February 18, 2019: Paul Dewar will be ‘sorely missed’

By Michael Regenstreif

According to Leo Rosten in his 1968 book, The Joys of Yiddish, “A mensch is someone to admire and emulate, someone of noble character. The key to being ‘a real mensch’ is nothing less than character, rectitude, dignity, a sense of what is right, responsible, [and] decorous.”

Canada lost a real mensch on February 6 when Paul Dewar, the member of Parliament for Ottawa Centre from 2006 until 2015, passed away following a year-long battle with Grade 4 glioblastoma, a type of brain cancer. He was just 56.

Dewar’s family – wife Julia Sneyd, and sons Nathaniel and Jordan – were with him when he died. His mother, from whom he inherited his commitments to social justice and public service, was the late Marion Dewar, mayor of Ottawa from 1978 to 1985.

While I didn’t know Dewar well, he was always friendly when I’d encounter him at Mitzvah Day and other Jewish community events, or occasionally at music events like the Ottawa Folk Festival. And, during election campaigns when the Jewish Federation of Ottawa would hold round-table discussions with Ottawa-area candidates, I always found Dewar to be one of the best informed and most articulate representatives of any of the parties.

Although there were some New Democratic Party MPs who were hostile to the State of Israel, Dewar, the NDP’s foreign affairs critic for many years, joined party leaders Jack Layton and Thomas Mulcair in expressing a principled stand that maintained support for the country and people while sometimes diverging from policies of the Israeli government.

While an NDP government would maintain Canada’s strong friendship and support for Israel, government-to-government relations, when necessary, would be more nuanced than they were under the then-current Conservative government, Dewar said at a Federation round-table meeting with NDP candidates on September 3, 2015.

“Friends, sometimes, should be able to criticize friends,” said Dewar, saying an NDP government would be “constructively critical” when necessary but would certainly maintain and expand Canada’s strong diplomatic and trade relationships with Israel. The NDP, he added, supports Israel’s right to defend itself from regional threats – including terrorist attacks.

During that meeting, Dewar also expressed support for community agencies like Jewish Family Services of Ottawa, Tamir and Hillel Lodge which are on the frontlines of providing social services.

Dewar was also a strong advocate for Holocaust survivors.

“Canada has a clear and proudly multi-partisan tradition of supporting Holocaust victims and survivors,” Dewar wrote in a 2014 letter to then-foreign affairs minister John Baird urging him to encourage his counterparts in Central and Eastern Europe to commit to restitution and compensate survivors and their families for property seized during the Holocaust.

“Canada has both the ability and the responsibility to play a leading role in advocating for prompt and proper restitution or compensation, in accordance with internationally recognized standards of justice,” he added.

Despite often profound policy differences, Dewar was one of those rare politicians who was universally respected by his political opponents in the Liberal and Conservative parties.

“Devastated to learn of the passing of my friend and former colleague Paul Dewar. An incredibly decent guy and great parliamentarian and champion for Ottawa. He was caring, companionate and competent. Thinking of his family at this difficult time,” tweeted Baird, the former foreign affairs minister and Conservative MP.

“Paul… challenged us all to dream bigger and do better to care for the people around us… He distinguished himself as a community builder, an advocate for young people, and a tenacious voice for human rights around the world. He lived up to everything a leader should be – principled, compassionate, and brave… He will be sorely missed,” said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, leader of the Liberal Party.

In a final message posted to his Facebook page on the day of his death, Dewar continued to inspire.

“In the stoic stillness of my journey, I have found my way to peace,” he wrote near the end of the message. “May you keep building a more peaceful and better world for all. Let this sacred ground be a place for all. Let the building of a better world begin with our neighbours. May we dream together. May we gather our courage and stand together in moments of despair, and may we be bound together by joyous celebration of life. We are best when we love and when we are loved… My love to you always, Paul.”

March 4, 2013: Netanyahu is having a difficult time building a coalition

By Michael Regenstreif

My February 4 column centred on speculation and possible scenarios for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he works to put together a governing coalition following the January 22 election. I said then the next few weeks would be most interesting – and, indeed, they have been.

Things may have changed considerably by the time you read this as the initial deadline for forming a coalition is February 28 (a four-week extension could then be granted). But, as I write this on February 21, only one party has signed on so far: Tzipi Livni’s Hatunah Party, which holds six seats in the Knesset.

Netanyahu has announced Livni will be justice minister in the new government and has been tapped to lead peace negotiations with the Palestinians. Livni’s prime issue in the election campaign was the need to revive peace talks leading to a two-state solution, thus preserving Israel’s defining characteristics as both Jewish and democratic.

That Livni will have this role is certain to please Israel’s important allies in Washington and major European capitals – and even here in Ottawa where Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Foreign Minister John Baird, Israel’s staunchest supporters on the international stage, continue to stress the importance of a negotiated two-state solution.

The announcement of Hatunah as the first coalition partner for Netanyahu – whose Likud-Yisrael Beiteinu alliance won 31 seats – was somewhat of a surprise. A month ago, it was widely assumed the first building block of the coalition would be Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid (There is a Future), a new centrist party that captured 19 seats.

One of Lapid’s central planks in the election campaign – as Barbara Crook notes in her My Israel column on page 19 – was that the haredi population assume a fair share of the burden for national service. According to reports in the Israeli media, coalition talks with Lapid, and also with Naftali Bennett’s right wing HaBayit HaYehudi (Jewish Home) party, which won 12 seats, have stalled over this issue. Apparently, Lapid and Bennett – who would seem to agree on few other issues – both feel that Netanyahu’s plan to address the haredi issue does not go far enough.

Some reports have suggested Lapid and Bennett have entered into a pact that they would only join the coalition together – a move aimed at freezing out the religious parties who have been traditional allies of Netanyahu’s Likud in previous coalitions.

Israeli coalition building can make for some fascinating bedfellows. Beyond the haredi issue, Lapid and Bennett do not appear to be natural allies. Will their pact hold as coalition deadlines come closer? Will Netanyahu agree to bend on the haredi issue and meet the demands of Lapid and Bennett? Or will he look to other alternatives to come up with the 61 seats he needs to stay in power?

And, if Netanyahu bends on the haredi issue to clear the way for Lapid and Bennett to join the coalition, it’s hard to imagine Bennett – who categorically rejects a two-state solution with the Palestinians – sitting at the cabinet table with Livni.

A workable scenario for Israel to move forward on many important dossiers would be for Lapid to find a way to join the coalition. Then bring in Labor with its 15 seats and Kadima with its two and Netanyahu’s got a 73-seat coalition of the centre-right to centre-left that is not beholden to the religious parties. Possible personality clashes aside, Lapid, Livni, Labor Party leader Shelly Yachimovich and Kadima leader Shaul Mofaz would seem to be natural allies on most of the important issues facing Israel.

But nothing is ever that simple in Israeli politics. There are strong factions within Netanyahu’s Likud-Yisrael Beiteinu alliance, which would be more much naturally allied to Bennett’s HaBayit HaYehudi on the right.

Something will have to give, one way or another, if Netanyahu is to form a coalition. The alternative is new elections much sooner than anyone wants them. The situation over the next few weeks remains fascinating.

November 26, 2012: Things could have been so very different in Gaza

By Michael Regenstreif

As I write, on the morning of November 16, just before this issue of the Bulletin goes to press, the attention of the Jewish community here in Ottawa, and in Jewish communities around the world, is nervously focussed on Israel and its latest conflict with Hamas, the terrorist organization that controls the Gaza Strip.

Hopefully, by the time you read this column a week or so after it was written, Operation Pillar of Defense will be finished and Israel will have accomplished its goal of ending the ongoing barrage of rocket fire from Gaza aimed at Israeli civilians with minimal loss of life.

As I write, the conflict is in its third day. Rockets continue to fly out of Gaza and have reached as far as Rishon Lezion, just south of the Tel Aviv area, and three civilians were killed when a Hamas rocket hit an apartment building in Kiryat Malachi.

So far, Israel has been conducting the operation from the air. But 30,000 reservists were called up and troops have been massed near Gaza. Whether or not there will be a ground operation like Operation Cast Lead almost four years ago remains, at this writing, to be seen.

Operation Pillar of Defense was launched in response to a severe escalation of rocket attacks on Israel, which have recently reached levels not seen since before Operation Cast Lead – more than 120 attacks just in the three days prior to the operation.

As then-U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama stated during his 2008 visit to Sderot, “If somebody was sending rockets into my house where my two daughters sleep at night, I’m going to do everything in my power to stop that. I would expect Israelis to do the same thing.”

The operation began with an amazingly precise hit on Ahmed Jabri, the head of Hamas’ military wing. Jabri, who was behind the recent escalation of rocket fire from Gaza, was a leader of the Hamas forces in its violent overthrow of the Palestinian Authority in Gaza and was the mastermind behind the kidnapping and long imprisonment of Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit. The air operation then continued, targeting rocket launchers and other military installations belonging to Hamas and other terrorist groups.

It should be stressed that, while Hamas specifically targets Israeli civilians, Israel has acted with restraint in this operation and the loss of life by Palestinian civilians, while tragic, has been minimal (and stands in great contrast to the massive loss of civilian life almost every day in the Syrian regime’s war against its own people).

And, while there has been great outrage towaard Israel from much of the Arab world, democracies like the United States, Great Britain and Canada have stood solidly behind her right to self-defence in the wake of the ongoing attacks.

“We fundamentally believe that Israel has the right to defend itself and its citizens from terrorist threats,” said Foreign Minister John Baird in a statement released after the first day of the operation.

“Far too often, the Jewish people find themselves on the front lines in the struggle against terrorism, the great struggle of our generation. Just last weekend, more than 100 rockets rained down on civilians in southern Israel from positions in the Gaza Strip.

“Canada condemns the terrorist group Hamas and stands with Israel as it deals with regional threats to peace and security.”

I yearn for peace in the Middle East and am convinced the two-state solution is the only way it can be achieved. The two-state solution is the key to both Israel’s long-term future as a Jewish and democratic country, and to the long-term future of a democratic and prosperous Palestine. But, to be sure, Hamas is an enemy of peace. Its terrorist acts are aimed at preventing peace and provoking Israel into conflict.

Israel, in a move that many – including, I believe, its top leadership of the day – hoped would help pave the road to peace, unilaterally ended its occupation of Gaza in 2005. It was an incredible opportunity for the Palestinian people to show the world they, too, were ready for peace, for statehood, for the future. Instead, Gaza has been the launching pad for thousands of rockets and other terrorist attacks.

Things could have been so very different in Gaza. Hopefully, someday sooner than later, they will be.