Amnesty International today launches a global campaign to ban the use of facial recognition systems, a form of mass surveillance that threatens human rights. (Full Story)

Created by a prolific French author, Inspector Jules Maigret observes without judgement and moves like a chameleon between social classes. (Full Story)

By Heidi Beirich, co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE)

Dr. Heidi Beirich, co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE), underscores the role of antisemitic concepts and rhetoric in the ideology and activities of major far-right groups in the United States, just after extreme right-wing groups, stormed Capitol Hill the day Congress certified Joe Biden as President-Elect. Dr. Beirich outlines the theoretical and organizational evolution of antisemitism amid the ranks of America's right-wing extremists. (Full Story)

While the world is at war with a deadly, infectious strain of SARS-CoV-2, a more overt, insidious virus has gone largely unaddressed by the world community. That virus is anti-Semitism.  

Two days have passed since the vandalization and attempted arson of the Shaa’r Shamayim Congregation in Montreal, yet not a word of reassurance, comfort or sympathy was said to the Jewish community. 

 It is with great dismay and utter horror as I,  a Jewish woman in a so-called progressive, multicultural Canada, witnesses as our non-Jewish government leaders, NGOs, and citizens fail once again to acknowledge the violent re-emergence of the old, but omnipresent virus of anti-Semitism.  (Full Story)

By Noa Shusterman, Research Assistant and Israel-Palestinian Research Program Coordinator

Nickolay Mladenov served as UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process for nearly six years and earned the trust of Israel and the Palestinians alike – an achievement not reached by many before him. How was he able to do this, and what challenges face his successor? (Full Story)

BOSTON - The Massachusetts AFL-CIO commends President-Elect Joe Biden for his nomination of Martin J. Walsh to the position of Secretary of the Department of Labor. Walsh, a union member, served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1997 to 2014 and has served as the Mayor of Boston since 2014. If confirmed by the Senate, Walsh would be the first union member to serve as Secretary of Labor in 50 years.  (Full Story)

By Shlomo Brom and Shimon Stein

Beyond the political issues surrounding the assassination of the “father of the Iranian bomb,” there are also questions regarding the action’s necessity and value. Will it slow down Iran’s nuclear program to a significant degree? Was it worth the angry reactions throughout the world and the revenge that is expected from the Islamic Republic? Consider these questions from a “less popular” perspective (Full Story)

Every year for several weeks before November 11, a field of scarlet poppies appears on coat lapels across Canada. This wearing of the poppy has a complex history ... (Full Story)

During the last fifteen years, Tolerance.ca organized several panel discussions.  To mark International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Tolerance.ca® organized two panel discussions on religious diversity featuring several distinguished panellists. The first meeting was held at Vanier College. The second, on which a report follows, was held at the Maison des écrivains under the theme “Education, Religion and Diversity: Enrichment or Source of Conflict?” (Full Story)

As part of a series of articles on major personalities who have furthered the cause of tolerance in Canada, Tolerance.ca® presents the world-renowned Montreal philosopher Charles Taylor, 2007 winner of the prestigious Templeton Prize. Mr Taylor co-chairs the Québec Commission on reasonable accommodations created by the Charest government in February 2007. (Full Story)

By Daphne Inbar,  Neubauer Research Associate, INSS

Alongside the escalating Covid-19 crisis, another crisis with a widespread effect poses a major challenge in the post-truth era: the diminished public and political trust in experts. On September 8, 2020, the question of the status and role of experts was discussed in an online conference held in the framework of Israel's INSS Lipkin-Shahak Program on National Security and Democracy in an Era of Post-Truth and Fake News.  (Full Story)

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is facing the decisive test of his premiership with the management of the pandemic. Justin Trudeau defines this challenge as the ¨fight of a generation¨. The Prime Minister pleas to Canadians to actively participate in this war against COVID 19. For instance, he wants Canadians wear masks to protect themselves and others. This is a major tool because the virus spreads mainly through aerosols. Besides, the Trudeau government has secured vaccine candidates to have a national vaccination to end the pandemic in Canada and throughout the World. The Trudeau government has a strong plan to have sustainable economy to go through these tough times. No one will be left behind, thanks to changes in the unemployment insurance program improved to respond to the needs of people affected by the current events. (Full Story)

By Udi Dekel and Noa Shusterman

The Abraham Accords will ostensibly serve to inspire peace and normalization agreements between Israel and additional Arab states. Indeed? Which issues are included in the agreement, and why? Why did the UAE and Bahrain decide to establish official relations at this time? What are the implications for the Palestinian arena? And what new challenges are likely to emerge? Insights from a discussion of experts held following the festive signing ceremony at the White House (Full Story)

On the morning of September 4, 2020, Ms. Surnaa, a Mongolian employee of the Alshaa Left Banner Chinese Communist Party Committee in western Southern Mongolia, jumped from her residential building to her death in protest of the Chinese authorities’ new language policy called the “second generation bilingual education”. (Full Story)

Is Diversity about empowering people who have been victims of exclusion or an expression of resentment? Resentment, argues McGill University professor Marc Angenot in his  most recent Senior College Lecture, inspires defeatist behavior by pretending  to march towards the future, to avenge the real or mythical wrongs undergone in the past. (Full Story)

By Itai Brun

What will the world look like one year from now, and how will the corona pandemic affect the Middle East? This article presents four possible scenarios: “continuation,” in which following a temporary interruption of a few months, there is a resumption of familiar global and regional trends from the pre-corona era; “revolution,” in which there is a fundamental change in the patterns that characterized life before the crisis and the world prepares for a new illiberal world order led by China; “breakdown,” in which all global actors emerge wounded from the crisis and the fragile structure of the international system collapses into chaos, expressed inter alia by new waves of upheaval in the Middle East; and “reconstruction,” in which the United States regains its initiative and resumes an international effort to repair the liberal world order and solve burning conflicts.

  (Full Story)