An Ontario union leader is expressing regret after sharing a video on Facebook during the Paris Olympic Games that’s caused discord within the union and has been called hurtful by Jewish members.
Fred Hahn, president of CUPE Ontario, said in a Facebook post on Sunday that he understands that a video he reposted on his Facebook feed recently has caused pain among some who viewed it.
“I have removed it from my feed because I deeply regret any such reaction,” Hahn said in the post on Sunday.
The video, reposted to Facebook by Hahn on Aug. 11, shows an Olympic diver on a diving board. The diver, who has a Star of David on his arm, jumps off the board and somersaults in the air. As he heads to the water, he apparently turns into a bomb. Instead of a splash, there are clouds of dust, mayhem and destruction on the ground. Bleeding children are carried away.
“My intention in posting it was to call attention to the reality that, while the Russian Federation was barred from participating at the Paris Olympics, the state of Israel was permitted to participate — which appeared clearly to me to be a double standard,” Hahn says in the post.
“My intent was never to associate Jewish people with the violence enacted by the state of Israel. It remains my strongly held view that it is a terrible mistake, and anti-Semitic, to conflate abhorrent actions by the state of Israel with Jewish humanity or identity.”
Hahn is also a general vice-president on CUPE’s national executive board and a vice-president of the Ontario Federation of Labour.
In his post Sunday, Hahn says “our collective focus” should be on the “unfolding genocide” in Gaza, not on him or his social media posts.
“There is so much pain and suffering in our world and the last thing anyone with a conscience, me included, would want to do is cause more of it,” he concludes.
Hahn’s statement comes after a group of 80 Jewish CUPE members filed a human rights complaint against him and CUPE Ontario for antisemitism, according to employment and human rights lawyer Kathryn Marshall. It also comes after a CUPE local in Windsor-Essex County has considered the possibility of ending its connection with the provincial union because of his statements.
Not a true apology, group of Jewish CUPE members say
Marshall is representing Carrie Silverberg, one of the 80 CUPE members, and posted a statement on X on behalf of her client.
“This apology is NOT accepted. It is disingenuous and forced. A true apology would not have been followed with a long justification (longer than the so-called apology) for the video,” the statement says.
“A true apology would have stopped and not continued with more false information causing further hurt and alienation of Jewish CUPE members,” Marshall continues.
The statement goes on to call for Hahn to resign or be removed from his position.
James Jovanovic, president of CUPE Local 2974, which represents more than 400 workers in Windsor-Essex County, including municipal workers, paramedics and retirement home workers, said in an email on Monday that Hahn’s expression of regret is “entirely unapologetic and unacceptable.” Jovanovic said the video Hahn shared was inappropriate.
“Our local will no longer stand silent while allowing Fred’s views to be presumed as representing our own. Though Fred is free to have his beliefs on the ongoing conflict, the responsibility he holds regarding the way in which he expresses those views, impacts all CUPE members,” Jovanovic said in the email.
Jovanovic said the union local has strongly considered “formally disaffiliating” itself from CUPE Ontario because of past statements by Hahn and it may have those discussions again.
“Though we believe in Union solidarity, there will be no solidarity with the celebration of violence, nor will there be with discrimination of any kind,” Jovanovic said.
Jewish organization calls for Hahn to be removed
Richard Marceau, vice-president of external affairs and general counsel for the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, said Hahn should be removed from his position.
“Hahn is neither capable nor willing to deliver the higher standard of leadership that all CUPE members deserve. He should do the right thing, or his union should take the action that many of its members know is the way forward,” Marceau said.
The current Israel-Hamas war began on Oct. 7 when Hamas-led militants broke into Israel, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250 others, according to Israeli tallies. Of those taken, about 110 are still believed to be in Hamas-controlled Gaza, though Israeli authorities say around a third are dead. More than 100 hostages were released in exchange for 240 Palestinians who were imprisoned in Israel during a weeklong truce in November.
Israel’s military response in Gaza has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, and devastated much of the territory.
Israel has denied that its actions in Gaza constitute a genocide. South Africa has brought a case against Israel before the International Court of Justice, alleging that the country’s actions in Gaza have “genocidal intent.” The ICJ said in a July ruling that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories is illegal.