AGAR: It’s time for CUPE members to stand with Israel

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For the 750,000 members of CUPE, here is a question. When is enough, enough?

When does the ranting of a union leader, sounding suspiciously anti-Semitic — and certainly having nothing to do with the daily employment concerns of union members — cross the line?

Fred Hahn, Ontario CUPE president and national vice-president, cheered the savage and uncivilized Oct. 7 Hamas attack on innocent Israelis.

It was difficult to read those posts and not see Hahn cheering the death of Jews.

The National Post quoted CUPE member Carrie Silverberg saying it looked that way to her. She said she cried.

Following an outcry, Hahn gave what seemed a begrudging apology.

However, during the recent Olympics, Hahn weighed in again, reposting a video that turned a diving Israeli Olympian into a bomb.

Now, on Facebook, Hahn posted a statement that effectively said he was sorry you were offended. Not that he was sorry for what was meant by the video.

He wrote, “My intention in posting it was to call attention to the reality that, while the Russian federation was barred from participating in the Paris Olympics, the state of Israel was permitted to participate — which appeared to me to be a double standard.”

Hahn’s ongoing support of the attack of Oct. 7 seems to have clouded his judgment.

In the Russia/Ukraine war, Russia is the aggressor. In the Palestine/Israel conflict, Hamas, the effective government of Palestine, is the aggressor. Its attack, during a ceasefire, is consistent with its stated policy of complete annihilation of the Jews.

Why does Hahn believe the victim should be censored?

Nowhere does Hahn question Palestine’s participation in the Olympics.

His recent post continues the lie that Israel is a colonizer in a part of the world the Jews have inhabited for thousands of years. He accuses Israel of genocide but fails to criticize Hamas and its stated and repeated policy of genocide of the Jews.

He doesn’t call for the release of Israeli hostages taken by Hamas or even ask for proof they are alive.

A small group of Jewish CUPE members is suing the union in a human rights complaint, in part triggered by Hahn’s posts, but also for what they claim are ongoing anti-Semitic incidents over several years.

Do they have to do that on their own?

Or is it time for 750,000 people to say, “This is not what we stand for and we don’t pay dues for leadership to engage in divisive international politics.”

CUPE members, what do you stand for?

The complaint says Jewish members feel “isolated, unwelcomed, scared, silenced, discriminated against, threatened and harassed.”

Are they on their own?

Does Fred Hahn speak for you?

Is CUPE no place for a Jew?

Are you with Hahn, with your brothers and sisters in the union, or just quietly complacent?

Now is your time.