October 04, 2021

Why Avi Benlolo thinks Canada needs a new organization to fight antisemitism

13 minutes

The Abraham Global Peace Initiative is a new human rights think tank founded by Avi Benlolo.

And If Benlolo’s name sounds familiar, it may be because he’s a prolific writer and commentator about Israel and Jewish issues, including antisemitism and the Holocaust. Benlolo spent two decades as head of the Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre for Holocaust Studies, until his sudden departure in the summer of 2020.

His latest venture is the AGPI, and his supporters include prominent Canadian leaders, including Ed Sonshine, Paul Godfrey, Jerry Grafstein, Holocaust suvivor Max Eisen and politicians Bill Blair and Stockwell Day.

This week, Benlolo plans to bring his venture to the United Nations, where he’s launching his think tank on the international scene and handing out an award in human rights to Canada’s Ambassador to the UN, Bob Rae.

While Benlolo says that, in the fight against antisemitism, existing Canadian Jewish groups—including his former employer—have a role to play, he feels their approaches aren’t working. He believes it's time to try a new method to tackle the scary state of the world.

What we talked about:

Learn about the Abraham Global Peace Initiative at agpi.ca

Read about the second Canadian-Israeli Afghanistan rescue story at thecjn.ca

Credits

The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.

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