Jerry Grafstein: Dear Justin Trudeau, rampant antisemitism on your watch is shameful

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Open letter to the Right Hon. Justin Trudeau,

As one of your earliest supporters, I am dismayed by the deep divisions and disunity across the country and now within the Liberal party itself.

My late father and the Grafstein cousinhood have all been lifelong Liberals. My cousin Robert Kaplan was solicitor general in your father’s cabinet. He led the opening of the Second World War criminal dossiers. My cousin Phil Givens, after being mayor of Toronto, also served in your father’s Liberal caucus. I was appointed by your father to the Senate where I served 26 years representing Metro Toronto.

My father taught me that how a nation treats Jews is a fundamental sign of a liberal society and democracy.

Keith Davey, one of my mentors and one of your father’s staunchest supporters, once argued that if you cannot unite the party, you cannot unite the country.

Moral clarity, as your late father who was another of my mentors also agreed, is an essential building block of democracy and national unity. Recent savage attacks and hostage taking in Israel of Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims and Christians by Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad have triggered rallies across Canada including violent protests which are blood-curdling. The bestial attack on Jewish babies, the elderly including Holocaust survivors is chilling. Where, I ask, is John Paul II when we need him? Incendiary comments made by anyone in the public square gives license to incendiary actions and incendiary echoes across the internet.

As author Bari Weiss recently noted, when antisemitism migrates from the fringe to the public square, this phenomenon is not about Jews but rather a symptom of the surrounding culture.

Canada’s muted record against antisemitism is a historical fact.

Attacks on Jews in Canada — bullets at Jewish schools, fire-bombing a synagogue and vandalizing restaurants or coffee shops in peaceful Jewish residential areas — are unconscionable.

Under your watch, antisemitic attacks at universities, law schools and even medical schools, is unprecedented in modern Canadian history. Presidents of universities and deans of law schools funded by taxpayer dollars should show leadership by expelling egregious professors and students who advocate against the rule of law after a speedy disciplinary review, case by case.

What can be done!

First a clarion call to free all the innocent hostages. Second, an instant reaction to criminal offences, especially incitement to violence. This should be led by your cabinet ministers responsible for the rule of law.

The founders of Confederation gave criminal law powers to the federal government to achieve peace, order and good government from coast to coast to coast. As you pointed out in your testimony in the review of the Emergencies Act, policing is essential. Policing across the country has been magnificent but police forces are overwhelmed. Instruct your capable ministers of justice, public safety, and intergovernmental affairs to make an immediate zoom call to provincial officials responsible for law enforcement to ensure their needs are quickly met. The police forces across Canada are overwhelmed by protests that incite violence.

If amendments to the Criminal Code are necessary to ensure enforcement against incitement to violence in support of Hamas or any other criminal groups, amend the Criminal Code forthwith. For example, masks at rallies to disguise the perpetrators should be a Criminal Code offence, as it is in some states in America. Direct your expert minister of heritage to expunge hateful and bullying messages from the internet by amending the law.

All this can be done. As a senator, my private member’s bill led to suicide bombing becoming a criminal offence (Bill 215 — an act to amend the Criminal Code).

Third, I urge you to act now. Go to Israel as you did twice to Ukraine. Take all leaders of the Opposition party with you to Israel as an act of national unity — as some MPs have already done. Convene a meeting of rabbis in Ottawa as King Charles did at Buckingham Palace to listen to the concerns of the chief rabbi of the U.K. Hopefully Canada can be returned to the peaceful nation it once was. All this can be done quickly. All it takes is leadership. It’s all up to you.

Respectfully,

Jerry S. Grafstein

Jerry S. Grafstein served as a Canadian Senator from 1984 to 2010.