Adam Aptowitzer

Adam Aptowitzer is the former Ontario chairman of B'nai Brith Canada’s Institute for International Affairs. He was forced to resign due to comments he made on a television show.

Aptowitzer was widely criticized after he made statements on the October 19, 2004 broadcast of the "Michael Coren Show" defending the use of what were described as terror tactics by Israel against Palestinians. Aptowitzer argued that such actions were permissible when used to prevent deaths, saying "acts that take place in Gaza and West Bank, you might want to classify them as terrorists sponsored by the state. But when that is being done to prevent deaths, are we going to say that that is wrong?"Harvey, Bob, "B'nai Brith spokesman quits over remarks", "Vancouver Sun", November 3, 2004] and " [w] hen Israel uses terror . . . to destroy a home and convince people . . . to be terrified of what the possible consequences are, I'd say that's an acceptable use to terrify somebody." In the wake of the controversy, Aptowitzer resigned his B'nai Brith position and issued an apology in which he said he "did not intend that it come across that I support the killing of innocent people in any form. I did not mean to advocate violence of any kind."Sellar, Don, "Arab group got the rest of the story", "Toronto Star", November 6, 2004]

The criticism of Aptowitzer came in the wake of demands by B'nai Brith that the president of the Canadian Islamic Congress, Mohamed Elmasry, resign for comments he made on the same program that all Israeli adults were legitimate targets arguing that all adult Israelis serve in the Israeli military. The media was subsequently criticized for giving extensive coverage of Elmasry's comments while initially overlooking those by Aptowitzer until his comments were highlighted several weeks later in a joint news release by the Canadian Arab Federation, the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CAN) and the National Council on Canada Arab Relations."Jewish leader quits over remark, partially backed state use of terror", "Canadian Press", November 2, 2004]

In Aptowitzer's defence, "Toronto Star" columnist Rosie DiManno argued that his resignation was "excessively self-punitive" and that it was and contrasted B'nai Brith's acceptance of Aptowitzer's resignation with the Canadian Islamic Congress' refusal to accept Elmasry's offer to resign. [DiManno, Rosie, "How the terror debate story took another unpleasant spin", "Toronto Star", November 12, 2004]

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