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B’nai Brith Canada praised Canada’s parliament for recommending a strategy to fight online hate, including libellous smears against Israel.

The House of Commons Committee report, “The Rise of Ideologically Motivated Violent Extremism in Canada,” on combating violent extremism includes 33 recommendations that cover issues such as reforming terrorist financing laws to improving online content moderation.

“We are gratified to see the committee’s report contains concrete steps the government can take to address the growing danger of violent extremism,” said B’nai Brith Canada CEO Michael Mostyn. “Of these, the recommendation to reject the demonization and delegitimization of Israel, and to condemn any such remarks by Canadian organizations is particularly noteworthy and deserves to be adopted.”

Mostyn and B’nai Brith senior legal counsel David Matas testified in 2021 before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security, followed by a second appearance in May. On that occasion, B’nai Brith called on the government to make social media platforms accountable for the content they host while also updating their anti-racism strategy to more accurately define hate.

B’nai Brith noted that the report recommends a “study of a regulatory structure to hold online platforms accountable for enforcing their terms of service” and “investments to ensure better identification and removal of automated bots used to amplify extremist content accessible to Canadians online.”

“The Committee’s report contains lots of strong, clear, truly excellent recommendations, including ways to better moderate and combat online hate,” said Marvin Rotrand, B’nai Brith’s National Director of its League for Human Rights. “If enacted by the Government, these recommendations will greatly benefit all victimized groups.”