‘Nasty Palestinians’: Israel director for leading Canadian Jewish group hit over columns

David Weinberg, who runs the Israel office at the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, has argued that ‘humanitarian concerns’ should ‘be relegated to the sidelines’ during the Gaza war

Materials from the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs. The organization, which is the leading Jewish advocacy group in Canada, is facing criticism over a series of newspaper articles written by David Weinberg, the director of its office in Israel. Photo by Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs

By Arno Rosenfeld January 18, 2024

David Weinberg, who runs the Israeli office of Canada’s leading Jewish advocacy group, has raised eyebrows for writing a series of opinion articles in which he emphasizes the importance of destroying Hamas above concerns prioritized by his employer, such as the release of the hostages and Israel’s adherence to international law.

While the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs has been resolute in its calls to prioritize releasing hostages held by Hamas, and has defended Israel from claims that it is committing war crimes, Weinberg’s columns for The Jerusalem Post have at times taken a different tone.

He has written, for example, that “humanitarian concerns” for both the Israeli hostages and Palestinian civilians in Gaza “must be relegated to the sidelines” in favor of a focus on destroying Hamas, the terrorist organization that perpetrated the Oct. 7 massacre in Israel.

Comments meant to express ‘personal views’

Weinberg said that his columns were written in a personal capacity and reflect “broadly held Israeli perspectives, usually mirroring consensus positions held by the mainstream Israeli public, without partisan bias.”

Nicole Amiel, a spokesperson for CIJA, described Weinberg as a “part-time contractor” and said that he was “entitled to express his own personal views when not representing CIJA.”

“When representing CIJA, Mr. Weinberg is expected to fully adhere and support CIJA’s positions, and he does,” Amiel said in an email.

Weinberg’s writing was flagged by Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East, a pro-Palestinian advocacy group that supports a boycott of Israel.

“His commentary is just so extreme — so to the fringes of public opinion — and he is openly writing freely, while also being a CIJA director,” said Michael Bueckert, CJPME vice president. “We wonder whether that reflects a broader sentiment within CIJA or the position of CIJA leadership.”

CIJA serves as the political arm of the Jewish federations network in Canada, working on both Jewish issues and pro-Israel advocacy.

Weinberg called CJPME an “extremist” anti-Israel organization “on the very far fringes of the community and comprised of marginal people” opposed to a two-state solution. “The organization knows only how to relentlessly savage Israel and undermine Canadian support for Israel,” he said in an email.

Writing on hostages, Gaza ‘civilians’

In addition to promoting calls for the Israeli government to prioritize releasing the hostages, CIJA wrote in a letter it encouraged members to send Canada’s foreign minister letters stating that “Israel has made clear that Gaza’s civilians are not its enemy,” and that it is “operating within the rules-based international order.”

Weinberg suggested in an October column that “Gaza’s ‘civilian’ population actively abetted Hamas” in the Oct. 7 attack. “This does not mean that Israel can or should target every Palestinian household in Gaza. Not at all,” Weinberg wrote. “But it does mean that the soft sentiments meant to prettify a lot of nasty Palestinians; to completely tie Israel’s hands behind its back in wartime; and to weaken Western resolve in backing Israel — are out of whack.”

Weinberg has overseen CIJA’s Israel office since 2005, including hosting Canadian politicians in the country, according to his LinkedIn. He has also worked for a number of think tanks, including serving as vice president of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, and is currently a fellow at the Misgav Institute for National Security and Zionist Strategy.

He is also listed as an available spokesperson on CIJA’s media page.

CJPME previously criticized a series of columns Weinberg wrote before Oct. 7, including calls for Israel to “retake control of the Temple Mount” in Jerusalem. The organization called his writings since the Hamas attack “potentially genocidal.”

“My op-ed columns in the Israeli press as published over the past three months since Oct. 7 or over the past 27 years are not ‘potentially genocidal’ any more than Israel’s counter-attack against Hamas is ‘genocidal,’ Weinberg said.

Arno Rosenfeld is enterprise reporter at the Forward, where he covers antisemitism, philanthropy, sexual misconduct and American Jewish politics. You can reach him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @arnorosenfeld.

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