In
response to CBC Anchor Evan Solomon’s deeply inappropriate questioning
of the appointment of Vivian Bercovici as Canada’s new Ambassador to
Israel, ostensibly due to her Jewish faith, HRC Executive Director Mike
Fegelman issued the following statement calling on the CBC host to
apologize for his remarks:
Executive Director
HonestReporting Canada
Watch the full interview by clicking here or below:
“It is entirely inappropriate and deeply
offensive for CBC anchor Evan Solomon to have raised the issue of
religion when questioning Canada’s appointment of Vivian Bercovici as
Canada’s new Ambassador to Israel.
In an interview with Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird on the January 9 edition of Power and Politics, Solomon stated: “Vivian
Bercovici is Jewish, so there are going to be some questions. Why not
appoint someone who doesn’t even have the perception of any kind of
bias?“
A person’s religious or ethnic background
has no bearing on one’s qualifications for a job, on top of it being
illegal for an employer to ask such irrelevant and discriminatory
questions of a potential employee.
Challenging Ms. Bercovici’s credentials,
her experience, and the various positions she has taken publically on
the Mideast file is fair game, but to imply that her religious
background in some way makes her a poor choice as a candidate due to a
supposed “perception of bias” certainly crossed the line.
With even some of the most rabid
anti-Zionists such as Noam Chomsky, Norman Finkelstein, Ilan Pape etc.
all being Jewish, Solomon’s reasoning falls flat. To parse, it seems Mr.
Solomon finds it most appropriate for non-Jews to be Canada’s
ambassador to Israel, meaning that Jews should be barred from such a
position. In light of the deeply offensive nature of this line of
questioning, Mr. Solomon should apologize on-air for his inappropriate
question which has only served to malign Ms. Bercovici’s character and
Canada’s choice of her as a candidate.”
Mike FegelmanExecutive Director
HonestReporting Canada
Watch the full interview by clicking here or below:
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