8 December 2006
The Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) has condemned a flyer that used virulently anti-Israel epithets to attack a politician. Distributed by the Canadian Arab Federation, the flyer characterized Bob Rae, a candidate in the recent contest for leadership of Canada's opposition Liberal Party, as a supporter of "Israeli apartheid" and accused him of complicity in war crimes and ethnic cleansing because he spoke at a meeting of the Jewish National Fund. It also urged delegates not to vote for him because his wife is a vice president of the Canadian Jewish Congress. Calling the leaflet "an exercise in vilification," CJC president Ed Morgan said that its mention of Rae's wife, Arlene Perly-Rae, was "little more than a thinly disguised reference to her being Jewish, an irrelevant criterion unless one is attempting to awaken the basest of prejudices." He called it "unfortunate and reprehensible that the message of this flyer cast aside Canadian values and engaged instead in fostering group divisions of the worst kind."
