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  • It’s been a week since Selina Robinson scorched her premier and former B.C. NDP colleagues for their “silence” after Oct. 7, and for the way they’ve treated the prominent Jewish politician ever since. Robinson quit the governing party on March 6—the day of her 60th birthday—releasing a blistering five-page letter.Robinson said she was heartbroken, but felt compelled to leave when her premier, David Eby rejected her “too political” offer to host a bridge-building initiative between Muslims and Jews. He’d already fired her from her cabinet post as the minister responsible for post-secondary education back in February.Her troubles began when she participated in a live webinar hosted by B’nai Brith in January, wherein she described pre-1948 Israel as a “crappy piece of land” without an economy. Despite issuing two long apologies and offering to take anti-Islamophobia training, the premier declared she had “screwed up” too badly.Since the controversy began, she’s received a death threat that forced her to leave Canada for a while. Her constituency office was vandalized with posters comparing Zionism to Nazism. But Robinson vows she won’t be cancelled so easily.Selina Robinson sat down with _The CJN Daily _ahead of Wednesday March 13, the day she sits in the provincial legislature for the first time as an independent MLA representing her Coquitlam-Maillardville riding in Vancouver.

    What we talked about

    Read about the B.C. Jewish community’s outrage after Selina Robinson got fired from cabinet, in The CJNWatch the controversial remarks which Selina Robinson made on Jan. 30, 2024, during her webinar with B’nai Brith’s League for Human RightsRead the full text of Selina Robinson’s resignation letter from the B.C. NDP caucus

    Credits:

    The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

  • Canada’s main kosher supervision agencies, the Kashruth Council of Canada (COR) and the Jewish Community Council in Montreal, which runs the MK brand, do not believe Canada wants to ban kosher slaughter. But they say new regulations to reduce animal suffering will have the same impact and puts the nation’s entire domestic kosher meat industry “very much at risk”.COR and MK and two of the country’s largest kosher meat producers—Shefa and Mehadrin—are launching a legal challenge to the country’s new slaughter regulations, which were introduced in 2019 but have only begun being enforced since 2023.Under the regulations, animals must be first stunned with a bolt to the brain, which is not permitted under Jewish law. Alternative methods are also being allowed, such as stunning after the neck is cut, with is still a no, or giving the animals more time to die—but will cost meat processors too much money to make it profitable much longer, the plaintiffs argue.The collective of Jewish organizations filed for a judicial review on March 8, 2024, in the Federal Court of Canada. They’re arguing that kosher slaughter is already humane—and say they have the science to prove it. On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, we hear the backstory from Richard Rabkin, managing director of COR, and Rabbi Saul Emanuel, the executive director of the Jewish Community Council of Montreal.

    What we talked about

    Learn more about the history of similar threats to kosher meat production in Canada, in The CJN archives

    Credits:

    The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

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  • For decades, Israeli entrepreneurs have been mounting traveling real estate trade shows here in Canada, to encourage Diaspora Jews to buy property in Israel.But in the wake of Oct. 7, there has been renewed attention paid to anything having to do with Israel and Palestinians, meaning several of these annual real estate events in Montreal and Toronto last week touched off large, aggressive anti-Israel street protests. Critics accuse the promoters (and buyers) of stealing Palestinian land, especially because some of the apartments for sale are located in disputed areas of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The UN and Canada consider these illegal settlements because they are still under Israeli military rule since being captured during the 1967 Six Day War.So are the protests hurting business, or are they having the opposite effect, as Diaspora Jews worried about the rising antisemitism at home look for a safer place to live or invest in Israel as a show of support? On today’s The CJN Daily, we go inside one of the real estate events in Toronto to see what they are all about. We also speak with Israeli promoter Gidon Katz of the Great Israeli Real Estate Event, and with Ben Murane, head of the New Israel Fund of Canada, who explains why the event is problematic for many.

    [Ed. note: Organizers of this past week’s Israeli Real Estate Event have been a client of The CJN for many years, buying ad space in our magazines and other news products. ]

    What we talked about:

    Read more about the protests at two Israel real estate sales events in Toronto, and also at the tour’s stop in Montreal, in The CJN.Israeli real estate events have been visiting Canada since at least 2009, in The CJN.Watch and learn more about the made-in-Canada Oscars’ antisemitism ad that was originally supposed to air during the Super Bowl in The CJN.

    Credits:

    The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

  • Warning: This episode contains descriptions of sexual violence against women, and may be disturbing to some listeners.

    On March 4, days before International Women’s Day, the office of the UN’s Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict released their long-awaited report on what happened to Israeli women near Gaza on Oct. 7. The report paints a gruesome picture of what happened to some of the 300 Israeli women who were attacked and killed by Hamas—and also warns that hostages still being held in Gaza are likely still being rape and tortured.The UN’s fact-finding mission to Israel took place last month, with the blessing of the Israeli government. And the resulting 23-page report is important for a whole host of reasons. Supporters say it spells out, for the first time—despite repeated denials by Hamas and their supporters—”clear and reasonable grounds” to believe rapes, and even gang rapes, happened that day. It also cites “clear and convincing” grounds sexual violence happened to hostages—then, and even now.On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, we speak to Ruth Halperin-Kaddari, a professor and Israeli legal expert on women’s rights, who helped make this report happen. She was in Toronto.

    What we talked about

    Read the UN special representative’s report on sexual violence during and after Oct. 7Learn more about the work of Ruth Halperin-Kaddari at Bar Ilan University and the Rackman CentreHear Canada’s ambassador to Israel, Lisa Stadelbauer, explain why she was “ashamed” it took her so long to pay attention to #believeIsraeliwomen, on The CJN Daily (and read other CJN coverage)

    Credits:

    The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

  • It’s been more than 150 days since Hamas captured Israeli hostages on Oct. 7 and took them into Gaza. Hamas leaders claim they don’t know where all the hostages are, or even if they are all still alive. But Nir Maman, a security expert who lives in Toronto, has his theories—including his take on why the Israel Defense Forces haven’t been able to rescue them.Maman, 47, is one of the older volunteers who’ve flocked to the Jewish State to help his native country respond to the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust. But despite his age, Maman offers a special set of skills: the married father of five is also an elite counter-terrorism expert who trains police and military in North America and Israel how to rescue hostages and conduct urban warfare.For the last four months, Maman has been deployed with an IDF light infantry reserve battalion in Hebron, in the West Bank. He’s been manning checkpoints, hunting for terrorist cells and conducting raids.He was on leave back home in Canada last week, for just 11 days, until it was cut short by a surprise summons to return to the front lines—this time, in Gaza. He spoke to _The CJN Daily _during his furlough, about what the war has been like and whether Israel can rescue the remaining hostages.

    What we talked about:

    Learn more about Maman and his CT707 counter-terrorism companyFollow Maman on InstagramLearn about other lone soldiers in the IDF on The CJN Daily and in The CJN

    Credits:

    The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

  • Brian Mulroney didn’t meet a Jew until he left his home in Quebec to go to boarding school. Yet despite this, the Canadian prime minister, who died on Feb. 29, made fighting antisemitism and supporting Jews—and Israel—priorities during his lengthy political career.Mulroney, 84, died after a fall in the bathroom of his home in Palm Beach, Florida, friends say. He had recently been treated for prostate cancer. Mulroney served as prime minister for nine years, from 1984 to 1993. He resigned due to growing separatist sentiments in Quebec, a recession and record-low popular support.However, Jewish leaders and experts say Mulroney’s support for Jews in and out of office was remarkable. His dedication included hiring a succession of Jewish political advisors to be his chiefs of staff; appointing Norman Spector as the first Jewish ambassador to represent Canada in Israel; establishing a public inquiry to investigate how Nazi war criminals were allowed into Canada after the Holocaust; and welcoming Chaim Herzog, then the president of Israel, as the first leader of the Jewish State to address Parliament, in 1989.On today’s edition of The CJN Daily, we explore why Canada’s 18th prime minister felt moved to fight what he called “a noxious social cancer” of antisemitism, even to his last days. We hear from philanthropist Charles Bronfman; Irwin Cotler, the former special envoy on combatting antisemitism; political panelist for _The CJN Daily _Stephen Adler; and Don Abelson, the founding director of the Brian Mulroney Institute of Government in Nova Scotia.

    What we talked about:

    Read professors Don Abelson and Monda Halpern’s scholarly paper about Brian Mulroney and the Jews, “On the Right Side of History”Read Ron Csillag’s article about Brian Mulroney’s legacy, in The CJNWatch Mulroney’s last public speech, to the World Jewish Congress in New York, from Nov. 2023Why criticism of Israel is not necessarily antisemitism, Mulroney said: in The CJN archives

    Credits:

    The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

  • On Feb. 26, Canada signalled it is done waiting for internet giants and social media companies to protect children from consuming or being victims of harmful online content. Justice minister Arif Virani introduced Bill C-63, which sets up a new Digital Safety Commission to handle these cases and impose multimillion-dollar fines on social media sites for not complying.For the Jewish community, the new law would also toughen penalties for those who incite hatred, including antisemitism, and promote genocide or Holocaust denial.It’s a long-awaited piece of legislation for Jewish advocacy groups like CIJA, Friends of Simon Wiesenthal and B’nai Brith: all have been warning about the dangerous explosion of online hate, saying that it could lead to actual terrorism, especially after Oct. 7. But some critics, including the federal Conservatives, fear the new law may go too far in curbing free speech, and have hinted they will vote against it as the proposed law now makes its way through Parliament.On today’s The CJN Daily, we speak with Bernie Farber, who was one of the consultants hired by the government to shape the new legislation, and with professor Michael Geist, an internet law expert from the University of Ottawa, who sees some red flags.

    What we talked about:

    Read more about the Ottawa teenager charged in December with a terror-related bomb making plot against Canadian Jews, in The CJNRead how Canadian Jewish leaders reacted to the Canadian government’s new Online Harms Bill, in The CJNSee the actual Online Harms Act for yourself on the Government of Canada’s website and read the accompanying explanation

    Credits:

    The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

  • Last Thursday, Feb. 22, the school of business at McGill University in Montreal had to quickly cancel its in-person classes and switch to online learning, because anti-Israel protesters blocked access to the department’s Bronfman building, off Sherbrooke St. W. The protest was called by a campus Palestinian club and was the latest incident in an escalation of what the authors of a new study have found was an alarming rise of antisemitism on Canadian university campuses, especially after Oct. 7.Researchers at the Abraham Global Peace Initiative (AGPI) released their 2023 campus antisemitism report on Feb. 16. It documents the “intimidation, harassment, and regrettably, violent behaviour against Jewish students” and also the “blatant targeting of Jewish students”, and calls into question the effectiveness of the institutions’ embrace of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs. They also gave letter marks for each of the universities: York, University of Toronto and Concordia got the lowest grades of F, while five schools weren’t much safer: University of Victoria, Queen’s, Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson), UBC and Lethbridge–they all scored Ds and D-.Dr. Neil Orlowsky is Director of Education for the AGPI, and he joins to review the findings, and why he feels parents should consider the report before advising their teens where to attend university this fall.

    What we talked about:

    Read how a blockade impacted classes at the McGill University Bronfman building last Thursday, in The CJN.Read the AGPI’s 2024 report on campus antisemitism, and hear The CJN’s coverage of the AGPI’s first report in 2022 on the best and worst schools for Canadian Jews, on The CJN Daily.Excellent campus safety resources page for Jewish students in Montreal, by Federation CJA.

    Credits:

    The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

  • Gary Grill and Leora Shemesh want an apology from the owners of the Toronto Raptors basketball team, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment. On Feb. 22, security at Scotiabank Arena asked Grill to remove his black-and-white “Free Our Hostages” sweatshirt while the two were watching the Raptors play the Brooklyn Nets at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. The reason given? Because it was “political”.On principle, Grill chose to leave, rather than remove his hoodie–a gift from Shemesh. Now the friends, who are both criminal defence lawyers, are calling the act discrimination—even though MLSE’s website clearly prohibits fans having “signs, symbols or images for commercial or political purposes”. Despite the longstanding ban, which is common among sports arenas and not unique to Toronto, Grill and Shemesh say they could take legal action.Did they know about the rule but choose to ignore it? Was this a stunt to provoke attention to the plight of the 140 hostages still held in captivity by Hamas? Or was it a genuinely unexpected brush with an overzealous security officer? Grill and Shemesh join _The CJN Daily _to explain what happened, why they went public afterword, and whether this is good for the Jews.

    Related links

    Read MLSE's code of conductWhy Phoebe Maltz Bovy was triggered by Kiana Ledé wearing a Keffiyeh to sing the U.S. national anthem at the NHL All-Star game, in The CJNWhy the Toronto Raptors never went on their promised trip to Israel after winning the NBA championship in 2019, in The CJN

    Credits

    The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

  • On Jan. 30, a striking piece of pop-up theatre was staged near Vancouver’s art gallery. A man dressed as a Hamas militant marched a woman in a white top and grey sweatpants down the street—her hands tied together, her crotch blood-stained (with dye, not real blood). Behind them was a placard: “This is what free Palestine looks like.”

    It was a re-enactment of one of the most infamous videos shot on Oct. 7, in which Hamas terrorists kidnapped an Israeli teenager and stuffed her into a black jeep. The video fuelled widespread speculation that the young woman had been sexually abused by Hamas terrorists.The Vancouver protest was the initiative of Nonviolent Opposition Against Hate (NOAH), a fledgling organization created by two Israeli expats that aims to counteract the louder anti-Israel voices in British Columbia’s largest cities.

    Those organizers are not alone—other groups have staged similar protests, including one organization called Canadians for Israel, in Toronto, which on Feb. 14 held a street side re-enactment of the same Hamas incident. While the Toronto's event's stated goal is to call attention to the female hostages still believed to be in captivity in Gaza, and pressure the federal government to do more to demand the hostages' immediate release, the group on the West Coast aims to warn Canadians that Hamas's message represents real danger for all Jews around the world.

    On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, NOAH co-founder Asaf Arad explains why he personally dressed up like a Hamas terrorist and marched in Vancouver to make the powerful statement.

    What we talked about:

    Learn more about the NOAH initiative via their Instagram account, and watch their street demonstration video on YouTube. They are now fundraising through Gofundme, at this linkFollow the Toronto activist group Canadians for Israel, on Facebook. Read about them in The CJNRead more about the Enough_T.O. sticker initiative, just launched to bring back civility and dialogue in Canada’s largest city

    Credits:

    The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

  • Insp. Paul Rinkoff was known to Jewish leaders in Toronto before Oct. 7, 2023 for his diplomatic, low-key approach to establishing good relationships between the Toronto police and the Jewish community. But since the Hamas attack on Israel last Thanksgiving, Rinkoff has been thrust into the very public spotlight–as the highest profile Jewish officer in charge of the police force’s community partnerships and engagement unit.While Rinkoff also oversees police outreach to Toronto’s other ethnic and racialized groups, including Palestinians and Muslims, what’s happened since Oct. 7 is obviously deeply personal- he’s also co-chair of the Jewish consultative committee for the police.The veteran officer was born to a Jewish family from England, raised in St. Catharines, Ont. where his parents are still active in the Niagara Jewish community, he reads Hebrew, he went on Birthright, he’s visited Auschwitz, and is a proud alumnus of the Chidon Hatanach, the National Bible Contest for Jewish students.Rinkoff, 44, says the Toronto police have had to manage over 340 protest rallies since Oct. 7, including last week’s targeting of the Mount Sinai Hospital, plus investigate an unprecedented number of hate crimes and graffiti, resulting in over 54 arrests and 117 charges to date.Rinkoff recently took The CJN Daily host Ellin Bessner on a tour of one of the two Toronto police command posts erected in Jewish areas and then shared what it has been like for him to be the Jewish point person during this fraught, historic time.

    What we talked about:

    Watch more about Inspector Paul Rinkoff and his advice for the Jewish community on safety in this webinar by UJA Federation Toronto’s Real Estate Division from Dec. 2023. He appears at 29:00Watch an upcoming live seminar from Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw speaking to B’nai Brith on Feb. 29, 2024.Read more about Toronto Police Services hate crime statistics since Oct. 7 in The CJN.

    Credits:

    The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

  • As hospitals in Toronto announce they are beefing up their security procedures following Monday's anti-Israel protest outside Mount Sinai Hospital, on Feb. 14 police were called to the Thornhill constituency office of Canada's deputy Conservative party leader, Melissa Lantsman. Her staff arrived to work Wednesday to find anti-Israel posters plastering her office's front windows.

    After more than four months of anti-Israel protests popping up seemingly everywhere in major cities, calls are getting louder for police to start cracking down on intimidation and harassment of Canadian Jews.

    But Noa Mendelsohn Aviv, the executive director of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, says banning these protests outright would be a dangerous thing—even though many Jews find them annoying, scary or even fuelled by hatred. It's an opinion she knows might be unpopular, but she joins The CJN Daily to explain her case.

    What we talked about

    Read more about the Canadian Civil Liberties Association position on protests in The CJNRead more about the vandalism at Melissa Landsman’s office in The CJNLearn why the Canadian Civil Liberties Association is challenging Quebec’s Bill 21, which bans religious symbols at work for public servants

    Credits

    The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

  • Canada’s century-old Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto was founded in 1923 by Jewish doctors who couldn’t find work elsewhere due to antisemitic hiring policies of the day. Now, the hospital which treats patients of all faiths and employs staff from all walks of life, has become the latest flashpoint for anti-Israel protesters and their campaign of intimidation and targeting of Jewish-affiliated institutions across Canada–in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, and the Israeli government’s declaration of war in Gaza four months ago.It’s exactly the kind of thing that’s been keeping Deborah Lyons awake at night. Lyons is Canada’s Special Envoy to combat antisemitism and to promote Holocaust remembrance. She started her job in October, right after Oct. 7.Lyons says stopping the rampant antisemitism now facing the Jewish community in this country, will take a team effort: from Canadian leaders in business, academia, politics, other religions, and also of course law enforcement. She’s put them on notice that they must step up and do more.Lyons joins today’s episode of The CJN Daily for a report card on her first four months in office.

    What we talked about:

    Read about Ambassador Lyons’ appointment as Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism and for Holocaust Remembrance, in The CJN. Hear Ambassador Lyons’ debut interview on The CJN Daily from Nov. 2023.Read the Bloc QuĂ©becois’ Bill 373 to toughen Canada’s hate crimes laws outlawing antisemitic speech, to now include religious speech or opinions based on religious booksRead more about the reaction to the Mount Sinai Hospital protests, in The CJN.

    Credits:

    The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

  • You may have heard the story of Adi Vital-Kaploun, the Canadian citizen who was murdered by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7. The 33-year-old scientist died in the safe room of her home, murdered while protecting her two sons: four-month-old Eshel and four-year-old Negev.

    The boys, and their father survived the massacre, as did Adi's father, Yaron Vital. But for days, no one knew if Adi was dead or taken hostage—until her body was found booby-trapped under a bed.

    It's a series of events that Yaron Vital and his wife, Jacqui—who is originally from Ottawa—have retold countless times, mostly on Zoom presentations with synagogues and Jewish groups. They have transformed their grief into a mission to share her story with the world. That includes many in-person meetings with well-wishers who want to help support Adi's family—despite little assistance from the Canadian government.

    On this episode of The CJN Daily, the Vitals recount their daughter's inspiring, horrifying final hours, and explain what the future looks like for Adi's bereaved husband and their two traumatized sons.

    What we talked about

    Learn more about Adi Vital-Kaploun, 33, in The CJNMake a tax-deductible donation to help Eshel and Negev Kaploun through AJA50 Plus and Canada Helps. (Note that donations must be accompanied by a message that the donation is for Adi’s children.)Learn more about the store belonging to Adi's grandfather, Irving Rivers, located in Ottawa's ByWard Market

    Credits

    Special thanks to Sheila Osterer and the AJA 50+ group in Ottawa for inviting us to attend the Vitals' presentation on Jan. 23, 2024, with permission to use the audio.The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

  • Two weeks ago, Canada joined the United States and other top Western donors in announcing they will suspend further funding to UNWRA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees. The move comes after intelligence from Israel and other sources proved the extent to which thousands of UNWRA employees and their family members have ties to Hamas—in some cases, even being full Hamas members and taking part directly in the Oct. 7 terrorist attack, kidnapping and hiding hostages.Canadian lawyer Hillel Neuer runs the Geneva-based UN Watch, which helped reveal some of that damning evidence. He brought to light a 3,000-member UNWRA teachers’ chat group on Telegram that vocally supported the attack on Israel. UN Watch also exposed the identities of UNWRA teachers who proudly trumpet anti-Israel hate on their social media accounts.UNWRA has now launched its own official investigation, due at the end of April. But already there are calls to allow the discredited agency to be allowed to weed out the few “bad apples”, and for full funding to be restored. due to the humanitarian emergency and displacement of the vast majority of Gaza’s 2 million residents during Israel’s war with Hamas, now entering its fifth month.Hillel Neuer joins Ellin Bessner on _The CJN Daily _to explain why he thinks UNWRA should be disbanded permanently—but probably won’t be.

    What we talked about:

    Learn more about Canada announcing it will pause funding for UNWRA, and what new agencies will get the money instead, in The CJNWatch Hillel Neuer’s testimony (eight minutes) before the U.S. Congress on Jan. 30, on YouTubeRead when the UN launched investigation in 2014 after missiles were discovered in UNRWA buildings in Gaza during war with Israel, in The CJN

    Credits:The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

  • One of the lesser-known consequences of the horrific Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on Oct. 7, has been the shutdown of normal life for Israelis living in northern Israel: hundreds of families who live near the border with Lebanon had to be evacuated from their homes to escape the barrage of rockets fired by Hezbollah forces, which continues to this day. And that has meant the suspension of hockey games and practise for the small coterie of Israeli players in the country’s hockey program housed at the Canadian-founded arena in Metulla.But thanks to Canadian supporters of the Israeli hockey program, the Vancouver and Winnipeg Jewish communities, and Maccabi Canada, twenty hockey players between the ages of 12-18 got a break from the tension and anxiety of living through the war, with an all-expenses-paid two week trip to Canada.One group visited Vancouver, while another visited Winnipeg-where they got to practise at the Winnipeg Jets’ training arena, meet with Indigenous elders and the local Jewish day school, and even throw some strikes at a local bowling alley.Last month, the teens travelled to Toronto to end their trip, with the requisite stop at the CN Tower and a visit to what some might consider the shrine to the game of hockey: The Hockey Hall of Fame.On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, producer Zachary Kauffman speaks to Liv Sharabi, 18, who plays defence for the Israel Women’s National Team; Maksim Dashanov, also 18, who played defence on Israel’s gold-medal winning U18 Men’s National hockey team at the 2023 World Championships in Iceland, and to chaperone Melissa Wronzberg, a veteran Canadian women’s hockey player.

    What we talked about:

    Learn more about Mike Levin and the Israeli U20 Men’s national hockey team’s quest for gold at the IIHF World Championships in Bulgaria last weekend, in The CJN.Read why Israel’s U20 men’s hockey team nearly didn’t play the 2024 IIHF tournament for Division lll, in The CJN.Hear player Melissa Wronzberg on The CJN’s Menschwarmers podcast on why women’s hockey had a moment during the 2022 Maccabiah games in Israel.

    Credits:

    The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

    What we talked about:

    Learn more about Mike Levin and the Israeli U20 Men’s national hockey team’s quest for gold at the IIHF World Championships in Bulgaria last weekend, in The CJN.Read why Israel’s U20 men’s hockey team nearly didn’t play the 2024 IIHF tournament for Division lll, in The CJN.Hear player Melissa Wronzberg on The CJN’s Menschwarmers podcast on why women’s hockey had a moment during the 2022 Maccabiah games in Israel.

    Credits:The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

  • On Feb. 1, the Canadian government announced it wants to postpone until 2027 the commitment to expand medical assistance in dying (MAiD), which currently does not allow patients with mental illness to end their lives with a physician’s or nurse practitioner’s help.MAiD has been legal for terminally ill patients since 2016, and since 2021, for those with chronic illness, allowing nearly 45,000 Canadians to subsequently legally end their lives with the program. That number is growing every year.The new mental health provision was actually supposed to come into effect this March, already a year later than originally planned. But the Liberal cabinet says the country’s health system still isn’t ready.While Orthodox Jews are prohibited from taking one’s own life, and also medically assisting someone to end their own life, there is now some room for more nuanced approaches for MAiD within the Conservative and Reform branches of the Jewish community—although expanding the program for patients suffering from mental illness is not yet on the books in this country. On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, Ellin speaks with Rabbi Louis J. Sachs of Toronto’s Beth Torah synagogue, who has come to support MAiD, and also with Dr. Karen Devon, a surgeon at Women’s College Hospital and Toronto General, who is one of the nearly 2,000 Canadian physicians trained to carry out medically assisted deaths.

    What we talked about:

    Learn more about how a Vancouver Jewish nursing home became a flashpoint for medically assisted deaths in Canada, in The CJNRead Lila Sarick’s feature article on MAiD and Jewish seniors’ homes, from The CJN archives (2020)Read the in-depth report from the Canadian government on MAiD use in Canada from 2016-2022

    Credits:

    The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

  • As the rabbinic leader at Temple Sinai Congregation in Toronto, Rabbi Michael Dolgin has gotten used to speaking to a crowd. But now Dolgin and an all-Canadian cast are appearing in a new commercial about combating antisemitism that was filmed completely in Toronto in January, mainly in the Kensington Market. The ad was commissioned by the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism, set up in 2019 by Robert Kraft, the American Jewish billionaire philanthropist and owner of the New England Patriots.

    The ripped-from-the-headlines story shows how an American teenager's bar mitzvah service was interrupted by a bomb threat in Massachusetts just days after Hamas's attack on Israel last October. The stranded Jewish worshippers had to evacuate the building, but found themselves quickly welcomed in by an Evangelical church across the road in Attleboro.

    On today's episode of The CJN Daily, Rabbi Dolgin joins to describe why the role was actually created with him in mind—and what he hopes the ad will do, now that it is out online and will air at the Oscars telecast on March 10.

    [Ed note: the interview was done when the cast was told their ad would be aired during the Super Bowl in February, however the organizers chose to use one with a former speechwriter for Dr. Martin Luther King.]

    What we talked about

    Watch the new commercialRead more about the behind the scenes of the Canadian-filmed ad, in The CJN.Learn more about the Ernie’s Books project run by Liberation 75, which distributes free Holocaust books to Grade 6 students and their teachers

    Credits

    The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

  • When the trustees of the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board convene their monthly public meeting on Tuesday Jan. 30, the trustee for Zone 9, Dr. Nili Kaplan-Myrth, will not be permitted to participate. It’s a result of the sanctions imposed on the high-profile physician, back in December, for what the board voted were breaches of their trustees’ code of conduct. In effect, the sanctions bar her from fully carrying out her elected role, which also means keeping her off five school board committees for the next three months.Kaplan-Myrth maintains she did nothing to justify the punishments in what she calls an “Orwellian” situation. Rather, she feels the code of conduct has been weaponized because she was forcefully pointing out how the Ottawa school board and some of its trustees routinely ignore her situation as a victim of rampant antisemitism and sexism: she has been the target of constant hateful emails and even death threats, including several currently being handled by police.Kaplan-Myrth has now asked for a leave of absence while she appeals the sanctions through the court system and elsewhere. But with two and a half years left on her term, the beleaguered trustee tells _The CJN Daily _why being in public life may not be worth it for Jewish women like herself.

    What we talked about:

    Learn more about the sanctions imposed on Kaplan-Myrth in December 2023, after an investigation into her conduct during meetings and during disputes with some of the other 11 trustees, in The CJNRead about the threats Kaplan-Myrth has received for her stance on COVID and masking, and also for being a Jewish woman, in The CJN (from 2022)Read the full report by the Ottawa school board’s integrity commissioner on complaints about the behaviour of three trustees, including Kaplan-Myrth, Donna Dixon and Donna Blackburn

    Credits:

    The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.

  • What did Friday’s International Court of Justice ruling mean? Did Israel actually get convicted of carrying out genocide on the Palestinian people in Gaza during its three-month military campaign that began when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7? Why did Israel’s own judge on the panel, Aharon Barak, vote against his country in some rulings? And what happens now?While the ICJ didn’t tell Israel to stop the war, it also didn’t throw out South Africa’s genocide charges altogether: they could be something the court looks into down the road.The ruling worries Canadian human rights lawyer Tamara Kronis, who fears it gives Jew haters around Canada even more ammunition to ramp up their public protests and hateful attacks, like the one this past weekend against a synagogue in Fredericton, N.B.Kronis has worked as a prosecutor in The Hague. She wasn’t expecting the ICJ to come back with a ruling so soon. South Africa and Israel put forward their oral arguments before the 17 judges only two weeks earlier.Kronis returns to The CJN Daily with an insider’s analysis of the ICJ’s provisional measures imposed on Israel—and what happens next.

    What we talked about:

    Hear Tamara Kronis explain how the UN’s International Court of Justice works, and what was at stake for Israel, on The CJN Daily from earlier in January 2024Read Canada’s official reaction to the ICJ ruling in The CJNWatch the taped video showing the ICJ presiding judge read their ruling on imposing provisional measures against IsraelRead more about how Fredericton is reacting to the vandalism on the city’s only synagogue in The CJN, and donate to help the synagogue carry out repairs and install a security system

    Credits:

    The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here. Hear why The CJN is important to me.