Days after Victoria City Councillor Susan Kim came under international scrutiny, a second petition has emerged in support of her and all she has done.
Councillor Kim had co-signed an open letter calling for federal action for a permanent ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, which has since been removed from its source.
One line of the open letter became international controversy for those who signed it as it implied that sexual violence did not occur at the hands of Hamas during the October 7th surprise attack on Israel.
Several people across Canada who signed this letter lost their jobs for doing so and Kim was called on to resign from her position by unsuccessful 2022 city council candidate Janice Williams.
Williams implied in her petition that Kim’s actions were anti-semitic and she called into question the councillor’s ability to be a leader for Victoria’s Jewish community.
Since then, Kim has released a statement which states her intent to remain on council and serve her term, while trying to do well by all communities within Victoria.
Now, a new petition calls for a ceasefire as well as support for the scorned city councillor. This petition was created by members of the organization Independent Jewish Voices Victoria.
“We stand with Susan Kim’s important support for the Palestinian people,” wrote Tara Ehrcke.
“We deplore recent attempts to silence Victoria City Councillor Kim with defamatory and unfounded accusations.”
Ehrcke points to the fact that as thousands of Canadians march and rally their governments week after week, members of the Jewish Community have always been involved in solidarity with Palestinians, Arabs, and Muslims.
“Councillor Kim was representing us when she made a public statement in support of a ceasefire,” she wrote.
In Williams’ initial petition calling for the councillor’s resignation, she also call out Kim for wearing a Keffiyeh during council sessions and she called upon city council to ban them as a “display of hate.”
However, a Keffiyeh is simply a garment worn in numerous arid regions of the Middle East.
Williams’ view of the Keffiyeh was not appreciated by the Jewish community who still support Councillor Kim.
“Further, we strongly condemn the suggestion of banning Keffiyehs from council chambers,” Ehrcke continued in the ‘Support Susan Kim’ petition.
“Would council ban kippot next? To suggest that Palestinian cultural garments are “displays of hate” feeds into Islamophobic tropes and we cannot allow these racist views to take hold in our city.”
The new petition in support of Councillor Kim concludes with, “this petition was written and initiated by Jewish residents of Victoria, from the Victoria chapter of Independent Jewish Voices. We admire Susan Kim’s courage, in a time of extreme political repression, to represent the views of so many of us in Victoria calling for peace.”
As of this publication, over 1,000 people have signed the petition to show their support for Councillor Kim.
Early this week, Mayor Marianne Alto released a statement calling for a ceasefire after speaking with the impacted Palestinian Jewish and Muslim communities.
The federal government still has not officially called for a permanent ceasefire.
On Tuesday, November 21st, a temporary ceasefire deal was struck, but thus far both Hamas and Israel have stated their intention to continue fighting after the four days the two sides agreed upon.
