Artur Wilczynski, the University of Ottawa’s special advisor on antisemitism—who resigned Sept. 19 in the wake of his controversial social media posts regarding the deadly pager explosions in Lebanon—says he stands by his remarks, but he also recognizes why they were misinterpreted.
A senior adviser at the U of O’s graduate school of public and international affairs, and a former senior public servant, Wilczynski was appointed as the university’s first advisor on antisemitism , but resigned less than three months later after posting on social media that the coordinated attack that targeted Hezbollah operatives was “brilliant.”
He also posted an GIF of the Looney Tunes cartoon character Road Runner addressing Wile E. Coyote with the words, “Beep beep.”
Wilczynski said the reference was not to the pagers, which beeped before exploding. “First, it is an image of Wylie [sic] Coyote who consistently tries to kill the Roadrunner [sic] and fails. It is a statement about persistent attempts to kill Jews over the centuries that fail,” he responded to one critic. “Your morbid projection has nothing to do with it.”
The now-former adviser told The CJN that his comments fuelled outrage, with thousands of people responding on social media and sending emails to U of O’s administration. Critics claimed his comments dismissed the suffering of the Lebanese community.
Hundreds of pagers used by Hezbollah members began simultaneously detonating on Sept. 17, killing 12 people, including two children, and wounding 2,800 people. The next day, about 20 people were killed and 450 were wounded when walkie-talkies and solar equipment also exploded in multiple parts of Lebanon. Along with operatives tied to the targeted terrorist organization, who possessed these devices, civilians were killed and injured.
After he received backlash for his comments, Wilczynski posted a rationalization on Sept. 18. “There has been significant misunderstanding of my use of the word ‘brilliant,’” he wrote. “The loss of innocent lives in any conflict is abhorrent and must be avoided. As a retired national security and intel leader, my use of that word was about the complexity and sophistication of an operation.”
Wilczynski is a former ambassador to Norway, who worked on foreign policy, intelligence, and security for 30 years. He served as Canada’s head of delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance from 2016 to 2018. He told The CJN that he recognizes why his comments were perceived as insensitive.
“Even though (my) intent might have been appropriate, and the analysis from a national security perspective (was) correct, I’m also accountable for the effect it has on the broader student population and the broader community,” he said, adding that thousands of Lebanese Canadians live in Ottawa.
“(Many of them) have family that still live in Beirut and (other areas of) southern Lebanon, who might have no connection to Hezbollah but who are justifiably afraid and concerned about the wellbeing of their families and friends,” he said.
Wilczynski announced his resignation on Sept. 19. “I believe in accountability,” he posted. “My posts on the Hezbollah/Israel war caused harm and affected my ability to help combat antisemitism at U of Ottawa. My intent in sharing is irrelevant when it is clear many were hurt by them. I apologize. I resigned as Special Advisor on Antisemitism.”
Wilczynski said his decision to step down as U of O’s special advisor on antisemitism was not a result of any administrative pressure.
“The reason why I left (the position) is because I felt that I was a distraction from the actual completion of the tasks,” he said.
The University of Ottawa announced the creation of the special advisor position on June 25, appointing Wilczynski and citing his role in providing guidance on addressing systemic and specific cases of antisemitism on campus.
The mandate included studying the changing forms of antisemitism and advising university leadership on strategies to combat forms of hate, discrimination and harassment, according to a U of O news release.
Wilczynski called the establishment of this role “groundbreaking” and “essential.”
He said that from the moment he was appointed, there was a campaign against him.
“I support Israel’s right to defend itself. Doing so in the eyes of a large cohort of folks at the university, and other anti-Zionist actors in particular, led them to launch a campaign where they portrayed me as ‘genocidal baby killer.’ The number of times I’ve been called that right from the start was not insignificant.”
Wilczynski said that numerous faculty members and students were disproportionately critical of him out of the gate.
“It doesn’t matter that I consider myself a progressive Jew that supports a two-state solution, that wants to see an independent Palestine,” he said. “That’s all irrelevant in their mind.”
He said that anybody who positions themselves to support Israel will be demonized, “but that’s not a limiting factor.”
“What I would recommend to anyone who takes on this role after me is to be more mindful of the specificity of the role within the broader framework of diversity and inclusion, and try to the extent possible to maintain a lower profile on the (Middle East) conflict.”
Over the past three months since he was appointed, he met with numerous members of the Jewish community to better understand ways to effectively address antisemitism.
“It is really important to have a more grounded, and evidence-based approach to the problem,” he said.
Before his resignation, Wilczynski said he had begun to identify what aspects of antisemitism need to be addressed, including a distinction between anti-Zionism and fair criticism towards Israeli policies, and dangerous slogans spewed at pro-Palestine encampments, such as ‘Globalize the intifada,’ he said.
Wilczynski believes that drawing these distinctions is imperative for the safety of Jewish students.
He added that if U of O does not pick a successor who supports Israel’s right to exist, it would be a “tokenizing effort that would undermine the effectiveness of any efforts to combat antisemitism.”
