Another one bites the dust: a racialized person who criticizes Israel is forced to leave his job
There is a campaign of civil terror in Canada against anyone, especially racialized people with a presence in the media, the university, medicine, law, teaching, a high-ranking government job or even an elected politician who dares to question Israel’s genocide against the Palestinians. The proof is it took two weeks for establishment Canadian Jewish organizations to find fault with and demand the turfing of another brown man, Birju Dattani, as CEO of the Canadian Human Rights Commission. It took them about 14 days to denigrate and falsely label him an antisemite, and start a summer- long campaign to demand the federal government rescind Birju Dattani’s appointment.
It is likely, Birju Dattani’s research, his academic record, and his employment background were well investigated before he was appointed. He passed the background and employment checks.
But something happened within the time frame from his application for the job in June 2022, to his appointment on June 11, 2024, to the public announcement three days later, to his resignation 60 days later—(before he had even started the job.)
And the something that happened was not pretty.
It was a scene out of the 1950s McCarthy era playbook —except there was no public hearing, no gavel-banging, no overt shaming, no jail time. Instead the legal investigators hired by the federal government to investigate Dattani dropped this one line in their report here almost casually,
“Based on Mr. Dattani’s evidence, the scholarship that was reviewed and provided, we cannot find that Mr. Dattani harboured or harbours any beliefs that would be characterized as anti-Semitic or that he has demonstrated any biases (conscious or unconscious) towards Jews or Israelis.”
The report also noted,
“Importantly, during the course of the interview, Mr. Dattani indicated that his knowledge and lived experience as a racialized person meant that he could listen sympathetically and empathetically to those experiencing discrimination. In his comments on anti-Semitism, Mr. Dattani demonstrated a high degree of self-awareness and sensitivity to the current challenges faced by the Jewish community in Canada as well as a commitment to continue to learn about those challenges in the future.”
That should have been the end of it. This should have paved the way for hiring Dattani for CEO of the federal Human Rights Commission. Instead these complimentary comments have been all but ignored. It’s my guess that after much hounding and pressure by the three major Canadian organizations that represent the establishment Jewish community, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, B’nai Brith and the Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, Minister of Justice Virani decided rather than fire Dattani, to accept his resignation.
Dattani is simply the latest racialized prominent Canadian who has faced discipline, firing, black listing and legal problems.
Painting above by Mario Sanchez Nevado
In Larry Haiven’s article in Canadian Dimension here, there are at least seven other cases of racialized professional Canadians being stigmatized and declared antisemitic for criticizing Israel. That number increases when we consider that Ont MPP Sarah Jama, who is Black and Muslim, was both thrown out of the legislature and out of the NDP caucus for questioning Israel’s genocide against the Palestinians. The Toronto District School Board persecuted Javier Dávila because, as part of his job of sending information to the teachers, he sent materials that supported the Palestinian cause. Dr Yipeng Ge, a South Asian-Canadian doctor lost his medical residency placement, and then was forced to resign as a student member of the board of the Canadian Medical Association because he posted comments against Israel’s genocide on social media. As Haiven notes “The answer to the question who is antisemitic? Might well be “Anyone, but especially a racialized person who criticizes Israel.”
Back to Dattani, what we have is
A legitimate, experienced, and the leading candidate for the job as CEO of the Canadian Human Rights Commission being called an antisemite for even a mild rebuke of Israel.
The lie that Dattani compared Israelis to the Nazis. There is no evidence of this.
Guilt by association: since Dattani spoke on academic platforms with people who criticize Israel and the harm Israel does to the Palestinians. Pro-Israel organizations insist Dattani is linked to listed terror entities in Canada—simply not true.
A Canadian man who has recent education and employment experience in the areas of International Law, Human Rights Law and European Union Law.
He is a victim of the pro-Israel campaign of civil terror. Is there one other ethnic group in Canada that gets to tell the government whom to appoint to a Human Rights portfolio? Perhaps the pro-Israel lobby didn’t tell the government whom to appoint – just whom to exclude.
Photo at the top: from 1954: Senator Joseph McCarthy points to a map depicting Communist Party organization across the US. Army counsel Joseph Welch and others are seated. Welch held his head with his left hand in frustration after he just denounced McCarthy as a “cruelly reckless character assassin.” (Bettmann/Getty Images)UNCATEGORIZED
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