“it’s a place where everyone should feel welcome, but it feels like they’re asking jewish people to leave their history and religion at the door.”
in the process, he says, capital pride is adding fuel to already heated tensions involving the middle east conflict. hate crimes have significantly increased across canada since the war began in october, with antisemitic crimes topping the list.
“i don’t understand it,” pujdak said. “it creates division. everyone wants peace and the war is a difficult topic for a lot of people, but i don’t know what it means for the safety of the jewish community. what was the point? capital pride can’t achieve peace in the middle east, but this opens the door for nasty rhetoric.”
capital pride offered no comment on pujdak’s words.
what’s puzzling to the jewish federation of ottawa is the fact the organization has been exchanging regular emails with capital pride for the past two months, aimed at avoiding unnecessary conflict.
that included a back and forth only hours before tuesday’s instagram post, with capital pride recognizing the need for increased awareness considering that other parades in canada and the united states had been marred by rising levels of hate, including antisemitism.