WATCH: Justin Trudeau Says BDS Is Anti-Semitic

Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau speaks at the United Nations. Le Premier ministre canadien Justin Trudeau parle aux Nations Unies. Image by EuropaNewswire/Gado/Getty Images

By Aiden Pink January 22, 2019

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel “anti-Semitic” during a town hall in Ontario last week.

“I will continue to condemn the BDS movement,” Trudeau said.

Speaking at Brock University in St. Catharines, Trudeau was asked by an audience member to retract his previous condemnations of BDS, which he made in a speech in November apologizing for Canada turning away Jewish refugees in 1939.

Trudeau refused, arguing that many Jewish college students were victims of anti-Semitism during campus debates about BDS.

“It’s not right to discriminate or to make someone feel unsafe on campus because of their religion, and unfortunately the BDS movement is often linked to those kinds of frames,” he said.

Trudeau, the leader of the Liberal Party, said that Canada would continue to push for a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians, and reaffirmed that criticizing Israeli policies was acceptable. But he drew the line at the “3 Ds” formulated by former Jewish Agency for Israel chair Natan Sharansky: demonizing Israel, delegitimizing Israel, or having a double standard against the only Jewish state.

“In Canada we have to recognize that there are things that aren’t acceptable, not because of foreign policy concerns, but because of Canadian values,” he said.

Contact Aiden Pink at [email protected] or on Twitter, @aidenpink

Aiden Pink is the Deputy News Editor for the Forward. Contact him at [email protected] or on Twitter, @aidenpink.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO