EDITORIAL: Hurtful hypocrisy of left-wing divisiveness

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The hypocrisy of those on the left who preach tolerance, understanding and solidarity forever when it comes to their own political beliefs, but meanness and pettiness when it comes to those who don’t share their views, can be shocking.

Take the recent social media repost by Fred Hahn, president of the Ontario wing of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). On Facebook, Hahn shared an AI-generated post depicting a diver wearing an Israeli Star of David on his arm. The supposed Israeli dives off a board and turns into a bomb, dropping on civilians. A narrator on the video calls the diver an “Olympic champion.”

(Israel did not have any divers in the recent Olympics.)

Jewish members of the union are horrified by the actions of the person whose salary they pay through union dues.

“In my wildest dreams, I did not expect to see what I saw,” Carrie Silverberg told Toronto Sun reporter Bryan Passifiume.
“I think I actually started crying. The emotion and sadness of how he continues to portray Jewish people — this isn’t about the Israeli army or (Benjamin) Netanyahu or the government, this is about Jews.”

In a statement to Passifiume, Hahn, who’s also national vice-president of CUPE, representing 750,000 members across Canada, said criticism of the state of Israel is not anti-Semitic.

“That’s the core of our union’s response in a process working its way through the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario and it reflects a view that’s shared more widely every day.” At its convention in June, the union voted to continue its support for Palestine.

The question is why? Why would a Canadian union deliberately vote to take a stand on a controversial issue at a time of heightened tensions both at home and abroad? Hahn may claim it’s not anti-Semitic.  All the same, Jewish members of his union are hurt and there are high levels of anti-Semitism and physical attacks on Jewish institutions.

At times like this, responsible leaders should ease tensions by finding common ground, not fuelling them with hurtful commentary.

The role of a union is to negotiate wages, benefits and working conditions for its members. Why any Canadian union would dabble in the divisive politics of the Middle East is beyond comprehension.