Canada’s largest union asks vice president to resign following antisemitic Facebook post

The controversial video showed a diver at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris with a Star of David tattoo on his arm, jumping off a diving board before turning into a bomb that exploded on civilians.

By Shiryn Ghermezian, The Algemeiner

The national executive board of Canada’s largest union has asked one of its senior officials to resign this week after he shared an antisemitic video on social media earlier this month.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), which has 750,000 members across the country, said in a statement on Thursday that its national board made “the difficult decision” to ask Fred Hahn to step down from his position as general vice president “because he reposted a deeply problematic video that was a clear violation of our union’s equality statement.”

CUPE’s national executive board passed a motion on Tuesday that said it “lost confidence” in Hahn’s ability to represent the union as general vice president, according to a letter CUPE send to related organizations.

The board cited a video Hahn shared on Facebook on Aug. 11 and “the impact it has had on CUPE members and the national union.”

The controversial video showed a diver at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris with a Star of David tattoo on his arm, jumping off a diving board before turning into a bomb that exploded on civilians.

The video’s narrator called the diver an “Olympic champion” and the clip concluded with a message that said:

“The athletes of the olympic team of Isreal [sic] has participated in the genocide of the Palestinians as they were a part of the IDF. Shame on them. Shame on the sports. Shame on the world.”

Hahn, who is also the president of CUPE’s branch in Ontario, deleted the video and in an Aug. 18 Facebook post apologized for sharing a clip that “caused pain for some who viewed it.”

He said he wanted to draw attention to what he described as “clearly a double standard” at the 2024 Olympics since Russian athletes were banned from competing in the Summer Games under their own flag, because of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, while athletes from Israel were allowed to represent their country despite the Israel-Hamas war raging in the Gaza Strip.

“My intent was never to associate Jewish people with the violence enacted by the state of Israel,” Hahn wrote in the Facebook post.

“It remains my strongly held view that it is a terrible mistake, and antisemitic, to conflate abhorrent actions by the state of Israel with Jewish humanity or identity … Our collective focus should be on the unfolding genocide, on the continued contravention of international law by the state of Israel — not on me or my social media posts.”

He added, “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. I believe other people of conscience would agree that any public discussion now should not take away from organizing for a ceasefire, for justice and peace for all.”

Hahn was elected president of CUPE Ontario in May. He also faced calls to resign last year after he praised on X the “power of resistance” a day after the Oct. 7 deadly Hamas terrorist attacks in southern Israel.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Wednesday in a post on X/Twitter that he supports CUPE’s decision to have Hahn resign.

“I applaud CUPE National for asking Fred Hahn to step down,” he wrote. “Now it’s time for Fred to put his members first and do the right thing by resigning from all his positions of leadership.”

During an unrelated news conference that same day, Ford called Hahn “a bully for 20 years.” The president said he was getting messages on his phone from CUPE members who called Hahn’s comments disgusting.

“In my opinion, he’s a disgusting human being anyways, but that’s here nor there,” he added.

“His bigoted comments — it’s unacceptable here in Ontario … someone has to discipline this guy and I encourage the [CUPE] workers next time, next time a vote comes, vote this character out, because, in my opinion, he’s just a terrible, terrible human being.”

Ford also applauded Ontario’s Labor Minister David Piccini for confronting Hahn in-person about his actions.

During their exchange, which Piccini shared in a video on Tuesday, the minister called Hahn an “antisemite” and told him “you have to stop hating Jews … you’re a labor leader and your members deserve better than you.”

The Canadian branch of the human rights and social advocacy organization Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center voiced support for CUPE’s request that Hahn resign, and called on him to also step down as president of the union’s branch in Ontario.

Earlier this week, the Jewish group called Hahn’s apology for his antisemitic Facebook video “insincere and insufficient.”

“Given the repeated harm his words and actions have caused to the Jewish community, Hahn must be replaced by someone who can represent all CUPE members,” the organization added.

In its statement on Thursday, CUPE criticized Piccini and Ford for their decision “to attack Fred Hahn, in a way that is completely revolting and unacceptable.”

The union also explained that while it does not support Hahn’s antisemitic social media post, CUPE does condemn Israel for its actions during the ongoing war targeting Hamas terrorists in Gaza.

“Nothing about this decision changes CUPE’s clear, consistent position on the bombardment of Gaza by Israel,” the union noted.

“CUPE continues to call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire; a release of all hostages from Gaza; and an end to the blockade of Gaza and the restoration of humanitarian aid. CUPE also calls on the Government of Canada to suspend the sale of arms and military equipment to Israel as it committed to doing in March 2024.”

“To suggest that asking for Fred’s resignation as a GVP is to throw in with those who support the genocide in Gaza, or is in response to a conservative premier’s bullying, is frankly ludicrous,” the union said.

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