Dear Libby, CJPME congratulates Avi Lewis for winning the election to become leader of the NDP. Lewis is a longtime supporter of the Palestine solidarity movement from a socialist, anti-Zionist Jewish tradition.
For the first time, a major federal party will be led by a supporter of the Palestinian-led call for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS). This is a major step forward for pro-Palestine advocacy at the federal level.
We also warmly congratulate Libby Davies, co-chair of the CJPME Board, for her election as Vice President of the NDP. She ran on a slate alongside Niall Ricardo, a friend of CJPME’s from Independent Jewish Voices (IJV), who was elected President. This points to increased support for Palestine at the highest levels of the party.
Lewis has consistently made Palestine a key element of his campaign, using his victory speech to oppose Israel’s genocide in Gaza and the illegal US-Israeli war on Iran. During CJPME’s NDP leadership debate on Palestine, he endorsed a suite of movement demands, including cancelling the Canada-Israel free trade agreement, investigating Canadians serving in the Israeli military, and censuring politicians who accept all-expenses-paid junkets to Israel. You can revisit his responses to our questions by watching the video of the debate, or read our full analysis.
Even more encouraging is that every single candidate in this leadership race condemned Israel’s genocide in Gaza, and 4/5 candidates fully endorsed movement demands. Human rights has finally become a mainstream issue within the NDP, in response to the persistent advocacy of grassroots members.
CJPME is a non-partisan organization, and we seek to engage with all political parties to adopt stronger support for human rights and international law. We hope to see, and will continue to work towards, Canadian public opinion in support of Palestine becoming more reflected across all political parties.
As with any elected official, we will hold Lewis to his stated commitments and hold him accountable for his actions. We hope that the NDP under Lewis double-down on its anti-war principles and speak for the majority of Canadians who do not want their country to be complicit in genocide.
In solidarity,
Michael Bueckert, Vice President
Member of Parliament 1997-2015, Public speaker, writer, community activist