An article in last year’s summer edition of the Jewish progressive magazine Outlook, written by Concordia historian Stephen Scheinberg, explores the relationships between Jewish advocacy organization B’nai Brith Canada and the Christian right. In “Partners for Imperium: B’nai Brith Canada and the Christian Right” (link goes to PDF – an HTML text version is available at Mostly Water, Scheinberg argues that the Canadian branch of B’nai Brith has shrunk significantly, while simultaneously drifting right during the last decade.

A former B’nai Brith officer himself, Scheinberg points to the decision to seek common ground with the Christian right, especially Charles McVety and the Canada Christian College – fundamentalists preaching the literal inerrancy of the Scriptures, traditional roles for women, the prohibition of gay marriage, the criminalization of abortion – and the Christian Zionist philosophy that God’s original covenant with Israel remains in effect and must be respected by all nations. He ably links these Canadians to the similar teachings of American preachers such as John Hagee, John Tweedie, and Dean Bye.

Scheinberg starts from a valuable premise – connections to the Christian right – and is in a position to speak authoritatively on B’nai Brith Canada, given his own experience in that organization. Unfortunately the bulk of the article moves on to explore something quite different – the disturbing politics of Christian Zionism. Still, the latter is a fascinating and chilling topic in its own right.

The purported CIC strategy document, reproduced at Dawg’s Blawg, is titled “Destabilizing the Opponent” and has as its objective to “define and discredit the radical Islamist movement and agenda in Canada and its non-Islamist allies; link their enmity and war on Israel with their shared hostility to Canadian (Western) values and society.” It goes on to specify activities with respect to advocacy, media monitoring, combating youth indoctrination and political NGOs, and a “counterstrike” against Islamic Monitor by distributing “moderate voices from Arab and Muslim countries.”

One of the areas of activity would seem to call for surveillance of, and attacks on, non-Islamist Canadian groups:

Fifth Column: the collusion of the “anti-imperialist” Left and radical Islamism

Expose ideological and personal ties between local actors and foreign radical/terror groups (e.g. Cairo Conferences, etc.) and highlight common hatred of Canadian (Western) society (CAIA, Tadamon, Canadian Peace Alliance, International Socialists, etc.), monitor activities and publications.

Background information on a few of the CIC’s directors is provided by Terrible Depths.