Jerusalem Centre for Public Affairs
June 28, 2023
TORONTO – B’nai Brith Canada has commenced a legal action against David Mivasair, the long-time anti-Israel activist, for defaming our organization.
Mivasair was put on notice that unless he retracted numerous public statements defaming B’nai Brith, issued a public apology and explicitly undertook to refrain from any such further statements about our organization, we would be seeking legal remedies against him. Mivasair never responded, and now B’nai Brith is seeking a remedy before the courts.
The false, defamatory and damaging statements of Mivasair include calling B’nai Brith:
– an “anti-Palestinian hate group”;
– “racist”;
– an “agent of a foreign power”; and
– a “small band of extremists enabled by wealthy racists.”
These were not made as statements of opinion, but represent an individual knowingly disseminating untrue facts in an attempt to maliciously discredit and cause harm to our human rights organization.
Mivasair, although allegedly ordained as a Reconstructionist Rabbi, is a prominent member of the Independent Jewish Voices (IJV), a controversial anti-Israel group. He was arrested in 2021 and charged with vandalism for pouring red paint on the steps of the Israeli Consulate in Toronto.
The public displays of anti-Zionism, antisemitism and even examples of trivialization of the Holocaust by Mivasair on social media are well catalogued.
In November, 2022, he tweeted that mandatory Holocaust education “is a way to keep Jews special, never normal.” Earlier in 2022, he tweeted that, “Israel shouldn’t exist as a Jewish state. It’s racist.”
“Everyone is entitled to their own opinions,” said Michael Mostyn, B’nai Brith’s Chief Executive Officer. “However, he has repeatedly defamed our organization which acts as a mainstream national voice of the Jewish community with false and harmful statements on numerous occasions. Unless he issues an apology, an immediate retraction, and a good faith assurance that he will refrain from making future defamatory statements, we will be forced to continue to seek a remedy through the courts.”
