1

[In December 2010, three members of the Ontario legislature, one of them a minister in the provincial
government,tooktheextraordinarystepofdenouncingarecentlyacceptedUniversityofTorontoMasterof
Artsthesisinthelegislatureasbeingshockinglyantisemitic,disgusting,hatefulandpoorlyresearched,a
pieceofgarbage,andanattackonOntario'sJewishcommunity.
Ihadreadthethesisinquestion,andhadformedaverydifferentopinionofitsqualities.Iwasstruckby
theindicationsbothinnewsreportsandintheirownlanguagethatnoneofthethreeMPPshadreadthethesis
despitewhichtheywerewilling,undertheprotectionoflegislativeimmunity,toslandertheauthorandthe
supervisorofthethesis(bothofwhomhappentobemembers,ifdissidentones,ofOntario'sJewishcommunity).
TakingadvantageifthefactthattheLiberalPremierofOntario,DaltonMcGuinty,hadbeenastudentof
minethreedecadesearlierattheUniversityofOttawa,Iaddressedthisopenlettertohim.Itwaspublishedby
Independent Jewish Voices/Voix Juives Indpendentes (17 December 2010), http://ijvcanada.org/racism/new
antisemitism/indefenceofjennypetoalettertodaltonmcguinty/, and at four other websites, among them
PULSE Media, in 201011. I was unaware when I published this text that Eric Hoskins, the Minister of
CitizenshipandImmigration,isadoctor:Ihavealteredthetext,whereappropriate,torecognizethattitle.]

[Index:Canadianpolitics,antisemitism,Israel,Palestine]
[Date:December2010]

InDefenceofJennyPetoAlettertoDaltonMcGuinty

MichaelKeefer

TheRightHonourableDaltonMcGuinty,
PremierofOntario.

DearMr.McGuinty,

11December2010.

IamwritingtoyouasaseniormemberoftheteachingprofessioninOntarios
college and university sector. I began my teaching career at Centennial College in
Toronto nearly forty years ago, resigned from my position there in order to pursue
doctoralresearchinEngland,andreturnedtoOntarioin1980whereIwastakenonby
theEnglishDepartmentoftheUniversityofOttawaintimetohavethepleasureofbeing
oneofyourprofessorstherein198081.
IhavetaughtattheUniversityofGuelphsince1990andhavedoneexternal
work as well, including service for one year as Chair of the Social Sciences and
Humanities Research Council of Canadas research grants adjudication committee in
Literature,andfortwoyearsasPresidentoftheAssociationofCanadianCollegeand
UniversityTeachersofEnglish.
PleaseforgivethisrecitationofstreetcredsbutsinceI'maddressingyouona
very serious matter, I would like to hope that this letter may receive your personal
attention.
IampromptedtowritebyanextraordinaryepisodethatoccurredintheOntario
LegislatureonDecember7th.TwoMPPs,Mr.SteveClarkandMr.PeterShurman,rose
in the Legislature with questions addressed to the Minister of Citizenship and
Immigration,theHonourableEricHoskins.BothMPPsdenounced,inthemoststrenuous
terms,aMasterofArtsthesisrecentlyacceptedbytheUniversityofToronto.Mr.Clark
calleditshockinglyantiSemiticanddisgusting,andasked,Whatareyoudoingas
MinisterofCitizenshiptostoptherisingtideofantiSemitism?Mr.Shurmancalledthe
thesisahatefulandpoorlyresearchedpaper,andinvitedtheMinistertospeakupon
behalfofJewishgroupswhohavebeensodeeplyhurtbythis pieceofgarbageand
condemnitnotasanacademicpaperbutforthehatethatitactuallyis.
Respondingtohisquestionerswithexpressionsofappreciation,Dr.Hoskinssaid,
IjointhemincondemningthisattackonOntario'sJewishcommunity.Hisresponses
also included a double reference to the pride he felt earlier this year when the
LegislaturecametogethertocondemnantiSemitismonourcampuses....
Iwouldliketodrawseveralissuestoyourattention.

1.

Mr.Shurmanisreportedinthenewspapersasacknowledgingthathehad

not himself read the MA thesis that he denounced in such inflammatory terms. Dr.
Hoskinsappearsnottohavereaditeitherandthewordingofhisfirstresponsewould
suggestthathebelievedMr.Clarkalsoderivedhisopinionsaboutitatsecondhand:I
too,wasgreatlydisturbedandinfactdisgustedwhenIreadtheimmediatereportsas
well.
IncontrasttoyourcolleaguesintheLegislature,IhavereadMs.JennyPetosMA
thesis, The Victimhood of the Powerful: White Jews, Zionism and the Racism of
HegemonicHolocaustEducation.IbelievethatthelanguageusedbythetwoMPPsand
bytheMinistertocharacterizethisthesisisveryseriouslymisleading.Itisinmyopinion
a wellresearched studywitha clearlydefined ethical focus;it makes thoughtful and
interestinguseofcriticalracetheorytoconstructapersuasiveinterpretiveframework,
anditarrivesthroughclosecriticalanalysisatconclusionsthatcouldleadintofurther
productiveworkatthedoctorallevel.
2.

ThecentralargumentofMs.PetosthesisalludedtobyMr.Clarkand

Mr.ShurmanisthattwoparticularHolocausteducationprojects,theMarchofthe
Living and the March of Remembrance and Hope, are making instrumental and
politicaluseoftheappallinghistoryofJewishmartyrdomandsufferingintheShoah,and
therebyperpetuatingclaimstovictimhoodthat,inMs.Petoswords,arenolongerbased
inarealityofoppression,butratherproduceeffectsthatbenefittheorganizedJewish
communityandtheIsraelinationstate.
HarshthoughMs.Petoslanguagemightseemtosomereaders,thisisinfactan
issue that is being vigorously discussed within Israelperhaps most movingly and
brilliantlybythefilmmakerYoavShamir,inhisdocumentaryDefamation.Inthatfilms
climactic sequences,Shamiraccompanies agroupofIsraeli teenagers whoarebeing
taken to Poland by one of the Holocaust education programs that Ms. Petos thesis
discusses.Thereisasequenceinwhichtheseadolescents,havingtouredthesiteofthe
deathcampatAuschwitz,areoverwhelmedbythehorroroftheplaceandtheappalling

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scaleoftheatrocitiesinflictedthere;theyhuddletogetherinlittlegroups,weeping.This
sceneisunforgettable.Butscarcelylesssoisthenewhardnessthatsomeoftheyoung
peoplethenimmediatelyexpressinrelationtothesufferingsofthePalestinianslivingin
theterritoriesillegallyoccupiedbytheircountrysince1967.
Shamirsdocumentaryleavesviewerswithaclearsensethatthishardnesstoward
thePalestiniansisanintendedeffectofthestateorganizedprogramwhoseworkingshe
hasshownus.(Iwouldurgeyouandyourcolleagues,Mr.Premier,towatchthisfilm:it
is available online at http://www.defamationthefilm.com/html/home_english.html.Mr.
Clark,Mr.Shurman,andDr.Hoskinsmayfinditinstructive that theargumentthey
object to so vehemently in Ms. Petos work is unambiguously supported by Yoav
Shamirsdocumentaryfootage.)
3.

ArgumentssimilartothoseofMs.PetosMAthesishaverecentlybeen

madebyadistinguishedIsraelipolitician,AvrahamBurg,inhisbookTheHolocaustis
Over,WeMustRisefromitsAshes.Forabriefaccountofthisbooksrelevancetocurrent
politicaldebatesinCanada,seeGeraldCaplan,AMideastreadinglistforTorieswilling
to learn, The Globe and Mail (27 August 2010). Noting that Burg, the son of a
prominent Israeli cabinet minister, has himself been a leader of the Labour Party,
speakeroftheKnesset,andchairmanoftheJewishAgencyandtheZionistExecutive,
CaplanwritesthatFromtheheartofIsraelitself,Mr.Burghasthecouragetoaccusehis
fellowIsraelisofdeliberatelyexploitingtheHolocaustasanexcusetotreatPalestinians
deplorably.
4.

IntheirremarksintheLegislatureonDecember7th,thetwoopposition

MPPsandyourcabinetcolleagueagreedthatMs.PetosMAthesisisanexpressionof
antisemitichatred,andanattackontheJewishcommunity.Iwouldarguethatitiscrucial
formembersoftheLegislaturetorecognizethattheissueofantisemitismhasbecome
heavilypoliticizedinCanadaandthatclaimsmadeonthissubjecthavewithincreasing
frequencybeenmotivatedbyadesiretosilencelegitimatecriticismoftheactionsand
policiesofthestateofIsraelbybrandingthemasantisemitismandashatespeech.

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Claims motivated inthis manner have oftentaken the formofassertions that
Canadian civility and decency are menaced by a new antisemitism, in which the
traditional antisemitic loathing of Jews and Judaism has mutated into hatred of the
collectiveJewandnowtakestheformofattemptstodemonizeanddelegitimizethe
stateofIsrael.
However,manydistinguishedcontemporaryscholarsofJudaismandantisemitism
have rejected attempts to expand the category of antisemitism by conflating it with
criticismsofIsraelistatepolicyandactions.ThesescholarsincludethelateRaulHilberg,
whosemagisterialthreevolumework TheDestructionoftheEuropeanJews (1961)is
acknowledgedastheseminalstudyoftheShoah;UniversityofOxfordphilosopherBrian
Klug,whosewritingsonantisemitismincludeTheCollectiveJew:IsraelandtheNew
Antisemitism, Patterns of Prejudice (June 2003), and The Myth of the New
Antisemitism, TheNation(February2004);YakovM.Rabkin,ProfessorofHistoryat
the Universit de Montral, whose book Au nom de la Torah: une histoire de
loppositionjuiveausionisme (2004)wasshortlistedforaGovernorGeneralsAward;
andMarcH.Ellis,DirectoroftheCenterforJewishStudies atBaylorUniversity,a
theologianwhosenearlytwodozenbooksincludeTheEndofJewishHistory:Auschwitz,
theHolocaustandPalestine(2005).
Theirprincipalreasonforrejectingtheconflationofantisemitismwithcriticism
ofIsraelipoliciesisthatitsobviouspurposeistodeflectattentionawayfromIsraels
systematic violations of international law, including the Geneva Conventions, in its
treatmentsince1967ofthepeopleofthePalestinianOccupiedTerritories.
A secondary reason is that this conflation actually detracts from the struggle
againstrealantisemitism.AsProfessorYanisVaroufakisoftheUniversityofAthenshas
written, [W]hen a worthy cause, like that of zerotolerance to antisemites, is
appropriated by a regressive campaign whose purpose is, in effect, to terminate any
criticalengagementwiththesubjugation,repressionandexpropriationofanotherpeople,
thePalestinians,thentheworthycausesuffers.Antisemites rejoice whencriticism of
IsraelsWallinPalestineisequatedwithantisemitism.Fortheyaresuddenlyincludedin
thewidercommunityoffairmindedpeopleforwhomthecollectivehumiliation,mass

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harassment and disconnection of a whole people from their own backyards, not to
mentiontherestoftheworld,constitutesahideousstateofaffairsinneedofurgent
redress.
5.

Ihavemyselfpublishedonthesesubjects.Iamtheeditorandpartauthor

ofAntisemitismRealandImagined:ResponsestotheCanadianParliamentaryCoalition
toCombatAntisemitism(2010),abookdescribedbyGeraldCaplan,inthesameGlobe
and Mail article in which he introduced Avraham Burg to Canadian readers, as
indispensableandimportant.IwouldnotethattwomattersraisedintheLegislature,
thefirstbythecommentsofMr.Clark,andthesecondbyDr.Hoskinssresponses,are
dealtwithatsomelengthinmybook.
6.

Mr. Clark asked Dr. Hoskins: What are you doing as Minister of

CitizenshiptostoptherisingtideofantiSemitism?Butisthereactually,asBnaiBrith
Canada has repeatedly asserted, an alarming resurgence of antisemitism in Canada?
Recognizingthisasanimportantquestion,IdevotedalongchaptertoitinAntisemitism
RealandImagined(DataandDeception:QuantitativeEvidenceofAntisemitism,pp.
165205).Myconclusion,afterdetailedcomparativeanalysisoftheavailablestatistical
evidence,wasthatalthoughCanadianJewscontinuetobedisproportionatelyvictimized
in hate crimes, antisemitic attitudes have declined steadily in recent decades, and
Statistics Canada and Toronto Police Service data show declines in antisemitic hate
crimes.ItwouldthereforehavebeenappropriateforDr.Hoskinstoreplybyexpressinga
duedeterminationtoactfirmlyagainstantisemitismandallotherformsofracismand
thentohaveaddedthataccordingtothebestavailableevidence,thereisnorisingtide
ofantisemitisminCanada.
7.

Thesecondofthesetwomatters was evokedbyDr.Hoskinss double

referencetothepridehefeltearlierthisyearwhentheLegislaturecametogetherto
condemnantiSemitismonourcampuses....Hewasalludingtothevotetakeninthe
LegislatureonFebruary25th,2010,inthepresenceofjustthirtyMPPs,tocondemn

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IsraeliApartheidWeekasodious.
ItwouldhavebeenmoreappropriateforMr.Hoskinstofeelshameoverthatvote,
whichrevealedaremarkablelevelofignoranceamongmembersoftheLegislature.
ThetermapartheidwasappliedwithclinicalaccuracybyMarwanBisharain
2001todescribewhatIsraelhaddoneintheOccupiedPalestinianTerritoriesfromthe
early1990sonward,physicallyanddemographicallydivid[ing]uptheWestBankand
Gazaintoislandsofpoverty,orbantustans,whilemaintainingeconomicdominationand
directcontroloverPalestinianlandandnaturalresources(Palestine/Israel:Peaceor
Apartheid[2001],p.4).ThetermwasreusedbyformerUSPresidentJimmyCarterin
2006 (Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid)a usage validated in 2007 by Israel Prize
laureate and former Israeli Minister of Education Shulamit Aloni (Yes, There is
Apartheid in Israel, CounterPunch [8 January 2007]). And in January 2010, Henry
Seigman,theformerExecutiveDirectoroftheAmericanJewishCongressandcurrent
PresidentoftheUS/MiddleEastProjectoftheCouncilonForeignRelations,wrotethat
Israelsrelentlessconstructionofnewsettlementsseemsfinallytohavesucceededin
lockingintheirreversibilityofitscolonialproject.Asaresultofthatachievement[...]
IsraelhascrossedthethresholdfromtheonlydemocracyintheMiddleEasttotheonly
apartheidregimeinthewesternworld(ImposingMiddleEastPeace, TheNation [7
January2010]).
Moreconclusively,inMay2009theHumanSciencesResearchCouncilofSouth
AfricapublishedareportproducedbyateamofSouthAfricanandinternationaljurists
andentitledOccupation,Colonialism,Apartheid?:AReassessmentofIsrael'sPractices
in the Occupied Palestinian Territories Under International Law
(http://www.hrsc.ac.za/Document3227.phtml).Thisreportcametotheconclusionthat
IsraelsruleintheOccupiedPalestinianTerritoriesisacolonialsystemthatimplements
asystemofapartheid.
Dr. Hoskins is proud to have condemned as unacceptable and hateful any
application of the term apartheid to the structures of land theft, cantonment, and
racialized subjugation, separation, and oppression of a subjectpopulation that
characterizeIsraelstreatmentofthePalestinians.ButSouthAfricanlegalscholarshave

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haddirectandbitterexperienceintheirowncountryoftherealitiesofapartheid.Arewe
to believe that members of the Ontario Legislature know better than they do what
apartheidis?
****
Iwouldpropose,inconcluding,thattheissueathandisnotoneofwhetherwe
shouldprovideHolocausteducationtoourchildren.Ihavestrongfeelingsonthissubject:
IhavetraveledwidelyinPoland,andduringthosetravelshavewalkedonwhatIregard
assacredgroundinthevacantspacesthatareallthatremainofsynagoguesinLodzand
Lublin,inthesurvivingOldSynagogueinKazimierz,inthegaschamberatMajdanek,
andinthehillsidemonumentofshatteredgravestonesthatisKazimierzDolnysonly
memorialtothefiftypercentofthetownspopulationwhoweremurderedintheShoah.
Whatisatissueisnotthequestionofwhetherourchildrenshouldknowthishistory,so
theycandedicatethemselvestoensuringthathorrorsofthiskindcanneverberepeated:
allofus,surely,believethisshouldbethecase.
Whatisatissue,rather,isourrighttosubjectthevariousrepresentationsofand
responsestothathistorytolucidcriticismandanalysisandtospeakoutopenlywhenit
appearsthattheyarebeingused,nottobringyoungpeopleintoadeterminationtostand
up against injustice, but instead to desensitize them to presentday actualities of
dispossession,oppression,andsuffering.
Ms.JennyPetohasexercisedthatrightinanMAthesisthatinmyopiniondeals
courageouslywithdifficultandpainfulmaterials.Ihonourherforit.
Ihope,Mr.Premier,thatyouandyourfellowleadersintheOntarioLegislature
the Speaker of the House, the members of your cabinet, and the leaders of the two
oppositionparties,Ms.HorwathandMr.Hudakmaybeabletoprovidetheappropriate
leadership to bring other MPPs to an understanding of the principles of university
autonomyandacademicfreedom,andtheunderlyingprinciplethattheintellectualwork
ofuniversitiesmustnotbeconstrainedbypoliticalinterference.
Ihopeyoumaybeableaswelltoinculcateafullerrecognitionamongmembers

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oftheLegislatureofthemeaningofparliamentarydecorum.Behaviourreminiscentof
thedenunciatoryanticsofSenatorJosephMcCarthyintheearly1950sdoesnotenhance
thedignityofourLegislatureandthereisreasontobelievethatthestatementsmadeby
Mr.Clark,Mr.Shurman,andDr.Hoskinsamounttoanabuseofparliamentaryprivilege.
ItwouldappearthatnoneofthethreeMPPshaddirectknowledgeofMs.PetosMA
thesis,andMr.Shurmansremark,reportedbythe NationalPost onDecember9th,is
particularlyshockinginitscasualness:Hehasntreadthepaper,butnonethelessowesit
tohislargelyJewishconstituentstodefendIsraelontheirbehalf,hesaid.
AllthreeMPPsmadestatementswhich,ifspokenoutsidetheLegislature,without
theprotectionofparliamentaryprivilege,wouldberecognizedunderCanadianlawas
libelous.Ibelievetherearegoodgroundsforrejectingthesestatementsasirresponsible,
illinformed,anduntrue.Iwouldrecommend,then,thattheLegislatureexerciseitsown
collectiveparliamentaryprivilegeswhichincludethepowertodisciplineitsmembers
byrequiringMr.Clark,Mr.Shurman,andMr.Hoskinstowithdrawandapologizefor
theirremarks.
Yourssincerelyandrespectfully,
MichaelKeefer
Professor,SchoolofEnglishandTheatreStudies
UniversityofGuelph.