a Jewish organization, was integral to anti-Israel efforts within the Green Party. Among those attending the Green Party convention were Diana Ralph, a 9/11 conspiracy theorist whom IJV claimed to repudiate in the past, and Tyler Levitan, who has been called a “righteous Jew” by prominent American white supremacist Jim W. Dean. Ralph is also a Green Party member and used her membership status to repeatedly speak in favour of the anti-Israel boycott resolution.

IJV and Green Party member Corey Levine also submitted a motion to revoke the charitable status of the JNF, but this resolution failed, and was ultimately amended to merely call on the Canada Revenue Agency to more strictly enforce its existing rules on charitable status.

“All Canadians should be very concerned by these developments,” Mostyn said. “A political party with representation in Parliament chose to adopt an antisemitic policy, contrary to a recent resolution in Parliament condemning BDS as discriminatory. B’nai Brith will continue to expose the bigotry that festers within Green Party ranks.”