Thursday, September 13, 2018
Quebec election: Michelle Blanc says she owes Hasidim no apology
Parti Québécois candidate Michelle Blanc says she does not need to apologize for perceived anti-Semitic comments she made in the past.
"I don't have to defend myself," Blanc told the Montreal Gazette, saying the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs has "already defended me."
She then said she had no other comments to make on the subject.
Blanc's comments have been denounced by the human rights organization B'nai Brith Canada, which called on the PQ to withdraw her candidacy in Mercier riding.
However, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs said she made "regrettable generalizations about the Hassidic community" but did not believe her comments were anti-Semitic.
In a 2011 tweet, Blanc wrote: "Merde, I forgot to celebrate Hitler's birthday last week."
In a 2007 blog post titled Am I racist?, Blanc complained at length about the Hassidic community in Outremont and the Mile End. "It would be much simpler for them and for me if they disappeared from my view," she wrote, and asked why they don't relocate to "the middle of the woods, on the edge of civilization."
A spokesperson for Outremont's Hasidic community said Wednesday Blanc's comments were anti-Semitic, hurtful and not befitting a candidate who wishes to represent a riding with a sizeable portion of ultra-Orthodox Jews.
Coming off two of the holiest days in the Jewish calendar, Alex Werzberger said he had just become aware of the comments because he was observing the holiday.
"If someone says she would wish to see (the Hasidic community) vanish, and that she missed Hitler's birthday, that is not something in our opinion that we joke about," Werzberger said.
As for the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, whose view was conveyed by David Ouellette, the director of research and public affairs, Werzberger said: "CIJA is not the boss of the (Hassidic community); neither is B'nai Brith."
"We have our own spokespeople, and I am one of them, and I can tell you: It hurts."
He added: "If you want to run on the North Shore and talk about Jews, that's a different story, but not in this riding that has one of the largest ultra-Orthodox populations in Quebec."
Werzberger said Blanc should apologize but stopped short of calling for her candidacy to be withdrawn, saying that is a decision for the PQ to make.
"If she doesn't apologize, it means that she stands by her statement, and it means that she is what they call her (anti-Semitic.)
"If you want to be an anti-Semite in your living room with your friends, be my guest. But not in public."
Blanc's statements about the Hasidic community came to light after she apologized for calling a critic a pedophile and after she admitted to using the N-word in a tweet to describe a Bell customer.
PQ Leader Jean-François Lisée has stood by Blanc, saying she was exercising her freedom of speech.
A party spokesperson said Wednesday the PQ and Blanc have decided it would be wise for her not to comment on the incident.
Blanc will likely face more questions Thursday. She is to serve as the PQ representative at an event by the Association québécoise des technologies where the major parties will present their digital strategies.
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