In her January 29 opinion column in The Hill Times entitled: “Lessons ignored, voices silenced,” podcaster Erica Ifill exploited International Holocaust Remembrance Day two days earlier in order to lecture readers about Islamophobia and what she describes as “anti-Palestinian racism.”

She opened her column by writing that “the Holocaust remains a stain on the soul of the western world” and then quoted the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) in saying that “it is more important than ever for us to recognize the critical lessons of the Holocaust.”

However, she then proceeded to disregard those very same lessons, writing that “fascism doesn’t only affect Jews,” citing anti-Muslim murders in 2017 in Quebec City and 2021 in London, Ontario. While there can be no doubt regarding the moral repulsiveness of murdering anyone on the basis of their religion, there is simply no comparison between the orchestrated mass murder of six million Jews at the hands of the Nazi German regime and acts of terrorism by hateful individuals.

Moreover, while Ifill is certainly entitled to write about anti-Muslim prejudice, using International Holocaust Remembrance Day in order to do so is simply inappropriate, offensive and highly intellectually dishonest, particularly given her apparent embrace of calls for Israel’s destruction, statement that “Jewish ppl” claim discrimination but refuse to help others, and by calling all Israelis “settlers,” implying they have an illegal presence in their own country.

Ifill’s column went further than simply condemning all forms of hate; as has become increasingly common among anti-Israel commentators, her piece attempted to frame violent and hateful anti-Israel rallies as being entirely unproblematic in society.

Quoting a radical anti-Israel group’s report, which condemned efforts to “crack down on pro-Palestine activism,” including boycotts of Israel and other frequently disruptive behaviour, Ifill characterized opposition to such activism, not as principled, but as simply part of the “way the Canadian political establishment has responded to pro-Palestinian, anti-genocide advocacy.”

In other words, disruptive, often violent and hateful anti-Israel activism is not only entirely valid in Canada, but opposing it is racist in her eyes.

Ifill also appeared blissfully unaware to the degree that “pro-Palestinian” activism is not only decidedly not “anti-genocide,” but much of it appears quite in favour of it, proclaiming pro-genocidal statements such as “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” calling for the violent destruction of the State of Israel.

But in this Orwellian worldview, calling for the destruction of Israel is “anti-genocide,” opposing anti-Israel hate rallies is an act of prejudicial racism, and in the face of relentless anti-Israel demonstrations in cities across the country, Canadians should simply stop complaining.

Ifill concluded her column with a bizarre prediction, telling readers to “stay tuned for the erosion of Arab and Palestinian voices,” regardless of who becomes Canada’s next prime minister. Given the degree to which Palestinian voices have been platformed across Canadian news media outlets, often – in fact, virtually always – at the exclusion of Israeli voices, there is simply no basis whatsoever to suggest that they will be eroded in any way, shape or form.

Dedicating a column to the scourge of any form of hatred is entirely appropriate, but to use International Holocaust Remembrance Day to promote the anti-Israel movement is simply pernicious.