IJV-Hamilton is holding a webinar to counter a problematic international conference in our city happening in the same month. The latter is billed as the No More Anti-Semitism Conference. IJV has its own policies and positions on the scourge of antisemitism and its direct connection to White supremacy and the far right. Independent Jewish Voices was formed to fight both anti-Palestinian racism and anti-Semitism as part of a broad struggle, against racism, homophobia and trans phobia.
But IJV was not invited to present this perspective at this international gathering. Officially, the IHRA (the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) definition of anti-Semitism which largely targets critics, opponents and victims of Israeli apartheid is not on the agenda of No More Anti-Semitism. But this same event will be entirely dominated by organizers and speakers who are the major drivers of IHRA adoption by governments and institutions in Canada. They include the federally appointed special envoy on the IHRA and anti-Semitism Irwin Cotler and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, the major Israel lobby organization in Canada.
No More Anti-Semitism goes from Nov. 19 to 21 at the Art Gallery of Hamilton and McMaster University.
To counter their underlying message, IJV-Hamilton is embarking upon a shorter and more digestible online event in the form of a webinar on a Sunday afternoon, starting at 2 pm eastern time on November 13th.