Contemporary Jew-Hatred Abetted by ‘Culture of Indifference and Impunity,’ Canadian Antisemitism Special Envoy Warns

Contemporary Jew-hatred is underpinned by a “culture of indifference and impunity” worldwide, Irwin Cotler — Canada’s Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combating Antisemitism — warned last week.

Cotler — a former Canadian parliamentarian who served as justice minister and attorney general — spoke at the special virtual event “Justice for Sarah Halimi: An International Movement Is Born,” which was co-hosted by the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions (CRIF) and the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM).

The longtime human rights advocate noted, “The murder of Sarah Halimi was not an isolated event. It was part of a pattern, a context, a culture of antisemitic incitement and hate crimes targeting the Jews of France.”

Cotler — the current chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights — called for the establishment of “dedicated hate crime enforcement units” across the globe whose members are “educated in the ability to identify, recognize, monitor, and combat antisemitism.”

Special Envoy Cotler’s full remarks can be viewed below: