The chorus of voices opposing the Carney government’s position on unilaterally recognizing Palestinian statehood is growing and getting louder.
The July 30 announcement that Canada has abandoned its decades-old policy about recognition hinging on prior negotiations between the parties, was immediately denounced in many quarters as a reward for Hamas and emboldening antisemites, despite Prime Minister Mark Carney’s assertions that conditions would need to be met for him to recognize Palestine as a state at the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly next month.
Like other community organizations, B’nai Brith Canada came out strongly against the move and has now penned a letter directly to Carney signed by a host of prominent Canadians from across the political and community spectrum, ranging from broadcasters and rabbis to former cabinet ministers and business leaders.
Calling it a dangerous and highly premature foreign policy blunder, B’nai Brith says the policy could embarrass Canada, compound the Middle East crisis “and further push Israelis and Palestinians away from establishing a two-state solution,” wrote chief operating officer Judy Foldes.
The letter highlights what B’nai Brith sees as the dangerous folly of pinning all hopes on Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority (PA), taking particular note of the lack of transparency or accountability for the decision. “Though the hasty recognition of a Palestinian state may appease some on Canada’s political fringes,” says Foldes, “it is beyond the pale that such a serious reversal in Canadian foreign policy has been made at a time when Parliament is not in session.”
“This is the type of decision where I believe a lot of Canadians would have felt more comfortable had they had the opportunity to have the prime minister and the minister of foreign affairs answer questions on the floor as to why they chose to make this decision at this time,” B’nai Brith’s director of research and advocacy Richard Robertson said in an interview with The CJN.
The B’nai Brith letter says that Abbas’ record on Holocaust denial, funding terrorism, incitement in education and suppression of dissidents makes the PA’s assertions meaningless, “yet you are taking them at face value. Entrusting the PA with self-actuating on a democratic transformation is a fraught endeavour. That the decision is based on the word of PA President Mahmoud Abbas underscores the absurdity of this course of action.”
Small Montreal suburb speaks out
Now, a small Montreal suburb has also made its voice heard.
As soon as he heard about Canada’s sharp policy shift, Côte Saint-Luc city councillor Lior Azerad felt compelled to act. “It bothered me and while I realize there’s not much I can do as a city councillor, I know council speaks through resolutions so I got to work on it. We had to make a statement of where we stand.”
The councillor in the small but heavily Jewish Montreal island suburb began to pen a resolution that was ultimately adopted on Aug.11 by the nine-member council representing some 38,000 people, with Jews comprising more than half of the population.
The effort could have been fraught with roadblocks given that Côte Saint-Luc is a decidedly Liberal town, with a mayor, Mitchell Brownstein, who serves as the president of the Mount Royal Liberal riding association, and who succeeded former mayor Anthony Housefather, who is now the four-term member of parliament.
For his part, Brownstein says despite his local leadership role in the Liberal party, “I’m the mayor of Côte Saint-Luc and I have to represent all people, no matter what their party is. I represent Conservatives, Liberals, everybody, and I represent them all as a mayor that always stands up for minority rights…. that’s who I am and I have to be that person, the mayor of all people no matter what their political beliefs are.”
The motion, which he jokes “went through 16,000 changes, is a very good one and focuses on antisemitism more than anything else.” He agrees with Azerad that what’s most important is the message that a declaration about statehood was premature and causing more unrest. “I could be wrong, but recognition of the Palestinian state will go ahead without all the conditions, we’re in the position now where there’s no one to negotiate with and hostages have not been released. It’s not contingent on releasing hostages. It’s not contingent on anything.
“You’re empowering hate by considering at this point in time, negotiating with a terrorist organization, whether or not they said that’s the only person that’s there now,” says Brownstein.
The motion originally leaned on legalities of statehood recognition, Azerad told The CJN, but now is focused more heavily on security and how the move is affecting Jews in Canada. “There was a lot of work to come to a text we could all agree upon, and it was down to the wire. But what was very important for me was not so much just the words, but that we send a clear message to the federal government and for people to hear where we stand as a community.”
Recognition without a negotiated agreement between Israel and the PA not only departs from Canada’s longstanding policy of supporting a two-state solution through direct negotiations (as per United Nations Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338) says the council, “but it legitimizes and emboldens the terrorists abroad and all those who support them here at home.”
The motion notes Montreal Jews have experienced ever-rising incidents of hate and violent antisemitism in their daily lives at work, at universities and in their local parks and neighbourhoods during the past two years, particularly in the Montreal suburbs and boroughs of Côte Saint-Luc, Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Côte des Neiges—Notre Dame de Grâce, Saint-Laurent, Outremont, Westmount, and Ville-Marie.
The position of Côte Saint-Luc council is clear: “In rushing to endorse Palestinian statehood without any agreement between the parties, Prime Minister Carney is rewarding violence and legitimizing extremism in the Middle East and right here in Montreal as well as in Canada.”
Cloaking hate in the language of diplomacy
Such a robust denunciation by Côte Saint-Luc of anything regarding the Liberal government surprised many in Montreal’s west end. The mayor of neighbouring Hampstead, Jeremy Levi, known over the last two years for his outspoken support of Israel and criticism of the Liberal government on its foreign policy, applauded Côte-Saint-Luc “for taking a stand against the federal Liberal government’s disgraceful intent to recognize ‘Palestine’ as a state…More municipal governments must find the backbone to speak out, as Hampstead will when we adopt our own resolution.”
Hampstead applauds Côte-Saint-Luc for taking a stand against the Federal Liberal government’s disgraceful intent to recognize “Palestine” as a state. This is not diplomacy — it is appeasement of those who glorify terror and reject peace. Carney’s government is on the wrong side…
— Mayor Jeremy Levi (@jerlevi) August 13, 2025
Levi told The CJN that Côte Saint-Luc’s resolution was “a pleasant surprise” and that it simply reflects what the population is thinking. “It doesn’t matter if their mayor runs a Liberal association, or who the MP is. This transcends all that. It’s what the people want. Municipal council is the most closely affiliated with the population and this clearly shows what the people of Côte Saint-Luc are feeling.”
In Hampstead, which has an even greater concentration of Jewish residents, council plans to adopt its own resolution when it returns Aug. 25, for the first time since early July. It will be shorter and less technical than the Côte Saint-Luc resolution, Levi told The CJN. “But it will be direct and the message will be clear.”
Azerad says he started out with “a very hard position” about what he calls “an amoral decision…but it’s much easier for me because I have different views. Obviously, we know that we have people on the council who have even stumped for Anthony Housefather and the Liberal party. It’s not simple or easy for them, but I was very glad that everybody did come around and coalesced around the wording.”
Azerad also takes issue with Housefather’s response following the Carney announcement.“ He didn’t address the problem, so for me, that’s a non-statement for the simple reason that he (Carney) is accepting a Palestinian state before the conditions are even met. They’re trying to speak out of both sides of their mouths?”
Asked if the resolution is a difficult pill to swallow for a loyal Liberal MP, Housefather said Côte Saint-Luc can adopt any resolution it sees fit.
“When I was mayor, we adopted resolutions that sometimes respectfully opposed federal or provincial actions and the current council has every ability to do the same.”
He told The CJN his statement on recognition was clear, “that I believe it should only occur after the hostages had been returned and that Hamas had laid down its arms and was not in power in any part of the territory amongst other issues, and this is the position I continue to advocate for.” He added that he has scheduled a meeting with Canadian Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree and the city council to discuss the federal government’s plans to address antisemitism.
Local resident and attorney Michael Hollander, who has been active in several legal files involving antisemitism on campuses and around Montreal on behalf of students and institutions, has been a strident critic of Housefather, the city council, and Brownstein, who he questioned at a December council meeting about what he called a milquetoast reply to antisemitism and led to one of the most raucous council meetings in recent memory.
The day before the meeting where the resolution was introduced, Hollander again challenged council in a post on X asking if the council would condemn Carney’s announcement.
Will the mayor of @CoteSaintLuc @MitchellBrowns2 who is also the president of the Liberal Party Riding Association of Mount Royal and supported Mark Carney to the complete detriment of whom he claims to be his people condemn the Liberal Government’s announcement of the…
— Michael Hollander (@mhollander27) August 10, 2025
He was more laudatory after the resolution passed, telling The CJN, “I’m happy that Mr. Brownstein and the council, most of whom are capital “L” Liberals, found the courage to denounce their own party for doing this, much like the clear majority of a large portion of their constituents did. I wish Mr. Housefather would also find the courage to do this, but it’s telling that he hasn’t, when last year he did, when Parliament was in session and it went to a vote rather than an announcement, and what difference would it make if he did?”
