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MP Anthony Housefather targeted with antisemitic hate · Kvetch & Release

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  Came across a post on social media that I just absolutely do not like to
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  see. It's literally it's a poster that was put up on a pole in
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  Montreal and it labels a member of Parliament Anthony house Father. It says house
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  Father says, we helped build this country. And then there is a picture
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  of a Israeli flag with a swastika in the middle of it. It then
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  says house Father equals neo Nazi, get out of Canada, Zionism equals terrorism.
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  Really really staggering that these are showing up on the streets. The Member
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  of Parliament responded in kind on social media, but I figured it made sense
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  for us to just speak with him directly. Joining me on the phone right
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  now is the Member of Parliament for mont Royal, Anthony house Father. How
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  are you today, John? How are you doing well? Thank you for
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  joining me here. So this is vile, it's disgusting, it's anti semitic.
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  How did you find out about this? Oh? I well, I
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  received a multiplicity of texts with people sending me photos when they went up the
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  other day, and I sort of found out by a group of people all
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  suddenly sending me pictures of what they saw on the street. So you tweeted
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  out, you said, my family's been here since the nineteenth century and we
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  have indeed helped build this country. I'm not going anywhere. How do you
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  feel when you saw this? I mean, is this just part for the
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  course of being in politics this day these days? Does this hit you personally?
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  Oh? I mean, like right now, For the last many months
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  as a Jewish member of Parliament, I've received so many threats and so many
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  horrific messages on social media, on my email, calling my office, but
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  most of them are private, and you know, and the threats come to
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  me and my staff, and you know, they're rarely seen by the public.
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  This was, you know, just a public attack on me, So
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  I wouldn't have actually publicized. But the federation, the Montreal Jewish Federation,
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  it posted the picture. So at that point I said, well, I'm
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  going to let everybody know that I'm not going to be intimidated by somebody in
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  an anti Semitic way, comparing Jewish contributions to Canada to Nazi Germany and telling
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  all Zionists and by the way, over ninety percent of jewser Zionists that they
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  should leave Canada. The country we're born in and that we've been in for
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  hundreds of years, and so I wanted to respond to make everybody aware that
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  this isn't going to intimidate me. Well, I'm glad that it's not going
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  to intimidate you. The rhetoric, you know, asking Canadian asking telling Canadian
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  Jews to leave Canada obviously isn't going to improve anything in the Middle East,
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  let alone here in our country. Tensions are very high, of course they
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  have been since October the seventh, and it's been difficult for Canadian Jews to
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  navigate this. But you are you're part of I mean, there's not a
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  lot of Canadian Jews quite frankly, we are a small number here in the
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  country, around what six hundred thousand, But you're part of our really exclusive
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  group of being, you know, a Jew in a parliament. What's it
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  just been like for you know, Jews who are elected officials these days.
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  Well, I have the rare combination of being a Jewish elected official in a
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  riding that has a high percentage of the Jewish community. So twenty nine thirty
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  percent of my riding is Jewish. So that's a double whammy in the sense
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  that I am dealing with many, many, many people who for the very
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  first time in their lives are feeling unhappy and uncomfortable in their own country,
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  feeling that the world has turned against them. And they're hearing demonstrations in our
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  streets, you know, in front of our schools and our synagogue and our
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  businesses yelling hateful things about Jews, and encampments at universities that are saying hateful
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  things that the Jewish community of views as anti Semitic, and you know,
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  and this hasn't been experienced in Canada since the nineteen thirties. So they're feeling
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  hurt and in pain and unhappy that no government at any level has done a
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  satisfactory job at addressing it. And then I, as the MP, you
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  know, am getting it from every side. And it's very difficult dealing with
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  all the hate that has been in my inbox in terms of you know,
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  because I'm a pro Israel, you know, Jewish Canadians. It's been overwhelming
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  how much hate I've gotten. So I never thought when I ran for office
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  I would ever be a you know, so called Jewish MP. I was
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  going to be an MP who happens to be a member of the Jewish community.
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  But over the last eight months, I've been made to feel like I'm
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  a Jewish MP. I can't imagine what that must feel like. We saw
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  the Prime Minister respond to you on social media saying that he's angry that it
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  occurred to you. He said it was antisemitic and disgusting and that Jewish Canadians
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  did help build the country. He says he stands with you and the entire
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  community against this hate. Let me ask you, frankly, is your government
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  doing enough to deal with this issue. I don't feel that any government in
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  any country has done enough to deal with this issue. I think most people
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  are of good faith, but are having difficulty understanding the way of anti Semitism,
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  how it's fermented, and how the Jewish community is now trying to deal
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  with it, because like for ourselves, right, we live in a sort
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  of bubble. We're on our social media feed and in our conversations with family
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  and those friends of who are Jewish, this is all anybody is talking about.
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  For most Canadians, that's not the case. So they have people have
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  to be sensitized not just how bad this is, and then you know,
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  I don't think any government has quite got in this right yet, and I'm
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  trying my best to push my government to do things like in act bubble legislation
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  at the federal level to make it criminal to block access or exit from,
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  you know, building sexious schools and community centers and places of worship, and
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  my best to get sam a Dune listed as a terrorist organization. They've been
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  deeply involved in the encampments, but most of the actions that need to be
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  taken are at the municipal university in provincial level, and somebody needs to coordinate
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  this and get this all together. How do you respond to someone when they
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  tell you that it's not anti semitic to be anti Zionist. You're very clear
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  about it that this is anti semitism, Yes, because Zionism means you believe
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  Israel has a right to exist. If you don't believe that Israel has a
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  right to exist, then you're the only Jewish date in the world. Then
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  you're anti Semitic. Yes, So what are you going to keep doing?
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  Then? Is this just a matter of you know, you just keep on
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  keeping on pushing for the things that you just mentioned there. I mean it's
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  tough, it is. Every day is a struggle, but one hundred percent,
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  I represent not only the Jewish community in my riding and the people who
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  live in my riding as a whole, most of whom are deeply sympathetic to
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  the Jewish community in very be about the waves of antisemitism. But you know,
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  Jews Canadians across the country and those many Canadians that aren't happy about what's
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  happening now. And I am you know, I believe in a centrist government.
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  I believe in a government that will fight back against hate and all forms,
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  including anti Semitism. And I will be doing my best to push for
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  universities to enact the IRA definition to include Jews, and diversity equity inclusion programs
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  to properly and consistently apply their policies to everyone equally, you know, and
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  for police, local police to act when crimes are being committed. And you
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  know, and I think we all have a role to play in this.
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  But I won't stop just because somebody you know sent hate to me. I
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  know there was a conversation a couple of months ago about whether or not remaining
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  in the Liberal caucus was the best place for you. I just I want
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  to know after this incident that you're seeing and after you know the response that's
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  happening right now. Good affirmation from the Prime minister. Do you still feel
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  that you made the right choice and that where you are is where you believe
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  I did. I mean, I thought it too right, and I was
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  unhappy with where our party had gone after eight years of consistently being supporting Israel,
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  to a place where I was no longer comfortable where we were in terms
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  of supporting our democratic ally. But I also realized that ninety you know,
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  ninety percent of the issues in politics that I deal with. I am a
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  liberal right I believe in a strong Charter of rights. I don't believe in
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  using the notwithstanding clause like Pierre poly I was saying he's going to do.
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  I believe in official bilingualism. I believe there's I believe in in a clean
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  environment. There's so many things that I believe in that are more liberal values
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  as opposed to me jumping to a party that I agree with on one issue.
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  I better fix my party on that. But I want to stay long
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  term in a party that myself and other Jewish Canadians who are more liberal in
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  outlook have a place in and if I were to leave, that would be
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  closing a door in the Liberal Party. That wouldn't be good long term for
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  my community. That requires strong voices in both parties. When the Prime Minister
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  was in Windsor a few months ago, I asked him at the pressor event
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  that he had about the rise of anti Semitism and what more the government should
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  do and could do about it. And his answer was to list off a
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  variety of things that had already been done, not much forward looking in his
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  answer, and I got to say, it left me really dismayed to hear
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  that I'm not seeing that. You know, there's changes, and I understand
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  what you're saying about how most of them become ENREGC is a terrorist organization.
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  Okay, that's one thing that was one of the big things we have put
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  forward online hate legislation. That is one of the biggest requests of the Jewish
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  community because the vast majority of hate starts on social media, so there actually
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  have been actions. But I also understand that nobody I believe has coherently delivered,
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  from the government's perspective, all the things they are now doing. And
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  we need to get better at communicate and we also need to take more actions,
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  and we need to be a coordinator of the provinces, in municipalities and
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  universities who are at the center of this and who are not acting because nobody
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  cares what level of government does anything anymore. They just want somebody to act.
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  And and so I've asked the Prime minister, you know, the Prime
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  Minister when I stayed said, you know, he wants you know, he
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  wants me to play a role in this. And I've you know, and
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  I've spoken with him again today on this issue, you know, when he
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  called me to find out how I was doing based on based on the poster,
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  you know, and I said, we need a more coordinated message,
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  and I continue to work towards that. Well, it's something that we're definitely
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  going to be keeping an eye on. It's an incredibly important topic. And
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  I'm really sorry that, you know, you're having to go through this,
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  but it's it's the fight that exists right now. I suppose one hundred percent.
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  Well, we all have our roles and we all have to do our
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  best. And I want to thank you John for covering this, Thank you
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  so much for joining me to talk about it. You have yourself a great
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  day you too, Thank you so much, You're welcome. Anthony house Father
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  is a Member of Parliament for Mount Royal