While the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign on campuses and elsewhere may get the attention, the new regional lay leaders of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Advocacy (CIJA) believe there is greater understanding of Israel among Quebecers today than a decade ago.
“In 2006, there was a massive demonstration in Montreal against Israel’s war with Hezbollah in Lebanon with several Quebec politicians in it,” said Rabbi Reuben Poupko, the new CIJA Quebec co-chair with Patrick Benaroche. “You did not see that during Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza… The politicians’ absence speaks for itself.”
Although CIJA in its present structure came into being five years ago, the restructuring of the advocacy groups affiliated with the Jewish federations began in 2004.
Rabbi Poupko and Benaroche credit CIJA’s work building relationships with politicians, the media, businesspeople and other opinion-makers in Quebec over the years for that change in attitude.
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For the first time since CIJA was founded in 2011, its top lay leadership in Quebec has changed. The co-chairs succeed lawyer Eric Maldoff.
Rabbi Poupko and Benaroche, a senior partner with the law firm Stikeman Elliott, believe their strengths complement each other.
They also represent a partnership between the Ashkenazi and Sephardi, anglophone and francophone, segments of the community.
Rabbi Poupko, a Pittsburgh native descended from a long line of Orthodox rabbis, has lived in Montreal since 1986, when he became spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Israel Beth Aaron.
He has held leadership positions for many years with Federation CJA, of which CIJA Quebec is the advocacy arm, and continues to chair the federation’s security committee, as well as co-chair CIJA’s National Rabbinic Caucus. Rabbi Poupko frequently is called upon by the media for comment and is known for his direct, unvarnished response.
Benaroche has had a lower profile, but has provided legal counsel to CIJA, of which has been a board member for several years. He was born in Morocco, and his family immigrated to Montreal when he was three. His first language is French.
However, he describes himself as “bicultural.” Having come here when non-Catholic children could not enrol in the public French school system, he attended English Protestant schools.
He is married to an Ashkenazi, Susan Kling, a social worker at Agence Ometz, the federation’s social services agency.
Besides the fresh leadership, CIJA Quebec has a new self-descriptor – “Notre voix juive” – which suggests the representative role it wishes to play.
A great deal of the work of CIJA Quebec, which was formed after the dissolution of Quebec Jewish Congress and the Quebec-Israel Committee, is “educating” Quebecers about Israel, not only its policies but the vibrancy of its culture.
Each year, CIJA sponsors trips to Israel for scores of people engaged in public life, not only politicians and journalists, but youth activists and those from the LGBT community, for example.
Rabbi Poupko and Benaroche emphasize that these are not propaganda junkets. Participants are exposed to a range of opinion within Israel, and always meet with Palestinian Authority representatives in Ramallah in the West Bank, as well witness how Arab-Israelis are full-fledged members of society.
The co-chairs also see a significant shift in the Quebec media with regard to Israel compared to a decade ago.
“There is less vitriol. A significant numbers of columnists write supportively of Israel,” Rabbi Poupko said. The one notable exception, he acknowledges, is Radio-Canada, with which CIJA has had a long-running disagreement over coverage of Israel.
The co-chairs are confident that this greater sympathy toward the Jewish state is having an impact on the public at large.
Benaroche believes anti-Semitism is no more prevalent among Quebecers than among Canadians in general.
The pair recognize that over the years, polls have consistently shown a more negative perception of Jews in Quebec than the rest of Canada.
A Leger Marketing survey released by the Canadian Race Relations Foundation and the Canadian Institute for Identities and Migration on March 21, for example, confirmed the persistent gap in Canada between francophones’ and non-francophones’ opinion of Jews.
Fifty-three per cent of francophones polled said they had a “positive opinion” of Jews, compared to 80 per cent of those whose main language is English.
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The same question asked four years earlier elicited exactly the same response from francophones, while a slight improvement from 73 per cent was found among anglophones.
“The question is: are French Quebecers more susceptible to biased views or just have a greater proclivity to honesty?” said Rabbi Poupko. “They are less restrained by North American political correctness than people in Ontario.”
While it shares many of the priorities of CIJA at the national level, its Quebec wing insists that the province is “unique.”
The co-chairs stressed that CIJA works “pro-actively,” and is less concerned with putting out fires and grabbing attention than with methodically laying the groundwork, one person at a time, which they point out takes time (and money) and is often not appreciated.
