An honest reckoning with Amnesty’s analysis would force a serious re-examination of the Canada-Israel bilateral relationship. Canada may even be compelled to take a leadership role in a coordinated, international response against Israel’s system of apartheid, as Mulroney helped to coordinate action against South African apartheid (even if his role is often exaggerated).

The end of apartheid in South Africa brought about an unfortunate political amnesia within Canadian society. In those critical years when the imposition of sanctions against South Africa was being vigorously debated, the South African lobby was receiving support from a wide range of Canada’s economic and political elite. Today, it is as if those debates never happened. It is almost as if everyone had been on the same side all along.

Pro-Israel groups have long tried to shut down Palestine activism in the name of false antisemitism charges, but they hope that by implementing the IHRA working definition, institutions will be obliged to comply with their demands. If the definition is enforced in a way that silences critics of Israel, it will be the definition’s intended outcome.

Instead of easing diplomatic restrictions on Israel, the international community should be imposing economic and diplomatic sanctions on Israel as an incentive to dismantle the occupation and come to the negotiating table. The UAE’s opportunistic path is not likely to end division and conflict in the region and may in fact intensify and prolong it. This is not something that Canada should encourage.