Avi Lewis defends Yom Kippur message called ‘despicable,’ claims critics are after ‘partisan points’

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OTTAWA — NDP Leader Avi Lewis defended his social media post made on Yom Kippur saying his fellow Jews had “failed” to do enough to stop a “genocide,” referencing the war between Israel and Hamas, and accused critics Tuesday of trying to “score partisan points” after he was assailed for the comments.

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Lewis’s message was posted on Sunday evening, as the Jewish holiday was beginning and just before news broke that a police office had been critically injured when a gunman opened fire at a Belleville, Ont. synagogue where worshippers had gathered for the evening. The gunman, a 29-year-old former Canadian Armed Forces soldier, later died in hospital after an exchange of gunfire.

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“Holding Canadian Jews and Jews across the world collectively responsible for events over which they have no control is despicable,” Liberal MP Anthony Housefather said on X in response to Lewis’s post.

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Lewis, who like Housefather is Jewish, had posted: “This year I’m reflecting on the fact that we failed to do our part to stop an ongoing genocide committed in our name. There are many other fronts where I have to do the work of repair. But nothing on this scale.”

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Liberal MP Ben Carr, who is also Jewish, told reporters on Monday that Lewis’s post was “naive, it was miscalculated, irresponsible, and dangerous.”

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On Monday, Lewis accused them of his distorting his comments.

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“I did not blame Jews for the actions of the Israeli government, that’s simply untrue,” said Lewis at a press conference on Monday. “Holding Jews collectively responsible for the actions of the State of Israel is antisemitic. I’ve never done it. I think it’s dangerous and that’s absolutely not what I did.”

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“I think it’s pretty ugly to see this occasion being used to score partisan points. I won’t be doing that. It was a personal reflection that I know is shared by many people,” said Lewis.

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Carr said he couldn’t comprehend how Lewis could offer that response, given what he had written.

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“I didn’t quite understand how he was able to come to (that) conclusion that that’s in fact not what he was doing,” said Carr. “When … In fact, he was saying that we as Jews, had not done enough to prevent what was happening.”

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National Post

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