Letters to the Editor from UJPO Members, Articles and Links
Oct. 15,2023
Letter to Free Press in response to Charles Adler- “Never Again”
My sympathies to you Mr.Adler on the loss of family members during World War II. I am also of Jewish origin , my late father was a holocaust survivor and we have a shared experience of family loss.
During the Nazi occupation of Poland in WWII the Jews in Warsaw were confined in a ghetto. The Germans controlled everything going in and out. Despair , disease and starvation permeated the ghetto. In 1943 the Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto rebelled against their captors. The Jews saw themselves as freedom fighters while the Nazis called them terrorists. The uprising was suicidal as poorly armed men were no match for the well armed German army.
The trauma of conflict and war affects us all in different ways. Unlike you Mr.Adler I do not live with Jewish guilt. While I share your message of “never again” I think these words would be more appropriately addressed to all our parliamentarians in Ottawa who gave a standing ovation to a Nazi veteran of the SS Galicia Division three weeks ago.
Rubin Kantorovich
Letter to the Editor
Re: Canada’s silence deafening (Letters Jan.30)
This year International Holocaust Remembrance Day is being observed under the shadow of the ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) which indicted Israel on the charge of genocide. Ironically the United Nations Genocide Convention came into existence in response to the Nazi genocide of European Jews in World War II. Before the establishment of the State of Israel and after, the Nazi genocide was presented by the Zionist movement as a justification for a Jewish state in Palestine. The problem here was that most of the people living in Palestine were not Jewish and became the victims of a campaign of dispossession and displacement by Zionist militias. From 1947 to 1949 some 700,000 Palestinians were turned into refugees. The dispossession and displacement of Palestinians continues to this day.
Immediately after the ICJ ruling against Israel allegations that employees of UNRWA participated in attacks against Israel on October 7 surfaced. These allegations were made by Israel , claiming the information came from Palestinian detainees under “interrogation”. The Canadian government’s response to this allegation was to suspend funding to the UNRWA whose 30,000 employees provide humanitarian aid to Palestinians. The US and a number of other countries also suspended their funding to UNRWA thus aiding and abetting the genocide against the Palestinian people.
Human rights belong to all people. The conduct of the State of Israel and its backers is deserving of our condemnation. The majority of countries in the world are standing with the Palestinian people. Canada among other countries are on the wrong side of history here.
Rubin Kantorovich
April 30, 2024 Winnipeg Free Press
Peace for all
Re: City’s Jewish community marks extra-meaningful Passover this year (April 23)
As another member of the Jewish community — and a member of Jews for Social Justice and the Winnipeg branch of the United Jewish People’s Order — I would like to add to the perspectives of spokespersons quoted in Longhurst’s article on the extra meaning and importance of freedom commemorated by this year’s Passover holiday.
They spoke to concerns about Israeli hostages and soldiers, loved ones lost on Oct. 7, antisemitism, and a more palpable world brokenness for Jews. There was one reference to peace for all in the Middle East.
I share much of their concerns and hopes. I was hoping to also read concerns about Palestinian hostages, losses of Gazan peoples, anti-Arab racism, and the brokenness and occupation of Palestine.
The seders that I have attended emphasized a universal perspective of peace and freedom. While celebrating the liberation of Hebrew slaves, we also acknowledged the suffering and losses of Egyptian people. We discussed the importance of overcoming our own ethnocentric prejudices so that we could more dispassionately analyze the historical and underlying causes of Middle East and other conflicts.
Hopefully, more meaningful Passovers will foster empathy and collaboration for human rights and social justice for all, regardless of race, religion, or nationality. That would increase my hopes for a just peace for all in the Middle East.
Joel Kettner
Winnipeg
Re: The misuse of a medical school valedictory speech (Think Tank, June 4)
Mr. Bernstein claims “ I am writing to shed light on the shameful display of ignorance and insensitivity by the graduating class valedictory speech (by Gem Newman).” In so doing, Mr. Bernstein displays his own ignorance and insensitivity.
For the benefit of Mr. Bernstein and Free Press readers, let us begin by quoting David Ben-Gurion, the first Israeli prime minister: “If I were an Arab leader, I would never sign an agreement with Israel. It is normal; we have taken their country” (as quoted by Nahum Goldmann, The Jewish Paradox) “We should prepare to go over to the offensive. Our aim is to smash Lebanon, Trans-Jordan and Syria. The weak point is Lebanon,…We then bomb and move on and take Port Said, Alexandria and Sinai.” (Ben-Gurion: a Biography, Michael Bar-Zohar.)
Facts are stubborn things and the fact is that the Zionist militias and the state of Israel declared war on the Palestinians and Arab states before the British mandate ended in May 1948. With the complicity of Britain the Zionist militias began the destruction of over 400 Palestinian villages in November 1947. Over 700,000 Palestinian refugees were displaced in this period and this process continues to this day.
Mr. Bernstein asserts “being anti-Zionist is antisemitic…. No victimized peoples should be dictated to, as to what constitutes their victimization.” As well “Israel is the only Jewish state on Earth for the 14 million Jews across the globe.” The conflation of Judaism with Zionism is not a new phenomenon but is being used increasingly today by the Zionist lobby as Israel has been indicted on the charge of genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza. Judaism is a religion and Zionism is a political ideology. Not all Jews are Zionist and not all Zionists are Jews.
The State of Israel was founded as a Zionist state and its conduct is drawing widespread global condemnation today. It is deceitful to suggest those who criticize Israel are ignorant or antisemitic.
Rubin Kantorovich
Winnipeg
To the editor.
Like Dr. Bernstein I am Jew but I strongly disagree with his views on Dr. Gem Newman’s valedictory speech. Bernstein’s critique of Dr. Newman is wrong about a number of things. First his contention that a valedictory speech is no place for critique of Israel’s war in Gaza. It seems to me that the destruction of virtually every hospital in Gaza, the targeting of medical personnel and the blockade of needed medical supplies is indeed a reason to denounce these actions by a doctor in his valedictory speech. Second while Jews have been living continuously in Palestine for thousands of years as a small minority this doesn’t justify the expulsion and slaughter of Palestinian civilians. The majority of indigenous population have rights as well and those rights have been sorely compromised under the Israeli regime, such as treating Gaza as an open air prison and carrying out an Apartheid regime in the West Bank and Jerusalem. Third the parallel between settler colonialism here in Canada where indigenous peoples have been dispossessed repeatedly has undeniable parallels with the destruction of Palestinian villages in 1948, the theft of land through illegal settlements and the ongoing house demolitions in the West Bank and Jerusalem. There is no question that Dr. Newman was correct in raising his critique of the Israeli regime. It should be the job of health care professionals to make judgments on the facts as Dr. Bernstein rightly points out. Unfortunately he picks out some unsubstantiated allegations and mythology to support his point of view.
David Weller
Winnipeg
Re: Under threat - Saturday, June 22, 2024 Published in the Winnipeg Free Press, Thursday, June 27, 2024
This report includes the headline “Jewish, Palestinian Winnipeggers target of increased hate, intimidation”. It may be helpful to Free Press readers to have a conversation on what defines anti-semitism and hate speech.
While anti-semitism is generally understood to mean a hatred of Jews, the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg (JFW) asserts criticism of the State of Israel is a manifestation of anti-semitism. The JFW is on record taking a position of unequivocal support for Israel”s actions. Is it any wonder that since the most recent Israel/Gaza conflict on October 7 and the subsequent calls worldwide for a ceasefire along with an indictment by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) of Israel on the charge of Genocide, the JFW claims a rise in anti-semitism.
The JFW does not represent all Jews in Winnipeg. The United Jewish People’s Order (UJPO) , Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) and others oppose the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands and support the right of Palestinians to self-determination. This is a position that finds favour in most countries around the world. Jews and non Jews alike are derided by Pro-israel organizations for upholding Palestinian rights. We are called “self-hating”, “anti-semites” and “Hamas lovers”, hardly words of peace and understanding. In Winnipeg we have reached out to the JFW for dialogue as we see their unequivocal support for Israel as damaging to the entire Jewish community and the cause of peace, but no response has been received .
Racism and anti-semitism do exist in our society. The genocidal conduct of Israel along with support from some Jewish organizations here only serves to muddle/confuse what anti-semitism is and feed those who bear ill will toward Jews .
Rubin Kantorovich
Winnipeg
Letter to the Editor, Winnipeg Free Press, October 31, 2024
Don’t weaponize star
Re: Police investigating after Stars of David drawn outside West End Grocery store (Oct. 29)
I would like to offer my support to the Zeid family who owns the Food Fare in my neighbourhood. The perpetrators of this crime have weaponized the Star of David in a hateful way to provoke and intimidate a Palestinian-owned business in the community.
Better that these people enter the store, buy some groceries and extend their concern and condolences to the Zeid family for all the losses they have suffered and express a desire for an end to this war and a just peace for Jews and Palestinians in Israel and Palestine.
Ellen Karlinsky
Winnipeg
Re: National Jewish organization takes human rights museum to task over Palestinian exhibit (Nov. 27)
November 28, 2025
I’m writing as one of the members of the Jewish community who wrote a supportive email to Isha Khan and the CMHR, as you have quoted her recounting, and I would like to express my disappointment that John Longhurst chose to frame the announcement of the upcoming Palestine Uprooted exhibit almost entirely through the negative lens of criticism and protest from certain members of my community, rather than through a positive lens of an exhibit the Palestinian community has advocated for for over ten years.
The Jewish community is not one monolithic voice, and those that claim to represent its interests as a whole deliberately leave out many nuanced or even opposing viewpoints. The statements made by these organizations in your article, arguing that they should have been consulted and allowed to contextualize the Zionist viewpoint within this exhibit reflect an arrogance and entitlement that deserve scrutiny. Their arguments about excluding reference to Jewish refugees is beside the point of the Nakba exhibit. It is tantamount, in my opinion, to the CMHR to be compelled to include voices of non-Indigenous Canadians who also had a traumatic school experience in any exhibit about the residential school system.
The intent here, I am suggesting, is in no way about fairness or balancing voices, but about trying to dilute the horrors of the historical and ongoing Nakba, and to defend Zionism as a blameless enterprise in this historical context. It is a resistance to letting any Palestinian voice be heard.
In short, though, I would like to commend the courage of Isha Khan and the CMHR for initiating the Palestine Uprooted exhibit. This should be celebrated as a triumph for the CMHR and this city, rather than as a controversy. I personally look forward to visiting it with my family in June.
Mark Libin
Winnipeg
November 29, 2025
As a Jewish Winnipegger, I am appalled at the local and national organizations who are presuming to speak in my name, and to demand the centring of Jews and Jewish voices in a story about the experiences of local Palestinians.
By claiming the right to inject our voice into other people’s stories, they are in fact affirming the antisemitic trope that all Jews are responsible for the acts of the State of Israel. If they are so concerned about our safety, maybe they should avoid doing that.
I applaud the CMHR for their courageous stance and look forward to learning from this exhibit.
Emèt Eviatar
Winnipeg
January 9, 2026
Distinguishing dissent from hatred
The vandalism that took place at Congregation Shaarey Zedek on Jan. 2 and Habibiz Cafe on Jan. 4, should be unequivocally condemned as acts of hate and intimidation motivated by religion, ethnicity or racialization.
The motivations of the assailants (or assailant) are currently not known to the public. Some may assume political motivations and some may go further and say that such potential motivations are understandable. Their actions should nevertheless be condemned.
There is a critical difference between constructive political dissent, on the one hand, and hate speech or acts of intimidation on the other. Unfortunately, they are too often confused for each other. The more confusion there is, the less people are inclined to engage in constructive and necessary dissent, for fear of possible consequences. The fact that constructive political dissent is often mischaracterized as hate makes it all the more difficult to identify when actual hate is taking place.
A possible way through the confusion is to ask two questions: first, who or what is the target and second, what form has the act taken?
Constructive political dissent, even if expressed with anger, is directed at institutions, governments, systems of rule and those in society with material and ideological power (government leaders, owners of the largest corporations and so on). People may protest the actions taken by governments and elected leaders that have affected their lives for the worse. The most clarity is gained from those protests when their targets are actions, consequences and perpetrators. Some may go further and name the systems of power that led to those actions. For the dissent to remain constructive, the actions and consequences remain the focus.
Hate speech, by contrast, decentres these principles and shifts the target to specific groups of people, based on unfounded prejudices, assumptions and myths, rather than concrete events or actions. It generalizes negative attributes (real or perceived) to a group. It is clearly not about political dissent when no factors (for example, actions that the people in those groups take in real life) are capable of altering those perceptions.
For example, actual antisemites have no interests on whether Jews do or do not politically support the Israeli state, because from their standpoint, it is their Jewishness that is the problem. Anti-Muslim, anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian racism all function similarly. They are based on prejudices about perceived inherent traits, not about the actions or experiences of the people themselves or about the political positions they take. Focusing on these perceived insurmountable essential characteristics of a group of people is a denial of the basic principles of human dignity and equality.
Regardless of their motivations, racially or religiously-motivated acts of intimidation and vandalism like these also tend to function as a regressive political force. Social movements such as those for Palestinian liberation have, for example, been blamed for the massacre by two shooters in Sydney (my home city), even where there is no evidence they had any part in that movement.
The overwhelming responses by western states and institutions to the massacre shows how widespread and vicious a reaction against an international liberation movement can be when these kinds of confusions are not resolved. It is vital if we want to uphold freedom of political expression, especially in fighting global injustice, that we be forceful in denouncing such acts. At the same time, hate, intimidation, and in the case of Bondi Beach, violence, provide an easy excuse for governments and institutions to accelerate repression of political dissent that in many cases they are already undertaking. Preventing people from expressing political dissent is not going to prevent further violence.
There should be no confusion that peacefully protesting the actions of a nation state is not the same as marking a synagogue with swastikas. Nor is leaving a written note of anti-Palestinian, Islamophobic abuse against a Canadian-Palestinian café owner an example of constructive political dissent.
Both are clearly forms of intimidation, based on prejudices about two groups.
It is necessary for people engaging in political dissent against all oppression to call out hate and intimidation when we see it. The events of the weekend serve as a reminder that Jews and Muslims in Winnipeg could form a strong and steadfast alliance against racism and hate in all its forms. Thankfully, many of us already do. The best thing that all Winnipeggers can do at this time is to provide unqualified solidarity with all who have been affected by these attacks.
Tami Gadir is a member of Independent Jewish Voices Winnipeg and United Jewish People’s Order/Jews for Social Justice Winnipeg.
Letter to the editor
Re: Facts lessen tension, instead of inflaming by Rice Koop
As a professor of political studies at the University of Manitoba one would expect an informed and educated position regarding the current (as well as past) conflict in Israel/Palestine.
Mr. Koop asserts that the chant “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” is a call for the destruction of the state of Israel. He apparently has not heard the calls from the Israeli leadership for the annihilation of the Palestinian people. Benjamin Netanyahu as well as a number of his ministers have called for the destruction of the “Amalekites” (Palestinians)
Mr. Koop cites Ron Hassner, a political scientist, to support his claim. Who is Ron Hassner? He is associated with the Helen Diller Institute, a pro-Israel lobby at Berkeley University. Is it possible that his investigations could be driven by a pro-Israel bias?
The territory from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea is populated by roughly five million Palestinians living under Israeli occupation, whose human and civil rights have been denied and another two million Palestinians within the recognized borders of Israel that live as second class Israeli citizens. Could one not argue that the phrase “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” is a call for justice and equality for all who inhabit this territory?
UJPO Winnipeg